Live Chat - 8/9/2011

Live Chat -- Tonight at 10 p.m. EST

Let's chat tonight! Visit the blog at 10 p.m. EST tonight. See you then.

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

Another Person's Room

Lately, the Korean has been self-studying some Korean law as a hobby. He started with civil law (as opposed to criminal or constitutional law) because he figured it will be the most relevant to his practice. The progress is quite slow, and not just because the Korean is lazy and/or lacking for time. As the Korean explained previously, Korean law is under the Civil Law system, while American law is a typical Common Law system. As an American lawyer, the Korean is finding Korean law to be really, really different. The concepts that the Korean expects to exist just are not there. (For the lawyers and law student -- for example, agency is not a separate body of law, but is interspersed throughout the civil law.)

 Introduction to Civil Law by Yang Chang-Su

It's a bitch of a book.

(source)

But recently, the Korean had a breakthrough that made the study a lot more intuitive. He realized that both Korean law and American law are trying to deal with the same circumstances. In a commercial transaction, people often do not pay back what they borrowed. That is the same no matter where the transaction happens. Similarly, in criminal context, people often hit each other and steal other people's things. That is also the same no matter where it is. The big realization was that both Korea and America are basically facing the same kinds of problems, and Korean law and American law do not look all that different as long as one goes back to thinking about what problem they are trying to solve.

Learning Korean law as an American lawyer is like walking into another person's room. In his own room, the Korean keeps his underwear and socks in the same drawer. That might seem weird to some people, but it is not totally crazy. In fact, there is some semblance of logic to such storage. Both underwear and socks are two of the first things that the Korean would wear before getting out of the house. Both underwear and socks are small items that can get lost easily. Do they have to be kept together? No. But is keeping them together a possible solution to an everyday circumstance? Of course it is.

To the Korean, American law is his own room. Ultimately, the law is a system, and it is organized by a certain logic. Just as much as the Korean expects to find his socks in the same drawer as his underwear, he expects agency law to be a separate body of law and torts law to run parallel to criminal law.

For the Korean, studying Korean law is like entering into another person's room. The Korean expects a certain legal concept to accompany another, but often that does not happen -- as if entering the room to find a drawer holding underwear, but not socks. At first, the Korean's reaction was total dismay: "What? There is a whole body of obligations law, but not agency law? How does this make sense?" The Korean was basically asking: "Where are the socks? Why are they not next to the underwear? How does this make sense? How does this person live without socks?"

But of course, no one lives without socks. If the Korean looked hard enough, in some corner of that room, there will be socks. And when the Korean does find where the socks are, the placement of the socks in that particular location will eventually make sense. And the Korean will feel like a fool that he ever thought the person lived without socks. By the same token, Civil Law does not have to have a separate body of agency law. It is, after all, the legal system used by the vast majority of countries in the world, including advanced countries that have no problem maintaining law and order by being able to solve the same problem faced by Common Law countries. If it does not require a separate body of agency law to do that, that's fine.

This point is not limited to legal studies. It applies more broadly, to appreciating different cultures. In fact, the Korean is convinced that most people understand this idea on a certain level. In more than four years of writing this blog, the Korean has found, time and time again, that most non-Korean readers can comprehend even the most different and off-putting aspect of Korean culture as long as the Korean presents all the facts and circumstances. The closer to the ground level a post is, the more positive the readers' responses. Most people get it -- when given a certain circumstance, most people react in similar manner. As long as the circumstance is understood, the reaction to the circumstance can be understood also.

This insight also leads to a helpful lesson of just what "having an open mind to a different culture" really means. At bottom, it means having faith in the people who subscribe to the culture -- faith that these people are motivated by the same forces as we, that they are not stupid, irrational or innately predisposed to a certain temperament, that whatever they are doing will make sense once we understood the entire circumstance. It is the faith that somewhere in the room, there are socks, even though they might not be where you expect them to be.

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

How do Koreans refer to America?

Dear Korean,

How would the US have been referred to in everyday conversation? Surely Koreans have their own way of referring to the US other than the phonetics for "US" or "America."

Kapok Crusader

Indeed Koreans do have their own way of referring to the United States. It's 미국 (pronounced "mee-gook".) It is Korean pronunciation for the Chinese characters 美國 - the "beautiful country."

God bless 미국!

(source)

But this is where it gets interesting -- why "beautiful country"? And why Chinese? Does this apply to all countries?

