Ask a Korean! Wiki: Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!

Recession? What recession? As long as you speak Korean (and have a few more skills,) there are jobs galore. Here are the two recent emails that the Korean received:

Dear Korean,

I have 10 positions of Korean Speaking Java developers in North New Jersey. Any level will do. Please connect me to a group who is looking for a job.

Vikas S

Marlabs Inc
Ph: - 732 287 7800 Ext 1428
Mob: - 848 248 2136
Fax: - 732 465 0100
Email: - vikas@marlabs.com
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/vikas-s/11/994/80b 

 *               *              *

Dear Korean,

I am recruiter with a Japanese recruiting agency currently searching for Korean/English bilinguals with some sales experience for a Japanese food manufacturing company in NJ to promote/market their products in Korean Market on mostly on East Coast. Excellent communication skills in both Korean and English. Must drive. Frequent business trips. Friendly personality desired. Salary up to 45K + benefits. I just cannot find any good candidates this time. Any suggestions what I should do to reach qualified candidates?

Madoka Oya
Actus Consulting Group
moya@actus-usa.com
 
Burn them phone lines and email accounts, job searchers!

Are you an employer in need of a Korean-speaking talent? If you have someone who can help with a Korean website, the following are a few major Korean-American sites that accept classified ads. (More suggestions are welcome in the comment section.)

www.heykorean.com
www.missyusa.com
www.radiokorea.com

If you have absolutely no Korean help, the Korean actually recommends Craigslist.  The Korean Father's small business often seeks Korean speakers through Craigslist, and it gives a surprisingly decent pool of applicants.

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

Absolutely must-read article about North Korea by Nicholas Eberstadt, in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. A few highlights:

As the U.S. and its allies frame plans for dealing with North Korea in the aftermath of the recent sinking of a South Korean warship, political leaders must recognize that security will depend not just upon deterring Kim Jong Il today. Northeast Asia's future security—and America's—will be profoundly affected by the government presiding over the northern half of Korea in the long run.

For this reason, Korean unification—under a democratic, market-oriented Republic of Korea that remains allied with the U.S.—must be the ultimate objective. Today that looks like a daunting and risky prospect. But to paraphrase Churchill: Unification would be the worst possible outcome for Korea—except for all the other alternatives.

...

Then there is the potential for Chinese suzerainty. This notion has been floated by Chinese authors in recent years, in the form of "academic" but officially sanctioned studies that depict an ancient kingdom—conveniently stretching from Manchuria to the current-day Korean DMZ—which was once historically part of greater China. ... Chinese suzerainty might put an end to the North Korean nuclear threat. But it would change the security environment in East Asia—perhaps radically.

Immense pressures would build in South Korea for accommodating Beijing's interests. Depending on China's preferences (and how these were parlayed), accommodation could mean an end to the U.S.-South Korea alliance. Japan would find its space for international maneuver correspondingly constricted; continuation of the U.S.-Japan alliance could even look risky. Much would depend upon Beijing's own conduct—but a Chinese hold over northern Korea would have devastating implications for the current U.S. security architecture in East Asia.

It is in the context of the alternatives—not in the abstract—that the pros and cons of an eventual Korean unification must be weighed.

The North Korea Endgame (Wall Street Journal)

Ask a Korean! News: Interview with Kim Su-Hyeon

First, a little background. Kim Su-Hyeon is a writer of Korean dramas, and can legitimately be called the queen of Korean dramas. She started writing scripts for Korean dramas since 1972, and so far wrote for more than 45 dramas, many of them massive hits. She is essentially like Steven Spielberg -- Kim continues to churn out essentially the same dramas with different variations on the theme, and people simply love them.

Kim Su-Hyeon.

Kim's latest work is Life is Beautiful (인생은 아름다워), which is again a huge hit. In addition to being wildly popular, Life is Beautiful is making headlines for prominently featuring a gay man among the characters. Dong-A Ilbo interviewed Kim on the drama.

Kim Su-Hyeon: "Homosexual Story Will Go On Until the End"

"Life..." Displays Deep Story of Life Encased in a Comedic Drama
Writer's Fee Exceeding $50,000 Per Episode... "But actors receive $100,000."

Life is Beautiful by writer Kim Su-Hyeon, airing on SBS TV, has been garnering increasing ratings, threatening the 20 percent line. The drama, depicting with a comedic touch a remarried family including a father who has had concubines all his life, the eldest son who is gay, the two younger siblings who never married despite being middle-aged regarding such various topics as Korean-Japanese and abortion, emanates a special presence in the current drama scene rife with sensationalism.

In Life is Beautiful, the banal themes such as adultery, secrets of birth, revenge and evil are completely taken out. Instead, it delivers the message that every human is basically good, and life is ultimately beautiful despite moments of adversity, in a calm yet lingering manner.

Dong-A Ilbo interviewed Kim over the phone on the 27th. The veteran writer, nearly a septuagenarian, stands alone as the super-writer in the domestic broadcasting scene, while at the same time serving as an active opinion leader whose energy embarrasses the younger generation. Her unhestitating manner of speech exuded flinty strength and attractive confidence.

*                *               *

- The depiction of gays is generating a lot of attention. SBS said they receive protesting calls every day.

* Actually, I am thankful that the protests are not as intense as I thought. I think the way society thinks about gays has improved a lot. But I don't know why people focus so much on just one element of this family drama. I didn't write this drama to have a human rights movement for them [the characters]. A gay child can come out of any family. They are not special. I am just observing them with an eye without prejudice. I don't depict them to be particularly good or strange. I just depict the phenomenon as it is.

- But it is a groundbreaking event to feature homosexuality front and center on a network TV for the first time. Even younger writers avoid this topic.

* I always thought that I should try this issue at some point. But it would have been a bad idea to do that earlier, considering how much controversy there is now. (Laughs.) I think the society matured by a great deal. The issue might be scary for younger writers. There are people waiting with stones in their hands, so it probably is not an easy topic for them. But I am not going to stop with the story just because of the protests. I anticipated them, so I will keep the story going until the end. I will never quietly fold that aspect of the drama. Then putting them in the family drama in the first place will become meaningless.

- It is also novel to omit the process by which the characters realize their sexual identity and jump straight to the love between two men from the beginning. But that also generates curiosity and concern about how the story will unfold from this point on.

* They are not some adolescent boys, and the process by which sexual identity is realized is boring. But I don't understand the concerns. I think the concerns come from the fact that when people think "gay", they automatically think about something sexual. There is a difference between homoeroticism and homosexuality. There are people who protest that their children might learn, but homosexuality doesn't depend on teaching it or not teaching it. It's an issue of inherent genetics. To criticize based on such inherent characteristics is just like discriminating black people. There are people who say Kim Su-Hyeon encourages homosexuality, which is disappointing. Homosexual love is not different from love between a man and a woman.

- Having the drama set in Jeju-do Island is refreshing.

* I was getting tired of the same background for every home drama, and I wanted to set the scene there because so far, Jeju-do was only known as a tourist destination. But I almost gave up on it because the production company seemed to be agonizing over the cost issue. But then the production company moved forward with it. I have no regrets. It has clean air and just beautiful.

- There is also much attention given to the father character who has 15 children from six wives. There is curiosity about whether the writer will forgive him. Some analyze that you have never forgiven men who have wronged.

* Haha, is that right? Forgiveness, hm. The word "forgiveness" is a little strange. You know what old grandmothers used to say -- they [men] crawl back when they are old and sick. I modeled the father after an actual person, who was a special case even at a place like Jeju-do where men are relatively scarce. The father of a close acquaintance also lived with his second family his whole life and only returned to his original wife close to the end of his life, then died there. I don't really know how I will handle this. Just keep watching.

- I heard your fee per episode exceeded $50,000 [$1 = KRW 1,000]. That's amazing.

* Where did you get that from? Did they confirm with me? No way, that's no fun. Now I'm going to get some Internet attacks. But the actors get over $100,000 per episode, so why not writers? Actors only show up on parts of the drama, but the writer writes the whole thing from the beginning to the end. People put on their colored glasses whenever the writer's fee topic comes up, but I don't think they even try to understand the reason. That makes me worried about discouraging other writers; it also makes me worried about just anyone asking for $50,000.

