Today is the 17th anniversary of the Los Angeles Riot.

Ask a Korean! Wiki: Korean Hangouts in LA

Dear Korean,

I’m planning an event in L.A. with hip, cool young adult Koreans in mind and was wondering if you can recommend any hot spots/areas that are favorites among them.

Jennifer G.


Dear Jennifer,

While the Korean misses Los Angeles with all his heart, he has been living in New York for the last six years. Therefore, any recommendation by the Korean for Korean hot spots in L.A. would be very dated. And once they are dated, they are no longer hot.

So let's hear it, Koreans in L.A. -- where do you hang out? Give some names of restaurants, bars, clubs, anywhere -- more specific, the better.

Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@hotmail.com.

If you are an illegal immigrant, your child is taken away from you.

Ask a Korean! News: Overheard in New York

Chaperone to a Group of HS Students: "Hey look! We must be in Chinatown!"

- 32nd St. & 6th Ave.

Overheard by: The Korean Girlfriend

For those who do not live in New York, here is a picture of 32nd St. and 6th Ave.:


Yeah.

By the way, the Korean heartily recommends the real Overheard in New York site -- it is fantastic.

Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@hotmail.com.

Ask a Korean! News: A Look into Imperial Japan’s Rule over Korea

The Korean promises that he really tried. He really tried not to give any attention to Shintaro Ishihara, governor of Tokyo, who said “I heard from President Park Chung-Hee [former military dictator in Korea during 1960s-70s] that compared to European countries’ colonial rule over Asia, Japan’s rule was softer and fairer.”

To be sure, this post is not really about that statement. But the Korean will make several points about this statement, just to get them out of the way:

First, the Korean will note that this statement barely made a blip in Korea. Except for some small news reports commensurate with celebrity gossip, Korean people did not care.

Second, the Korean can totally see former president/military dictator Park making that statement, as he made his career in the Japanese military before Korea was liberated.

Third, Ishihara has already proven himself to be a total nutcase, unworthy of any attention. He claimed that Rape of Nanking was a fiction, and that “old women who live after they have lost their reproductive function are useless and are committing a sin.”

Fourth, the Korean takes no stance on whether or not the imperial Japan’s rule was harsher or softer than the rule by imperial European countries. It was what it was. However, the Korean does think Ishihara's statement is despicable.

Now that those points are out of the way, the Korean can turn to the real topic. In response to Ishihara’s remark, Thok-Kyu Limb, former National Assemblyman in Korea, sent an open letter to Ishihara decrying the statement. And that letter shows an interesting illustration as to what Korean life was like under the Japanese rule. Below, the Korean translated some excerpts of the letter.

Really big caveat here: the Korean is NOT introducing this letter as an endorsement of what Limb ultimately argues in the letter. In fact, the Korean thinks this letter was rather poorly written overall -- it is more or less besides the point of what Ishihara said, and it overstates the case by failing to put his experience into perspective by referencing the suffering caused by other colonial regimes.

The reason why the Korean was compelled to translate this letter was this: Yes, we all know (except certain revisionists) about Imperial Japan's numerous war crimes. But as heinous as the war crimes were, they did not affect every single Korean person. Then what was life like for a regular Korean person who was lucky enough not to be subject to Imperial Japan's war crimes? The translated portion of the letter gives a glimpse of the answer, provided that one applies all normal cautions that any reasonable person would apply – e.g. only one person, with a certain type of motivation, etc.

WARNING: The Korean knows this is an emotional topic, evidenced by the 100+ comments in the Korea-Japan Series Part III. As such, discussion on this topic may devolve into an online shouting match, which the Korean severely dislikes. Therefore, this comment thread will be aggressively monitored. Any personal attack, foul language, irrelevant discussion, and general bad manners will be deleted immediately.

And now, finally, the letter excerpt:

….

When I met Former Diet Member Ishihara in person in Seoul, 1975, I felt that he was a phenomenal intellectual who I expected to contribute greatly to the advancement of friendship between Korea and Japan. Yet for the last 30 years, whenever the Korean people were about to forget, he would enrage them by making statements that are so far from reality, which disappoints me greatly.

The Analects [by Confucius] say: “Once over the age of 70, doing what one wants to do never violates any law.” Mr. Ishihara is well over 70 as well, and I gave much thought as to why he would say such things despite that fact. My conclusion was that, even for a great intellectual like Ishihara Shintaro, truth is difficult to say without experience.

Accordingly, I wish to show my direct experience of how brutally Japan ruled Korea. I was born in Nonsan, Chungcheongnam-do, Korea, and I was in third grade at August 15, 1945, when World War II has ended.

