Progressives need a policy clue about North Korea that doesn’t start with tedious talk about negotiations. Meetings are on again – boring, been there, done it to death! This isn’t news, it’s a sleeping aid.

Refugees aren’t all that exciting, either. 31 North Koreans got near Yeonpyong Island, or else no one would have cared. How many South Koreans care about the refugees already in South Korea?

Thirty-one North Korean people crossed the tense Yellow Sea border by boat and arrived on the frontline South Korean island of Yeonpyeong on Saturday in an apparent defection, a government source said Monday.

The North Koreans, consisting of 11 men and 20 women, arrived on Yeonpyeong Island by a fishing boat and were towed away to the western port city of Incheon, the source said on the condition of anonymity.

“Currently, a team of military and intelligence officials is interrogating the North Koreans on how they crossed the Yellow Sea border,” the source said. The source said the North Koreans are a “work group,” not family members.

A military official, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, said investigators are looking into the possibility that the North Koreans arrived on Yeonpyeong Island after drifting at sea.

There are no children among the North Koreans and they were believed to have left North Korea’s western port city of Nampo, about 60 kilometers southwest of Pyongyang, according to the military official.

They were spotted in thick fog as of 11:00 a.m. on Saturday by the South’s military stationed on Yeonpyeong, the official said.

“Given the circumstances so far, they might have been drifting after setting the wrong coordinates or losing power on their boat,” the military official said.

What could be more boring than avoiding a “work group” for the sake of tedious talks in Panmunjom?

Now, this looks a little more incendiary

The North Korean internet newspaper website “Daily NK”, relying on the words of a North Korean defector, reported that “on January 1st of this year in a city in Hamgyeongbuk-do a manager in his own home sets fire to the photo and on a piece of paper writes ‘Kim Jong-il is a son of a dog, and Kim Jong-un is his bastard child’… This video was produced to show the hostility towards and generally bad opinion of Kim Jong-il within North Korea.”

The defector said that “the video was made secretly at home, but the home appears to be a typical North Korean home… The photos are the kind sent to managers and not ordinary painters.”

The video shows the photos of Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-suk being set on fire, and then on a piece of paper it is written that “son of a dog Kim Jong-il, Kim Jong-un is shriveled and dead… he is your bastard son… You’ve never married, so now you come here and look for your son until you die? We don’t believe that.”

The defector who transmitted the video said that “this video was created to show the worsening state of public opinion in North Korea,” and the website said that it had published only still photographs because of concerns that its creator could be found by the North Korean authorities.

Still it all reeks of desperation, self-promotion, and, frankly, little more articulate than most of what adolescents would say, not a genuine movement for democracy. I doubt any such organized resistance does exist, lamentably. It infuriates me, but I fear Matthew Yglesias is right: North Korea is the world’s benchmark for evil.

Still, I think there’s a general lesson here. People sometimes look at something like the DPRK’s nuclear proliferation and conclude that there’s little the US can do to influence the behavior of other states short of threatening war. But while North Korea certainly highlights the limits of diplomacy in terms of coercing a profoundly determined actor, the right conclusion to draw is that most national leaders—even “bad guy” ones—don’t want their country to end up like North Korea.

That’s it – North Korea, the country even dictators despise? Do we keep North Korea around just to scare fledgling Hitlers enough to negotiate themselves into a better deal? At some point we need to stop jumping at news of videos and refugees and either get used to the stench of Beijing-style hegemony, or offer the Kim’s what the US seems to be willing to give every Marcos and Mubarak. Most South Korean are not willing to sacrifice their GNP for their crazy Northern cousins, and arguing so sounds about as fascist as calling for a crusade to invade the North. Just how much moral authority does the US think it has after it plans to anoint an intelligence chief in Egypt for president? How about transporting the Kim clan to Dokdo, and putting off the issue of disputed claims on ice until the family expires? Does it make you angry? So what!