- Of course your fee is the highest, given that you write dramas with high ratings without resorting to sensationalism.

* You can't have a situation where all human images are twisted. TV stations might support any drama with any reason as long as the ratings are there, but that's not even logic. We can't have sensationalism as a trend.

- You have an active Twitter account, with a lot of dedicated followers.

* I usually do that in the evening, when I'm not writing. But there are times when it's hard to keep up when the writing just pours out of me. I have this lingering feeling if I am sitting on a reply. (Laughs.) I only started it by accident, and just got hooked.

- You are just full of energy.

* What are you talking about? Look how old I am. But so far, at least I have handed over the scripts without any problem.

- Do you still travel to Jeju-do to write?

* No. At first I did when I had time, but now I write exclusively in Seoul.

김수현 “동성애 소재 끝까지 끌고 갈 것” (Dong-A Ilbo)

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

50 Most Influential K-Pop Artists Series: Just Missed the Cut (Part 1)

[Series Index]

Before we get into the actual rankings, here is a quick roundup of K-Pop artists who were considered. They are organized by their debut year. Part 1 is the list of the artists who debuted before 1990.

All of these singers are all pretty famous, and their songs are worth listening to if you want to get the full context of the prevalent music within the genre and the era. The Korean included Korean names of the singers/bands so that readers may copy/paste the names in Youtube search window. Amazingly, Youtube has a pretty decent store of many songs – even those belonging to the real old oldies.

Ha Choon-Hwa (하춘화), 1961

In 15 words or less:  Renowned trot singer with many connections with the politically powerful.

Maybe she should have been ranked because…  Recording 2,500 songs over 45 years of career must count for something.

She was not ranked because…  Trot is (for now) a diminishing genre with minimal impact on pop culture. Ha did not change that, nor did she dominate the trot era as much as other trot singers who are ranked.

Song Dae-Gwan (송대관), 1967

In 15 words or less:  Trot singer who is still going strong.

Maybe he should have been ranked because…  He still drives the trot scene of today.

He was not ranked because…  That does not mean much.

Song Chang-Sik (송창식), 1970

In 15 words or less:  One of the flag-bearers of the folk rock movement in the 1970s.

Maybe he should have been ranked because…  Some of his songs like Whale Hunt (고래사냥 ) are iconic.

He was not ranked because…  He did not have much influence otherwise, and quickly joined the softened folk rock trend in the late 1970s.

Whale Hunt by Song Chang-Sik

Yang Hee-Eun (양희은), 1971

In 15 words or less:  Perhaps the greatest female folk rock singer.

Maybe she should have been ranked because…  See above.

She was not ranked because…  Much of her success was fueled by Kim Min-Gi (김민기) who composed her songs. Kim deserves the rank.

Tae Jin-A (태진아), 1972

In 15 words or less:  The current face of Korean trot.

Maybe he should have been ranked because…  Right now, his name is the first to come up if one asked Koreans, “Name one trot singer.”

He was not ranked because…  The diminished influence of trot makes his influence accordingly small, and he did not exactly dominate when trot was the dominant genre. But this was a close call.

Tae Jin-A's live performance of Tears of Yours (당신의 눈물)

Hye Eun-Yi (혜은이), 1975

In 15 words or less:  Disco queen of the 1970s.

Maybe she should have been ranked because…  She went on tours in Southeast Asia, perhaps making her the first “Korean wave” star.

She was not ranked because…  Her peak was just not that special.

Lee Su-Man (이수만), 1975

In 15 words or less:  The progenitor of corporate bands.

Maybe he should have been ranked because…  H.O.T. BoA. DBSK. Super Junior. Girls’ Generation. Just a few groups that went through Lee’s production company, SM Entertainment.

He was not ranked because…  Close call, but Lee did pretty much nothing as an artist of his own right.

Love and Peace (사랑과 평화), 1978

In 15 words or less:  The pioneer of Korean funk.

Maybe they should have been ranked because…  Their experiments in funk and soul were innovative, and some of their songs like It’s Been a While (한동안 뜸했었지) are iconic.

They were not ranked because…  Fairly or not, right now their achievements are not valued as highly as other artists who were their contemporaries.

Shim Soo-Bong (심수봉), 1978

In 15 words or less:  Significant trot singer.

Maybe she should have been ranked because…  She had some iconic songs like Men are Ships, Women are Ports (남자는 배 여자는 항구).

She was not ranked because…  She was present at the scene when President/dictator Park Chung-Hee was assassinated. She was banned from public appearance for a long time since. Through no fault of her own, her music career was never the same.

Men are Ships, Women are Ports (남자는 배 여자는 항구) by Shim Soo-Bong, 
one of the most popular trot songs ever.

In Sooni (인순이), 1978

In 15 words or less:  Most famous mixed-race person in Korea until Hines Ward appeared.

Maybe she should have been ranked because…  As Korea is becoming more racially diverse, her influence in pop culture and Korean society at large is increasing.

She was not ranked because…  Even with recent highlights, she just did not have the public’s attention as much as the top 50.

Jeong Tae-Choon (정태춘), 1978

In 15 words or less:  Very popular folk rock singer who resisted the dictatorship until the bitter end.

Maybe he should have been ranked because…  Jeong led the charge on the censorship in music under the dictatorship, going so far as releasing an album without going through the government first – which may as well have been a death wish at the time.

He was not ranked because…  At the end of the day, his songs did not withstand the test of time, unlike other late 1970s/1980s artists who are ranked.

Peregrine Falcon (송골매), 1979

In 15 words or less:  The last flash of Korean rock’s golden age in the late 1980s.

Maybe they should have been ranked because…  Their songs still rock, and the leader Bae Cheol-Su (배철수) would go onto play a fairly significant role as a prominent radio DJ.

They were not ranked because…  Close call, but the bottom line is that their influence was not as great as those who are ranked.

Will Love Everything (모두 다 사랑하리) by Peregrine Falcon

Kim Hyeon-sik (김현식), 1980

In 15 words or less:  One of the most recognizable voices of the 1980s Korea.

Maybe he should have been ranked because…  See above. Also, a couple of his songs like I Had Loved (사랑했어요) and Like Rain, Like Music (비처럼 음악처럼) are very iconic.

He was not ranked because…  VERY VERY close call, but he did not live long enough (as he died in his early 30s,) and his influence was not big enough to overcome his short lifespan.

Like Rain, Like Music (비처럼 음악처럼) by Kim Hyun-Sik.

Kim Su-cheol (김수철), 1983

In 15 words or less:  Created a successful hybrid of traditional Korean music and rock.

Maybe he should have been ranked because…  See above. Also, arguably one of Korea’s best guitarists ever.

He was not ranked because…  He fully turned to creating traditional Korean music, and accordingly cut off his influence over pop culture.

Fire Engine (소방차), 1987

In 15 words or less:  Arguably, Korea’s first boy band.

Maybe they should have been ranked because…  See above.

They were not ranked because…  They disappeared with just a few hit songs with no lasting influence – not even in the field of boy bands.

Story of Last Night (어젯밤 이야기) by Fire Engine

(Warning: The Korean will not be responsible for gouging of your own eyes after watching the video.)

Park Nam-jeong (박남정), 1988

In 15 words or less:  One of the finest dancers in late 1980s Korea.

Maybe he should have been ranked because…  His signature dance moves are still recurring in current K-pop dances.

He was not ranked because…  He just wasn’t that influential.

Yoo Yeong-seok (유영석), 1988

In 15 words or less:  The man who figured out Korea’s ballad formula.

Maybe he should have been ranked because…  Churning out above-average ballad songs for 20 (!) years such that fellow musicians made a tribute album celebrating those 20 years probably should mean something.

He was not ranked because…  Close call, but there are others who figured out the formula just as well as Yoo did; unlike them, Yoo never had a period of utter domination.

On Days When Tears Well (눈물나는 날에는) by Yoo Young-Seok, 

as a part of a band called Blue Sky (푸른 하늘). 

This song is an excellent display of Korean ballad formula.

Lee Sang-Eun (이상은), 1989

In 15 words or less:  Probably the most talented female singer-songwriter in Korean folk rock.