Every winter, I have seen the police come to our village and round up all male adults. They would break the ice in the reservoir that was as cold as negative 10 to 20 degrees Celsius. Then they had the adults take off their tops and get down on their fours, and poured the ice water on their exposed backs while yelling, “Get out all the rice you hid.”

As a child, it was frightening. The Japanese police had already taken the entire rice harvest by the village. The village folks had so little to eat that they boiled and ate the dried-up leaves of radish and cabbage. In spring, every blade of grass was eaten, and sometimes we would even eat pine tree barks. Japanese government, after taking the rice, sometimes gave out sesame dregs [leftover sesame after oil was squeezed out of them], but over two-thirds of it was rotten black.

One spring day, my mother gave me a bowl of very dark porridge. I have been an obedient son, taking my parents’ words as absolutes. I thought the color of the porridge was strange, but because my mother gave it to me, I put a
spoonful in my mouth. But I immediately spat it out and yelled, “This is too bitter to eat!” My mother, weaving cloth, simply turned her face and dropped her head.

As time passed, I often thought about why my mother did that. I think that porridge was made of barley husk, because she had nothing else to give to her son. How I must have broken her heart when I refused to eat! To this day I get teared up in regret, wishing I had said nothing and gladly ate.

It did not stop there. I was forced to speak only Japanese not only at school but at home as well, even as a first grader who has never learned Japanese. Every Monday, we received five paper tickets, we were told to take away our friends’ tickets when they spoke Korean, whether they were in school or at home. Next Monday, we were beaten with a bamboo ruler by the number of missing tickets. Where else did such cruelty of completely banning the use of one’s own language exist?

In addition, toward the end of Imperial Japanese rule, every piece of iron in Korean rural areas – including spoons, chopsticks, and doorknobs – were taken, because they were conscripted to forge weapons.

My own experience is but small suffering. There would be no end to the stories of brutal massacres, including the assassination of Empress Myeong-Seong. In a word, Japan’s rule was truly cruel.

….

There you have it. The Korean will reprint the warning one more time.

WARNING: The Korean knows this is an emotional topic, evidenced by the 100+ comments in the Korea-Japan Series Part III. As such, discussion on this topic may devolve into an online shouting match, which the Korean severely dislikes. Therefore, this comment thread will be aggressively monitored. Any personal attack, foul language, irrelevant discussion, and general bad manners will be deleted immediately.

Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@hotmail.com.

Ask a Korean! Wiki: Surfin' ROK

Dear Korean,

I recently got a question from my former philosophy professor about surfing in Korea - he's planning a surfing trip around the world and has the impression that there's not much surfing in Korea, but wants me to let him know if he's wrong. So, are there any major surfing destinations in Korea? Is surfing popular anywhere in the country, around Jeju-do, maybe? Are there any big, surf-ready waves in Korea?

Eliot

Surfing! Excitement. Once emigrated to California, the Korean learned to surf at Huntington Beach, and he loves it. But the Korean knows nothing about surfing in Korea, personally. A quick Internet search reveals a Korean surfshop: http://www.arkclub.co.kr/. This is not an endorsement -- the Korean knows nothing about that site. But hopefully it could provide a starting point for finding surfable waves out there. The site seems to be more geared toward surfing outside of Korea (e.g. in Japan or in the Philippines,) but it does list some surfing locations in Korea.

Has anyone tried surfing in Korea? Please help out.

Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@hotmail.com.

Military Service Series: Part III – Korean Military and Korean Society

See previous parts of the series here: Part I Part II

Through Part I and II, we surveyed how Korean men serve their military duty, and what happens during the years spent serving. The next question is – how does this experience, common to most Korean men, affect the shaping of Korean society?

Part II left off at the life lessons that Korean men learn through their stint at the military. The Korean noted that the military experience builds Korean men’s tolerance for dealing with arbitrary crap that results from a hierarchical organization that requires unquestioning loyalty. The Korean also noted that our adult lives is full such situations in which we simply must grin and bear with the crap that we do not wish to deal with.

Nowhere is the latter statement truer than in Korea. In fact, one can argue that the military culture neatly coincides with traditional Korean culture – in both cultures, seniority automatically commands respect and loyalty. It is not surprising, then, that Korean workplaces are often run just like a squad in the military. You do what your boss tells you to do, and you are supposed to grin and bear it. Your time will come because Korea, like Japan, had automatic advancement by seniority at least until 1990s. Once you are the boss, you can order people around, much like the way you can order people around once you put in the time and became a sergeant.

