"Misunderstanding of Korean Culture"
UPDATE: Yonhap has an article on Katrin Fraser along with the Donga Ilbo. The Donga is reporting that Fraser will probaby have little influence with Korea policy it sounds like:
Meanwhile, the White House designated Katrin Fraser, a professional diplomat in her early 30s, as assistant for Korean and Japanese affairs to succeed the post left by Victor Cha, who has recently returned to Georgetown University. Fraser has worked on international organization affairs in the State Department, but since her career in security policy affairs isn’t extensive, it is likely that her role could be limited to executive support. On a Fulbright Association assistantship, she taught English for a year at Mokpo High School in 2000.
Just what the White House needs, a Low Quality Foreign English Teacher helping direct US-Korea relations. Maybe she can help negotiate a hagwon bill of rights for all the English teachers in Korea.
____________________________________________________________
If I only had a dollar for every time I have heard this excuse. With that any remaining hopes I held of an improved Korea policy coming any time soon has been dashed after reading this in the Chosun about the new Asia director for the National Security Council Katrin Fraser:
Fraser lived in Korea for two years. In a contribution to the spring 2002 edition of the Korean Society Quarterly, she said that the Bush administration’s misunderstanding of Korean culture fanned anti-American sentiment here since 2001. Fraser discusses President Bush’s State of the Union address of 2002 in which he famously called North Korea part of an “axis of evil.”
She says South Korea’s “swift and largely negative reaction” came from two factors. One was a gradual buildup of anti-U.S. sentiment due to Bush’s rejection of engagement with North Korea, and the other “cultural insensitivity on the part of the Bush administration.” By calling North Korea “evil,” Bush offended against Korean norms of relationship management and communication, which focus on face-saving and “kibun,” she said.
“If the president had demonstrated an awareness of the importance of maintaining kibun in relating to Koreans (North or South), perhaps the South Korean response to his statement would have been more muted,†she writes.
As far as “kibun” is concerned Robert over the Marmot’s Hole pretty much summed this up very well:
The difference is that over the last 10 years, South Koreans have moved away from viewing North Koreans as “horned communist devils†and more towards viewing them as part of the tribe, so to speak. The issue then becomes one not of the Bush administration failing to understand the Korean cultural concept of gibun, but rather one of it failing to understand — or care about — the a) changing nature of Korean nationalism and national identity and b) the priority Seoul placed on improving relations with the North.
Additionally, Ms. Fraser is highly misinformed if she thinks the anti-US movement was jump started due to President Bush’s labeling of North Korea as part of the access of evil. These people existed well before 2002:
The anti-US movement was quite active since the 1980’s, grew greatly in the 1990’s, and was jump started not due to President Bush, but rather due to former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung’s June 2000 Inter-Korean Summit. After the Inter-Korean Summit Korean nationalism was sky high and much of the general Korean public thought unification was near and that the US was now the problem preventing it. This has since proven to be absurd with the disclosure that Kim Dae-jung bought the summit along with the follow on Nobel Peace Prize with a $500 million dollar bribe to North Korea and the continuing defiance of the international community with North Korea ballistic missile and nuclear tests. However, after that summit the Korean mind set was clearly that the US was the problem now, not North Korea.
Without this mind set, “The Great Water Dumping Scandal of 2000” would not have created such a massive anti-US backlash. There was no “misunderstanding of Korean culture” from President Bush back in 2000 to cause such a large anti-US back lash to a minor and a highly hypocritical incident.
The same can be said for the 2000 Koon-ni Range protests as well. That range has been used by the US Air Force for decades, but suddenly in 2000 it becomes a national issue spreading anti-US hate. The protests at the range continued for years afterward with the Korean government giving the US Air Force no alternate range to use. The US Air Force had to in fact fly crews to Thailand to conduct training there because of the Koon-ni Range issue.
Perhaps Ms. Fraser can point out the “misunderstanding of Korean culture” to those of us that were here in 2000 who remember this hate so well.
