Monthly Archives: April 2012

Radio Interview Tomorrow, 7-8pm

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Sorry for taking so long to return to regular posting everyone, but I have many good excuses. One is that I’m going to be a guest on Busan e-FM’s Let’s Talk Busan tomorrow, talking about Korean gender issues with Ricky Lee, the organizer of the recent V-Men event here in Busan, and Dr. Noriko Sato, an anthropology lecturer from Pukyeong University.

The show starts at 7pm. You can listen to it on the radio at 90.5, or online here (update: it’s available in the archives now). Please note that you’ll have to download Windows Media Player 10 first though, which I’ve just learned won’t work with Windows XP (update: alas, only on my computer sorry!).

Short Break

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Sorry everyone, but I’m just flat out this week, and need to catch up on sleep before I can work properly on new posts. Rest assured that I’ll be back next week soon though, and that I’ll make sure the next post is worth the wait.

Oh, the pictures? Well, I had to post something, so I thought I’d indulge myself. On the left is Ministry of Disasters by Julian Pacaud, who appears to be a pop-art version of René Magritte, and on the right is of course Ha Ji-won (하지원), taken on the set of The King 2 Hearts (더킹2Hearts). I think they complement each other really well, as the skyscrapers, plane, and office workers in Pacaud’s work hint much more of (Japanese) development and modernity than anything disaster-related, and, when combined with Ha Ji-won’s army fatigues and Korean background, invite the viewer to ponder the profound connections between militarism and modernity in Northeast Asia as a whole.

Especially when said viewer is on his third Black Russian, in a desperate attempt to get some sound sleep.

And on that note, now I’ll wisely try and do just that. But whether you’re also drunk, sleep-deprived, or otherwise, let me also highly recommend the Tumblr blog Neuromaencer that I found Pacaud’s work on, which I guarantee will get your creative juices flowing!

Korean Gender Reader

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A light and colorful image to counter the shocking and depressing news of the past week.

First, that of the Suwon rape and murder case, which I’ve given just about all of the news and blog links on it I can find below (but please let me know of any more that you think should be added). As you read through them though, please bear in mind that despite the public stereotypes, despite the abject incompetence of the Suwon police, and despite their outdated attitudes to rape and domestic violence, in fact the Korean police as a whole have dramatically improved in the last 5 years, particularly with the latter. As I wrote back in 2009:

…while Korea certainly does have a great deal of work to do in combating domestic violence – and criminalizing spousal rape would be an essential first step (see #2 here; for a 2011 update, see #5 here) – it’s also true that police and legal attitudes towards it have considerably hardened in recent years, both cause and effect of a law change in 2007 that requires police to forward all cases of domestic violence to a prosecutor (the previous 1998 law just left it up to their own discretion). In addition, Korean women are now more likely than ever to divorce on the basis of verbal or physical abuse, rather than suffering silently as in past decades.

Unfortunately, I have yet to see this mentioned in the English-language media:

April 12 – Does Suwon killer have other victims? (Asian Correspondent)

April 12 – Korean rage? And what about the Chinese-Koreans? (The Marmot’s Hole)

April 11 – Korean media publish name of Suwon killer (Asian Correspondent)

April 10 – Political parties say police chief’s resignation was just (KBS Global)

April 10 - Suwon police apologize for failing to save kidnap victim (The Dong-a Ilbo)

April 9 – The police (and everyone else’s) blunder in Suwon (My Musings)

April 9 – Police fail to save murder victim despite 7 min phone call, GPS tracking; police commissioner resigns (The Three Wise Monkeys)

April 9 – Police chief quits after murder case (The Korea Times)

April 9 – Police chief to resign (The Korea Herald)

April 9 – With victim screaming, police bungle response (Korea Realtime)

April 8 – “Simple sexual violation” (10 Confessions)

April 8 – Why Korean police are worthless: more news from the rape front (The Unlikely Expat)

April 8 – Suwon murder shames police (The Korea Times)

April 7 – Brutal murder in Suwon, police incompetence and online comments (And with your help, I’ll get that chicken)

April 7 – Police can’t save woman after she calls with location (Korea Joongang Daily)

Next, there’s the Open World CEO sexual assault case. All links are from Allkpop unless otherwise indicated:

Managers taken aback at Open World Entertainment Incident (Mnet)

Managers react to the Open World Entertainment CEO incident (Koreaboo)

Open World Entertainment issues official statement

Open World CEO admits to some of the accusations against him + female victims total 6

Police investigate reports of Open World CEO allegedly forcing male idol group members to sexually harass female trainees

Open World Entertainment CEO arrested for alleged sexual harassment on artists and trainees

Now for some good news. Specifically, some upcoming events:

V-DAY returns to Busan with a series of events (Busanhaps)

Korean Unwed Mothers’ Family Association holding fundraiser (Tales of Wonderlost; via I’m No Picasso & Roboseyo)