In fact, one can make an argument that having this type of corporate culture was a key ingredient in propelling Korea into the forefront of economic development. The start of Korea’s economic development began with light industries, such as making cheap clothes, wigs, and shoes in sweatshops. Then from 1970s to mid-1990s, the main engine for Korea’s economy was heavy industries – shipbuilding, petroleum refining, steeling making and the like. Each stage of the development, first and foremost, required a well-disciplined workforce who was willing to take orders and follow them.

And boy, Koreans could follow those orders. The stories about how hard Koreans worked in the 70s and 80s often defy belief. The unofficial motto of Hyundai Heavy Industries, currently one of the world leaders in shipbuilding, was: “We work 5 [a.m.] to 9 [p.m.] when other countries work 9 to 5.” The only people who work this type of hours in America, arguably, are investment bankers who earn six figures, or desperately poor people working two or three jobs. But in Korea during those times, it was the whole country working those hours without a complaint. Every man going through the military, it can be argued, instilled this level of discipline that served Korea well during this time.

However, the downside of the military experience is equally significant. The hierarchy-oriented Korean men do not stop being that way once they are done with work. Therefore, social life in Korea, especially before 1990s, was very stuffy and authoritarian everywhere.

More importantly, Korean men who went through the military experience tend to become completely insufferable – like the worst Red Sox fan before they won the World Series in 2004. Like the Korean noted in the earlier series, the military experience in Korea is no picnic. It involves significant sacrifice both physical and mental, not to mention the two to three precious years of youth. To justify this sacrifice, military duty has been elevated into a sacred status; it is commonly referred to as “the holy duty of national defense”. Because there is such a strong sense that the military duty is a massive sacrifice, there is nearly a witch-hunt of those who do not serve; instant ruination awaits prominent figures who do not serve.

For example, some Korean men refuse to serve based on their religious commitment for pacifism – usually Jehovah’s Witnesses. Because they are lumped into the same group as draft dodgers, the standard practice is to put them in prison for as long as they would have served in the military. In other words, sincere pacifists in Korea have no choice but to become an ex-con. Even a proposal for “alternate service option”, such as community service at a hospital for example, does not gain much traction for fear that religion may be used as a cover for easier military service.

Another example is 2002 presidential election in Korea, in which Roh Moo-Hyun won in a surprise victory. While there are many factors that led to the opposing candidate Lee Hoi-Chang’s loss, one of them is the revelation during the campaign that one of Lee’s sons did not serve the military duty for being underweight – a highly suspect excuse. Essentially, (for those who remember the 2004 American presidential election,) the military service issue was Roh’s Swift Boat that torpedoed Lee’s chances. Since then, it became inconceivable for anyone with aspirations for a public office to not serve or not have his sons serve in the military.

Interesting offshoot of this phenomenon is that military experience becomes fuel for sexism. Remember that Korean men believe that they made an incredible sacrifice by serving in the military. (And to some extent, that is true.) So whenever women demand more equal rights, a standard, pithy answer from men is: “Have you been to the military?” For example, a few years ago Korean government abolished the bonus points given to those who served in the military in hiring government workers, based on the reason that it is unfair to women. The decision nearly caused a riot, and is still a very popular fodder for anti-feminists in Korea.

That concludes military service series. Hope you enjoyed it.

Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@hotmail.com.

Koreans are the thinnest among all the people in OECD countries. Fattest people? Take a guess.

In all seriousness, allow the Korean to put it this way. The Korean Father is about 5'10", and used to weigh around 180 pounds. When the Korean was growing up, the Korean Father was BY FAR the fattest person the Korean has ever seen in his life (excluding some people on television.) Then the Korean Family came to America. The Korean Mother one day decided to check out the Big & Tall store for the Korean Father, and soon realized that being big in America means an entirely different thing from being big in Korea. The Korean also vividly remembers when he saw the first 300+ pound person in his life -- and he was totally, totally blown away.

Of course, all of this is more than 10 years ago and there are a lot more overweight Korean people now. But really, America could use a lot of work losing some goddamn weight.

You know what's stupid? Turning away highly educated people who want to work and pay taxes for America. That's stupid.

And for this week's news of racism, we have Ms. Betty Brown, Representative in the Texas state legislature, who kindly suggested that Asian Americans should change their names so as not to confuse the poll workers. Hey, it's working for Lucy Liu. (The parts she play often has completely Anglo names for some reason -- e.g. Nola Lyons, Mia Mason.)

Thank you to the good folks at Korea Beat for the link.

