More Korean War photographs at Ohmynews

Ohmynews has been publicizing Korean War photographs preserved in the National Archives and Records Administration: Korean War in Photographs. I have made notes of the new series of photographs every now and then; now there are again four new series since my latest post. Links to my earlier posts, which have links to the original articles at Ohmynews: Photo series 1-5; Photo series 6-8; Photo series 9-11, Photo series 12 and 13. Don't just stay here but do go to see the original pictures in the links. Series 14: October and November 1950 Women searching for firewood and things to sell in downtown Seoul/▲ 1950. 11. 1. 서울 중앙청 앞 지금의 문화관광부 자리, 주민들이 폐허더미에서 땔감이나 돈이 될만한 물건을 찾고 있다. ⓒ2004 NARA Series 15: retreat of UN forces and civilians after the Chinese entry to the war Refugees crossing the Han River / 1950. 12. 12. 피난민들이 한강을 나룻배로 건너고 있다. ⓒ2004 NARA Series 16: retreat in December 1950 and January 1951 UN and ROK forces waiting to be taken to a ship in Hamhung / 1950. 12. 16. 흥남, 국군과 유엔군들이 후퇴하고자 부두에서 수송선을 기다리고 있다. ⓒ2004 NARA Series 17: refugees In Northern Gyeongsang, Nakdong River area. "Grandfather, where are you going? - I'm going home. - No you can't. - What? I'm going to die in my own home. Out of my way!" / 1950. 8. 24. 경북 낙동강 유역, "할배, 어데 갑니까?" "나 집에 간다." "못 갑니다." "와! 나 죽어도 내 집에서 죽을란다. 어이 비켜라." ⓒ2004 NARA Categories at del.icio.us/hunjang: contemp.history ∙ minjok ∙ photography

Book note: Valérie Gelézeau's Séoul, ville géante, cités radieuses

"In three years me and my boyfriend will be living in an omakotitalo." I substituted Korean with English, but left the non-Korean word as I was told this line. It's Finnish for 'detached house'. Why was it said in Finnish? Because it would have made little sense in Korean, as detached houses (most often chut'aek, 住宅) have little status value, unlike omakotitalo in Finland. Too bad my two years of French in high school a long time ago will not be enough to go through the French geographer Valérie Gelézeau's book Séoul, ville géante, cités radieuses, which is about the social and cultural processes that made apartment housing the middle class ideal of desirable, developed and modern housing. Here's at least a review of it by James Hoare at the Korean Studies Review page of the Korean Studies internet discussion list. The book would especially of interest to me, since my own neighborhood and its surroundings are characterized by the lack of high-rise apartment blocks (even though Kwanak-ku in Seoul has been "apartmentalizing" quickly in the last years). From the review by James Hoare: Park and those around him then encouraged such buildings for a number of reasons. They further assisted the great construction chaebol such as Hyundai, tying them in close to the regime. They provided housing for the large numbers who flocked to Seoul as a consequence of economic development, replacing more traditional-style buildings and shantytowns that had sprung up after the Korean War, when South Korea was too poor to afford anything else. Gelézeau also sees the development of the high-rises as an important part of Park's commitment to modernize South Korea. Perhaps drawing on his experience of Japan's Manchukuo experiment, Park equated the traditional with the countryside and the countryside with the backward. Not only should people move off the land, but they should also change the way that they lived. And the new blocks with their "Western"-style bathrooms and kitchens were a potent symbol of that modernity. But as so often happens when one probes into developments in Korea, the inspiration for the new blocks that began to appear from the mid-1970s came from Japan rather than from the West, despite the Western-sounding nyu t'aun (New Town) appellation that the Chamsil first mega-complex received. The chaebol built their blocks following what had become the standard modern Japanese layout, "LDK" - that is, a set of bedrooms around a "living, dining, kitchen" area. And not to forget the distinction between rental apartments (imdae ap'at'û) and individually owned (or occupied by chônse tenancy) ones, here's one part of Joongang Ilbo's children in poverty series: "Ashamed to live in a rental apartment." (Update. These two links have ceased to work.) For comparison, here's a story in Ohmynews about the so-called Journalist Village (Kijach'on) in Eunpyeong-gu in northern Seoul, where it's said to be "just like in the 1970s." (In Korea, an urban scenery as old as from 1970s is considered a rarity.) The story says that the neighborhood is a popular place to shoot films set in earlier decades, having escaped much of the real estate development (should that word have been put in quotation marks?). Now the metropolitan goverment wants to redevelop the area, but the residents are against the non-voluntary government-led project. Photograph ⓒ2004 김대홍, from Ohmynews. A surprisingly non-Korean-looking house in the "Journalist Village." Categories at del.icio.us/hunjang: books ∙ academic ∙ Koreanstudies ∙ housing ∙ cities

(Social categories) "Chagalch'i ajumma is also against the impeachment"

This piece of reporting was already a long time ago in Ohmynews, but since the impeachment affair still seems to be acute, it's still worth making a note of. Back in 2002, when the presidential race was at its height, the parties (Minju and Hannara) were busy presenting their candidates as "ordinary people" and bringing forth "ordinary people" (sômin, 庶民) as their supporters. Also TV airtime was given to supporters' support speeches, and one who gained some fame was the so-called Chagalch'i ajumma, a fish trader from the Chagalch'i market in Pusan. She was presented as the sômin supporter of Roh. After that, Hannara started claiming that there was no way she could be an "ordinary person" as she was said to have an almost complete monopoly of agu (angler fish?) trade in the market and actually be a rich woman. Ohmynews went to see her earlier this month when the impeachment crisis had started to hear that she is against the impeachment; the two minute video report is quite nicely made to show that also the "ordinary people" at the market agree with her. (And this is not to mean that I'd agree with the impeachers, only to note how things are told.) Got to add another from the same place (which from the left has been called an 어용언론); Chu Mi-ae of the Minjudang visited a taxi company to inquire about popular sentiments (minsim 民心). Cab driving is an "ordinary people's job" par excellence, and besides marketplaces, a cab company is a good place for a politician to show up in. (The article tells that Lee Hoi-chang paid a visit to the same taxi company before the presidential elections.) ▲ 추미애 민주당 선대위원장이 29일 오후 민생투어차 신성콜택시 방문을 마친 뒤 해당 회사의 택시를 타고 여의도 당사로 돌아가려고 하고 있다. ⓒ 오마이뉴스 이종호 Categories at del.icio.us/hunjang: seomin ∙ socialcategories ∙ Koreanpolitics