More posts in the excellent English Spectrum series at Gusts of Popular Feeling:

Part 10: Movement to expel foreign teachers who denigrated Korean women

Part 11: “Middle school girls will do anything”

Part 12: Netizens propose ‘Yankee counter strike force’

Part 13: Segye Ilbo interview with the women from the party, part 1

And now everything else. There’s so many links these days, I’ve decided to put them into categories, although obviously many could go into several. Please let me know what you think of the new format:

LGBT/Sexuality:

Here/Queer: Two years as a lesbian expat in South Korea (Autostraddle)

Japanese sex museums are where your sanity goes to die (io9; NSFW)

Infographic: Sex in China (Shanghaiist)

Gay entertainment (Noona Blog: Seoul)

Pop-Culture:

“K-pop Utopianism” and its discontents (Occupied Territories)

Is T-ara’s member change a way for Kim Kwang Soo to punish T-ara? (Allkpop; also see The Mind Reels)

Boys becoming men overnight: the new drama trend (Dramabeans)

Girls run this world of K-dramas (Seoulbeats)

K celebs raising their voices (My Musings)

K-pop’s faulty perception of an homogenous West (Seoulbeats)

JYP sheds light on Korea’s deep-rooted racial divide (Soompi)

ZE:A’s Kwang-hee proudly admits to having his entire face ‘retouched’ (Korea Joongang Daily)

Is porn manly? (Seoulbeats)

Censorship:

‘Little Monsters’ in South Korea are not amused (International Herald Tribune)

Lady Gaga concert stirs debate about young fans (Korea Joongang Daily)

T-ara’s Lovey Dovey MV banned due to violence, criminal acts, harmful businesses, suicide, and drugs (Omona They Didn’t; see Seoulbeats here for a review of the song)

KBS bans MC Sniper’s “Push It” music video for rebellious content (Omona They Didn’t)

Dating/Relationships/Marriage:

Documentary: Korean-American woman has 50 weddings in 50 states (Hello Korea!)

Naked culture clash: Chinese husband uncomfortable with family nudity in Finnish saunas (Mandarin Stories)

Divorce/family lawyers in Korea: Korean divorce explained by U.S. military (The Korean Law Blog)

“Couples immortalize engagement with photos” (Visual Anthropology of Japan)

Crime:

JYPE to take legal action against online harassment of Sohee (Soompi)

A culture of tolerating sexual harassment (Korea Times)

Seoul: Former JMS cult members tell their stories (Asian Correspondent)

Korean rage: stereotype or real issue? (San Fransisco Chronicle; via The Marmot’s Hole)

Pregnancy/Childbirth/Parenting:

S Korea to respond to violence in schools (AlJazeeraEnglish; via The Waygook Effect)

South Korea: Case tests legal system’s approach to bullying (Asian Correspondent)

Korean girls, mothers assist development of Lego Friends (The Dong-a Ilbo; not something to be proud of IMO!)

Economics/Politics:

Korea’s sexual revolution (Korea Law Today)

The election swept 47 women into the 300-seat assembly, the most ever (Korea Realtime)

(Links are not necessarily endorsements)

The Korean Ad Industry’s Celebrity Obsession

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See Busan Haps for the full article. It was prompted by Yoo In-na (유인나) and then Kim Sa-rang (김사랑; left) endorsing Gillette razors last year, when suddenly a lot of celebrities seemed to be endorsing products not normally associated with their sex.

Granted, women have been used to sell things to men for as long as advertisements have existed. And as for using Hyun Bin (현빈; right) to advertise a tea-drink that supposedly gives you a “V-line”, that’s just common sense: not only will he appeal to women, but so too might some men be encouraged to think about their own, hitherto exclusively feminine V-lines, thereby creating a whole new market.

But still: I’d wager that there has indeed been a great deal of gender-bending in the Korean advertising industry in the last couple of years. For instance, I’ve definitely never heard of a guy advertising bras before, no matter how dishy I’m assured this one (So Ji-sub; 소지섭) happens to be:

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Was he chosen just because he’s a pretty face? Or was the reasoning much more subtle than that? I can’t say in this case. But I do know that celebrities have a much greater effect on our consumption choices than we all like to think. Please read the article for more on how and why…

For some hints, here is the interview with Fame Junkies author Jake Halpern that I refer to in it. If for some reason that the video below doesn’t immediately take you to it though (it’s at 34:30), then please click here instead:

Finally, if you’ve read this far, then I heartily recommend watching Starsuckers in its entirety. For me, it was especially what the narrator says at 45:45 that sold me on it, and which I encourage you all to refer to the next time someone accuses you of reading too much into anything you see in the media:

p.s. Sorry for sounding so mercenary, but please let me remind everyone that any donations for my writing, however small, are very much appreciated. Unfortunately though, I haven’t actually received any since January 21(!), and I don’t get paid for my Busan Haps articles!^^