Maybe she should have been ranked because…  Lee tossed away a very promising career to study more music abroad for four years. Then she came back and produced a series of incredibly diverse and innovative albums incorporating everything from jazz to Korean traditional music. That counts for something, right?

She was not ranked because…  Not when the ranking is based on influence. Lee was critically acclaimed, but was never a huge presence in the minds of Korean public. Nor did she leave a measurable imprint on the artists who followed her. She may have been (and is still) too far ahead of her time.

Music video of Bird (새) by Lee Sang-Eun

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

Ask a Korean! News: Get Your LiNK T-Shirts Here

Liberty in North Korea (LiNK), in addition to making a push to rescue 100 refugees starting 2010, is now offering a fashionable T-shirt whose proceeds will be donated entirely to addressing the humanitarian crisis in North Korea. Get them here.

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

Ask a Korean! Wiki: Streaming American Movies in Korea?

Dear Korean,

I came across your blog online. My wife and I live in Korea and we are trying to find out if there is a way to stream American movies in Korea. Do you know how?

Andy P.


Dear Andy,

The Korean does not live in Korea anymore and has no idea. Readers, any suggestions?

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

Arizona decided that Asians and Latinos need to carry around a passport whenever they enter their fine state.

Hilarious LA Times article about ajumma in Korea.

Who Are These People in Orange T-Shirts in the Streets of New York?

Dear Korean,

I was practicing violin today, minding my own business, when this strange Asian college kid flung open the door to my practice room and asked if I wanted to volunteer for the Bible Crusade. Apparently this Korean pastor travels around the world holding these sermon sessions, and recruit local musicians wherever they go. I refused because I was busy next week and the week after, but the kid was persistent. I finally managed to shoo him away.

In fact, I saw this Bible Crusade thing before. They are everywhere in New York somehow, wearing orange shirts, handing out flyers and talking about pastor Park Ock Soo. What the hell is this stuff?

And also, can you pick up some tofu on the way home? We (which means you) are making김치찌개 tonight. I love you!

The Korean Fiancée

The Korean loves you too honey. That’s why your question jumps ahead of people who had been waiting for more than a year. (This question is not made up, by the way. The Korean Fiancée actually called and demanded that the Korean answer this question right away.)

First, a full disclosure: The Korean is a Presbyterian, but he did not really attend any church in Korea. He only started attending church in the U.S.

At any rate, the Korean himself got curious as well. He is sure that other New York-based readers have seen this stuff as well. Mostly Asian (almost certainly Korean, based on their looks) flyer-givers in orange shirt, taking over corners and muttering something about “Bible Crusade” and pastor Ock-Soo Park. In fact, the Korean sees these guys about once in two weeks or so on the way to work. So what the hell is this?

 These are the kind of guys that the Korean is talking about. 

(Image was edited to protect privacy, although it was available via Google.) 
(Source withheld for obvious reasons.)

The simple answer is – these guys belong to an offshoot of Christianity that probably deserves the term “cult”. They are generally referred to in Korea as “Saviorists” (구원파), although their precise name is Association of Korean Christian Baptists (대한예수교침례회). In contrast, the name of the official Baptist organization is The Korea Baptist Convention. (기독교 한국 침례회) Christian Heresy Counseling Center, run by the Christian Council of Korea (which encompasses most Protestant faiths such as Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, etc.,) has decreed that Saviorists are heretics. (The website of the Heresy Counsel Center also has a fascinating list and articles about those Christian sects that it considers heretics.)

Apparently, Saviorist movement started in the 1960s, when an American missionary named Dick York made Mr. Park a pastor through an informal mission. Mr. Park did not attend any established seminary. According to Mr. Park, Mr. York was a part of Shield of Faith Mission International. (Mr. York’s homepage is here.) The distinctive point in the Saviorist creed is that once you are saved by Christ, you no longer need to repent for your sins – because you are saved already. And the flip side of that logic is that if you continue admitting that you are a sinner (something that most Christians do every Sunday) you make yourself a sinner.

But the Korean does not really care about the finer points of theology. (Actually he does, but this post is not about that.) The term “cult” is deserved based not on faith, but on actions. So what about Saviorists that makes the Korean comfortable to call them a cult? Certainly, hitting up practice rooms around New York to recruit “volunteer” musicians sounds like a cult. (The Korean Fiancée spoke with her musician friends, and apparently these people went as far out as SUNY Stony Brook to recruit musicians.) The aggressive flyering (not just in Korea, but in New York!) feels like a cult.

Also, searching on Naver (Korea’s equivalent to Yahoo!) about Park Ock-Soo results in accusations of being cult plastered with harsh rebuke against such accusation and creepy adulations for Park. Park also sued a pastor who criticized him as a heretic which lasted four years, all the way up to the Supreme Court of Korea (where Park lost.) Death threats against a person who quit the church probably count towards being a cult as well. (The person later wrote a book titled: “Why Are Park Ock-Soo, Lee Yo-Han and Yoo Byeong-Eon Heretics?”)

But most intriguingly, they are implicated in the most classic cult behavior – mass suicide.

How are the people in orange connected to one of the most sensational news stories in Korea of the late 1980s? More after the jump.

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

August 29, 1987.

The police was investigating a strange case. One couple in their 50s had seven children, all of whom worked at a company called Five Seas, Ltd. (오대양 주식회사). The company borrowed $500,000 (assuming $1 = KRW 1,000, a HUGE amount of money in 1987,) from the parents. Five Seas company only paid them the interest without paying the principal. When the parents went to the company to demand the money to be repaid, a number of company employees ganged up and physically assaulted them, causing serious injury.

Five Seas company represented itself as a mid-size company with an emphasis for employee welfare. Its business apparently was exporting hand-made crafts. The company also established day care center and nursing homes for its employees.

The police arrested eleven employees of the company, but a number of key employees ran off and disappeared. Later, the police received a tip that the employees were hiding in a company facility in Yong-In, Gyeonggi-do. On August 29, 1987, the police raided the facility. The police found 49 women and children at the facility, but not the top company officers they were looking for. But one female employee noticed that the ceiling of a room was caving in, unlike the way it was before. She notified another employee, and they climbed up to the attic on top of the room.

In the attic, there were 32 dead bodies. Most of them were found with their hands tied up and choked with a rope, and three men (presumably the ones who killed all others) hanged themselves.

(A lot of the description was lifted from the case file in the National Archives of Korea.)

This is now a distant memory in Korea, but in 1987 it was a sensation termed “Five Seas Incident” (오대양 사건). At the time, the police investigation revealed that Five Seas company was not a real company at all, but a cult led by a woman named Park Soon-Ja (who was one of the dead, along with her two sons and a daughter.) Park preached that the end was near, and they eventually had to offer themselves to god. Five Seas company recklessly borrowed money, both by posing as a legitimate company as well as by extorting its members. Five Seas cult ranked its members based on how much money they could bring into the cult, both with their own funds as well as whatever they could beg, borrow or steal.

Cult leader Park Soon-Ja (center) with her son (second from the left), 

after winning a prize in a handcraft contest. 
Click the source for many more pictures related to this case. (Source)

The police concluded that it was a mass suicide, but questions remained. Among them was: one of the key officers who practically ran the company (as far as it was posing as a real company) was missing. His whereabouts would be revealed four years later. On July 10, 1991, five former members of the Five Seas company came to the police, and confessed that prior to the mass suicide, they killed the missing key officer and one other person for “breaking the rules.” Sure enough, the police was able to recover two bodies from where the five led them. When asked why they came forward, they replied that their conscience compelled them to.

Former Five Seas members re-constructing the crime scene in 1991 (Source)

The police re-opened investigation to retrace the incident from the beginning and address all outstanding questions, such as: Was this really religiously motivated suicide, or did someone cause the death of the 32 for any other reason? Can we seriously believe that the murders who confessed that after four years because their conscience caught up to them? And why did the key officer of the Five Seas company have to be killed?

The last question provided the start of the thread that the police pursued. The key officer was running the company, which means he was in charge of the company’s money. The police reconstructed how much money the Five Seas company collected, and it was estimated to be up to $ 17 million (assuming $1 = KRW 1,000) – an astronomical sum in late 1980s Korea. Then the next logical question is: where did the money go?