The basic rule of referring to a country's name is the same rule that applies to all foreign words -- 외래어 표기법 (Transliteration Rules for Foreign Words) established by National Institute of Korean Language (국립 국어원.) In fact, the Korean already explained this once, about why Koreans call "Haiti" like "IT":

What comes into play here is Rule of Foreign Words Transliteration established by the National Institute of the Korean Language (국립국어원). Just like L'Academie francaise, NIKL governs all things related to Korean language, including how words that did not originate from Korea are supposed to be written. The overarching principle of the rule is to transliterate the words as they are pronounced in their language. Specifically, the Rule of Transliteration provides a chart that matches up the International Phonetic Alphabet to Korean characters, with more detailed rules in different languages such as English, Spanish, Japanese, French, etc.

The Korean likes this rule because it shows respect. Although Korean language sometimes has a separate name for a famous city in a foreign country -- for example, Sang-Hae (상해) for Shanghai (상하이) or  Dong-Kyeong (동경) for Tokyo (도쿄) -- under this rule, Koreans are supposed to write them as 상하이 and 도쿄, not as 상해 or 동경. (In contrast, English-speakers have no qualms for calling München as "Munich" or Praha as "Prague".) Calling a different country/culture with the name that they gave to themselves shows a lot more respect than calling with the name that we came up for them.

(By the way, did you notice Dominique Strauss-Kahn in that post? What a year he has had!)

So the default rule for a country name in Korean is to pronounce it as closely as the countrymen would pronounce. Then why 미국? Why not 아메리카 ("America")? That's because Rule 5 of the Transliteration Rules -- "For foreign words that have been already solidified in use, respect the common usage." Rule 5 sometimes feels like an exception that swallows the whole default rule, because the "solidified" foreign words are usually the most commonly used ones. In other words, the exceptions are so prominent that it becomes easy to forget the rule.

At any rate, it is no surprise that the names of the countries that interact the most with Korea fall under Rule 5.  Most of these names originate from the 19th century, when Koreans finally realized that the world had more countries that their own, China and Japan. For the newly discovered countries (from Korea's perspective,) Korea borrowed the Chinese transliteration convention -- that is, take the prominent sounds of a name, pick the Chinese characters with good meanings that match the sound, and add the character 國 to signify that it is a country. The Chinese called America 美國 -- pronounced "mei-guo", taking "mei" from "aMErica". (Yes, it is quite arbitrary.) Koreans borrowed the word 美國, and simply pronounced it their own way -- thus, Koreans refer to America as 미국.

Other countries who fall under Rule 5? At this point, China (중국 -- "joong-gook", not "zhong-guo"), Japan (일본 -- "il-bon", not "nippon") and Germany (독일 -- "dok-il", not "deutschland") are pretty much it. (-EDIT 8/6/2011- There are also Australia (호주 -- "ho-ju"), England (영국 -- "yeong-gook") and Thailand (태국 -- "tae-gook"). Clearly the Korean should have given this post another day and thought about it harder.) In older Korean books and among older Koreans, one can catch glimpses of the words like 불란서 (佛蘭西) instead of 프랑스 (France) or 구라파 (歐羅巴) instead of 유럽 (Europe). But those uses are rapidly fading away.

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

50 Most Influential K-Pop Artists: 27. BoA

[Series Index]

27.  BoA [보아]

Years of Activity:  2000-present

Discography:
(Regular albums only. BoA has 47 singles not listed here.)

Regular Albums: Korea

Id; Peace B (2000)
Don't Start Now - Jumping into the World (2001)
No. 1 (2002)
Miracle (2002)
Atlantis Princess (2003)
Shine We are (2003)
My Name (2004)
Girls on Top (2005)
Hurricane Venus (2010)
Copy & Paste (2010)

Regular Albums: Japan
Listen to My Heart (2004)
Valenti (2004)
Love & Honesty (2004)
Outgrow (2006)
Made in 20 (2007)
The Face (2008)
Identity (2010)

Regular Albums: United States
Boa (2009)
Boa Deluxe (2009)

