On Political Correctness

[What does this have to do with Korea? Nothing! As TK have said time and again: this blog is his, and he will write about whatever the hell he damn well pleases in this space.]

(Source. H/T to Rob.)

Criticism of political correctness has one valid point, which is: insistence of political correctness often degenerates into what may be called "Magic Word Racism." Because you used the Word X, you are a terrible person who must be disqualified from public interaction. In this space, I have repeatedly noted the danger of Magic Word Racism. It is simply no way to fight racism. Love, generosity and willingness to forgive are the correct foundations to combat racism, not more recrimination and bitterness.

One way to view the intra-liberal divide regarding political correctness is: whether liberalism is to be considered procedural or substantive. That is to say: one may consider liberalism to be (1) a set of procedural rules and be agnostic about the results of following such rules, or (2) a set of desired outcomes, and the procedure designed to arrive at those outcomes. These two points, of course, are archetypes that stand as poles. Our real-world attitude will usually fall somewhere in between.

I personally stand closer to (2), because I simply cannot bring myself to be agnostic about the result. Oliver Wendell Holmes famously said: "If my fellow citizens want to go to Hell I will help them. It’s my job." There is some merit to this saying if it is specifically limited to the role of judges, in certain circumstances. But applied generally, I find this attitude--which is a re-statement of position (1)--to be unserious. It smacks of the juvenile desire to feel principled and smart by claiming to the world, "consequences be damned!" Such proclamation is juvenile because it comes the type of people who rarely suffer the consequences--like, say, a white male editor of an elite New York magazine. 

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

That Horizontal Mambo Before the First Dance

Dear Korean,

Is it acceptable for Korean people that a girl has sexual activities before she gets married?

Karina Z.

Short answer: yes.

(source)

In a 2012 survey with young single Koreans, 82.9 percent of men and 66.3 percent of women considered virginity before marriage unnecessary. This represents a massive sea change: in a 1982 survey, 78 percent of women college students said one must keep virginity before marrying. 

The 1982 survey, with the sample consisting of students from Seoul National, Yonsei, Korea and Ewha Universities, is a story in itself. Only 3 percent of women college students had any sexual experience. Only 20 percent of the young women ever kissed. (The same number for male students is 33 percent and 60 percent, respectively.) Only 50 percent of the men said they would marry a woman who had sex previous to marriage; only 10 percent of the women said they would marry a man who had sex previous to marriage. Only 28.9 percent of all respondents said it would be ok to have sex after being engaged to be married--which is somehow a huge jump from only a year previous. In 1981, only 7.4 percent of the respondents said it would be acceptable to have sex after having been engaged.

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

Let's Play Criminals

Dear Korean,

In the movie Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, there was a scene where the main character had to reenact her crimes while cuffed and masked, with a slew of photographers around her. I was wondering if there is any real reason behind this. Is it simply for dramatic effect or does it serve a real purpose?

Curious White Girl

If you don't know what Curious White Girl is talking about, it looks like this:

Serial murder Kang Ho-soon, reenacting the disfigurement and burial of his victims. c. 2009
(source)

It is not necessarily typical, although not unusual, for Korean police to have the alleged criminal re-enact his crime at the site of the crime. Reenactment is a part of the police's field investigation, and the police can technically order any criminal defendant to participate in the reenactment. But since reenactment costs time and police budget, the police tends to save reenactments for significant cases, like murder. 

As a result, crime reenactment does resemble a media circus, with a legion of cameras trying to capture the most sensational moment. The picture above is the criminal reenactment of Kang Ho-soon, a serial killer who murdered at least 10 women between 2005 and 2008. At the time, Kang's crime caused such a sensation that many Koreans who shared the same name filed a court petition for name change. The picture above captures a chilling moment: Kang reenacting how he severed the digits of his victims before burying them, to make identification more difficult. For his crimes, Kang was sentenced to death.

Yet despite the sensationalism, crime reenactments do serve real purposes in criminal justice. The most important purpose, counter-intuitively, is the protection of the defendant who made a confession. By reenacting the crime, the police can prove to the court (through the prosecutor) that the defendant's confession is not falsely obtained, because the confession is consistent with the reenactment which gives a plausible account as to how the crime actually, physically happened. Reenactments can also reveal additional evidence, which may serve as a basis for additional crimes and/or crimes of a higher degree.

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

Leftovers from 2014: Serial

Until very recently, I did not even know Serial was a podcast. TK is an extremely visually inclined person, and very poor auditory learner. He hates listening to disembodied spoken words. He hates radio talk shows just as much as he hates talking on the phone.

All this is to say: TK has absolutely nothing to say about Serial. Stop sending questions about it.

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

Leftovers from 2014: The Nut Gate

Macademia advertisement poking fun at the "nut rage."
(source)

- This is probably not true, but TK will say it anyway: this may be the only news story that was driven mostly by the headline-maker's need for a pun. "Nut rage," "nut gate," "nutjob." We have seen every headline conceivable.

- In all seriousness, however, this was a really big deal in Korea, eliciting reactions that were almost disproportionate to the actual event. To be sure, what happened was definitely outrageous. But there have been more outrageous corporate misdeeds before--ones that actually caused loss of lives rather than a 20 minute flight delay. (One example here.) Yet this incident was the top-line headliner domestic news for two to three weeks straight. Why?