This is where the link between the Five Seas company and the Saviorists began to emerge. Bulk of the money was traced to a company called Semo Corporation, led by a man named Yoo Byeong-Eon (유병언) whose side job was to be a pastor for a Saviorist church. (Does the name sound familiar?)

This was a big deal at the time, because Semo Corporation was a big company, mostly known for importing the tour cruise boats on the Han River in Seoul. (The Korean remembers riding those boats as well.) The investigation further revealed that Park Soon-Ja (the cult leader of the Five Seas) and most of her followers were originally from Yoo’s church.

With a crazy scenario like this, conspiracy theories were plenty. It was rumored that the 32 Five Seas cult people did not commit suicide, but was actually killed by Yoo’s henchmen because Five Seas was attracting unwanted attention and Yoo wanted to sever ties with them. There was also a rumor that a key official in the Chun Doo-Hwan dictatorship that ruled Korea in 1987 was a secret Saviorist, who helped the Semo Corporation grow and covered up the Five Seas’ ties to Semo when the suicide happened.

However, the investigation only concluded this much – Yoo was actually responsible for the former Five Seas murders to come forward, in order to distract the growing attention toward the tie between Five Seas and the Saviorist church. The 32 people indeed committed suicide, because there was no forensic evidence to suggest that they were murdered. However, Yoo was nonetheless indicted for fraud as he raised money from his followers in the Saviorist church for the purpose of doing “god’s work,” then proceeded to use that money for his company. He served four years in prison.

Pastor Park Ock-Soo (Source)

Now, back to the original point of this post – how does Park Ock-Soo fit into all this? As it turns out, like Park Ock-Soo, Yoo Byeong-Eon never attended a seminary either. Instead, Yoo also attended the makeshift school set up by Dick York and the Shield of Faith Mission International, alongside Park.

This is about as much as the Korean could gather from online research. No one knows for certain how deeply the Saviorists were involved in the Five Seas mass suicide (other than what is described above,) and it is not even clear whether Park Ock-Soo’s group is necessarily the same as Yoo Byeong-Eon’s group, since cults are usually a personality-driven affair. And of course, Park’s followers vigorously deny any such involvement by Park in Five Seas incident. Park himself stated that "Dick York is a great man. It would not be right if all of his students are criticized because one of them did wrong."

At any rate, this whole thing is simply full of intrigue.

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

Ask a Korean! News: Mr. Joo Seong-Ha on ROKS Cheon-An Sinking

First, a bit of a background. On March 26, ROKS Cheon-An, a patrol ship of the Republic of Korea Navy, sank when an explosion caused by an unidentified source split the ship in two. Thirty-eight seamen were killed, most of them stuck in the rear section of the ship that sank first. Eight more are missing and presumed dead. There has been much speculation as to the cause of the sinking up to this point. The investigative committee recently is nearly set on the conclusion that the ship was attacked by a torpedo.

The natural question is -- did North Korea attack the ship? If it did, how should South Korea respond? Mr. Joo Seong-Ha of Nambuk Story gave his opinion. The Koreans' translation is below.

Bombing North Korean Submarine Base Is Not A Retaliation

It appears that the sinking of the ship Cheon-An was likely committed by North Korea. The ship was almost certainly attacked by a torpedo; other than North Korea, there is no country that would come to the sea near Baeknyeong-do Island to fire torpedoes. [TK: northernmost point of South Korea.]

At this point, we need the answer to the question: What do we do if it is indeed North Korea's doing?

Some conservative organizations are already protesting and shouting out for retaliatory attack on North Korea's submarine bases. But such response is incorrect. While the purpose of the leftists who endeavored to distract the suspicion set on North Korea with all kinds of conspiracy theories and the purpose of the rightists who want to attack the submarine base may be different, they are the same to the extent that they are actually helping North Korea.

Personally, after the Cheon-An sank I suspected North Korea, particularly Kim Jong-Un. Having studied artillery maneuvers, he is nearly maniacally obsessed with the artillery accuracy. He also bought from China expensive equipments and materials in order to have outdoor fireworks. For some reason, this snot-nosed kid loves firing something. He is also responsible for the artillery fire in the West Sea [TK: Yellow Sea] earlier this year. Therefore, it is entirely possible for him to plan a secret attack with the help of a few generals, who sensed the power shift and tried to get in line in a hurry.

He may have reported to his father, but it is also entirely possible for him to act alone. Recall that when Kim Jong-Il himself was younger, he led the charge on Aung San terrorist attack or the KAL airplane bombing.

Some experts question what North Korea could strategically gain from such reckless act, but I believe that there is plenty to be gained. I will explain this further below. Most importantly, one must consider that North Korea is a society in which it is hard to say no when the kid gives his order. It is much better to follow orders than losing your head for insubordination.

The investigation is well under way, and I understand they discovered pieces of the projectile. While the result of the investigation will be revealed soon, I daresay at this point that it will not be easy to trace the pieces to North Korea. North Korea is not stupid. It must have envisioned a limited-scale battle for the worst case scenario, although it would have bet stronger that South Korea will not be able to retaliate. North Korea is not stupid enough to use a torpedo that had a tag, "Made in DPRK". If it were me, I would have imported an American torpedo and fired that.

People also question where the North Korean submarines were on the day of the incident, but I do not think North Korea would have used a submarine, which is constantly monitored by the United States. North Korea must have carried out this bold attack because it was confident that the attack will not be detected. I believe the likely source of such confidence is a new weapon or a method yet unknown to us. In other words, North Korea's method of attack may not be clarified based on what we already know about surprise attacks and about North Korea. Even if North Korea attacked with a traditional submarine, it would have created its own specific corridor through which, at certain time, place and manner, the submarine would not be detected by South Korean navy.

If we do succeed in finding that North Korea attacked, what should we do?

First of all, sitting tight and doing nothing turn us into idiots. It will boost the spirit of North Korean army; it would think, "Look! They cannot even make peep!" It is particularly dangerous to boost the morale of Kim Jong-Un, because one can never know what the kid drunk with success might do.

South Korean government will not be sitting tight at any rate. It is likely that it will begin an internationally coordinated sanctions, but the problem is that sanctions are not much of a danger for North Korea. North Korea has been living with sanctions so far. Also, it is possible that North Korea will become even more reckless with sanctions.

In particular, the submarine base attacks that the conservative groups advocate must not happen. The same with any other military base strike. That is a thought based on ignorance about North Korea. Kim Jong-Il or Kim Jong-Un absolutely does not care if the submarine base is attacked, or an entire battalion is annihilated. They are the same people who continued to squeeze even though millions of their people died from starvation.

In fact, they will love it if North Korea should be attacked, as it is very helpful to the regime. Right now, the public opinion in North Korea is at its worst due to the failed policy of currency reform. There is no better way to solidify the shaky internal opinions than creating a strong enemy externally. Hitting a submarine base will cause North Korea to unite as one. Even the most complaint-filled North Korean will surely cheer for the North Korean army when they witness a submarine base disappear. Unless we are ready to engage in a full-scale war and occupy Pyongyang, we must abandon the idea of a piddly attack on a submarine base.

From North Korea's perspective, they win if the incident is not traced back to them, and they do not lose much even if it is. From my own experience of living in North Korea, creating an external threat most certainly helps maintaining the system. If it becomes clear that North Korea is responsible, it reflects how little North Korea thinks of South Korea. In fact, the South Korean administrations so far have done countless acts that sufficiently enabled North Korea to think that way.

If this is North Korea's doing, we must retaliate. If we are to retaliate, we must strike where it hurts. If we do not have the mental fortitude to do so, we should not even start.

There is only one place at which North Korea hurts: the safety of Kim Jong-Il's family and confidants and by extension the maintenance of the authoritarian system. That is the only place. Any retaliation that does not point to this place is no retaliation at all. There is no way to extract a surrender from Kim Jong-Il other than making him bet his own life.