Representative Song:  Atlantis Princess [아틀란티스 소녀] from Atlantis Princess

아틀란티스 소녀
Atlantis Princess

저 먼 바다 끝엔 뭐가 있을까
What is at the end of that faraway ocean
다른 무언가 세상과는 먼 얘기
Something different, a story faraway from the world
구름 위로 올라가면 보일까
Will I see if I get on top of the clouds
천사와 나팔부는 아이들
Angels and children playing trumpets
숲속 어디엔가 귀를 대보면
Put my ears against somewhere in the forest
오직 내게만 작게 들려오는 목소리
A small voice that only I can hear
꿈을 꾸는 듯이 날아가 볼까
Shall I fly like I am dreaming
저기 높은 곳 아무도 없는 세계
That high place, the world with nobody
그렇게도 많던 질문과 풀리지 못한 나의 수많은 얘기가
Those many questions and so many unresolved stories of mine
돌아보고 서면 언제부턴가 나도 몰래 잊고있던 나만의 비밀
Looking back, those secrets of mine that even I forgot some time
(이제 정말) 왜이래 나 이제 커버린 걸까
(Now really) Why is this, am I now grown up
(이제 정말) 뭔가 잃어버린 기억
(Now really) The memories lost somehow
(지금 내맘) 이젠 나의 그 작은 소망과 꿈을 잃지 않기를 저 하늘 속에 속삭일래
(Now my heart) Now I will whisper into the sky that I won't lose my little hope and dream

까만 밤하늘에 밝게 빛나던 별들 가운데
Among the bright lit stars in the black night sky
나 태어난 곳 있을까
Is there a place where I was born
나는 지구인과 다른 곳에서 내려 온 거라 믿고 싶기도 했어
Sometimes I wanted to believe that I came down from somewhere different from Earthlings.
그렇게도 많던 질문과 풀리지 못한 나의 수많은 얘기가
Those many questions and so many unresolved stories of mine
돌아보고 서면 언제부턴가 나도 몰래 잊고있던 나만의 비밀
Looking back, those secrets of mine that even I forgot some time
(이제 정말) 왜이래 나 이제 커버린 걸까
(Now really) Why is this, am I now grown up
(이제 정말) 뭔가 잃어버린 기억
(Now really) The memories lost somehow
(지금 내맘) 이젠 나의 그 작은 소망과 꿈을 잃지 않기를 저 하늘 속에 속삭일래
(Now my heart) Now I will whisper into the sky that I won't lose my little hope and dream

(이제 정말) 왜이래 나 이제 커버린 걸까
(Now really) Why is this, am I now grown up
(이제 정말) 뭔가 잃어버린 기억
(Now really) The memories lost somehow
(지금 내맘) 이젠 나의 그 작은 소망과 꿈을 잃지 않기를 저 하늘 속에 속삭일래
(Now my heart) Now I will whisper into the sky that I won't lose my little hope and dream

너무나도 좋은 향기와 바람이 나에게로 다가와
Such nice scent and wind come to me
어느샌가 나도 모르게 가만히 들려오는 작은 속삭임
The little whisper that can be quietly heard
귀를 기울이고 불러보세요
Listen closely and try calling it
다시 찾게 될거예요 잊혀진 기억
You will find again the lost memories
(생각해봐) 나 이제 더 이상 놓치진 않아
(Think about it) I won't lose it any more
(소중했던) 나의 잃어버린 기억
(Precious) Lost memories of mine

(지금 내맘) 이젠 나의 그 작은 소망과 꿈을 잃지 않기를 저 하늘 속에 속삭일래
(Now my heart) Now I will whisper into the sky that I won't lose my little hope and dream
(이제 정말) 왜이래 나 이제 커버린 걸까
(Now really) Why is this, am I now grown up
(이제 정말) 뭔가 잃어버린 기억
(Now really) The memories lost somehow
(지금 내맘) 이젠 나의 그 작은 소망과 꿈을 잃지 않기를 저 하늘 속에 기도할래
(Now my heart) Now I will pray into the sky that I won't lose my little hope and dream

Translation Note:  어느샌가 나도 모르게 가만히 들려오는 작은 속삭임 was weirdly difficult. Why must all English sentences have a subject? It ruins the poetry, such as it is in a teeny bopper song.

In 15 Words or Less:  First step toward K-pop's global domination.

Maybe she should be ranked higher because...  The first Korean pop artist to top the charts in both Korea and Japan. Doesn't that count for more?

Maybe she should be ranked lower because...  One can search long and hard for something, anything original in her music, and will come up with nothing.

Why is this artist important?
The emergence of BoA may well be the point where the business of K-pop went from the bush leagues that cobbled together some small gains to the huge, global corporate activity that involved careful investment and long-term planning.

Lee Su-Man, head of SM Entertainment, discovered BoA in 1998, when she was not yet 12. From the very beginning, BoA was ordained to be the pan-Asian star -- something that K-pop at that time simply did not have. She was first sent to Japan for two years to learn Japanese, famously staying at a Japanese news anchor's house in order to learn the most professional pronunciation of Japanese. Two years later, she debuted in both Korea and Japan nearly simultaneously.