(Social categories) "Kut" for the poor dead in front of "Tower Palace"

Several associations such as Minjunoch'ong (Korean Confederation of Trade Unions) and Chôn'guk pinminyônhap ("National Association of the Poor" or something) have come up with the idea of having a kut or shamanistic ritual for those who died because of poverty in front of the Tower Palace on March 30 (A Yonhap piece in Chosun Ilbo). As the Tower Plus apartment has become the symbol of wealth and all the excesses that are associated with it in Korea, it looks like an appropriate place if one is to make a point about income divide. The ritual will be a salp'urikut, which to my knowledge is not the kind that's usually performed for the "wrongfully deceased", but it's not important here. Shamanism is used here in the same manner as in my earlier post about a kut, more as a part of Korean culture than individual belief. And the associations behind the event are descendants of the minjung(民衆) movements of earlier decades, when shamanism became a sort of nativistic way of political and cultural expression. 민주노총 관계자는 “타워팰리스는 우리나라 부의 상징이기도 하지만 바로 근처에 철거촌 등 빈곤에 시달리는 사람들이 살고 있다”며 “빈곤문제의 심각성을 알리기위해 발족식 장소로 택했다”고 말했다. P.S. Seems that Minjunoch'ong calls it wiryông-kut (빈곤으로 죽은이를 위로하는 위령굿), which should be a more accurate term, if we want to get into details. Update: Ohmynews reports of the event. So it was not a shaman ritual but a dance performance using shamanistic elements. Picture: ⓒ 오마이뉴스 권우성 Categories at del.icio.us/hunjang: housing ∙ Koreanculture

(Korean language) "ESL" and "KSL"; what about third, fourth or fifth?

Korean Studies Discussion List brought a Korean language textbook review in my mailbook. The book is no doubt good as the review tells, but I cannot but find the continuous reference to "Korean as Second Language" quite ridiculous. It comes of course from "ESL" or "English as Second Language", as the idea of learning several foreign languages must be quite foreign. Oh but it must be the term foreign which has been replaced by the word second in this case. I still need to ask if there are any KTL, KFL or KFL textbooks or ETL or EFL courses available? Here we see the problem of making a distinction between the "fourth language" and the "fifth language": KFoL and KFiL perhaps? Or should I try suggesting that they'd say Korean as non-native language (KNNL) instead in the US?

(Small businesses) "Korean type" fast food places

In a Chosun Ilbo infomercial we are told that Korean type fast food places are gaining in popularity, as they provide a quick eat for Korean tastes. I have no way of knowing how well this matches the reality, but promoting fast foods based on the Korean diet sounds like a good idea. (Just think about how tasty a good bowls of mixed grain rice and toenjang stew were after subsisting for some three days on the hefty Czech menu...) These seem to be examples of "Koreanizing" the small business (or fast food) modernity, to put in an unnecessary complex terms. The idea with these businesses is that they are easy to operate, "just following the recipe", and thus do not require a lot of skil. And one important detail in the two cases of franchise shops that are introduced is that they both are former wage-earners in white-collar occupations. It looks as if they gave up their positions voluntarily and started the businesses, but I'm not sure. I don't dare to say that the status distinctions between fairly well-paid white-collar occupations and low-skilled ("non-professional") small businesses have diminished that much, but at least there has for a longer time been a tendency to "professionalize" many small business types. "This and this kind of a restaurant can also be a venture (벤처)", and so on. And the use of chônmunjôm to mean a specialty shop. The two examples: • Possam restaurant, started by a man after 20 years of working in a bank (and after 15 days of training). Invested 300 million W (200 000 €), of which 200 million is rent guarantee and kwôlligûm guarantee, but is confident that the place will do well. Monthly sales 50 mil., and net profit 10 mil. (6700 €) a month. (If this is correct, at least it shows that there is a potential for a very good income - as well as chance of going bust.) • "Galleria-type" punsik restaurant, opened by a 37-year old man after 10 years of wage earning. I'm not sure what is exactly a "cafeteria type" is here, but it should show that the place is different from an older kind of shabby and "undeveloped" punsik restaurant. (Punsik (粉食) should literally mean "flour foods" in distinction from meals with rice, but at least most of the punsik places in my neighborhood had also rice-based dishes.) - Opening expensis for the 50 sq.m shop were 140 million W (93 000 €), of which the kwôlligûm 80 million. Monthly sales 16 million, and net profit 6 mil. W (4000 €). The possam and chokpal places are frontrunners in the Korean-style ad leaflet aesthetics: who shouts out the most with the ad flyer layout. Categories at del.icio.us/hunjang: businesskeepers

A short vacation

This Sunday we will leave for a four days' vacation in Prague, so there will be a small break in my Korea noteblog. May the spring proceed quickly meanwhile. Prague castle and Vltava river (linked from Ohmynews)