If this is North Korea's doing, I would announce that the price for the Cheon-An will be taken from no one other than Kim Jong-Il personally, and that Kim Jong-Il and his cronies should be ready to pay with their lives. Then, no matter what the cost, we need about three stealth bombers sitting at the airfield. If we cannot buy them, we must rent them from America. If America will not give them to us, we must get it from France or Russia. And we must make Kim Jong-Il afraid that no matter when, no matter where, he may personally be bombed. We must recall that Kim Jong-Il was always extremely sensitive whenever a U.S. stealth bomber visited South Korea.

Then I would announce that all pre-existing agreements between North and South Korea are canceled, and resume the propaganda battle through loudspeaker broadcasting at the DMZ. We must also resume the reconnaissance battle along the North Korea-China border. In this battle, North Korea cannot help but be at a disadvantage with their border stretching several thousand kilometers. Furthermore, South Korea has the money to pay for it. If North Korea engages in guerrilla attacks, South Korea must attack with its economy. For example, South Korea can cover North Korea's skies with government-made propaganda fliers using balloons.

It is not as if North Korea can begin a full-scale war. Kim Jong-Il knows full well that the day a full-scale war begins will be his funeral day. We must also demonstrate that we are ready for a full-scale war. Once Kim Jong-Il is eliminated, there will be no North Korean general stupid enough to challenge South Korea and the USFK to avenge for Kim Jong-Il. That is the limitation and the weakness of a one-man dictatorship.

But we cannot simply push North Korea to the brink without any compromise. We must leave just enough room for them to surrender, and must accept it when they come out with the white flag. That comports with South Korea's national interest.

What amount of surrender is appropriate? Perhaps the promise to maintain peace and the actual action that demonstrates that resolve? I think one possibility could be for the North and the South to mutually move the military forces -- including North Korea's long-range artillery -- about half the distance away from the Armistice Line. If the military is moved away from the Armistice Line, it is a win for South Korea whose capital is nearer to the line.

The problem is that the methods of retaliation listed above is only possible after it can be clearly proven without any shade of doubt that North Korea is responsible for the sinking of the Cheon-An. But at this point, I believe proving that will be significantly difficult. Whether or not to retaliate is the heavy burden that the Blue House must carry.

What a shame that the soldiers died. When the precious youths were discovered on the Cheon-An as cold bodies and their pictures appeared on the front pages the next day, when their stories were recounted, there would have been few who did not experience sorrow and pain in their hearts.

I wish to add just one thing to conclude. If you have experienced such sorrow and pain, please at this point think about the feelings of the defectors who lived their lives deceived and lost their parents, brothers, families. Yesterday, they again sent the rudimentary fliers filled in cheap plastic sack with helium toward North Korea. It may be the best available revenge that the defectors, living under surveillance and control in South Korea, can extract from Kim Jong-Il.

I am not asking for help. It is enough to stop the vulgar cursing and understand their hearts. Would you listlessly sit and watch when a man who killed your family arrogantly lives on in a place not too far? You too are a human with blood coursing through your body.

[TK: Many defector organizations are engaging in a propaganda campaign toward North Korea using balloons filled with dollar bills, food and literature. There are some South Koreans who criticize this tactic, because they believe it unnecessarily raises tension with North Korea.]

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

The Korean is off to his bachelor party in Vegas. Hopefully he will come back with all of his teeth intact....

-EDIT 4/19/2010- The trip was a blast, and the Korean returned with all of his teeth. His dignity, well, that's a different matter.

Traditional Family Feud?

Dear Korean,

What type of family feuds are there in Korea? Is there anything similar to the U.S. Hatfield-McCoy one?

Cactus McHarris,

Dear Cactus,

Not exactly like Hatfield-McCoy, but the Korean can think of one such family rivalry -- Andong Kim versus Poong'yang Cho. And with it, we have an interesting story of royal power and intrigue in the 18th century Korea that led to the significant weakening of the country, vulnerable to foreign invasions in the 19th and 20th century.

(The Korean previously wrote about Andong Kim, and what "Andong" in Andong Kim means, here.)

Andong Kim family house. (Source)

The year is 1800. Korea has been enjoying peace and prosperity for the last 100 years or so, thanks to the rule of two strong kings Young-jo and Jeong-jo. However, the trouble began to brew when Jeong-jo suddenly passed away at still-robust age of 49. There is a conspiracy theory that the king was poisoned to death by a partisan of noblemen, since the king was a strong-minded man who did not hesitate to kill off anyone who dared to oppose him. But there is no definite evidence to prove one way or the other.

The next king Soon-Jo was only 11 years old when he ascended to the throne, and was simply in no condition to exert power over the grown-up game of politics. Thus, a man named Kim Jo-Soon rose to prominence. Kim Jo-Soon, a leader of the Andong Kim clan, was the king's father-in-law. He established himself as a "National Elder" (국구 國舅) advising the king, and wielded the de facto royal authority as long as King Soon-Jo lived. Kim Jo-Soon appointed many of his family members as officials, and the Andong Kim family as a result came to dominate Korea's royal politics.

It is safe to say that King Soon-Jo was a weak-minded man who never had the chops to rule a country as a king. This was made quite evident that in 1827, when he was only 38 years old, King Soon-Jo voluntarily gave up his power to his 18-year-old son, Prince Hyo-Myeong. Prince Hyo-Myeong was married to a woman from the Poong'yang Cho family. Accordingly, Poong'yang Cho family began to rise in power, and Andong Kim family began to wane. Most significantly, Prince Hyo-Myeong sent Kim Jo-Soon away from Seoul as a governor of faraway Pyeong'an Province.

Family book (족보 "jokbo") of the Poong'yang Cho clan

Somehow, Prince Hyo-Myeong did not live long either -- he would pass away only three years after he took the power from King Soon-jo. King Soon-jo returned to the forefront, and with him the Andong Kims came back with a vengeance. But King Soon-jo would also die only four years later.

The next king was Heon-jong, who was mere eight years old (!) when he became the king. Heon-jong was the son of Prince Hyo-Myeong, which necessarily meant that he was under the thumb of his mother, a woman of Poong'yang Cho family. The king's mother in fact handled all royal business on behalf of the king for seven years, and Heon-jong could only exercise his own power at age 15. But King Heon-jong would also die young in 1849, at age 22.

The story of how the royal family found the next king would be humorous if it was not for the disastrous period of Korean history to which this succession of young kings dying early led. King Heon-jong died without a son, and the wife of King Soon-jo (i.e. mother of Prince Hyo-Myeong and grandmother of King Heon-jong) ordered a search for the new king.

Yi Won-Beom was a grandchild of King Jeong-jo's step brother. (Korean kings, like most kings in history, had multiple wives.) Although Yi Won-Beom belonged to the royal family, he did not enjoy any royal privilege because one of his many step brothers rebelled against the king and tried to take over the throne. Yi Won-Beom's entire family therefore was exiled to Ganghwa Island, and Yi Won-Beom lived like any other commoner. It is said that when the queen mother's grand envoy found the 18-year-old Yi Won-Beom to ascend to the throne, he was flying a kite with his friends.

Once in the royal court, Yi Won-Beom was dubbed as King Cheol-jong, and married an Andong Kim woman at the behest of King Soon-Jo's wife. King Soon-Jo's wife in fact took over the day-to-day royal duties for three years after King Cheol-jong ascended to the throne.

All the while, the power struggle between Andong Kim family and Poong'yang Cho family was raging. Because so many kings were young and powerless, people knew to appeal to the Andong Kim or Poong'yang Cho family to get to wealth and prosperity. The Confucian system of meritocracy broke down, and corruption became rampant. As a result, Korea decayed during the 100 years following King Jeong-jo's death. The next king after King Cheol-jong would go on to sign away most of Korea's sovereignty to Japan, and the next king would finally sign away the entire country.

Not exactly a quaint and ultimately harmless story like Hatfield-McCoy feud, but a sad story full of intrigue.

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

The Korean visited a Chinese lunch buffet nearby, and they were serving "Korean cabbage" -- some unrecognizable steamed cabbage with carrots and mushrooms. Barf.