[…] GI Korea points out, Anti-Americanism in South Korea existed well before 2002. I pointed out that too for […]
But doesn't it just sound so much better and bigger of the US to say, "I guess we just really don't understand them well enough. Why do they hate us? There must be something WE can do to change their minds….Let's listen to them…"
than to say – perhaps – "It's clear SK is just using our troops to say their tax dollars on national security budgets while basing the core of their nationalism on how much better it would be if they didn't have to depend on Uncle Bully….."
We look oh so much more open-minded in the first theme.
….No Orientalism there. No sir-ee….
Ive been here for several years and still I do not understand why Koreans will park in handicap lanes, park where they want. Zig Zag through traffic at high speeds then slam on the brakes and try to go in reverse back to the offramp they missed……but they will not travel in the Bus Lane on the weekends
What is her background and experience in Korean or Korea's education?
So far, I was able to find out that she spent 2 years in Korea as Fullbright Scholar. (2000-2002) And majored in Korea study in U of Penn and got her BA in 2000. She was DOS FSO since 2002. She was also active campaign fund raiser for Bush. She studied Japanese and Korean languages. Also a Black Belt in Taekwondo?
Wow, she knows one Korean word "Kibun". Feeling? So what?
There must be lot other better qualified candidates who can replace Victor Cha. I wonder if her connection as campaign fund raising has something to do with her appointment more than her qualification.
If she was so well qaulified to replace Victor Cha, then why this is the first time that I am hearing about her. Through my personal and professional research and interest, I know many Korea experts in the US Government and NGO think tanks. She is not one of the expert.
My 2 won-cents
CPT KIM,
Just from what I have read on her so far I'm thinking the same thing. It seems like she has little feel for the ground truth in Korea when she wrote the article in the journal. I'll have to do so some more checking to see what her more up to date views are but I'm not optimistic.
Oh, goodness, it is worse than I thought if she is filling Victor Cha's position.
She was on the ground for 2000 to 2002? And THAT is what she came away with? —- that is just depressing…
As GI Korea noted, 2000 was just short of the hysteria of 2002, which was the worst year for the US in Korea since 1988, and she got to see it in country. And she came away with "can't we all just get along"?
I'm not just poking fun or being a jerk here.
After the fun of 2002, for the first time ever – or at least in decades – Korea and East Asian specialists were finally taking anti-Americanism in Korean society seriously.
There was pretty much nothing about it in the academic or policy journals – at least that I've been able to find in research looking back.
Even 2000 didn't gain the attention of the Korea experts.
Before 2002, all you basically find are news articles for the spikes in activity that got so high someone outside of Korea paid attention as long as a gnat might. And they almost always said the same thing — "Anti-Americanism is 'rising' for the first time but the sentiment is just a vocal minority. The majority of Koreans want US troops to stay……" blah blah blah blah.
It wasn't true when I arrived in 1996, but that was what the experts kept saying over and over.
BUT — since 2002 – you can find the think tank and policy and academic crowd starting to pay attention and treat it as a serious issue for analysis.
What I am getting at is —–
2000 and 2002 finally got people like Victor Cha and people like those at CSIS to take anti-Americanism serious and dig into real root causes —- even though these people have a history of wanting to deny it….
but this fresh face was in Korea for 2000-2002 — without the baggage of previous blanket dismissals of anti-US culture in Korea —-
and she came out singing the same old tune that others recognized was out of wack….
Next, she'll be basing US Korea policy on the idea of "Han" —-
The retreat of the Bush administration on Korea policy (North and South) — is stunning.
I use charged words a good bit to spice up the blogging – but this time I really mean it is stunning.
Donald Rumsfeld's corpse isn't even cold yet, and look what has happened with our approach to the two Koreas….
Dudes…she was in college here in 2000-2002. This douchenozzle is one of the leftists at these college gatherings.