Truth Commission and those not the democracy movement

Oranckay tells that in the case of professor Tsche Chong-Kil (Ch'oe Chong-gil), petition no 7 at the Presidential Truth Commission on Suspicious Deaths, the former member of the intelligence (or surveillance) agency has told the courts that prof. Tsche was tortured to death, as many have been thinking from the start. A while ago, when going through my notes from discussions with a hairdressing shop keeper, I remembered that her brother-in-law had died in coma in a hospital after being beaten by a police in the mid 80s. They had waged a long court battle back then and finally managed to have the police sentenced. I did some googling with the names, and there was actually quite a lot of info of the case available, also the resolution of the Presidential Truth Commission, to which they had placed a petition after the commission was established in 2000. They wanted a more thorough investigation on what they saw as an organized cover-up from the part of the police (가해자가 축소되는 등 경찰들의 조직적인 사건 축소, 은폐 등이 확실하게 규명되지 않아 철저한 진상규명을 요구함). The Commission dismissed (kigak) the case on the grounds that even though the death had been a result of illegal use of authority, it cannot be seen resulting from activity associated with democracy movement. There is no way to prove that there was any other policemen involved except for the one sentenced, and there was also no evidence that the deceased person had taken part in the democracy movement. The original sentence of the police had been confirmed in the Supreme Court, and they had been paid compensation. 5. 결론. 그렇다면 김상원은 공권력의 위법한 행사로 인하여 사망하였다고 인정되나 민주화 운동과 관련하여 사망하였다고는 할 수 없으므로 이 사건 진상을 공표하기로 하여 주문과 같이 결정한다. 주 문. 이 사건 진정을 기각한다. Reading the decision, it seems that had he only taken part in the demonstration, it would have been a different case, but the basis of his arrest at the time was given as resistance to the police at a check-up (kômmun). Other sources on the net present the case so that he had been taking part in political activity. Well, at least his death made his sister-in-law politically active and conscious, "demonstrated and waved my fist, carrying one daughter on the back and the other on the front." But now she's busy keeping the shop and making money for her daughters' school expenses. Functions and powers of the Presidential Truth Commission on Suspicious Deaths. I'm not giving a link to the case resolution neither to any other info on the case, even though there's very small chance that any of this would lead to the identification of this hairdresser woman, but she didn't intend this to be public, and especially in a politically quite conservative neighborhood with eye-to-eye everyday contacts, she has always kept silent about her own political leanings and the past of her family. As visitors surely already have noticed, I have a special place in my heart for women like her. I like them in their self-respect and openness. It may all seem to come up to the fact that they've been very helpful for my study - that also, but there was also the fact that as far as I'm concerned they had little status pretentions, and it was easy to talk with them. (Being a non-Korean also helped in being less bound with the status/class considerations.) There was this pharmacy keeping woman to whom I was introduced and who seemingly disapproved that I even dared to think of her as a research subject, along with these shopkeepers. So I understood I was not welcome to hang out there any more. (That's often a sore spot for pharmacists, afraid of being taken as businesskeepers (changsakkun) instead of professional university graduates.)

Korean culture information spam

Kirk Larsen tells he got four identical messages from The Center for Information on Korean Culture. Should I be proud that I, a mere Ph.D. candidate, got five? So I went and wrote a small protest on my own name at the Korean language message board that filling mailboxes is not a way to inform about Korea and that it produces only irritation and reversed effects. Today I went to check the message board if there was any response; there had indeed been, as my message had been erased altogether. Sea of Japan East Sea 독도 누구 땅? 고구려 역사 동북아 교과서 문제

(Social categories) "Even aunties are angry at the impeachment"

Hankyoreh (or to be precise Internet Hankyoreh) notes that even "aunties" (ajumma) have begun to show interest in politics with the impeachment process, and are condemning the matter "almost unanimously." Discussion in women's portals have been thus far concentrating on sex, love, fashion, childrearing and so on, so political discussion has been very rare, says the text. Leaving the issue on impeachment aside (see Oranckay for more) or Hankyoreh's take on the matter (reporting on what's beneficial for pres. Noh and "Uri" party), I'm paying attention to the use of ajumma here. There's the idea of political uninterest and immaturity (but also mobilizability at the time of elections) associated with "auntie"; they just talk about the things mentioned above, while the formally important matters are left for men. (See the Hankyoreh intention: the impeachment is so outrageous that even aunties are against it.) Calling oneself ajumma - there's for example the site azoomma.com - does not necessarily mean acknowledging that one is ignorant of politics and so on, but it can also be used as kind of a way to get recognition based on "Korean values" of being able to relate to others, feel chông (情) and so on, especially compared to samonim. (That means literally "teacher's wife", but is widely used for "high people's" wifes. (Note that this is how things are told to be (represented), not necessarily how they are.) (At least back in '99 during the "clothing lobby scandal" hearings, ajumma gained some status as a term compared to samonim, which came to symbolize much what was seen wrong in Korea; inequality, corruption, lavishness etc. Oh, there's this funny piece on (anthropologically speaking) terms of reference of women, from my "family source". In a southern coastal town where there's a huge ROK naval base and subsequently a lot of officers and their wives who think they are entitled to be called samonim, the shopkeepers avoid trouble of irritated customers by calling all the women of appropriate age by that term. Well, I guess there must be some ajummas in that town, too.

(Contemporary Korean history) More Korean War photos at Ohmynews

I have previously been posting links and linking pictures from a series of articles at Ohmynews, in which a reporter visiting the US has among other things dug out from US archives some fine but often very tragic pictures from the Korean War, taken by photographers accompanying the UN forces. Here are links to my earlier posts, from which you'll find links to the original articles: Photo series 1-5; Photo series 6-8; Photo series 9-11. This time I won't link any pictures - there's been quite many of them lately - but give only the links. Photo series 12: various DPRK pics like US POWs paraded in Seoul in August 1950 (likely captured during the war), UN troops retreating after the entry of PRC troops. (Interestingly, the writer uses the term Chunggonggun or "Red China troops" or "Communist China troops" in the caption. The term Chunggong (中共) has very much fallen out of use since the establishment of diplomatic relations with the mainland China. Photo series 13; pics of cities destroyed in the war, paratroopers landing etc. Categories at del.icio.us/hunjang: contemp.history ∙ minjok ∙ photography

(Contemporary Korean history) Kwangju May 1980 photographs

Update, Febryary 15, 2006 Now that the Wikipedia entry for Gwangju massacre has a link to this post, I think I should once again direct readers to a Kwangju (Gwangju) rememberance site for more photographs. I give the English translations of and direct links to the picture categories of the site with the number of photographs as given in the site for easier navigation. • The night before (67); the events that preceded the bloodiest events. • To the Provincial Office (160); when the citizens took arms and started clashes with the government troops after very violent suppression of demonstrations. • Liberated Gwangju (115); when the government troops had withdrewn from the city, which was controlled by the citizens and the citizens' guard. • Dawn (116); the final suppression of the revolt on the dawn of May 27 and its aftermath. Update, June 4, 2005. I have now uploaded the pictures to my own disk space and linked them as below. Another huge selection of photographs from Kwangju (Gwangju in the contemporary official spelling) is available at a Kwangju Democracy Movement site. Update, May 18, 2005. Unfortunately the site where the pictures below are linked from is down at the moment, so neither these nor the 5.18 Photoclub pics are available. I have downloaded several of those photos, so when time allows, I'll move a selection to my own diskspace and link from there. ________________________ (Original entry.) Thought it might be worth letting the interested know that there's a wide selection of photographs from the Kwangju rebellion/democracy movement/uprising/insurgency/massacre etc (pick your own) to be seen in a Daum portal café "5.18. Photoclub". Many of the photos had been at the possession of the photographers themselves, and as I understand cafe members are free to add their own pictures as well. The operators also gather info on the people and the places in the pics. The photos are divided into four sections in time sequence. The access to the pictures is unrestricted, and Daum login isn't necessary. All photographs below are linked from the mentioned "café". (Move your pointer on top of the picture to see a short caption.) These three were taken during the citizens' army (simin'gun) control of the town.   Below, the martial law troops (kyeômgun) have retaken Kwangju: citizens being arrested, and withdrawal of tanks. Doesn't the color in the photos make these events appear much closer to us in time than the black and white ones above? People lining at the train station after the connections had been opened again. May 1980 in Kwangju in one sentence? Huge demonstrations against the military rule (against the news of Kim Dae-jung's arrest, right?), bloody suppression, citizens' takeover of the city and armed resistance, military retake of the city with the total number of deaths varying from 200 to 2000. Here's a Google search on "Kwangju 1980". Categories at del.icio.us/hunjang: contemp.history ∙ photography ∙ Koreansociety ∙ Koreanhistory