Excellent video of Dr. Jim Yong Kim, president of Dartmouth College, talking about leadership. A great quote:

I said, "Dad, I'm so excited about my studies at Brown. I think I'm going to major in philosophy." So my father slowly turned the car and put it off to the side of the road, he looked back at me and said: "Hey, when you finish your residency, you can study anything you want." He said: "Look, you are a Chinaman" -- that's how he used to talk -- "You're a Chinaman. And you are not going to make it in this world if you study philosophy. If you think this country owes you anything, you're crazy. You have to get a skill."

On Leadership: Dartmouth College President Jim Yong Kim (Washington Post)

Korean American readers, don't hate your parents just because they want you to become doctors. Rightly or wrongly, they are trying to look out for you in the way they know.

Big thank you to Ashleen G. for sending the link.

Ask a Korean! News: Comparative High School Student Behavior

Absolutely fascinating article on Dong-A Ilbo, which is relaying a report from Yomiuri Shimbun of Japan:

Comparing the Studying Habits of Korea, China, Japan and the U.S.

          Korea              Japan           United States          China

"Korean students doze, Japanese students space out, American students eat or chat..."

According to the research by Japan's Education Research Center under the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) regarding in-school behaviors of Korea, Japan, the United States and China, this was the trend for each country, reported Yomiuri Shimbun on the 8th. This research was conducted with 6,200 high school students in four countries from summer through autumn of last year.

According to the research, 32.3 percent of Korean students selected "dozing off" as the "something I do all the time" or "something I do often", ranking second following Japanese students (45.1 percent). In contrast, American students and Chinese students picked the option at 20.8 percent and 4.7 percent respectively. Also, the ratio of Korean students who said "I take good notes during class" was 68.1 percent, lower than their counterparts in Japan (93.1 percent), China (90.1 percent) and America (89.1 percent). 16.3 percent of Korean students chose "I actively participate during class," much lower than the U.S. (51 percent) or China (46.2 percent).

On the other hand, 45.8 percent of Japanese students chose "I space out during class," ranking high alongside American students (59.4 percent). American students selected "I chat with friends during class" or "I snack during class" at the rate of 64.2 percent and 46.9 percent respectively, ranking the top among the four countries. America also ranked the highest in "I send emails or read a book that does not have to do with the class", with 38.9 percent of the students choosing it.

Meanwhile, Chinese students showed a contrast with Korean/American/Japanese students, participating actively and generally behaving well during class.

韓-日-美-中 고교생 수업태도 비교해 보니… (Dong-A Ilbo)

The article also attached the full chart:

The table is titled: "What do you during class?" The unit is percent, and responding students picked multiple choices.

The columns from the left are:  Korea, Japan, United States, China
The rows from the top are:
- I take good notes
- I doze off
- I chat with friends
- I snack
- I send emails or read other books
- I space out
- I actively participate in class

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

50 Most Influential K-Pop Artists Series: Introduction & Brief History

[Series Index]

It’s finally here – the much-anticipated 50 Most Influential K-Pop Artist Series.

This series will be about the influence on pop culture that K-pop artists had, not about who is the “greatest,” “most popular,” or “most innovative.” Of course an artist can be influential by being original, but originality alone is not the determinant of where a particular artist ranks. Rather, the rank of a particular artist will depend on the answer to this question: “How much influence did the artist(s) have on Korean pop culture?”

The influence can be both direct and indirect. The artist can be influential by being directly in the public consciousness for a decade, or by being influencing other artists who collectively changed the faces of Korean pop culture. In other words, this ranking has room for a short-lived innovator who was little known among Korean public, as long as the innovator influenced many other artists who in turn influenced Korean pop culture. This ranking also has room for a hugely popular K-pop artist whose music might be considered cheap and banal, as long as that popularity influenced Korean pop culture somehow.

Important part is that “influence” can be generated not simply from performing music, but also from other music-related activities. This is very significant for a number of people who are ranked, because they exerted influence on Korean pop culture as producers, composers, radio and TV show hosts, etc. However, for completely arbitrary reasons, the Korean limited the ranking to people who actually did some singing. (One can argue that the greatest Laker ever is the team owner Jerry Buss, but most people would think of Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Kobe Bryant first.)

Before we get into the actual rankings, some history lesson is in order because K-pop in the current form that is popular around the world (and therefore mostly known to AAK! readers) revolves around boy/girl bands. In fact, the word “K-pop” at this point may have come to mean only Korean boy/girl bands instead of Korean pop music in general. But for the purpose of this series, K-pop is used to mean “Korean popular music,” i.e. commercially recorded music for the purpose of being consumed by the general public, which would exclude Korean traditional music or classical music.

At any rate, K-pop is much, much more than boy/girl bands. It has a short but rich history that acutely reflects Korea’s modern history. In fact, the history of K-pop as a whole can be fascinating narrative of how cultural transplantations operate, and how creativity flowers even in the face of constricting forces – be it political, social, or commercial.

Brief History of K-Pop

K-Pop Genre Influence Chart

Here is what will be known as the Korean’s most important contribution to K-pop critique. Introducing… K-Pop Genre Influence Chart.

First, about the technical details. Each decade (except for 1960s) has three columns, which stands for “early,” “middle” and “late” decade. In other words, the first column under 1990s means “early 1990s.” There are 20 rows, which each row representing roughly 5 percent. So if “hard rock” in the late 1990s takes up two rows, it means that hard rock had about 10 percent influence out of all available Korean pop music at that time.

This chart is necessary in order to put a given artist’s place in history in perspective. The Korean can talk about the greatest Korean heavy metal band of the late 1980s, but what does that mean? How does the greatest Korean heavy metal band of the late 1980s compare to the greatest Korean rapper in early 2000s in terms of influence?

Of course, like everything else on this blog, this chart is arbitrary and capricious to the Korean’s whim. Everything on the chart is the Korean’s estimates and nothing scientific. Also, the six genres represented in the chart may be too broad and crude. For example, it does not include electronica/techno, and instead folds the genre into different broadly defined categories, mostly depending on the target audience.

BUT, that does not mean the chart is completely off the reservation. The Korean generally knows what he is talking about, and much thought and research (via Internet, books and asking the Korean’s friends) went into creating this chart. The Korean is confident that while people may quibble with details of the chart, the broad strokes of the chart are correct.

With the chart in front of us, let us dive into the brief history of K-pop by decade (with videos!), after the jump.

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



Pre-1960s

The chart starts at late 1960s because there was no truly meaningful Korean “pop culture” to speak of previous to that time. But Korea did have pop singers previous to 1960s. In the 1920s, Korean traditional singers who were trained in pansori (판소리) would sing popular Japanese songs in Korean. This is generally considered the first Korean “pop song” in the strictest definition (i.e., commercially recorded music for the purpose of being consumed by the general public.) These singers include Do Wol-Saek (도월색), Kim San-Wol (김산월) and Yoon Shim-Deok (윤심덕). Such singers like Nam In-Su (남인수) or Baeknyeonseol (백년설) who were hugely popular during the 1930s and 40s.

The dominant music form in that era is what is broadly called trot (트로트), represented with orange in the chart. Trot is a Japanese adaptation of Foxtrot, a dance form popular in the United States in the 1920s. Trot has a distinctive 1-2 beat that you can clearly hear underlying the song, presented the video below. (Among Koreans, trot is also derisively called ppong-jjak (뽕짝), which is an onomatopoeia mimicking the 1-2 beat.) The song is by Lee Meeja, called Lady Camellia (동백아가씨) – one of the most popular Korean trot songs ever.

Korea gained independence from the Imperial Japan’s rule in 1945, and underwent the devastating Korean War shortly afterward. Understandably, pop culture in Korea – what meager form of it there was prior to 1950s – was at a standstill for the better part of 1950s. But the American involvement in Korean War would go on to serve as a massive influence on Korean pop culture.

1960s

Elvis Presley popularized rock n’ roll in the late 1950s, and the same craze would eventually reach Korea in the form of USO tours for the American GIs stationed in Korea. Many Korean pop artists cut their teeth by playing for American soldiers stationed in Korea, and playing undercard in USO tours. Eventually, Korean pop artists began to develop popular rock music with a distinctive Korean flair. Here is an example of such song: Woman in the Rain (빗속의 여인) by Shin Joong-Hyeon (신중현), which is arguably Korea’s first rock song.

However, as the chart indicates, the dominance of trot will stay on for quite some time.