Ask a Korean! News: The Best Commentary on the North Korean Missile Launch

One of the Korean’s favorite blogs is Nambukstory, written by Mr. Joo Seong-Ha, reporter for Dong-A Ilbo, which is one of the largest dailies in Korea. Mr. Joo writes about many things, but his specialty is North Korea. If you know how to read Korean and care even a little bit about North Korea, please read his blog. His commentaries are always the most insightful, not simply because he is a very smart person. He was born and raised in North Korea, and graduated from Kim Il-Sung University. In other words, he was on track to be an elite officer of the North Korean regime. Instead, he escaped from North Korea into China, and eventually made his way into South Korea, to work as a reporter.

Because of his unique background, the perspective on North Korea that Mr. Joo offers in his blog is unlike any other. The Korean believes that there is absolutely no better way of understanding North Korea. Therefore, when this whole North Korean missile thing came about, the Korean knew where to go. And sure enough, there was a great post from Mr. Joo that the Korean was compelled to share. Below is the translation. The original post is here. The Korean focused more on making the post sound intelligent (because it is, in Korean,) than making the literal translation – thus, some parts of the translation is are not an exact match. At any rate, translation comments are always appreciated.

How to Screw Over Kim Jong-Il

The clamor over North Korean “rocket” reminds me of the phrase from Art of War: “If you fight when you want, where you want, and how you want, you never lose.” Currently, I am sure that there are many who wonder why this topic is given so much attention. I spent all day at the company [i.e. Dong-A Ilbo] on Saturday because of the news of North Korea’s satellite launch, although it was my day off. The same with Sunday.


Ministry of Foreign Affairs had an emergency response meeting starting 8 a.m. on Saturday. While it looks funny to have a response meeting when there is no response to be made, I am sure they were more afraid of appearing to do nothing – at least they should pretend to do something. The president also held a meeting with national security ministers. Would those meetings provide any good answer? (Would anyone expect them to?) I doubt that.

Even the Blue House [= presidential residence] meeting on Sunday after the rocket launched was limited to re-asserting the previous stance. But then again, there is not much more to do. In this light, at least the remark by President Lee Myong-Bak on the 5th [=Arbor Day in Korea] was wise – “while North Korea fires missiles, we plant trees.” Since there is nothing to do, at least he can grab a shovel and plant a tree.

Let us return to the Art of War above. This battle about the satellite is a battle we can never win, because Kim Jong-Il has all the choices with respect to the when, where, and how. This is how North-South relationship generally has unfolded so far.

To compare it to ping-pong, it is as if Kim Jong-Il continues to drive the ball and we are only defending. We are tense and befuddled because we don’t know where the next ball will fly to. It is pathetic in some respects. South Korean government says the principled thing is to stay calm. I would like them to do at least that, but it is not as if they are staying calm, as they are busy coming up with clumsy responses.

Strictly speaking, my personal view is that the media, including Korean ones, are taking treasonous actions. Treasonous action is nothing complicated; it is, literally [in Korean], an action that benefits the enemy. The following is why I think so.

First, the media is providing the stage for Kim Jong-Il’s play. Kim Jong-Il can trot around with that crude missile is thanks to the capitalist media that incessantly chatters for him. When the media chatters, the politicians are in the difficult situation of having to do something.

That missile is something that can never be used in an actual situation. Would a military satellite, which can measure shoe sizes on the ground, simply sit on the missile’s movement in the time of war? The missile takes several months between assembly and launch, and is immediately noticeable no matter where it is hidden. The idea that Kim Jong-Il can surprise America with an ICBM in the face of obvious self-destruction is clearly a fiction.

Second, the media, beyond serving its function of providing information, is terrorizing Koreans. Television only showed the missile news all day Saturday – it seems that the media is firing the bullshit cannon on behalf of Kim Jong-Il. It is not difficult to realize who gains from the atmosphere of fear resulting from such chatter. Further, although all three network television stations clamored in their special programming, the ratings did not even hit the average for the same time period from January through March. In other words, Koreans do not even care now.

I wish the media knew enough to simply graze over the news. For example, what if the media were to report – perhaps after it covered celebrity gossip – “Despite the hoopla, launch fails as expected”; “The result of decade’s worth of research was on display”; “Lack of funds leads to poor research”? Wouldn’t that frustrate the person who played the missile card thinking it would be a great piece of strategy?

Also, there is no report within the news inundation that convincingly explains why an ICBM is dangerous for Koreans. The media says the missile can become a nuclear weapon’s delivery mechanism. However, although Korea already is completely exposed to North Korea’s nuclear attack, I don’t remember if Korean media ever clamored this loudly on that issue. If the media is not concerned about Korea’s exposure to nuclear attacks, does that mean they are more worried for America? Are they maybe concerned that the crappy nuclear delivery mechanism would threaten America enough to discontinue military aid toward Korea? That is a separate political issue, but let us not forget that U.S. is a country that survived the Cold War against Russia, which had 10,000 nuclear warheads.