Some pictures of a "kut"

Scanned today a few older pictures for another purpose, but thought I'd might as well put them on display here as well. These are taken at the 1999 conference of the Anthropological Society of Korea (한국문화인류학회), where the main topic was "Anthropology of Korean War." This is a kut (shamanistic ritual) held in during the conference for those who died in the war. To be more precise this is chinhonkut (鎭魂굿), a ritual for the deceased, to alleviate the souls of the dead, who in this case are kind of thought to have suffered a wrongful death. But as always, there's not a little part of performance and a good party in a kut, and as you see below, the poor pig who had to die for this ritual at least ended up to be eaten, as most of the foodstuff on the ritual table, if I can remember correctly. Shamanism is a consciousness-altering experience, but in this case some other substances than the purely spiritual may have played a more significant role in the lack of memory. According to the program, the male shaman (on the red robe) was supposed to have been Kim Yu-gam, "important intangible cultural asset no 104" and the "Carrier of Seoul Saenam-kut", but the guy in the picture looks very much younger than the actual Kim Yu-gam., born 1924. The woman (most of the Korean shamans are woman) is Yi In-suk, "chairman of the Society for the Preservation of Traditional Shamanism" (전통무속보존회), of which I can't find anything on the net. And everything is supposed to be on the net in Korea, right? Above, the players accompanying the shamans, and three professors prepare to stuff their 10 000 won bills into the head orifices of the pig and bow in front of the ritual table. Below, some of the viewers have joined the dance, and the pig has become pork. People had a great time, but cannot tell about the souls for which the ritual was held. This was much more in the line of those sort of semi-official shamanistic rituals, in which the "Korean culture" part is more prominent than an individual's belief that the otherworldly (chôsûng) things matter and that the shaman can help to mediate. I'm not saying that this one here isn't a real ritual; the scale and the degree of publicity are different. I've been to one private ritual - couln't make that much sense of what was going on - and the difference was indeed in the degree of intimacy, participants talking to their ancestors through the words of the shaman. And then we ate the cakes and other stuff on the ritual table. • Portal of Korean shamans; there's also a competing site. • A good introduction to Korean shamanism by Heinz Insu Fenkl. Categories at del.icio.us/hunjang: Koreanculture ∙ academic ∙ anthropology

An anthropologist's blog added to my list

My warmest greetings to the fellow anthropology Ph.D. candidate blogger over at Keywords; that's a place that strives for a much broader spectre than my narrowly Korea-focused notepad. Perhaps it'd be reasonable to allot more time to what is supposed to be my own major instead of over-concentrating on just Korea, as interesting as it is. Categories at del.icio.us/hunjang: blogging ∙ anthropology ∙ academic

Sudden increase in consumption of alcohol (impeachment post I thought I'd never make)

Hankyoreh reports, printing a Yonhap article, that consumption of alcohol increased sharply after the impeachment of the president was passed in the parliament. Can beer sales went up more than 50% overnight, and soju sold 12.6% more than last week in LG Mart stores. In the 680 LG 25 stores in and around Seoul, beer and soju sales went up 14% and 17%. The piece is titled as if there was a direct relevance, but Mr. Hong of Lotte Mart tells that "one cannot establish a connection between the impeachment of the president and the increase of alcohol sales, but right after the impeachment was passed, alcohol sales increased notably." So what does this mean? That Hankyoreh wants to tell us that impeachment was not only bad for democracy but bad for the mental health or stress level of the citizens and through the increased drinking also bad for health? I'm not yet sure that bad times increase overall drinking (in my country drinking decreased during the economic depression in early 90s), but I've been told in Korea that in the 1970s when the social atmosphere (sahoe punwigi) was not good, people drank a lot. Difficult to find data on this (perhaps tomorrow at my department desk with a quick connection), but at least the figures in the tables below would show that there's been decrease since 1980 (table 4). Here are some OECD figures as an Excel table; pretty constant since 1990 and nothing dramatic, but no older figures. In 2000, ROK 8.9 litres, Finland 8.6, USA 8.4 ('99). Categories at del.icio.us/hunjang: food/alcohol ∙ Koreanpolitics ∙ Koreansociety