Rock music of 1960s is marked green in the chart, and labeled as “folk rock”. This is really a misnomer, because “folk rock” is a name that was coined in the 1970s to indicate the hippie-influenced, Beatles-like rock music, characterized by unadorned guitar sound. However, because Korean rock music in the 1960s did not really have its own name, the Korean labeled it with the trend that the 1960s Korean rock music eventually led to – especially because simply calling it “rock” would be misleading.

1970s

The Beatles and America’s hippie culture made its way to Korea, and just as well – because Korea in the 1970s had plenty to rebel against. The generation that was born after Korea’s independence and came of age in the 1970s made folk rock increasingly popular. Here is an example of a popular folk rock song: Morning Dew (아침이슬) by Kim Min-Gi (김민기), sung by another folk rock legend Yang Hee-Eun (양희은):

However, the gradual enrichment of Korean pop culture would come to an abrupt halt in mid-1970s. As the Park Chung-Hee dictatorship solidified its rule, it began cracking down on pop music that it considered “rebellious.” Many famous rockers were sent to prison with trumped up, half-true charges of “disturbing societal morals.” All albums had to be reviewed by the government prior to their release, and certain songs and albums were banned. Many non-Korean music was also banned. (This practice continued until 1996.) All albums also had to include at least one “wholesome song” (건전가요) that, for the most part, was a fatuous ode to Korea’s (and by extension the dictatorship’s) greatness. (This truly absurd practice continued until 1987.)

Many singers caved in and neutered their songs of any social content, and regressed into only singing dumb love songs. Some few, however, continued to resist and went so far as to release albums on their own without going through the government review, in the face of arrest and torture. Their songs would go on to become the anthems of resistance for those who fought against the dictatorship.

1980s

1970s ended with Park Chung-Hee’s death, but his dictatorship was swiftly replaced by another, which engaged in an oppression that was no less restrictive.

In the early 1980s, the continued softening of folk rock led to its logical conclusion and the birth of a new genre – what Koreans refer to as “ballad” (marked as yellow in the chart.) Ballad is a brand of soft rock/jazz/R&B that relies on simple tunes and, admittedly, a good singing voice. But ballad is more often made distinctive by its saccharine lyrics, singing almost exclusively about love in the mindless, desperate, Korean-drama-sort of way. Although this song was released in 1990, here is an archetypical example: You, Reflected in a Smile (미소 속에 비친 그대) by Shin Seung-Hoon (신승훈).

Because there is no sharp break between folk rock and ballad, it is difficult to say exactly when – or who – made the first jump into ballad. It is more the case that some folk rock singers had a few songs in their albums that were ballad-like, and eventually some artists began to engage exclusively in ballad. What is clear, however, is that by late 1980s, ballad came to be the most dominant force in Korean pop music, and the dominance lasted until early 1990s. Although its influence faded in recent times in such a way that few current K-pop artists can be labeled as “ballad singers,” many K-pop artists to this day include one or two tracks of ballad-like songs in their albums.

Waves and waves of democratization protests finally made the dictatorship capitulate, and in 1987 Korea had the first free election in decades (or ever, depending on who you ask.) Many of the most oppressive measures restricting artistic freedom were abolished. Consequently, Korean pop music began to experience more variety from the tired triumvirate of trot-folk rock-ballad. Hard rock such as heavy metal (indicated in blue in the chart) began to emerge, and generic dance music (indicated in pink in the chart) based on pretty faces and catchy tunes – influenced by Michael Jackson – began to take root as well.

1990s

One can make a strong argument that 1990s represented the golden age of K-pop. Freed from political oppression, the artists were finally exploring their creativity in many different genres. The stultifying commercialization of the 2000s was yet to come.

The twin pillars of “traditional” Korean pop music – trot and folk rock – nearly disappeared in 1990s. Trot was considered antiquated and struggled to produce a younger generation of artists that replaced the old. Folk rock transformed into either ballad or hard rock, and its form as it existed in 1970s was nearly gone.

Ballad continued its strong run all the way into mid-1990s, but the zeitgeist of 1990s is characterized by dance music. This song – I Know (난 알아요) by Seo Taiji (서태지) – marked the beginning of revolution:

Also significant is the emergence of rap and hip-hop in the 1990s (marked in red in the chart.) In all, by late 1990s Korean pop scene came to resemble its American counterpart – abundance of dance music, heart-tugging soft rock for some, rock and rap here and there.

2000s

The artistic scene of the 2000s did not necessarily change dramatically from 1990s. What did change dramatically, however, is what happened behind the scenes. For lack of a better word, music business in Korea became “corporate.” As it became apparent that there is big money to be made in music business, the process for discovering, evaluating, packaging and presenting talent has become standardized and commercialized. The leaders of management companies like SM Entertainment or JYP Entertainment were considered serious businessmen instead of free-flowing artists. Instead of merely guessing (or doing what they want, which is worse for business,) they gauged what people wanted in a sophisticated manner and packaged their talent accordingly. The result is something like this: Nobody by Wonder Girls.

With the backing of capital, these management companies were able to venture outside of Korea for the first time. And so, “K-pop” (in the narrower sense of the word) was born. New talents were shaped and molded specifically with the aim of appealing to non-Korean audience. For example, BoA (produced by SM Entertainment) was sent to Japan at age 12 so that she may learn Japanese; she later released albums in both Korean and Japanese, and topped the charts in both countries. Similarly produced K-pop artists would come to dominate Asian pop culture.

But innovative music lived on in Korea. Public’s taste grew and diversified, and groundbreaking bands like Clazziquai would peacefully co-exist with the likes of Girls’ Generation and 2PM. Especially as the generations who grew up with the unsophisticated music of the 1970s and 80s continued to consume culture – unlike their parents, who never truly grew up with any music – older K-pop songs would experience a renaissance, and significant K-pop artists of that era are receiving well-deserved retrospective on their achievements.

Now that we have gained some perspective, the next part of the series will get into the rankings.

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

Interesting article in Dong-A Ilbo -- Elementary, middle and high school in Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education will have increased emphasis on tests in essay format. One portion of the article was particularly interesting:

Education experts agree that "The easiest misunderstanding for the students to make is that they will no longer have to memorize." In fact, there are many cases in which  simply understanding the prompt will not be enough to give a specific answer, because it is difficult to score high without precisely expressing the key words in the answer. Experts note that while the main concept of a lesson must be clearly understood, the words that are used to express such concept must be accurately memorized as well.

교과서 학습목표 파악-논리적 생각정리 습관을 (Dong-A Ilbo)

Long live rote memorization!

Oh, and before anyone thinks Korean educational system produces uncreative robots, Min-Kyu Choi of Korea just won the Brit Insurance Design of the Year award. Last year's winner, apparently, was the Barack Obama HOPE poster.

Ask a Korean! Wiki: Can I Haz Some Solitude?

Dear Korean,

Do you have any advice as to where to find solitude in a country as crowded as Korea? As new citizens of this great country we are disturbed by the lack of privacy. Our apartment building is a constant hum of activity, i.e. residents coming and going, school children going to/from school, a nosy security guard watching the strange white people's every move. We live near a mountain and assumed that we could go hiking and escape the ever watchful eyes of an entire country that seems amazed by the presence of Americans. We were mistaken as the mountain was as crowded as the city streets. Entire groups of outdoor buffs fell over each other pointing and staring at the Americans. Some even literally stumbled and fell as they struggled to crane their necks to see us.

So, if we can't go to nature for solitude.....where do we go?

Agoraphobically Yours,

Jason


Dear Jason,

The Korean's recommendation would be one of the numerous small islands around Korea, which has nothing to see but nature and the ocean. The point is to visit an island that is NOT known as a tourist attraction. (In other words, places like Jeju-do or Ganghwa-do would not qualify.)

Readers, do you have any recommendations?