Boggles my mind how oxygen thieves land jobs like those, and we're all left wondering…
[…] Drop: “Misunderstanding of Korean Culture”Posted 15 hours agoUPDATE : Yonhap has an article on Katrin Fraser along with the Donga Ilbo . The […]
GI,
When Ms Fraser graduated from college with BA in Korea Studies in 2000, Dr Cha was already well known expert in Korea political science through out the world. So how could someone like Fraser can replace someone like Dr. Cha?
If Ms Fraser is career FSO, then when did she ever served in Seoul Embassy as diplomat? Her previous position in DOS was a "special aide to the assistant U.S. secretary of state for international organization affairs". That's pretty much a GS 12 to 14 position which a level you may can achieve as career FSO in DC HQ if you served for last 4 years as FSO. That's nothing special about it.
Also, if she is career diplomat, when she ever served overseas embassy/consulate? And where? Not in Seoul? In Tokyo? in Beijing? Shenyang? The DOS PA does not mentioned anything about her previous assignment as actual diplomat. (FSO diplomatic tour is min 3 years.)
If someone already knows more about her than me in personal and professional level, please let us know. POTUS decision making process on Korean peninsula depends on this person.
They could of Hired an average KATUSA dude
I did a web search on her and I found this letter she wrote to her college newspaper:
<a href="http://media .www.dailypennsylvanian.com/media/storage/paper882/news/1996/12/05/Resources/Letters.Preserving.Ones.Own.Culture-2176505.shtml” target=”_blank”>http://media <a href="http://.www.dailypennsylvan…” target=”_blank”>.www.dailypennsylvanian.com/media/storage/paper882/news/1996/12/05/Resources/Letters.Preserving.Ones.Own.Culture-2176505.shtml
She talks more about understanding culture in the article also according to the article she used to live in Australia with her family which leads me to believe her family may have been a diplomatic family.
So her family probably has political connections and helped get her the job. There is no way she is as qualified as Victor Cha but since this administration is on the way out she can hold this position for the short time left and use it as a learning experience and a resume builder.
I couldn't care any less if Korea were to sink into the sea as I see them as a country of ingrates who can't tell me how many Americans died for their freedom. Bushy, the worst leader in American history, can appoint whom ever he wants to do what they wish. If you want qualifications, why is bushy the president of the US. I'm sure Frasier is more qualified to act as an advisor than bushy is to be president.
To Cpt Kim-
Good Grief – I would have never graduated college if I wrote like you. How did you do it?
Sounds like she was chosen for political reliabilty than any thing else. That's the quality the Bush adminstration values over all else.
"To Cpt Kim-
Good Grief – I would have never graduated college if I wrote like you. How did you do it?"
CPT Kim is not a native speaker of English. His writing is not flawless, but it is clear and comprehensible. As a bilingual Korean-English speaker and a level-headed person, he is a great asset to the US Army.
From the post and the comments, I take it that no one here understands the Fulbright program. These are recent US college graduates, who come here for a year or two and teach English in the public schools, not hogwons. It is run by the state dept as an attempt, I believe, to counteract the negative effect of having our military here. These are competitively selected, high quality English teachers. They live on a tiny stipend and stay with Korean host families. I met several from Jeju to Chongju, and even in Seoul. Also, with a state dept internship on your resume, a state dept job shouldn't be too tough. I'm not defending Fraser, just setting the record straight on her background.
Fullbrights are no different then any other hogwon teacher. They have a harder application, but are no better qualified. Most in fact are less qualified.
I would not trust full-dumb hogwon teacher to make me bibimbap.
I can't speak for her teaching ability from what we know, but unless you have to have teaching experience or a certificate to get the Fulbright award, I'm not buying it as proof of being highly qualified to teach. I was also farmed out to elementary schools while doing my hakwon gig, and just because she was teaching in a public school certainly does not mean she was in a situation that was much more professional and truly educational than you find in hakwon classes.
And even if it was a top-notch school and she was a great young teacher, how that couple of years doing ESL prepares her to fill Dr. Cha's shoes is a complete mystery….