(Small businesses) Pizza and well-being

"Successful business opening - pizza delivery" in Hankyoreh. A man who worked for 20 year in Hyundai Heavy Industries (현대중기산업) until its demise with the currency crisis (the term used in the article, not "IMF crisis") has become a successful pizza delivery shop keeper. At first he thought of becoming a chain shop operator, but he was short of money, and ended up having a place on his own. (Opening a restaurant as a part of a chain takes more money but less individual effort than an independent shop.) In '99, he managed to obtain a shop space without the "premium" (kwôlligûm); guarantee was 7 million and monthly rent 350 000. (He seems to have been lucky, as at that time the "guarantees" were cheap. (우선 집을 담보로 은행에서 2천만원을 빌려 창업자금을 마련했다. 권리금 없는 점포를 보증금 700만원에 월세 35만원을 주고 얻었다. 아내와 큰아들은 청계천 시장에서 벽지와 바닥재를 사왔고, 염 사장은 웬만한 수납장은 직접 만들었다. 이렇게 온 가족이 총동원돼 1999년 말 드디어 피자가게를 열었다.) At first he really had problems with the severe competition, selling only for 100 000 W at some days (meaning some 10 pizzas in a day). He didn't lose his perseverence though, and developed new ideas for staying afloat. Name of the shop, Ssolle, was part of the distinction-making: a combination of the Italian sole (sun) and Korean ssoda (to shoot). Other small things: he always gives change in shiny new coins, and makes afterwards a call to a new customer to make sure the taste was ok. Present sales: weekdays 400 000 (€270), weekends 900 000 (€600), some 15 million (€10 000) a month. Some 8 million is left as net profit after materials, rent (500 000), advertising (500 000) and so on are deducted. Now Mr Ôm (Ôm sajang) is thinking of expanding his business by recruiting other "family shops" (kajokchôm) under his brand name Pizza Ssolle. (The photo looks like a non-Korean hasuk boarder getting a pizza delivery, with the landlady giving support.) We don't know if this is purely a delivery shop; there are those who either have no seats in the shop itself or have only very few (and actually may prefer the customers not to come there). I don't envy Mr Ôm unless his business is good enough for a delivery guy to whom he needs to pay something like 2500-3000 won an hour (there's no mention of such). As mentioned in the "specialist opinion" part of the article in the bottom, pizza delivery shop needs to be "closely attached" with the local residents, that is they are very much "neighborhood business" (that's a term for me), but with the success as described in the article, recruiting branch shops, it's already going beyond being a neighborhood shop. (None of the people I know in my neighborhood in Seoul has expanded the business; there was one who moved to a provincial town to do bigger businesses, but I lately got to know that he went bankrupt, and most likely I've lost contact to him forever.) Two Chosun Ilbo small business articles or infomercials tell of good business ideas in the "wellbeing era." We see that the era is truly modern from what it's in Korean: welbing. As a non-native speaker of English I cannot be sure how Konglishized this is, but something seems to be wrong with "well-looking", or welluk'ing as McCune-Reischauer system renders the Korean script into Latin one. "Healthily and beautifully" and "Occupations with prospects on the 'well-being era'".. In the latter, all the five occupations presented have an English-language originating name: programmer, trainer, designer, coordinator, silver-sitter. Here's an essay on the Korean language by Vladimir Tikhonov (Pak No-ja), the Russian-born Korean national who teaches now at the University of Oslo. He puts so well the tendency to mark modernity and development by use of English words: "In socio-psychological aspect, use of elements of “Konglish” in everyday speech signifies that the speaker possesses qualities of being relatively young, well educated, and urban, as well as the use of academic English loan words in scholarly speech is usually aimed, consciously or unconsciously, at making Westernized/highly educated/progressive image of oneself." I guess he is the only person with whom I communicate in three languages, depending on the context: English, Norwegian-Swedish and Korean. (As the non-Norwegian faculty is required to learn Norwegian, he's done that, and in a very short time. I've learnt Swedish in school, and these two languages are very close.) Categories at del.icio.us/hunjang: shopkeepers ∙ Koreansociety

Cultural and economic history tidbits

There are a few pieces of cultural and economic history of Korea that I've wanted to note down, that is prices of work and some commodities. I have trouble remembering these, searching the info later from a Korean language text always takes some time. (Seems that I'll never learn to read the Korean characters as quickly as the Latin characters. There is a difference between learning a script as a small child and as a 26-year old.) A manmunmanhwa (漫文漫畵), newspaper "picture story", from 1930 tells that one bottle of beer cost two days' wages of a skilled worker and a four days' wages of a carrier. (From Sin Myông-jik: Modôn Ppoi Kyôngsôngûl Kônilda, see the side gutter.) Jo Jung-rae (Cho Chông-nae) in his novel Han'gang (see the side gutter again) tells about prices at the time of the beginning of the story, around 1959-60; with those he is able to show the inequalities and poverty of the time. The comparisons that Jo gives in the novel are largely as such below. One pack of Chindallae cigarettes 100 hwan; that was the price of one toe of rice. (Toe is 1/10 of mal, which is 18 liters.) One coal briquette 55 hwan; on a bad day a carrier made only that much. A garment factory girl made 3000 hwan a month; a sack (kama, 80kg) of rice was 13 000. So a factory girl could buy 18 kilos of rice with her monthly salary. (If kama is 40 kilos and not 80, it'd be 36 kilos, but still. At the moment rice is let's say 2000-2500 won a kilo (close to 2 €/$); if a factory woman makes as little as 600 000 won, that'd buy 240-300 kilos of rice. And rice is expensive in Korea.) Movie ticket 500 hwan; bowl of chajangmyôn 300; kkulkkurijuk 50. Kkulkkurijuk was "porridge" made of food leftovers and remains mainly from US army bases. "As revealed by its name, it was no different from pig feed, but many were happy to have even that for lunch. On a lucky day there could be a half bitten chicken leg or a small bit of meat, but cigarette butts and burnt matches were as common" (Han'gang vol 1, p. 66). And finally, the smuggled US-made record player that the daughter of the corrupted (did I need to add that) politician's daughter bought for 100 000 won. (Hwan was changed to won in the early 60s.) P.S. Here's the phrase that some Han'gang characters use to describe their poverty: 똥구멍이 찢어지게 가난하다 - so poor that the asshole tears (niin köyhä että persereikä repeää). (Any suggestions for a better English translation?) P.S. 2. Kkulkkurijuk shall be kurinapuuro in Finnish. Here are some links about the dish in Korean; origin of pudaetchigae ("barrack stew") in kkulkkurijuk; also known as "UN-tang"; A few lines from an MBC drama You and Me: 수경부: 느이들 꿀꿀이죽 알아? 꿀꿀이죽? (Tiedättekö mitä on kurinapuuro?)      - 아이들 모른다고 하고. (Lapset eivät tiedä.) 수경부: 할아버지는 말야, 그 꿀꿀이죽이 세상에서 제일 맛있었어요! 구두통 메구, 헤이, 숄쳐! 슈샤인∼슈샤인! 이러구 다니면서. 초코렛트 기부미, 츄잉껌 기브미! 할아부지가 영어 아주 잘하거든? 그때부터 배운 영어거든! 하하하! (Mikään ei ole niin hyvää kuin kurinapuuro! Hai soltsö, shuushain, shuushain, tuolla tavalla. Kiv mi tsokolit, kiv mi tsuingkam. Isoisänne oppi silloin nähkääs englantia, hehehe!.) Categories at del.icio.us/hunjang: contemp.history • culturalhistory • money • literature/movies