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Filed under: Korea Tagged: dprk, kim jong il, north korea, panmunjom

(Source: unknown)

1) Street harassment and respect in Korea

After a terrible Korean New Year’s, It’s Daejeon, darling! wrote the following:

I am tired of feeling so fucking vulnerable in Korea. I am tired of inappropriate bosses and groups of drunk guys who yell awful things in the street. I am tired of guys who think No means Maybe! or Just keep trying! I’m tired of fighting with men about wearing condoms. I’m tired of the fucking cat-and-mouse game where even if they do wear one, you have the exhausting task of making sure they keep it on. I’m tired of men who don’t respect my personal space and try shit with me that they would never attempt with a Korean women. I’m tired of taxi drivers who hit on me and give me their business card, men who leer and intimidate me. I’m tired of feeling like there’s a significant group of people out there who don’t view me as an equal, and it’s because I’m foreign. I’m tired of people expecting that I should be fucking pleased by the “attention”. I’m tired of the people who pass this shit off as a “cultural difference”. I am tired of feeling so fucking vulnerable in Korea.

See here for a follow-up on the condoms issue, and here for more on groping and street harassment in Korea.

Update: a recent survey of 1500 men and women by the Korea Transport Institute and the Korean Women’s Development Institute found that “about 26 percent of the women said they experienced sexual harassment on buses and 21 percent on the subway, compared to 2.3 percent and 2.4 percent of men respectively”.

2) Hot sweaty Korean women

In his review of E. Taylor Atkins’ Primitive Selves: Koreana in the Japanese Colonial Gaze, 1910-1945 for the Japan Times, Gord Sellar noted that:

One of the things that grabbed me, while reading this book, was how much of the stuff Westerners in Korea complain about, that Japanese were complaining about back in the colonial era.

An example of this is clothing. Japanese anthropologists especially liked to complain about Koreans’ clothing, which if you will think back to the early 20th century was quite different from what most people wear today–it was mostly white ramie fiber clothing. Because it was all-white, it tended to get dirty quite easily, and as a result, according to those Japanese anthropologists…Koreans, especially women, tended to avoid any kind of exercise or physical activity as it presented the risk of dirtying their white clothing

And which reminded him of comments made by many expats including myself, that Korean women don’t tend to exercise very hard in gyms here. Granted, a lot can change in 100 years of course, but still: modern Korean attitudes to exercise may have deeper roots than we think (Source above: Gord Sellar).

3) Japan custody heartache for foreign fathers

From the BBC :

In Japan, the courts normally give custody to one parent after a marriage breakdown and it is up to that parent if they let the other parent have any access.

Many separating couples come to amicable agreements, but it is not unusual for one parent to be cut out of their children’s lives forever.

And the article gives the example of one foreign father who, as things stand, will effectively never see his children again, and the numbers of similar cases are growing with the rising number of marriages to foreigners.

But without any other evidence though, then observers should resist the temptation to assume that custody rulings are automatically made in favor of the Japanese parent. And although there is definite pressure for change, note that the system does have some logic, being based on “the expectation that families should largely work things out for themselves”, rather than “the state enforcing agreements on access and child-support payments” (source, right: BBC).

Does anybody have more information on how foreign parents usually fare, and/or know what the Korean system is like? And speaking of the latter, now 1 in 10 Korean marriages are with foreigners.

4) Cambodian wife cuts off husband’s member in Sunchang, Jeollabuk-do.

Yes, I think this will be the most clicked link this week too.

(Source)

5) “Kiss Rooms” raided because of their…advertising

As reported by Asian Correspondant:

Police have begun a harsh crackdown on “kiss rooms” and other varieties of prostitution that until now existed under legal loopholes.

The Ilsan Police Station in Gyeonggi-do announced on January 20 that it conducted a two-day crackdown on the 17th and 18th against kiss rooms and internet prostitution in Ilsan New City, and arrested without detention 32 people, including 38-year old “B”, the owner of a kiss room, on charges of [their advertising] violating the law on the protection of teenagers (청소년보호법).

As hinted at there, this seems to be very arbitrary use of the law, as it’s difficult to so much as step out of one’s apartment in Korea without coming across numerous advertisements for brothels. Or, indeed, peacefully sitting by the river in beautiful Jinju in September 2003, enjoying your last morning there before moving to Busan later that afternoon…only to be suddenly presented with this business card by a passing local:

6) South Korea: online haven for gays

When Suh Eun-pil was being harassed at school last year because of rumors he was gay, the internet was one of the few places he felt safe. One website in particular, called Rateen, provided a haven from critical eyes and verbal abuse.

Suh began visiting Rateen regularly, and six months later his life had completely changed — for the better.

On a recent Friday afternoon, Suh, 18, was surrounded by friends, everyone chatting and laughing. The small group of friends — all whom met through Rateen — was planning a social event for gay and lesbian teens, with games, prizes and special speakers…

Read the rest at globalpost.