She is probably very smart, and for all we know, she could be a prodigy. I am serious here. Age and experience can be passed over if you have one of those people who set themselves apart and are just abnormally capable.
The problem is, we have nothing but her resume and what she was just reported as having said to go by, and from the looks of it, her resume leaves something to be desired considering the position she now holds — and what she said is trash can material that is being given a voice on our Korea policy – which is sad.
But, what I came here to comment about was the Bushie incompetent remarks….
He does hold an MBA from Harvard, right?
I guess they just give those away these days. His father was probably head of the CIA at the time and threatened to kill the deans if they didn't give the son a free pass, right?
CPT Kim is not a native speaker of English. His writing is not flawless, but it is clear and comprehensible. As a bilingual Korean-English speaker and a level-headed person, he is a great asset to the US Army.
So was Robert Kim.
<del datetime="2007-05-21T20:27:17+00:00">Sonagi do you ever get off your knees when it cums to korean men</del>?
ED- PERSONAL ATTACK, Please keep it civil.
It still is obvious that she is waaaaaaaaaay too junior to have this sort of position, both by training and experience. My guess is that she's a "Condi Clone".
I can think of (and name) at least a dozen people stationed at the upper reaches of the policy/research chain at USFK or at the US embassy in Seoul who would have served the president much better than a political hack. If she's 'fluent in Korean' after just 2 years on peninsula, I'd love to see the DLPT scores. But DOS has always had incredibly flexible standards for what constitutes 'fluency'.
If what she has said so far is any clear indication, then she's definitely got a really "Dick and Jane" -level understanding of the situation in Korea. Like someone who'd buy into the argument that the reason Koreans "are so good at stem cell work because they were raised eating with chopsticks and have great manual dexterity"…
Me is a native English speaker. His writing is not so flawless but he be trying really hard so dont hate,,,,aiet?
"Sonagi do you ever get off your knees when it cums to korean men?"
Excellent example of an ignorant remark……good job fulldumb
Skippy,
I actually agree with you on something. 🙂
Jonathan in Osan,
I understand the Fulbright program quite well, K-blogger Michael over at the Metropolitician is one himself and has discussed it on his site. I'm just poking fun at the Low Quality Foreign English Teacher slogan passed off in the Korean media. Like usinkorea said I'm sure she is quite intelligent but she is no where near as qualified as Victor Cha and probably got the job due to family connections, I could be wrong but judging by the information about her available how else do you explain her taking over for Victor Cha when judging by her writings she has little understanding of ground truth in Korea?
Since she is also in charge of Japan policy, I would love to see what her views are on Japan as well.
Bob,
I wouldn't be surprised if you are right.
Think about this too —- I read some of the articles and saw news clips about Cha stepping down. They noted that he was a scholar with a Korea focus and without experience in the inner workings of government, and though he was likely chosen to help give expert advise on the Nuke Crisis, soon after he arrived, he had to deal with the tsunami…
….thinking back to that tsunami……how more uncomfortable should we feel about what appears to be this woman's expertise?
If Sonagi wants the gift that only a load from a real man can give. That is up to her. She would be very lucky to get a real mans load. A DAE HAN MAN!
Girls around the world say
ONCE YOU GET IT FROM A KOREAN, YOU NEVER GO BACK!!
Sonagi just learned it earlier then others. Now to the rest of you, get in line, and I will give you some of my kimchi juice, but only to them that beg for it.
[…] chain slings Sponsored by: http://www.marineandindustrial.com/ [Found on Ads by Google] 5. "Misunderstanding of Korean Culture" at ROK Drop Fullbrights are no different then any other hogwon teacher. … least a dozen people stationed at […]
[…] for denying for decades what’s been going on in the North and for helping prop up the KJI regime.MISUNDERSTANDING?The anti-US movement was quite active since the 1980’s, grew greatly in the 1990’s, and was jump […]