Is this Korean film boom or what

(Bloggery amandment: got to give credit to The Marmot for the idea of putting a genre painting at the side. I already have one Korean movie (Take Care of My Cat, Koyangirûl put'akhae) under translation for television, and now I have received yet another one. If this isn't Korean film boom I don't know what is. The other is Little Monk (Tongsûng 童僧) by director Chu Kyông-jung (don't know the person's preferred Romanization), a story of a child monk. The actor in the role of the old monk seems to be the same as in Kim Ki-duk's recent Spring, Summer (and so on). It is supposed to be a kind of a comedy-melodrama about three monks, one child, one young, one old. It's understandable that movies with a Buddhist theme make a more interesting viewing in the West than a for example with Christian theme - even though when made well the latter would be as "exotically interesting." The viewers would only have to deal with views of urban Korea which are somewhat less soothing than what Buddhist monasteries can present. Categories at del.icio.us/hunjang: literature/movies ∙ Korea-Finland

(Family and kin) "Our uncle", her husband

Doing some writing about how the social status (stratum, class, whatever) affects the terms of address and reference, especially the latter. The people that I'm writing about would in English-language terms be called lower middle class, or self-entrepreneurial stratum; in Korean colloquial terms they are usually "ordinary people" (sômin), or changsahanûn saram (business-keeping people) in terms of occupation. And this shows nicely in the manner women refer to their husbands. At first I was baffled when a restaurant-keeping woman told that an ajôssi (literally "uncle", mostly in a non-kinship meaning) was occasionally helping her in running the place. Ajôssi - must be some family friend I thought before I realized that this "uncle" meant her husband. "Husband" (namp'yôn) was actually used quite rarely, and only by certain people; this one who used namp'yôn instead of ajôssi was one who thought of herself different from the rest of the neighborhood, not in terms of wealth but background and views on society. Checked "Korean Kinship Terminology" [Han'guk ch'injok yongô] by Ch'oe Chae-sôk, which is a very detailed work with lists and tables of every (well, almost) conceivable kinship term there is. It lists 20 terms of reference for one's husband (sanae, namp'yôn, sillang, sôbang, yônggam etc) but not ajôssi. How come? Most likely because it's not "proper" language use, not fitting with the ideas of "language manners" (ônô yejôl). In more well-off surroundings with better middle class credits one wouldn't hear this term that much. It obvious that there's tendency to use ajôssi when the husband is treated as an ajôssi elsewhere, not having an uncontested status of a "teacher" or a "company president" (sajang) etc. (Term of address: used when calling someone directly; term of reference: used when talking about someone) Categories at del.icio.us/hunjang: Koreanculture ∙ Koreanlanguage

(Korean language) Renaming Han River, or Chinese characters 漢 and 韓 do matter

A second post today about Han'gang. (Correction: 漢江 and 韓江 had changed place below - or more honestly, I had them wrong.) A few days ago I had a note about the plans to give a new Chinese character name for Seoul. Now the council that has been responsible for designing the new name is also proposing to change the Chinese character of the river flowing through Seoul from 漢 to 韓 (in Chosun Ilbo) so that Han'gang would be 韓江 instead of 漢江. As with the Chinese language name of Seoul, 漢城, the problem is with the character 漢, which refers to the old Chinese state of Han and not to the Korean Han, 韓. Changing one character of a Korean river name will surely be easier to accomplish than making the Chinese use a wholly different word for the Korean capital. (Why not rename the ditch to 恨江, wouldn't that be representative of Korea.) There is a precedent; I'd always thought that the characters for "East Asian medicine" (or "Chinese medicine") are 漢藥 or 漢醫 (and that's how they are given in my Dong-A's Prime dictionary from 1996), but I started adjusting my perception after seeing signboards like 韓醫院 in Korea. And now, checking the authoritative (?) National Academy of Korean Language web dictionary, the character han in both cases (한약 and 한의) is given as 韓. Seems that the change has happened in the 1990s; just wonder how deliberate it has been. Does that mean that Koreans are giving more and more attention to Chinese characters, now that it matters a lot what the Chinese think and write about them? I am all for more hanja awareness in Korea, and I'm not in a position to condemn the Koreanization of place names, just paying attention... (There's this fortress in an island off the coast of Helsinki, called originally Sveaborg [Swedish castle] when built during the Swedish time, but quickly renamed Suomenlinna [Finland's castle] after the independence from Russia.) Categories at del.icio.us/hunjang: Koreanlanguage

Rereading Jo Jung-rae's "Han'gang"

I've started rereading the novelist Jo Jung-rae's 10-volume Han'gang, an epic work describing Korea from 1959 to 1980 through a wide variety of characters. The main characters are two brothers who in the beginning of the story move from Chôlla-do (Jeolla) to Seoul to go to school; not small part of their life is determined by the fact that their father had gone (or had been taken) to North during the Korean war. The other characters are for example a rich (and pro-Japanese) member of parliament, retired officers, poor chige carriers, gangsters, Germany-bound nurses and miners, factory girls, white-collar office men, young prosecutors to name a few. I'd like to blog about it more, as it gives a really rich picture of those two decades of urban migration, industrialization, Park Chung-hee's presidency and military authoritarianism, political and labor struggles, and ordinary peoples' lives, but I really do have more urgent things to do... All I can do is to really recommend the book; it is not that easy read, but at least the dialect in the dialogue gets fewer as the book proceeds. Ended up in a site where someone has collected proverbs used in Han'gang: volume 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. Categories at del.icio.us/hunjang: literature/movies

