Suicidal Innocence and Mandatory Culture

Mayor Commits Suicide "To Prove Innocence"

Just read this Korea Times article.

The mayor of Yangsan, Oh Geun-sup, was found dead in his apartment Friday after what police are ruling a suicide. He hanged himself, apparently.

This happened while he is in the midst of a bribery scandal.

We've seen this all before. We can't forget former President Roh Moo-hyun who recently killed himself in the middle of a corruption scandal. Roh prided himself on being a "clean" politician.

As far as Oh's vice-mayor is concerned, Oh's suicide proves Oh's innocence.

From the story:

'"Personally, I believe that the mayor took his own life to express his sentiment toward the investigation and prove his innocence," Vice Mayor Ahn Gi-sup said during a press conference shortly after the mayor's body was transferred to the Busan University Hospital in Yangsan. Ahn will serve as the acting mayor.'

Once again, I might need to ask forgiveness for sounding callous and skeptical, but when it's common for politicians to kill themselves while involved in scandal, I have a hard time believing that's evidence of innocence.

I realize this is all part of that "saving face" crap we hear so much about. But I don't buy it. If a guy commits a crime and then kills himself to avoid paying the consequences, I think he's a coward.

Possible Mandatory Culture Course

A story by "Number 1 Foreigner Hater" Kang Shin-who in The Korea Times says a Grand National Party representative has submitted a bill in the hopes of providing mandatory culture courses.

From the story:

'The reaction came after Rep. Cho Jeon-hyuk of the governing Grand National Party (GNP) submitted a bill aimed at providing a mandatory course on Korean culture to native English speakers at elementary and secondary schools as well as private language institutes. '

Shin-who writes that some native speakers spoke negatively about the plan. He's proven in the past that his reporting can't be trusted. The only shining light in this story is that he did take the time to interview Association for English Teachers in Korea President Greg Dolezal, who spoke positively about the approach and would like to provide input into the program.

I have no problem with a culture course, but I think it's much more vital to get a language course. It's hard enough to get people to study the language when society has made it clear that it's not totally necessary. But then to ask native speakers to pay for courses makes it so much less likely.

I study every day at my own cost. I buy my books, notebooks and other supplies that I need. And it's certainly possible to find a language exchange group for free. But any instruction with a certified teacher will cost money.

I have done quite well for myself studying without a teacher or organized course, and everyone else could do the same if they're willing to put in the hours.

If we're going to be forced into a mandatory course, why not make it a language course with culture sprinkled in here and there to highlight examples of what we're learning. I think it would kill both birds with one stone, and be much more useful to the people giving up their free time to gain a bit of knowledge.

Hambak Family Number 1

Our head teacher welcoming us in front of a banner that says "Congratulations Hambak Family

The principal threw a big party Wednesday for all the teachers at a super-fancy Chinese restaurant. Apparently, we're the number one school in Incheon. That's what we were told. And I'm not questioning it.

Anyway, we had our own private room and about 50 teachers were there. It was really awesome. The food was nothing special. In fact, I are very little of it. I just wasn't that into it. The Koreans just loved it, though, so it didn't go to waste.

Geoff, Katie and Ridia

The key to the night was clearly the traditional Korean wine. Katie described it as tasting like Big Macs. That's pretty appropriate. It just wasn't quite as good as a Big Mac.

Anyway, we drank a TON of it. Vice Principal Kim went around to every table and was giving entire glasses of the stuff. He then proceeded to request the "one shot." So we had to chug that bad boy.

Making the night more awesome was the karaoke machine they brought in. It came complete with a live drummer and guitar/saxophone player. These guys were awesome playing along to the songs.

I started my singing out with "Johnny B. Goode." I was so "goode" that the other teacher started chanting encore. So I rocked their socks clean off with Rainism by Rain, in Korean. Eat that, Hambak.

Rocking out some Queen

As the night went on, we got progressively drunker. Geoff maintained his cool as always. But Katie and I were just going bonkers. We went around to every table, introduced ourselves to everyone and did subsequent shots with nearly everyone.

Celebrating with Principal Kim

It was great. We were singing and dancing and meeting all the teachers. We had a really fun time.