Personally, I believe that the true danger for Korea is the SCUD missile and long-range artillery. Specifically, there is truly nothing Korea can do against missiles like KN-02. Seoul is utterly exposed to North Korea’s long-range artillery and missiles without any defense. This situation did not happen yesterday, and this is the true danger.



Some eminent scientist on the news said “an ICBM can fire against Korea depending on the angle,” to emphasize ICBM’s danger against Korea. This is laughable. The media, with a straight face, is stating the sophism that North Korea is building an ICBM to attack Korea, although it can attack Korea with a cannon at any time.

(True danger to Korea is the missiles and long-range artillery, pictured above.)

Third, the media is assisting North Korea’s technical analysis. With North Korea’s technology alone, it would be difficult to figure out the post-launch status of the missile. However, once launched, America, Japan, or Korea kindly analyzes the status, which is relayed back to North Korea through the media. Using high-tech equipments such as satellites and Aegis cruisers (which costs more than a trillion won per ship), the media provides such details as where the first stage rocket landed, where the second stage rocket landed, what the ability of this missile will be and how likely the success would be, and so on.

Honestly, without the analysis from America, Japan and Korea, aided by such cutting-edge equipment that cost billions of dollars, I am not sure if North Korea would even know where its rocket went. Kim Jong-Il is in the cat bird seat in that respect – he just needs to launch, and there are all these great people who know to bring over the newest equipment possible to let him know exactly where, how, and why his rocket failed.

As an aside, Dong-A Ilbo’s report that ICBM technology is far more advanced than a satellite technology was a very good one. I believe that it was a good report in the time when everyone was reporting as if satellite rocket can be turned into an ICBM by simply changing the launching angle.

I can understand the overreaction on the part of the Japanese media. In the long term, emphasizing the threat from North Korea helps the militarization. Also, it can distract the eyes and ears focused on the administration with falling support. But Korea faces a different circumstance from Japan. Why must we engage in hysterics?

In fact, there is not much Korea can do against North Korea’s action. This is the difference between “closed society” and “open society”. Because of the many factors to be considered, Korea simply cannot respond in the thuggish way to North Korea’s thuggish action. Because of the backing from China and Russia, taking North Korea to the United Nations is difficult as well. Then what must we do? Should we simply sit and chatter as we do now? Is that all we can do?

I believe that for Korea’s benefit, the media must ignore Kim Jong-Il’s theatrics. A show requires a passionately reactive audience to be successful. Kim Jong-Il must be loving it now, since other countries are creating such reaction. One can tell how much he is enjoying this episode from the way he tricked the whole world on Saturday. I cannot be the only person who got screwed with high blood pressure from having to stand by on his day off.

But for a showman, the most discouraging thing is the non-reaction from the audience. It is truly devastating if no one even watches you. What is a showman to do in that case? He would try to take out another card and try his best in attracting attention. But there are only a limited number of cards for Kim Jong-Il to take out. If the missile thing does not work, there can be such things as “military provocation”, “nuclear test”, or “hostage situation,” etc. As far as the next cards of Kim Jong-Il go, these are about it – and this does not take an expert to figure it out. With this knowledge, South Korean government say there is nothing that can be done. But is that really the case?

Isn’t it about time that we move on from passivity and research a way to screw Kim Jong-Il over? I will quote the Art of War once again: ““If you fight when you want, where you want, and how you want, you never lose.” Can’t we win based on this?

This type of analysis is common in the Korean media: “The reason why Grand National Party is being dragged around by Democratic Party is because the former is trailing the latter in the ability for setting the agenda and naming the problem.” But I have never seen a media report that applies this type of analysis to North Korea. In this analysis, Korea would be the larger but incompetent and befuddled Grand National Party, and North Korea would be the small Democratic Party that overwhelms Grand National Party.

Let us analyze Korea’s advantages over North Korea. A quick list includes wealth, democracy, stronger military, etc. – in fact, it is difficult to name them all because there are so many. Korea can screw with North Korea using these advantages to their maximum effectiveness. But an idiotic eye-to-eye strategy cannot beat North Korea. A rich man who dislikes being beaten cannot get into a fistfight with a thug.