7) Seo-hyeon (서현) of Girls’ Generation (소녀시대) revealed to be 9kg underweight

But this is no great surprise given the group’s 1500 calories a day dietary regime of course, and belies claims by their gym instructor that “otherwise they love snacks and eat well.”

Later, netizens worked out her exact weight to be 51kg (source, right).

8) The perils of trusting oppa

A hotshot young app developer, a great idea, and technology that lets you know where your loved ones are. What could possibly go wrong?

Plenty, as it turns out.

9) Korean dermatologists assume that unmarried women don’t have sex

More insights gained the hard way by It’s Daejeon, darling!:

The doctor…put me on Accutane. Hella cheaper than the states but the health oversight is SHITTY. Accutane carries a lot of serious health risks and I researched quite a bit on my own because the derm didn’t tell me dick about it. All he asked was, “Are you married?” No. “Then no problem. You can take this.” I’m guessing that question was to assess if there was any reason to warn me about the dangers of getting pregnant while on the drug. The US has the iPledge program, Korea has the ‘Let’s believe that unmarried women are practicing abstinence, so there’s no reason to discuss this and that’s that thankyouverymuch’ program.

For the record, she does mention that this may just be her dermatologist, but she’d probably agree – and have the experiences to back-up – that such attitudes exist throughout the Korean medical establishment. But note that this frequently doesn’t apply to foreign women though, whom hospital staff often assume that their visit is simply because they want the morning-after pill, and it can take a lot to convince them otherwise (see here and here as to why).

(Source)

10) The Piggy Dolls (피기돌스) finally explain their name, and why they don’t think it’s degrading

If this is the first you’ve heard of them though, first see #10 here and #8 here on why there’s such an interest in them.

Filed under: Korean Gender Reader Tagged: 기스방, Girls' Generation, 서현, 소녀시대, 피기돌스, Kiss Rooms, Piggy Dolls, Seo-hyeon

Today is Monday of our third week at work.  The first week we didn't do too much, mostly just observed the teachers who work here and learned our way around.  These past two weeks we've been spending working one-on-one with several students, giving English lessons more or less.  Work is going well, but it has taken some getting used to a new schedule and new responsibilities, just as with any new job.  We are getting the hang of things quickly though and soon enough we'll be ready to take over full teaching responsibilities in March.

We were talking the other night about finally feeling like we were getting out of "survival mode", meaning that we were finally feeling comfortable with getting around here and not feeling like total strangers in a strange land.  I thought I might write a little about what we did to survive so that anyone else doing something similar might find some information and those just reading along with our experiences can know what we are up to.

How we made it (much credit goes to our foreigner friends who were here before us and helped us get on our feet!):

1- First priority is communication.  The first thing we wanted to do was contact friends and family back in the States to let them know we'd made it.  We tried to use a calling card at the airport but realized we had not activated it prior to leaving the country so we were out of luck.  Luckily the recruiter had sent someone to pick us up and he gladly let us use his cell phone to call home quickly.

To prepare- make sure you know the country codes and calling procedures for calling your home country from South Korea.  All it takes is a quick google search.  For us, it is 007-001-area code-phone number.  It may be different for you depending on where you are calling.  Interestingly, we were able to send text messages home on our Verizon phones but couldn't call.  Finding a calling card is easy.  There are tiny stores around that advertise calling cards, just make sure to point to one on display and ask "United States?" or use the Korean word for American "Miguk?"  Ours has a big A+ written on it and gives 200 minutes for about 13,000 won (roughly $13).  The dialing instructions are easy from there.

If you are without internet, not to worry.  There is access to the internet nearly everywhere.  Most coffee shops (that are on nearly every block) offer wireless, though you may have to register through Alleh or Boingo to use the service.  A Cafe Bene near us offers free wireless and that is a pretty popular chain here.  If you are in a fairly populated area with a section of town with huge buildings around just look for the words "PC zone" or some variation of that.  Anywhere you see the letters PC there will be a huge room filled with computers and people on them, mostly smoking and drinking coffee and playing games.  But we paid 1,000 won for an hour on internet time (before we found the ethernet cord in our hotel room) and it was a quick easy way to get online.

While some may differ, I maintain that communication is key because staying in touch with our family and friends was very important.  Next most important?