Of course, I did get back up for another trip around the karaoke floor. I did "Crazy Little Thing Called Love." And later still, Katie and I belted out "Hey Jude."

Ridia and Julie along with many other teachers didn't hold up so well. There was a lot of passing out and yaking. But the Americans and Canadians rocked the house hard.

Not surprisingly, everyone was feeling a bit under the weather. But we braved the day, knowing only Friday separates us from the glorious weekend.

Check out the rest of the pics here!

G20, China and Weddings

G20

The G20 Summit, which took place most recently near my hometown in Pittsburgh, will be hosted this coming year in Seoul. This story in The Korea Herald says that the plan is to discuss post-crisis management for the global economy. Of course, that's assuming we've reached the "post" part of the crisis.

Also, if all goes according to plan, the meeting will be held on an island in the middle of the Han River.

China Threatens US Status

A story in The Chosun Ilbo reminds us all that the United States is no longer the only game in town for South Korea. Though they've been economic partners since the end of the Korean War, China is trying to assert its dominance in the global market by jumping into South Korea.

From the story:

'The U.S. remains the chief political and military ally of South Korea, but "vital issues such as a trade agreement and North Korea's atom bombs have been sidelined in the U.S., while China plays a greater role in both Koreas," the daily said.

It quoted Andrew Gilholm, a senior analyst at British international security consultancy Control Risks, as saying, "The long-term idea is that Seoul will ultimately drift more towards Beijing's orbit, although less so under President Lee Myung-bak."'

Considering logistics, as well as the rise of China's economy compared to the fall of the US economy, it would really come as no surprise for China to take over as the main trading partner to South Korea. China's influence in the area is really coming on as they look to surpass the US within the next 20 or so years.

This has no immediate impact on the US, but as the dollar remains in an unstable position, losing another major economic partner can't be good news for the States.

Korean Weddings

A story in The New York Times discusses the traditional and current thinking behind giving gifts at a Korean wedding. Traditionally, the gift is an envelope of cash. Considering that weddings are so expensive here, the wedding cash gift is generally used toward paying off that hefty price tag.

But this story reports that some people are moving away from that tradition of giant guest lists and loads of cash gifts in favor of smaller, more intimate events to mark their special days.

From the story:

'Before entering a Korean wedding hall, guests normally line up to hand their offerings to a cashier, who opens the envelopes and registers the givers’ names, and the amounts of the gifts, in a velvet-covered ledger. The practice is such a given that wedding invitations sometimes include bank account numbers so people who cannot attend can still send money. ...

But in recent months, the wedding cash and the habit of inviting a large crowd of guests have been criticized as wasteful at best, and a conduit for vote-buying and bribery at worst.'

This story is certainly an interesting look at culture. My second weekend in Korea, I attended a Korean wedding. I got their expecting something similar to any wedding I've ever seen. But the Korean wedding is a rowdy affair, with people milling in and out during the ceremony, and shouting and cheering throughout. It's certainly not similar to the quiet weddings in America where the focus is on the bride and her gown.

I really enjoyed it. There was a lot of energy and excitement in the room.

The wedding was held at a big wedding hall, where many weddings were scheduled for the day. After the wedding, we went into a giant common buffet hall, where all the wedding parties in the building gathered for what we would consider the reception. There wasn't dancing, but there was a ton of food and alcohol.

I didn't give the cash gift. The Korean I was with gave on behalf of us, and told us not to worry, since we were foreigners there. It was a pretty cool experience.

This story says that it's the younger generation that is trying to change the rules of the weddings and white envelopes of cash.

While that by itself is interesting, I think it points to a larger picture of the swiftly-moving generational changes that Koreans are facing on an almost-daily basis.

Check the story out for a good bit of cultural knowledge.

Hambak What?

That's what we're asking ourselves every day.

The third graders from Mun Nam Elementary have been a lot of fun. I have been doing a lesson on family, and the kids are doing well at it. We have to figure out a good full-class game for younger kids, though. The bingo seems to be a bit difficult for enough of them that it is tough to do.