There may be some external factors. The prosecution has been blatantly leaking sensational investigative materials, possibly to help President Park Geun-hye's sagging approval rate. That Cho Hyeon-ah is a woman probably makes her a relatively easier figure to hate.

But TK thinks there is more: an interesting lesson about politics that is not obvious on its face. Perhaps nut gate was so resonant among Koreans because it was so easy to understand. Consider, for example, the Sewol incident. The ferry sinking had so many different angles and narratives that I had to devote four separate posts to the incident--which was still not enough to cover all the different aspects. To this day, Korean society remains divided over what lesson to be learned from the Sewol tragedy. 

In contrast, the nut gate? The entire event took less than 30 minutes with just three actors taking very simple actions. Yet the event managed hit a whole host of Korean society's sensitive spots: the chaebol oligarchy, nepotism within the chaebol, the contemptuous rich, humiliated employees, and so on and so forth. To TK, this is the real reason why the nut gate became such an issue in Korea. Never underestimate an event that gives an easy, neat narrative, no matter how trivial it is as a consequential matter.

- Although TK has a long history of complaining about American air carriers, he was never completely comfortable in Korean airlines--and this is why. The better service that Asian and Middle Eastern airline provides comes at a great psychic cost of the airlines' employees. TK is just fine with a service provider, but many airlines train their flight attendants to be servants.

- Of course, the real winners are the sellers of macadamia nuts. Koreans generally don't eat macadamia, although peanuts, walnuts and pine nuts are popular. In fact, most Koreans have never seen macadamia nuts, and have no idea how it tastes. (To this day, Koreans still refer to the incident as 땅콩 회항, i.e. "peanut return.") This scandal gave macadamia nuts publicity that no amount of money could have bought.

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

Leftovers from 2014: The Interview Fiasco

(source)

- First things first: it is far from certain that North Korea actually hacked Sony. It appears that the FBI believes that North Korea is responsible for the Sony hack because the modus operendi of hacking resembles the hack of certain South Korean banks, which is believed to be North Korea's doing. But any hacker can simply imitate the M.O. and blame North Korea. Also, it is far from clear that North Korea is even responsible for the attack on the South Korean banks. As Dong-A Ilbo's Joo Seong-ha explained, North Korea hardly has the capability.

But then again, TK is not sure if it is necessarily a bad thing that North Korea gets blamed for this. Sure, it may not be fair, but do we really care about being fair to the North Korean regime? Any day that North Korea gets deprived of a luxury goods for the elite--say, the internet access--is a good day as far as I am concerned.

- Having said all that, it is difficult for TK to be worked up over this. This movie had all the signs of being a crappy one. Does it really matter if it gets shown in the American theaters? Some say it is the principle of things, but what is that principle exactly? That we will watch a crappy movie for spite?

- This is the best thing to read concerning this whole fiasco. Did Americans get this pissed off when millions were dying from starvation in North Korea? Did the U.S. president weigh in? But who cares about the millions of lives--if you messed with 'Muricans' god-given right to watch a crappy movie, SHIT JUST GOT REAL.

- The greatest tragedy about this fiasco is that the plans for a movie based on Guy Delisle's terrific book, Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea, was cancelled. Delisle, a Frenchman, had the unusual experience of directing a group of North Korean animators who were doing the grunt work for a French animation company. Steve Carell was supposed to play Delisle. 

But then again, maybe this was for the better as well. Delisle's book was great because of his introspective take on what he observed. Instead of offering grand theories about North Korea, Delisle calmly focuses on the small things that he saw. Steve Carell's movie, however, is described as a "thriller"--which means that it probably would not be calm. Which brings us to the ultimate lesson: the book is better. It always is.

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

Leftovers from 2014: The KC Superfan

Note:  To make good on TK's promise to blog more, he will give a series of short posts discussing his impressions of Korea-related news with international flavors from 2014 that he could not quite get to last year. First up is Mr. Lee Seong-woo, the KC Superfan.

Lee Seong-woo, a/k/a Kansas City Royals Superfan
(source)

The marvelous story of Lee Seong-woo is a testament to the close relationship between Korea and the United States. Obviously, Lee's story is quite unlikely--which is why it became so viral. But Lee's story was able to overcome the unlikelihood because he was based in Korea. 

There was no superfan unless Philip Gillette, an American missionary, introduced baseball to Korea in 1907. (Recall that, on a global scale, baseball is a relatively regional sport.) There was no superfan unless Korea developed a robust baseball culture, which was clearly influenced by the American baseball culture. There was no superfan unless there was the U.S. troops stationed in Korea, as Lee watched the Major League Baseball on AFKN (now AFN,) the television network for the U.S. soldiers stationed abroad. Finally, there was no superfan unless there was a healthy amount of exchange of people, ideas and stories between the U.S. and Korea.

In Lee's story, parallels with other parts of Korean pop culture are numerous. Korean pop music, for example, moved to another level in the 1950s and 60s because Korean pop musicians had to cater to the U.S. troops who were stationed in Korea following Korean War. Later, K-pop became a global phenomenon as Korean pop musicians consistently knocked on the door of the American pop music market.

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