BoA's debut in Korea actually did not go so well, but she drew a stronger following in Japan. In fact, she became huge in Japan, as she topped the charts with her second regular album in 2004 that sold over a million copies. She then made a jump back to Korea, and became the first artist who topped the charts in Korea and Japan at the same time.

To be sure, there are others before her who underwent a rigorous training at young age, seemingly destined for a stardom. But BoA was the first case in which a corporation deliberated invested a large sum of money specifically for an international career. Given the influence of K-pop in Japan today, BoA's influence cannot be discounted.

Interesting trivia:  Although the name "BoA" screams "stage name," her real name is Kwon Bo-Ah [권보아].

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

Open for Business

Dear Korean,

If I were to throw a party for a group of Korean's celebrating a new business venture, how would I impress them?

Cassius
Boston, USA

First of all, always remember the Foreigner Rule: Koreans generally do not expect non-Koreans to know anything about Korea. This means demonstrating even just a little bit of familiarity about Korean language and customs go a long way toward impressing Koreans. Including Korean food in the party, for example, is always a good idea.

It is also common to give gifts to a new business owner. Don't get so hung up on the "cultural" thing here. As always, the best gift is a thoughtful one that addresses the need, regardless of culture. But if you want to show off your familiarity with Korean customs, a flower pot or a bouquet is usually the gift of choice for a new business owner. Usually bouquets are given on a large stand, with a well-wishing messages printed on the ribbons. Like this:

This is a bouquet sent from Freestyle (a rap group) to Haha

(former co-host of Infinite Challenge) to celebrate the opening of

Haha's new restaurant. The ribbon says, from the right:

"Screw your business, I got my own stuff to worry about."

"Congratulations for the Release."

"The Seventh Album from Freestyle is available everywhere."

This is obviously a joke. Please do not try with your Korean business partner.

(source)

Alternatively, an orchid is also rather popular. For those who are horticulturally challenged, a typical orchid given as gifts in Korea looks like this:

If you live in Korea, you might have seen

these plants a lot in offices.

(source)

Of course, Korean lettering on the ribbons would make the gift all the more impressive. With that, best of luck for all the new business owners.

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

IMF Bailout of Korea During East Asian Financial Crisis (Part III)

[Series Index]


Part III continues Wangkon936's discussion about IMF's bailout of Korea in 1997. In Part IV, the Korean will discuss the social reaction to the bailout.

*                *                *

After the East Asian Economic Crisis

So, at the 10^th anniversary of the crisis in 2008, many asked if Asia was better off after IMF involvement.  Yes and no.  Countries like Thailand may have regressed.  Although the IMF itself will say that Thai banks and regulatory controls are stronger than they have ever been, the Thai economy's average GDP growth rate of 7-8% has not fully recovered.  Real GDP per capita, after adjusting for inflation, has seen little improvement as well from 1996 highs.  Korea has done better, and in part this was due to the IMF mandated reforms.  Admittedly, some reforms were instituted as a direct and indirect result of the IMF's transformative conditions they had placed on Korea in 1997.  One can even argue that the IMF induced reforms didn't do enough, if one is to think that Korea's export led, high capital expenditure conglomerate oriented strategy is not a long term solution to its growth. 

Overall, the region has more stable regional macroeconomic policies, particularly through the accumulation of substantial foreign reserves.  Gone are the days where Korea's foreign reserves were just a dubious $25 billion.  They are now more than ten times that size.  Second, the transparency of policies has increased, as reflected in the routine disclosure of external debt and reserve information by Asian authorities.  Third, corporate governance has improved through the reform of regulatory and supervisory systems.

However, the IMF's methodology of using aspects of “shock therapy” as part of their prescription has alienated many of the poorer and middle income economies.  A good example is Latin America.  As mentioned before, the IMF did not have a good reputation within the region when it provided help to Argentina in 1991.  So, when Argentina decided to pay off its last remaining $9.8 billion to the IMF in 2006, Venezuela committed $2.5 billion to that total. Thus, Argentina found an alternative source to help fulfill their obligations to the IMF.  Now six Latin American countries, including Argentina and Venezuela have formed a new lending institution called the "Bank of the South." Although many details remain to be worked out, when one looks at the rhetoric surrounding the establishment of the bank, the intention is clearly to form an alternative to the IMF, particularly when they need a lender of last resort.