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

10 Books that Influenced the Korean's View of the World

The Korean will give the podium to Mr. Ross Douthat, a columnist for the New York Times:

More than a week ago, Tyler Cowen kicked off an irresistible blogospheric listing exercise: In this case, the theme is “10 books which have influenced your view of the world.” You can find Matthew Yglesias’s list here, Will Wilkinson’s list here, Matt Continetti’s here, and many more at this link. ... Note that these are not my 10 favorite books, nor the 10 best books I’ve ever read, but the books that quickly came to mind — I was following Cowen’s “go with your gut” admonition — as having shaped my writing or pushed me in one intellectual direction or another over the years. As an experiment, I’ve also tried listing them in rough chronological order, starting with the books that influenced me as a child and working my way upward (or downward, perhaps) toward adulthood.

The Influential Books Game (New York Times)

Irresistible is right, because the Korean's eyes lit up when he read this. Books are the Korean's life. A huge part of his identity is built around the books he read in his life; in fact, it is his lifelong ambition to build a library solely consisting of the books he read.

The Korean will follow Mr. Douthat's format: these are the books that quickly came to the Korean's mind, and they are listed in a chronological manner. The same caveats apply: these are not the Korean's 10 favorite books, nor the 10 best books the Korean has ever read. One more caveat: these are not the 10 books whose entire contents the Korean wholeheartedly endorse. Many of them have their own flaws, but that has nothing to do with their influence over the Korean's mind.

Because books are so personal to the Korean, he is now switching to first person. All ages are approximate.


1.  Fisher-Price Toy Catalog (Age 6)

Yes, I'm serious. Laugh all you want for being childish, but heck, I was a child. At around age 6 while living in Korea, I somehow came to have a spiffy catalog from America that listed all Fisher-Price toys that were available for mail-order. The catalog had all these incredible toys that neither I nor any of my friends have ever seen. I read that catalog so many times, imagining playing with those toys, until the catalog eventually disintegrated in my hands one day.

The catalog was the book that confirmed to me -- who was six, mind you -- that America must be the best and the greatest country in the world. Later when I came to America, my faith was validated.

2.  Far Countries, Near Countries (먼나라 이웃나라) by Rhie Won-Bok (이원복) (Age 10)

Far Countries, Near Countries is a comic book series that discusses the history and culture of a number of different European countries, such as the Netherlands, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, etc. (The series was later expanded to include Japan, United States, and Korea itself.) The series is still one of the best selling books in Korea to date.

This book (or books, really) was the first book that made me realize that the world is a lot bigger place than Korea, and there are people who are radically different from me -- different not just in language, but in manners of thought. I remember being particularly enamored by France and their radical (by Korean standards) individualism.

(Please, no snark about Rhie's trouble with AIPAC. That little episode does not even come close to diminishing the greatness of this series.)

3. Romance of Three Kingdoms (삼국지) by Luo Guanzhong (나관중) (Age 12)

Romance of Three Kingdoms is a historical novel written in 1522. Broadly speaking, the novel (set around 180~280 A.D.) describes the demise of Han Dynasty of China and the rise and fall of the three kingdoms that followed. It is heavy on the description of various heroic kings, lords and generals, and full of war, strategy, intrigue, loyalty and betrayal. The novel is a classic in China, Japan and Korea, and more or less a required reading for everyone.

This book gave me a sense of how to be a man -- how to be a good friend, fair leader and loyal subordinate. It was Confucianism, applied.

4.  Slam Dunk by Takehiko Inoue (Age 12)

Slam Dunk is a comic book series that follows a season of Shohoku High School basketball team, which a troublemaker Sakuragi Hanamichi joins without any basketball skills just so he can impress a pretty girl (who also happened to be the sister of the team captain.) The series tracks the growth and development of each of the teammates of the Shohoku HS basketball team, each one with their own issues and problems.

I had loved sports previous to reading Slam Dunk, but this book took my love to another level. It single-handedly created a legion of basketball fans among Koreans of my age, as it masterfully depicted everything beautiful about basketball. Given how much of my life is dedicated to my love of sports, and how much of my worldview is influenced by the lens of sports, Slam Dunk certain deserves a spot in the books that influenced my intellectual development.

(So let's temporarily forget about the fact that this book is about Japanese high school basketball where the main character is a 6' 3" power forward and the tallest player in the entire series is 6' 11", but somehow everyone in the series can do a flying dunk. OK?)

5.  Hurray to Barley Rice (꽁보리밥 만세) by Cho Gyu-Ik (조규익) (Age 15) 

Hurray to Barley Rice is a collection of essays by Prof. Cho Gyu-Ik, who happened to be my father's friend. This book is not well-known at all; in fact, I would be surprised if there are more than 50 people in the world who read this book. I only read it because it was given to me for free from Prof. Cho himself.

But I loved this book. The essays are honest and humorous illustrations of Prof. Cho's childhood and everyday life. Although my parents experienced dire poverty growing up as did every Korean in their generation, they hardly ever talked about their childhood and just how different Korea was back then. When I read the witty but poignant discussions of how young Prof. Cho would deal with hunger while waiting for the barley crop to grow and mature, I gained a new perspective on Korea, and on my parents.

6.  Taebaek Mountains (태백산맥) by Cho Jeong-Rae (조정래) (Age 16)

Taebaek Mountains is a historical novel written in 1983 that describes a village divided by the Korean War. It mostly centers around two brothers -- the older one, an idealist, joins the communist North and later dies as a communist guerrilla. The younger one, a street-wise thug with little morality, ends up taking part in eradicating the guerrillas of which his brother was a part.

Taebaek Mountains was the book that confirmed my gnawing sense that my school and my country were lying to me. The communist North Koreans were humans with human motivations, not the child-killing demons with horns as I had learned in school. The people who held the power in South Korea had unclean hands. The history I had learned was false, embellished, airbrushed. It was a lot to take. 

7.  Crime and Punishment/Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky (Age 17)

I read both books several times, both in Korean and in English as a part of my efforts to study English. At first I loved the story, then I began reflecting on the value of morality, and eventually, Christianity. I owe much of my sense of strong morality -- as opposed to the weak-kneed, relativist kind -- to Dostoevsky.

I recall reading somewhere that George Bernard Shaw said (I could be wrong, so don't quote me on this): "Even if all the Bibles in the world were to disappear tomorrow, we will still have Dostoevsky." I am a living proof of that quote (correct or not.) 

8.  Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley (Age 17)

This book gave me the race-consciousness that frankly is absent from many Asian Americans. I found Malcolm X to be a more compelling figure than Martin Luther King Jr., whom I thought was too much of a saint and not a real man. (Obviously I was wrong, but I was young and stupid.) Malcolm X's exceeding amount of anger and hate in his youth made the enlightenment and efforts toward conciliation later in his life even more compelling and human. Through this book, I learned the debt that I, along with all racial minorities of America and the world, owe to the Civil Rights Movement. 

9.  Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond (Age 20) 

Guns, Germs and Steel attempts to explain why Eurasian civilizations (including North Africa) have survived and conquered others, while attempting to refute the belief that Eurasian hegemony is due to any form of Eurasian intellectual, moral or inherent genetic superiority. Diamond argues that the gaps in power and technology between human societies originate in environmental differences, which are amplified by various positive feedback loops.

This book confirmed a strong conviction of mine, that history determines almost everything that happens today. History matters, and in ways that are almost imperceptible. (For example, Diamond explains that wild wheat took less time to evolve into a form that is cultivated today compared to wild corn -- which delayed the agricultural development of the Americas by a thousand years.) You ignore history at your own peril. 

10.  Wild Bill by Bruce Allen Murphy (Age 22)

Wild Bill is a biography of Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, who was a colorful personality to say the least. While being a hugely influential and successful Supreme Court justice (he is a very important figure in First Amendment jurisprudence and the progenitor of the environmental law,) Douglas has always wanted to be the president and lived a frustrated life, as he came close but failed multiple times with his career in politics. He also married four times -- quaint now, but a near social suicide in the 1960s and 70s -- with each wife younger and blonder than the previous.

The contours of Justice Douglas' life provided the things that I must emulate and the things I must avoid in order to be -- or, in the process of becoming -- successful. The book review by Richard Posner (himself a Court of Appeals judge) put it perfectly: "With biography and reportage becoming ever more candid and penetrating, we now know that a high percentage of successful and creative people are psychologically warped and morally challenged."

[Note: This post was up two days ago, but had to disappear for a bit for the April Fool's Day gag to work.]

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