Then what can be done? I have thought of many possibilities, but I do not need to list them all, since national strategy is not decided on one person’s opinion. But I believe that we must publicly solicit the ways in which we can take over the agenda, utilize our advantage, and negotiate our way. We must bring the experts on North Korea together and formulate such policy – a policy for which, while avoiding outright collision, North Korea has no recourse other than to fume, like we do right now. For example:

Example 1: Kim Jong-Il announced that North Korea will launch a missile, but South Korean media is strangely quiet. When Kim Jong-Il begins to wonder about the absence of reaction, suddenly South Korean media causes a sensation with a report, “North Korean Labor Party secretary defects to South Korea.” No matter how many announcements about missiles are made, South Korean media only pays attention to the North Korean elite’s defection. The embarrassment from the defection by the elite, and the apathy to the missile, would surely piss off Kim Jong-Il.

Example 2: A foreign corporation that used to deal with North Korea suddenly announces that the relationship is terminated, saying that it would deal with South Korean corporations now. Whenever North Korea tries to buy anything, the foreign corporations reply that they would only deal with South Korean corporations that pay more. Nations friendly to North Korea slowly turn against it. The situation is infuriating, but it is not something that can be addressed militarily; all North Korea can do is to feel the misery of not having any money.

Such responses may be criticized on the grounds that they are reenactment of the competition during the Cold War era. But our advantage is that we survived that very competition. In the very least, Korean government loses the incompetence of getting dragged around by being unable to take the initiative.

If that’s not good enough, there are other ways such as: What if we gave such an exorbitant aid that North Korea cannot control it? We can give so much that North Korea cannot afford to turn down such an overwhelming aid, and that the entire [North Korean] Security Forces cannot control where the aid goes. Imagine the Gaeseong Industrial Complex becoming 10 times bigger. North Korea will have a lot of trouble gagging the laborers and preventing the leak of Korean pop culture, eventually causing a headache for maintaining the current regime. My personal estimate of the amount enough to overwhelm North Korea is around 2 percent of South Korea’s budget. Even the much-criticized “excessive” aid during Roh Moo-Hyun administration was less than 0.2 percent of the budget. Giving as much as my estimation for five years does not even amount to the cost of constructing the second Lotte World [amusement park in Seoul currently being built], which costs around 2 trillion won.

We keep focusing on how to respond to Kim Jong-Il, but that is not the right point to focus on. Korea’s leader must draw his own image of what Korean Peninsula would be like at least 10 years into the future. We have already seen Kim Il-Sung, who appeared as if he would live forever, suddenly disappear one day. Life is finite. Looking just a little beyond the finite lifespan may provide a new answer.

This is what happens with incompetence: although the “missile” is a greater threat to the United States, and was made for the purpose of talking with that country, Korea screamed and hollered while U.S. remained calm. Embarrassingly, there was no effect to such hysteria. Also, Korean government obstinately ignored the opinion for recognizing the projectile to be a satellite, insisting that the projectile is an ICBM. But once the U.S. said it was a satellite, Korean government sheepishly corrected the description as a rocket. Then, once the launch happened, Korean government recognized the projectile to be a satellite. Once U.S. changes the description again as a “missile”, Korea would have to follow again. How does this make sense?

This missile ruckus is reminiscent of the humiliating episode in November 2008. Korean government had totally ignored North Korea’s repeated request for military communication material and equipment, until that point. On the day North Korea cut off the North-South Hotline, Korean government groveled and said it would provide the equipment. (I feel personally embarrassed as I write this.)

In this episode too, Korean government led the charge in overreacting, hollering that launch would be unforgivable. But once it became obvious that there is nothing Korean government could do, it quietly corrected itself, saying, “There will be no military response.” Korea would publicly assert that North Korea will pay for its misdeeds, but it quietly set its butt on the chair in the six-party talks. Truly, what embarrassing and sad scenes.

Got a question or comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@hotmail.com.

Military Service Series: Part II - Life in the Korean Military

See Part I here

Dear Korean,

I have a friend who ended up having to go back to Korea to serve in the military because he couldn't get citizenship here in the US, even though he's been here since he was 8. Is it okay to send food to people in the Korean military? I wanted to send him cookies and other things, but I don't know if they allow it.

Sheila


Dear Sheila,

Your question is a nice lead into the Part II of Korean military service, namely: what is it like in the military?

Allow the Korean to give this caveat one more time. The Korean never served in the military. Because he left Korea before the draft age, he did not have to. Therefore, all information here is based on second-hand stories from the Korean’s friends who did serve, plus a little bit of independent research. If there is anything wrong in this post, the Korean will gladly accept corrections.