(More after the jump)

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

Within Asia too there is a nascent belief that perhaps the region needs it's own lender of last resort as well.  The Asian countries took steps in this direction by establishing a regional stabilization fund with the Chiang Mai Initiative that began in 2000. This includes a collection of bilateral currency swap arrangements among the ASEAN countries plus China, Japan, and South Korea. Under these arrangements, these countries would be able to access at least some foreign exchange reserves in the event of a liquidity or currency devaluation crisis of the type that was experienced in 1997. Although the initiative is still tied to the IMF when a country needs to swap a very large amount of currency, many economists believe that it will further weaken the region's link to the IMF.  So far, the thirteen Asian countries agreed, in principle, to pool part of their over $3 trillion of reserves for a stabilization fund.  These currency swap arrangements helped Korea avoid being a full participant of the “Great Recession” of 2008.

What's Next for the IMF?

The sum of all this is that organizations like the IMF (and the World Bank) are losing relevance and influence internationally.  However, institutions like the IMF have a lot to offer the rest of the world.  Regional and global economic and financial crisis need international cooperation to limit their scope and severity and prevent wider contagion.  Furthermore, the IMF, built upon Western institutions, traditions, economic philosophies, etc. have the potential to spread more sophisticated economic and financial best practices to developing countries and that could be conducive to more transparent governments, pluralistic societies, the spread of democratic ideals and sustainable economic growth rates, particularly when a country is moving towards a knowledge-based economy.  Many economists and policy makers still believe this to be true, despite the mistake that were made by Western institutions in creating the subprime crisis in 2008. 

The Bank of the South in Latin America, that is seeking to replace some functions of IMF, has been established by left leaning governments of that region (particularly Uruguay, Paraguay, Ecuador, and especially Venezuela).  It is especially telling that the headquarters of the Bank of the South will be in the capital of Venezuela, Caracas.  Furthermore, President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela has been its most vocal supporter.  It's unclear what the future will bring, but many believe that this will likely mean a situation where Latin American countries may find it easier to shift more to the left to policies that are less capitalistic and more socialistic in nature.  It may also mean a shift away from Latin American interest in Western institutions and development models, particularly among the poorer countries of that region. 

The IMF was established with well-meaning ideals after difficult lessons learned from the Great Depression and the tremendous amount of rebuilding required after WWII.  However, the way it has pursued its policies and given help to developing countries have alienated many of the regions and nations they have professed to help.  This has hurt their ultimate mandate of being the go to authoritative institution to provide economic and financial stability, particularly to nations that can't defend themselves in times of economic difficulty.

The good news is that it appears the IMF is not oblivious to the harsh feelings and memories in the countries they have helped.  Even the IMF would say it would have done things differently in both Asia and Latin America.   For example, back in 1997, the IMF criticized Malaysia for pegging its currency to the U.S. dollar to protect it from currency speculators, but now it is generally viewed as a wise decision.  With Korea, it has also been admitted that their recommendation to tighten credit and raise interest rates was not the right move either.  Yet, for the larger question of what the IMF did in Korea was “fair” or “unfair” is more difficult to answer and open to interpretation.  The majority of knowledgeable analysts would say that the IMF's handling of preventing and responding to the unfolding crisis in Korea (and elsewhere) was not efficient and suboptimal.  The IMF has clearly taken some of those lessons and applied them in Russia in 1998 and Spain and Greece in 2010.  However, it is the belief of this author that Korea was not a completely innocent party to it's own economic difficulties, given it's fondness of overloading on debt to fuel growth.

The world has changed quite a bit since 1997.  There is more globalized trade and many of the countries that were squarely in the “developing” camp are moving to become wealthier nations, rivaling what was considered G-7 countries 15 years ago.  Nations like Brazil in Latin America and both China and India in Asia are becoming more influential in the world economy.  Together with Russia, they form the so-called BRIC countries and now have 14.2% voting power in the IMF, close to the 15% necessary to exercise a veto.  Even a middle sized country like Korea, now a G-20 nation, is the 16^th largest voting power in the IMF.  At the very least, Korea could be an important swing voter in the IMF.  Thus, today Korea is not a country the IMF can easily dictate terms to if it ever needs the organization's help again. 

Understanding the increased importance of Korea in the region, in July 2010 the IMF co-hosted a conference in Korea a few months before the G-20 summit that was also to be held in said country.  In the conference the IMF admitted that they had made mistakes in Korea, and elsewhere, and looked to mend fences.  Although they said that difficult choices had to be made and they had to be made quickly in an unfolding economic crisis, in hindsight it was possible to do so without forcing so much austerity to the general population.  However, forgiveness does not come easy, especially in a nation like Korea.  That will be the subject of part IV.

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