We have Hambak second graders starting on Tuesday. I'm looking forward to getting back to our own students. I think I'll do a lesson on colors and shapes. That should be right around their level.

Unfortunately, the principal and vice principal are still giving Ridia a hard time and she is still thinking about quitting. Things are running smoothly within the center, but I know how stressed she is from those guys.

The Korean school system.

She called it "the Korean way." That is, they had a problem with her, so they told everyone except her. And that is my experience from my last academy as well. It's like they use workplace gossip to get a person rather than just being straightforward. It makes me mad that a truly good teacher/person is getting abused like this. We do NOT want her to leave at all.

Unfortunately, we have no power in any of this. Can I go to the principal and vice principal and talk about how great she is? Maybe. But she wouldn't want me to do that. I just don't know what to do.

Good news from the Jungchul front is that Hye Yun is done after this week. She'll get a little rest and travel a bit before finding a new job. She wants to be a flight attendant. Congrats to her on her impending Jungchul departure!

I met with Hye Yun, Barry, Josh and Veronica (another Jungchul teacher) on Friday in Guworldong. We went to Damotori, our usual place, and had a really great time. On Saturday, I stayed closed to home. Popper, Schwaby and I played some darts and then hung in Popper's place with Geoff and Colin. All in all it was a nice, restful weekend.

This week will be insane as we have 25 classes to teach. No breaks this week thanks to scheduling conflicts between our school and the other elementary schools we teach. Frustrating for us, but I'm keeping things in perspective this year. Don't get too caught up in it.

Although Friday was tough because my afternoon first and second graders are just so difficult to teach. There are 10 of them, and they can't sit still or pay attention at all. I'm doing my best, but it feels more like babysitting than teaching. That sucks. I think that age might just be a bit too young for foreign language study. Even just vocabulary stuff is very hard for them. Once they get to third- and fourth-grade, I find that they're way better. I love my afternoon classes for every student after the first and second graders. I have to figure something out.

Maybe this will be the week.

Massive Debt, Anti-English Spectrum, H1N1 and Soccer

It has been a monumentally busy week at Hambak, but more on that later. Here are a few news stories that interested me throughout the week.

Massive Debt

A story in the Korea Times says that Koreans are at a record low when it comes to the ability to repay debt.

I've been telling this to my friends in America since I came here. Knowing that the average salary is not ridiculously high, I always wondered how it was that many of the Koreans I know live what I consider to be a pretty darn good lifestyle.

And possessions aside, Korean parents have to pay not only for a house, but also for their childrens' university tabs. Now add those possessions (like cars, gigantic TVs, etc.) and it it baffling how they afford it.

Well, this article is saying that they can't afford it, and now will have a very difficult time paying back all the debt that has piled onto them.


I'm not really in the know when it comes to prices of things. I've never asked an adult Korean how much a house or car is. I don't want to seem rude. And I certainly have never asked any Korean adults what their salary might be.

So I end up asking the Koreans my age things like that. Yes, I know they're adults, but they live with their parents still, so they have very little concept of prices. Thanks, Korean Dad!

I asked one of my co-teachers how much a small house would be on average, and she told me the equivalent of $1 million. Now, I'm sure there are places that expensive. But I want to know the average place. There's no way the majority of Koreans could afford a $1 million house. I guess that's where the debt comes in.

The article says that other industrialized nations like the US and Great Britain are improving in their debt payment capability. But don't let that get you too optimistic.

This story from Yahoo Finance says that the US will not recover too quickly from "a truly extraordinary slump."

Anti-English Spectrum ... again

I haven't heard anything about these guys in a month or so, but someone wrote a story in the Korea Herald this week. The Anti-English Spectrum is a forum on Naver, Korea's number 1 search engine, that claims to be working to protect Korea from foreign teachers. Naver denied a request to remove the group's site this week, claiming that the group doesn't violate any rules or regulations.

From my point of view, they're basically just an Internet-based hate group.

From the story:

'Since its inception, the group has increasingly pursued the deportation of "illegal and problem teachers." As for who should be deported exactly, it looks for fake degree holders, drug users and HIV/AIDS-infected individuals. If those don't work, their target could be accused of "violating the Korean moral code."'