If you remember Part I, there are a number of “soft” placements in the military that does not require living on a base as a soldier. However, those placements are relatively few in number. Vast majority of Korean men spend their time during their service as a regular ground infantry, only differing in their base location and job description. So what do these men go through?

Training Center/Boot Camp

First comes the 5-week stint at the training center/boot camp. In the first three days, new recruits receive their supplies. These supplies include everything, including uniform, boots, and underwear. Strictly speaking, no soldier in the training center is allowed to have any private item – everything is provided by the military. In practice, soldiers in the training center are generally allowed to have a spare pair of glasses, a watch, a small amount of cash, etc. There is more leeway with respect to personal items once the men are assigned to their bases.

(Picture of the training center at Nonsan)

The recruits’ personal items – usually the clothes in which they come into the boot camp – are packed up and sent back to their parents. It is the quintessential Korean mother’s experience to cry over her son’s dusty clothes mailed back to her after she sent her son away for his military service.

New recruits are then given a physical. Although it is extremely rare to be sent home at this stage, there are a few whose health has significantly deteriorated below draft eligibility between the time when they received the initial physical and the time when they report to the training center. These men are sent home.

Then the new recruits receive an exam that would determine their specialty as a soldier. This is based on their college major, career background, etc. However, this is far from a scientific process; more like a rough guess. For example, many math majors are assigned to artillery because firing a cannon requires a quick number-crunching ability. But it is not as if these men are tested as to how fast they can actually calculate things.

Once the specialties are assigned, the new recruits are trained to be soldiers. They receive their weapons, learn how to shoot rifles and throw grenades, learn how to march and patrol, etc. It is more or less the training you might see in a movie – they go through marches with full gear (around 55 to 60 pounds) during the day and at night, learn how to fight with bayonet, train how to use their hazmat masks and sit through tear gas, learn how to dig trenches and encamp, learn first aid, etc. After five weeks of this, the soldiers are assigned to their bases.

At the Base

The long haul begins at the bases. The life at the bases can differ vastly depending on where the base is, and what your specialty is. The unanimous worst placement is the bases in the mountainous range in eastern Korea, along the Armistice Line. Staring directly into North Korea, these soldiers must constantly patrol in the blistering cold, often in minefields. In comparison, soldiers assigned to a supply center base in the southern parts of Korea have an easier time. Training continues to happen at the base, but the intensity of such training is vastly different depending on the specialty. However, at least once a year, every soldier goes through a pretty intense combat training.

Amenities differ significantly from base to base as well. The luckiest few bases sometimes have karaoke, Internet café, arcade, etc, as well as indoor plumbing and shower facilities. The unlucky ones will have outdoor plumbing, no hot water, and only a dirt field that doubles as a soccer pitch. Generally each squad shares a single room to sleep in, and the room tends to have a television. Of course, the channel showing on that television is entirely up to the sergeant, who is usually the highest-ranking officer in a squad.

A little more explanation on soccer in the base is warranted, because it is such a universal part of the military experience. The soccer experience is called “Gundaesliga”, a parody of “Bundesliga” or the Federal League in Germany. (“Gundae” is Korean for “military”.) Because soccer is popular in Korea, and also because the game can entertain 22 men with a single ball, playing soccer is nearly a ubiquitous experience for all Korean men who served in the military. Each squad would usually play as a team, sometimes with each sergeant of the squad betting snacks or drinks. Long discipline process such as running several miles, etc. usually awaits the losing team. It is said that for a gifted soccer player, life in the military comes easily. Because inter-squad soccer games factor so much into the military life, the ranking soldiers take it a little easy on the star players.

(A parody, popular among Korean websites, showing "Gundaesliga" created from the Winning Eleven, a soccer video game.)

When it comes right down to it, daily life at the base is rather boring. Assignments range from serious (patrolling) to petty (cleaning the base), but they generally end by 5 p.m. After 5 p.m., soldiers play soccer, read, study, or generally do anything to kill time.

Soldiers enter the base as a private, and gradually move up the rank up to sergeant over time. Sergeants, since they are closing in on finishing their duties, are known to be lazier and more slovenly in their uniforms.

Furloughs are permitted intermittently throughout the soldier’s career. It starts with the “100 day furlough” – time outside, usually for 4-5 days, given after 100 days of military service. After that, soldiers get the total of 10 furlough days for the rest of their time in the military. In addition, there are special furlough days given out as a reward for a variety of things – ranging from something important like good marksmanship to something trivial like being the crowd favorite in the battalion talent show. A squad mate of the Korean’s friend won a furlough day for randomly saluting at a helicopter flying nearby, which happened to carry a general who saw the salute. Soldiers are also given furloughs for personal circumstances, e.g. death in the family.