(Small businesses) The progressiveness of street vendors

Visited the internet site of the monthly Mal after a long time. They had a notice of an international conference of street peddlers (nojômsang) in Seoul on March 15-19. Then, while taking a look at Hanchongnyeon's website to see if there's been anything going on regarding Hwang Jang-yop, who has received a death threat a few days ago, I also saw a notice of the same conference, which has hardly been mentioned elsewhere, Hankyoreh and Ohmynews included. The organizers are the National Federation of Street Vendors of Korea (Chôn'guk nojômsang yônhap) and Streetnet, an international organization of street vendors. So what is it in street vendors that the so-called progressives find worth siding with? Their alleged resistance to the bourgeois society? Vendors as the downtrodden to be defended? The importance of their alliance in the progressive cause, whatever that would be? (Look at the poster.) There is clearly some sort of idealized thinking about these vendors, in which the vendors' low-status and unfavorable position vis-a-vis state policies and their organization of themselves make the vendors progressive in their view. (Look at the banner in the vendor federation's homepage.) Street vendors do have been in a disadvantageous position sure, but my "comparative impression" of the Korean scene is that regarding the formally illegal status of street vending in Korea, its position is not bad at all. In fact much of the "informality" of peddling has taken "formal" characteristics even though outside the governmental formality. This includes for example the selling and buying of vending lots in good business sites. With stories of meddling of gangsters in this, the general view on vending is not necessarily positive, and I got the impression that Cheonggyecheon vendors' struggle against their removal did receive much support. I find it remarkable though that Korean street vendors are willing to enter into international unions like this; 일단 못사는 나라들하고 놀아주는 건 적극적으로 평가해야지. What about the Marxist view on the informal sector, that it actually contributes to the accumulation of capital by the capitalists by providing goods and services at low prices and thus helping to keep wages low? (Here's an article of the opening of a new second-hand market in the Tongdaemun stadium for the removed Cheonggyecheon vendors.) Categories at del.icio.us/hunjang: businesskeepers ∙ stratification

(Family and kin) The use of double surname

I didn't pay much attention to this article itself, only to the use of double surname by the interviewee, who works at a feminist journal. She is credited as Cho-Yi (조이) for her surname, which combines both her father's and mother's family names. Her legally registered name is the other of those two, the one that she got from her father, perhaps Cho. In Korean feminist circles it's nowadays quite common to use a double surname to emphasize that one is born of two parents. That is only a practice which does not (and most likely will not have for a long time) a legal basis, and these people will have their father's names, unless there's no legally recognized father. (Cannot remember now whether it has become allowed to give the stepfather's family name to the children in case the mother remarries; at least there has been that kind of legislation in progress.) One of the first proponents of this practice is the anthro professor in Yonsei, Cho(-Han) Haejoang, who's been referred to as "Margaret Mead of Korea", for her feminist and social activities. I remember my grad student mates telling about his son also using a double surname. What should be remembered is that the "mother's surname" these people add to their legally recognized name is actually their mother's father's surname, which is as patrilineal (I love this anthro lingo) as their father's name. "Matrilineality" cannot be but one generation deep in Korea. (Getting married, I could have chosen to become Antti Joung; now that would have been funny to explain to Koreans...) Categories at del.icio.us/hunjang: women-men ∙ Koreanculture

(Korean history) More Korean war photographs at Ohmynews

I have earlier noted the series of publication of Korean War photographs in Ohmynews; here's the first entry (links to photo series 1-5 and some linked pics), and here's the second (6-8, with links to Ohmynews). New pics have been put out, so here come the links and some linked pics, too. The latest one is quite horrifying, showing lines of corpses from the atrocities committed during the war. There is said to be no clear record of who had committed the mass killings, but the pics were taken by UN forces and accompanying press photographers. 1950. 9. 30. 진주. 한 소년이 씨레이션 상자를 조심스럽게 들여다 보고 있다 ⓒ2004 NARA Korean War pictures (9); UN troops retaking Seoul in September 1950. 1950. 10. 1. 서울 시청 일대/Seoul City hall ⓒ2004 NARA (10) Pictures not from Korean War but 1945-48; entry of US troops in September 1945, elections in 1948 etc. The kind of pictures shown in the link above and the thing that the attempts to legislate the examination of the facts behind the killings have been thus far not succeeded always bring to mind what happened in my country in 1918. (In many places in ROK, the Korean War was also a local civil war, which very much resembles the Finnish 1918.) Truth commission? It took 80 years before a government-promoted all-encompassing inquiry into the actual number of casualties. (Info on my grandmother's older brother, who fought in the White army.) Categories at del.icio.us/hunjang: contemp.history ∙ minjok ∙ Korea-Finland ∙ photography

(Urban space) Cheonggyecheon reopening reconsidered

The reopening of Ch'ônggyech'ôn (Cheonggyecheon) river flowing through downtown Seoul first looked like a wonderful idea and got a lot of praise; the noise raised by the street peddlers driven away seemed to settle soon and their position did not get much support. Just like the covering of Cheonggyecheon in the 60s was associated with the ideas of development and modernization at the time, the reopening project has to do with the current ideas of modernity of development, this time not traffic and flow of goods and people but by leisure, quality of life, "green values" etc. After the Korean war the Cheonggyecheon became a site of squatter settlement, with 2-3 storey shacks built on poles on both sides. It was definitely not a pretty sight except for those who want to glorify poverty. They are not missed, but it's the other links with the history of Seoul and Korea that have given meaning to the new criticisms: Chosôn era trade, proximity to Tongdaemun market, Chosôn era architecture and construction landmarks. With the discovery of bigger number of Chosôn (Joseon) era remnants than expected the whole project is being questioned more than ever. Lately especially Hankyoreh has used a lot of energy in showing what's going wrong with the Cheonggyecheon project, particularly in the way the historical considerations are being ignored. The main target of criticism is mayor Yi Myông-bak (Lee Myung-bak or whatever), who campaigned with the project as a mayoral candidate, and who is now being accused of bulldozing the project to get it done during his term. Kaebal tokchae, "development authoritarianism" (or dictatorship) has been brought out to describe the manner in which the project is being promoted. Interestingly (am I using that word too much?) it's been Hankyoreh that first suggested the idea of bringing Cheonggyecheon back to life (toesalligi). Here's a column by the chief of the editorial department (p'yônjippu kukchang), in which he brings forth for example the writer Pak Kyông-ri's change of mind; at first she supported the project, but now that she has realized that the history is not being revitalized (?) and the place not being made "into a place where people can live a humane life", she regrets her support. An older article (from Feb 20) of the discovery of historical remains like bridge structures and memorial stones The latest development is the filing of a complaint (kobal) against Yi Myông-bak by the "Cheonggyecheon Citizen's Council (청계천복원시민위원회) for damaging cultural remains. (For many more pieces on the Cheonggyecheon issue, see the articles listed below the linked articles.) The Seoul Metropolitan goverment's Cheonggyecheon revival/reopening/construction homepage. And with the same google I found this, a Cheonggyecheon photography site by someone who has taken the trouble and gone recording the Cheonggyecheon scenery that was going to vanish. Fine pictures! My initial reaction: are there no legally defined guidelines for the preservation of cultural relics unearthed during construction works, which would restrict the construction? But then, should I be surprised that none is found for this? Oh well, the Cheonggyecheon Citizens' Committee has filed the complain agains mayor Pak using the law for preservation of cultural relics (문화재보호법), so there is some. The question is now the interpretation and enforcement of the law... The 5000 years of Korean history in Seoul? Doesn't seem to be even 5000 weeks. Update: Seoul authorities have decided to halt the construction work at the sites where the discoveries have been made, as Cultural Properties Administration (?, 문화재청) gave its position that no further works should be done until the decision on the management of the excavated properties (Hankyoreh). The article lists the legal recourses available for protecting the excavated cultural properties in cases like this. (But I'm too busy to start translating.) Categories at del.icio.us/hunjang: cities ∙ Koreanpolitics ∙ contemp.history