How some racist Koreans view native-speaking teachers.

Members of the group have been known to use racially-charged insults. Some have even gone as far as, admittedly, following and photographing foreigners to try and catch them breaking any laws. These guys are basically douchers.

What does all this mean for your average native-speaking teacher? Not too much, really. While the Anti-English Spectrum members are a tiny thorn in our side, they haven't substantially affected us in anyway.

Movements have been formed to try to combat their Internet-based hate spewing, but I doubt anything will happen. Naver certainly won't remove the group, and the government isn't going to step in on the side of English teachers. That's a guarantee.

I suppose you could file this one in the "annoying jerks" folder.

Now, my take on this is a little light, but check out my k-blogging pals Brian and Chris (also linked on the left side of this page) to get their takes on it. They go more in-depth and have links to some others who are also on top of this.


China Dealing With H1N1

I haven't seen too much in the news in the past week or so on Korea and H1N1. But here's a story from the AP about China's struggle with the illness.

It seems health officials think that China's extreme reactions, including mass quarantines and school closures, won't do a darn thing to control the flu.

It's interesting this story is about China, because in the last couple of months, Korea's been handling things in a similar fashion. Waves of native-speaking teachers have been quarantined after getting off the plane.

While many are just told not to come in for their first week of classes, others were actually put up in motels immediately after arrival.

Chinese health workers doing some exams.

As many of you know, my school was closed down for a week to try to prevent the further spread of the flu, after roughly 25 students were diagnosed with it.

Of course, all the teachers still had to go into work, so it may have slowed the sickness among the students, but if any teacher had it, it certainly would still be hopping around the school.

I was told that we have mandatory H1N1 vaccinations this coming week at Hambak. I don't want one at all, and I will try to avoid it, but I might not have a choice. More on that later.

World Cup Rankings

So all 32 teams have solidified their places in qualifying after this week's games. That includes a dubious handball that led to a goal for France by my favorite player ever, Thierry Henry. I feel bad for Ireland on that one. But I still love Henry. Maybe I'm a horrible person.

Anyway, a Yahoo columnist put out his rankings for the 32-team field.

The US is sitting in 14th on the list. That's probably pretty accurate. If they're at full strength and were a little more consistent, they could beat anyone in the tournament. They proved that at the Confederations Cup earlier this year by beating Egypt, Spain and taking Brazil to the limit before going down. Injuries are a major issue for the team right now and their depth is certainly being tested.

The South Koreans didn't get a very promising ranking. They're all the way down at 28, accompanied by "Not good enough at this level." Yikes.

The North Koreans fared even worse. They are ranked at 32 with "Expect some heavy defeats."

Koreans Head To America and A Collective Groan From The Western World

Koreans Flocking to American Universities

Let's start out with a story about higher learning, rather than a dumbing down of the world. According to an article in The Korea Times, Korean students make up the third largest source of foreign students in American Universities.

That stat doesn't surprise me at all. With the way Koreans push traveling to foreign, English-speaking countries, it's no shock that they make up such a huge chunk of the foreign students in the United States of America.

South Koreans follow only Indians and Chinese in student population.

While I was visiting my brother in New York City during my time at home, we met a bunch of Columbia University students through his roommate, Chris, who is in a graduate program there.

One of the girls I met told me that Koreans make up the largest number of foreign students at the university. That's a theory that the article would certainly suggest is true.

Dokdo Island (maybe not Takeshima?) ... Again

All those nerds driving an advertising bus across the country and taking out full page ads in major New York City newspapers must be beside themselves with joy right now.

An article in The Korea Times (not a hugely reliable source) claims that a lawmaker obtained a post-war document from a Japanese official that marks Dokdo Islands as foreign territory.


From the article:

'The document, obtained by South Korean lawmaker Park Sun-young from a Japanese official, shows the Japanese finance ministry proclaimed in Notification 654 on Aug. 15, 1946 that "Jukdo," the former name for the islets, is foreign territory. The document was compiled to settle Japanese companies' debts after Tokyo surrendered in the war.'