Soldiers can have visitors, but usually they need to ask for permission ahead of time. To answer Shiela’s question, soldiers can also receive packages. But keep in mind that all packages will be searched, and soldiers are expected to share any food coming from outside with their squad mates. If you are sending food, send plenty and in small packets.

Also, soldiers get paid in nominal amounts. Privates receive around $55 a month, and sergeants receive around $80 a month or so.

Life at the Base, and Aftermath

So, now we know what the nitty-gritties are in the Korean military, but what is it really like? Obviously, this answer strongly depends on the particular assignment and the superiors, but some common elements exist – emphasis on hierarchy, working as an organization, and learning to tolerate loads and loads of bullshit.

After all, these soldiers are in the military. And military does not function without the willingness of lower-ranking soldiers to follow the directions of higher-ranking soldiers. Therefore, in a regular squad, sergeants are kings. They control everything good in the squad, e.g. the first cut of the chocolate that a private’s girlfriend sent from outside the base, what channel the squad television would show, etc.

At one point, indiscriminate beating was commonplace in the military. Although (at least nominally) beating is not allowed Korean military anymore, there are plenty of ways in which the ranking officer can make a soldier’s life miserable. Other types of physical discipline such as running laps or Wonsan Pokgyeok (pictured in Part I) are plenty available, and there is virtually no limit to insults and condescension.

Another thing to keep in mind is that Korean army is a place with a ton of manpower, but little money. Therefore, even the most menial task – such as cleaning the pool of the general’s house – falls on the soldiers. Also, like other parts of Korean bureaucracy, professionalism is missing at times and rules are frequently bent in the Korean military.

This often results in many hilarious situations. For example, the Korean has a friend who spent his military years in the eastern mountain range in Korea. One day, the general decided that he would have fresh sashimi for his guest. The Korean’s friend and his squad mate drove in a truck for two hours to the shore, and managed to acquire fresh, live fish. But how to bring them home fresh and alive?

A normal person’s answer would be, “Rent a truck with equipped with a tank and an air compressor, the kind that would deliver live fish to sushi restaurants.” But remember, this is the Korean military. It does not have the money to rent such a truck, but it does have the manpower of two soldiers.

So what did the Korean’s friend do? He sat in the back of the truck, churning the water in the tub so that air would go in and the fish would be kept alive. (His squad mate got to drive the truck because he joined the military a few months ahead of the Korean’s friend, therefore outranking him.) This was in the middle of winter, and the truck bed was exposed to the freezing wind as the truck drove into the mountains. The Korean’s friend nearly froze to death, but the fish were alive until they were served on a plate that evening.

Stories of this type, coming out of Korean military, are dime a dozen. A brother of the Korean’s friend was in the Special Forces, and he recalls his platoon carving out a side of a mountain to build a swimming pool using only the tiny field spades. The Korean Uncle, a doctor specializing in internal medicine, routinely performed appendectomy as a medic in the military because, in his words, “I wanted to practice.”

For some of today’s Korean young men, who have gone soft since the days of their fathers, military experience can be unbearable. Physical exercise is grueling, the superiors can be arbitrary and insulting, and your squad mates could shun you if you are responsible for putting the whole squad in trouble. Given that these guys, just like any other soldiers in Korea, can access guns and grenades, it should be no surprise that recently there has been a string of incidents in which a draftee shoots up his squad or toss a grenade in the squad room, killing many.

However, most Korean men go through with the service without a huge incident. Few Korean men truly love their military experience. (Those who do have the option to stay in the military and continue their service as career soldiers.) But Korean men generally tolerate it and find life lessons to be learned from the experience, mostly because it is something that everyone has to go through.

And there are definitely good life lessons to be learned from the experience, although it may be debatable whether learning those lessons is a good use of 2 to 3 years of young men in their prime. To put it bluntly, the military experience builds Korean men’s tolerance for all the life’s bullshit. As the Korean described so far, there is no shortage of bullshit – some of them perhaps the worst to be encountered in life – in the military. Exhausting physical training, insults and condescension from the superiors, and wasting time on arbitrary and trivial errands are all part of the experience. For young Korean men in the military, there is no choice but to simply grin and bear them. Once they finish bearing it, they know that most difficulties in life would be easier than what they already went through. The combination of such tolerance and insight, some may call it maturity – because, as anyone who has had a regular job can tell you, life as an adult has a lot of crap that we must simply grin and bear.

Part III of this series will further examine how the military experience shapes Korean men post-military, and how the experience with military service affects the broader Korean society in general.

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