2. Food.  The feeling of a full stomach is centrally related to feelings of comfort.  It took us a week or two to find some items that we enjoy eating.  Here are some tips on finding good food:

-Find a place that offers picture menus.  You can find these places around mostly by looking in the windows.  If you can see something you like and point to it, odds are you'll end up with something decent, although I once pointed to something that I thought looked good and it ended up being something with tentacles, so a picture menu with some English translations is best.

-The two places with the most basic and cheap food are Gimbap Changuk, an orange and black sign and they are everywhere.  Also the Hongchuni Gimbap (the character on the storefront is a strange looking woman with black hair and giant mouth) is a cheap place with gimbap and ramyan soup bowls)

-If you are like us, you are afraid of meat of dubious origins.  An easy to find, easy to order, and very cheap vegetarian meal is Dolsot Bibimbap.  A very basic steaming hot bowl of veggies and rice with an egg on top, does it get better than that?  It is always cheap, around 3,000 won, and it is easy to remember and say (I think of it as a Star Wars character).

- Nikki wrote earlier about other good foods we've found to eat so I won't belabor the point, but good, cheap, hot food is easily found, there is probably an eats place every 3 storefronts even in our smaller town of Jinyeong.  Also, Lotteria is a decent knockoff of American style fast food, burgers and fries.  If you happen upon a Honey Honey Hotdog they serve decent hotdogs with all sorts of toppings (picture and English translated menu).  There are also countless bakeries and cafes in which sandwiches, cakes, coffees, and cookies can be found.  Needles to say, for the famished traveler there will be no starving in Korea.

3.  Money-  I think that the rule is that banks will change currency on Fridays.  I could be wrong but that is what we did.  No Korean needed, we just walked up to the bank and showed our U.S. dollars and said "Won?" and they handled it from there.  The won is easy to exchange, it is nearly 1,000 won = $1, so that makes things easy while shopping.  We also discovered that the best way to get out cash from your U.S. bank account is to use an ATM at either a Family Mart (one on every block) or a 7-11, which are less popular but have easy to use ATMs.  The fee transaction at Family Mart was about 3,000 won, so it was nothing extreme.  We also have used our Visa card at many places with no issues.

4. Transportation- Taxis and buses and trains abound in Korea and they are cheap and easily accessible.   You can find a taxi by looking for the red light flashing in the windshield of a nice looking black Hyundai luxury car.  They are cheap and never ( at least so far in our limited time here) hesitate to pick up a foreigner.  I'd recommend grabbing a business card from your hotel or having a Korean person write down your address for you if you can, so it will be easy to let the driver where you want to go.  If you've got neither of those just memorize the biggest most popular place nearby and tell the driver that.  Buses are incredibly cheap and run frequently, just find the terminal and buy a ticket.  The only bus station I've really had experience with is the one in Busan, and it was easy.  It had English town names under the Korean names so it made buying tickets easy.

Well, that is all I can think of for now, and if there are any corrections you find please let me know so I can fix them!  If you have any other suggestions please leave a comment!!!!!

Among my collection of most contented moments in Korea are those standing on mountain tops. Not that I have been to that many mountain tops. Still. In Seoul, that mountain is Namsan. In Hangul, san (산) means mountain, nam (남) means south. South Mountain.


This day, Shane and I skip the slippery winter hike and hitch a ride on the cable car. We've heard from another expat friend of ours that this place is touristy and overrated, but we ignore the cynic and rise up to the peak just as the sun is going down. 


It's a spectacular view, touristy or not. Seoul crawls away from us in every direction, so far it boggles my mind thinking about the number of people inside those buildings. 




Up here, there's a beautiful brightly lit, brightly painted gazebo. Juxtaposed just a few yards away, a couple overpriced restaurants, a few stores selling more than the expected souvenirs: skin care products, teddy bears, and random junk I don't really need to buy at the top of a mountain. That's the thing about Korea, always contrasting, always contradicting, always smacking me in the face with its duality. "You are at the top of a mountain, in the middle of a park, with a spectacular view of a huge metropolis. Soak it in. Buy some stuff." I don't. Though I am strangely drawn to the neon, bell shaped Christmas tree display. Shane and I drool over the gourmet looking restaurant, just one row of seats wide, the entire wall a window overlooking southern Seoul.



Shane and I forgo the ride higher up on N Seoul Tower. It would be another 8,000 won each, and the view from where we are is grandiose without going any higher. The sky is overcast, but the air crisp and calm. Lights below us begin to turn the streets into illuminated rivers of traffic.