I'm guessing that every westerner in Korea who read this article just growned, mostly with an apathetic tone, I'm sure. We have to hear about Dokdo all the time. It's annoying as anything here.

"Do you know Dokdo?" That's one of the most common questions you'll hear from a Korean. They're all ready to tell you that the tiny rocks, inhabited by only one fisherman, his wife and some police, are an important source of resources. Maybe I don't know much about resources.


Anyway, Korea is not known for journalistic integrity in any way. The article doesn't say a thing about how the document was obtained and doesn't say which Japanese official gave away the biggest source of annoyance the Japanese have been using against the Koreans in recent years.

We'll see if anything more comes out of this. I'm actually surprised there weren't parties in the streets at the admittance that Dokdo Islands are considered foreign territory to Japan. Of course, it doesn't say who this foreign territory belongs to, does it? Oh well. I'm sure the Koreans will let us know.

Koreans Struggle With Racial Identities

There's a great article in the New York Times about how Koreans are struggling with their homogeneous race society.

Check out the article here. (An ID and password are possibly required. It's free to do. If you don't want to sign up, you can't read the story, maybe. Sorry.)

On July 10, an Indian professor was riding with a Korean female colleague on the bus when an older Korean man started making racist remarks toward him. It turned into a big deal and the Korean media latched onto it.

The man used the typical "I'm old and drunk" defense, but prosecutors are pushing ahead to press charges of contempt against the Korean man. It's the first time such charges have been applied to a racial discrimination case.

The Indian man, Bonogit Hussain, has faced discrimination like that every day in Korea. So he's basically used to it.

And while Westerners from places like America and Canada face some discrimination and taunts, it's nothing like other Asians face in the country. Many Koreans view these incoming Asians like Many redneck Americans view Mexicans.

The other Asians come in and work as cheap labor in farms or factories. This sprouts cries of, "They're trying to take our jobs," from the blue-collar Koreans.

From the story:

'South Korea, a country where until recently people were taught to take pride in their nation’s “ethnic homogeneity” and where the words “skin color” and “peach” are synonymous, is struggling to embrace a new reality. In just the past seven years, the number of foreign residents has doubled, to 1.2 million, even as the country’s population of 48.7 million is expected to drop sharply in coming decades because of its low birth rate.

Many of the foreigners come here to toil at sea or on farms or in factories, providing cheap labor in jobs shunned by South Koreans. Southeast Asian women marry rural farmers who cannot find South Korean brides. People from English-speaking countries find jobs teaching English in a society obsessed with learning the language from native speakers.

For most South Koreans, globalization has largely meant increasing exports or going abroad to study. But now that it is also bringing an influx of foreigners into a society where 42 percent of respondents in a 2008 survey said they had never once spoken with a foreigner, South Koreans are learning to adjust — often uncomfortably.'

I've faced discrimination in my time, but it's more in the form of jealousy and spiteful envy rather than a hatred. I feel really sorry for people from other Asian countries who come here, work hard and send money back to their family, only to be faced with these threats every day.

Hye Yun and I never had any real problems. The biggest time we faced and taunts is when Korean guys got drunk and all of a sudden grew a set of balls. But if they were confronted, they usually deployed the "I'm strong and want to fight this American but my girlfriend can easily hold me back" strategy.

I don't know if it is the same for these foreigners from other Asian or even African countries.

The main issue is that Koreans are in a real identity crisis. Many young children still give the brainwashed one-bloodline spiel to the western teachers. But most Koreans I know who are university-age or older, usually just say the one-bloodline thing as a joke. People around my age know times are changing, and most seem happy to go along for the ride.

In America, and certainly in Canada, we're very much used to the mixes of people. They call America a "melting pot." That says all you need to know. Our countries certainly dealt with racism historically and still have embarrassing spots to deal with. Only time and generational changes can get people past it. Even that won't always be enough.

But until the majority of Koreans can look at other people as equals, there will still be major problems here.

So the government is currently trying to pass an anti-discrimination law. Critics argue about how to settle on what is considered discrimination. It's a sticky time and will certainly lead to more WWE-style fights in the national assembly.

While it would be nice if people just started getting along, a law in South Korea may be necessary until people's views change for the better.