(Korean language) Hawaiian Koreans' language and culture

National Folklore Museum (국립민속박물관) has published a report on the language and culture of Hawaiian Koreans (article in Chosun Ilbo). Some notes on the anglicization of the Korean spoken by the 2nd generation of the immigrants of early 20th century: wide use of English vocabulary in what is otherwise Korean (like in many other immigrants' language forms), and the general use of panmal (informal or blunt speech level) instead of levels of speech in regard to age, status, degree of intimacy etc. The example shows the English you used as the 1st person pronoun in a Hawaiian Korean sentence; this seems to be the use of an English word to avoid the speech level considerations inherent in the Korean equivalents of "you". (I read somewhere of the same practice in Malaysia, using the English "I" and "you" instead of the Malay words, which depend on the speech levels, that is question of status.) Categories at del.icio.us/hunjang: Koreanlanguage

(Korean language) Making a new Chinese character name for Seoul

There's a "Committee on the name of Seoul in Chinese" (서울의 중국어 신표기 소위원회), which is planning a new Chinese name for Seoul. (Yes, that's Koreans designing a new term for the Chinese language.) Chosun Ilbo has an interview of the committee chairman, a professor in Chinese at Yonsei. Chinese use the old Chosôn (Joseon) era official word 漢城, Hancheng in Chinese pronunciation (Hansông in Korean), which is said to cause problems in exchange between ROK and China because the word is so different from the Korean Seoul. It is told that "Seoul National University" (서울대학교/서울大學敎) has been written 漢城大學敎 in address, using the Chinese word for Seoul, which has caused the mail to go to Hanseong University elsewhere in Seoul. Seeing also the other examples of the possibility of confusion between "Seoul" and "Hansông" (漢城), it definitely seems to make sense to have the Chinese term for Seoul changed. It's interesting that the professor himself admits that it's also the question of "national pride" (minjokjôk chajonsim); the han-character is the "Chinese" han, used to designate the Han Chinese. And also the sông(seong)-character (城) is said to denote the capital of a vassal state. Ok, it's fine if scholars and Seoul officials come up with a new Chinese-character designation for Seoul, resembling the Korean word. It's not uncommon for Chinese to use Chinese characters for non-East Asian concepts - that's the case with most of the foreign nations and capitals and all, so why not for Seoul. The problem is that there is an old Chinese language term for the city, and I much doubt that the Chinese want to take advise from Korea on this. Good luck. (Now that I think, the older 南朝鮮 has become 韓國 in PRC, and I guess "Korean language" is more often 韓國語 after ROK than 朝鮮語 after DPRK, so perhaps this project of changing 韓城 to something else has prospects.) Update. See a post from July 20, 2004 for the final two nominees (首尔/首爾 and 首午尔/首午爾) for the Chinese name of Seoul. Update 2. See a post from January 2005 about the selection of 首尔/首爾 (Shŏuĕr/Shou3Er3). Categories at del.icio.us/hunjang: Koreanlanguage

(Korean language) Frequency of syllables and words in Korean

There have been surveys on the frequency of the use of Korean words since the 1950, the latest based on 90s' novels published this year by National Academy of Korean Language, says a column in Hankyoreh. (See the bottom of the article for a list of articles on language, mostly concerned with "purification"; or bringing forth the native elements of Korean.) The most frequent word is -ida, "to be", which takes 3.34% of the all vocabulary frequency. After that prononun na (I), kôt (thing etc.), su (as in hal su itta, 'is able to do'), verbs itta (to be, to have), hada (to do), ôpta (to not be, to not have), toeda (to become), anida (to not be), katta (to be like). These are mostly words with a very wide meaning and usage. The highest position of a Chinese character (hanja) based word is yôja (女子) at 33; among the 100 most frequent, eight are hanja words. The most frequent syllables are i, ta, nûn, ûl, ka, ko, kû, e, chi, ô (이 다 는 을 가 고 에 지 어) in that order. Of the sounds of language (or however that should be expressed), the most frequent are vowels a (ㅏ), i (ㅣ) and û (ㅡ), and consonants n (ㄴ) and k (ㄱ).It should be noted that the survey quoted in the column is based on literary works. What would be the results based on actual speech? How are words like ajôssi, ajumma, sajang(nim) placed on the frequency charts? I tried to find a link to the survey at the Academy site, but didn't succeed. There's still tons of interesting material.Here's a notice of publication of a compiled Korean language purification (sunhwa) guidelines. There are some interesting examples of recommended expressions which have and have not taken root. Examples of the latter are computing words, which remain mostly English: 무른모 (← 소프트웨어) 굳은모 (←하드웨어) 셈틀 (←컴퓨터) 다람쥐 (← 마우스) (So the recommendation for "mouse" has been taramjwi, "squirrel") 딸깍 (←클릭) My opinion on the purification? Use of pure Korean or more exact hanja expressions is a recommendable policy, but I don't expect that the association of "foreign" (read English-language) expressions with development and modernity is going to change soon, especially with administrative recommendations. Korean hasn't exactly been resistant towards non-Korean vocabulary throughout its history. Categories at del.icio.us/hunjang: Koreanlanguage