I don’t know what’s worse, Secretary of State Pompeo referring to Chairman Un or CNN North Korea “expert” Will Ripley’s “Chol” f-up. Does this mean they think Kim Jong Un, his dad, and grandad all shared the same first name Kim, but had different last names – Sung, Il, and Un? https://t.co/mJ03PdsnGg
I saw this question posted on to Reddit and figure I would comment on it:
I’m wondering why the foreigners who re-sign year after year until they’re past the 5+ years in Korea mark and don’t learn Korean stay in Korea? If you, after more than five years in a country you are choosing to live in, can’t have a conversation in Korean, isn’t that racist/Eurocentric? What reason would you have for not bothering to learn your host country’s language? The Bangladeshi worked in the factory has learned it, why haven’t you?
I get the “I thought I’d just be here for a year but then I re-signed,” I really do, but after five, six, seven years you’re a long-termer. [Reddit]
I don’t think it is racist to not become proficient in Korean. From the US military perspective I knew servicemembers who had many years of service in Korea and could not speak Korean. A lot of it has to do with working in an English work environment plus Korea is so English friendly as well especially around US military bases that knowing Korean is not mandatory. Getting fluent in Korean takes a lot of time and work that most people don’t have. However, many folks who have served many years in Korea do know enough Korean to get around and communicate simple things.
Here is an interesting article from Bloomberg that explains why the Korean media does not actively investigate chaebol and when major incidents do happen they are quick to forget about them:
Cho Hyun-ah, Korean Air’s vice president responsible for cabin service, and the oldest child of Korean Air chairman Cho Yang-ho, answers question in Incheon, South Korea in September 2014. Yonhap/AP
It’s the rare scandal that links air rage, corruption and the fate of the world’s 14th biggest economy. The Cho Hyun-ah kerfuffle dominating South Korean news media offers all this and perhaps more: a chance to right a political system that’s veered off course.
The news media pounced on the delicious tale of Cho’s freakout, on a Dec. 5 New York-to-Seoul flight, over the manner in which she was served her macadamia nuts. Cho figured her status as daughter of Korean Air’s chairman entitled her to demand that Flight 86 return to the gate to toss off a crew member who didn’t pay her sufficient homage. The 40-year-old has since been indicted for obstructing aviation safety (she’s also being investigated for colluding with transportation officials).
News commentators are now slamming the sense of privilege felt by families running Korea’s corporate giants, or chaebol. Indeed, Cho’s tantrum demonstrated, in a nutshell, how nepotism and clubby ties between government and industry hold back the economy.
But why did it take Cho’s nut-rage to get reporters on the case? Something similar happened last April with the sinking of the Sewol, in which more than 300 people (most of them school kids) died. The ferry was operated by chaebol Chonghaejin Marine, a fact that was harnessed to explore how cronyism and the revolving-door between regulators, bureaucrats and the private sector put lives at risk. This fit a disturbing pattern. When a spectacular incident makes global headlines, journalists feel compelled to investigate Korea’s chaebol problem. When the dust settles, they move on. Rather than respond only to periodic public outrage, journalists should keep a steady watch on the issue.
Two years ago, Park Geun-hye rode a wave of discontent into South Korea’s presidential Blue House. Many blame the widening gap between rich and poor on the dominance of the chaebol, with their unseemly penchant for tax-evasion, sibling battles over assets and extreme concentration of national wealth. Just five companies generate roughly two-thirds of South Korea’s gross domestic product. This outsized influence stifles small-and- medium-size companies. It kills any chance a startup might have to introduce game-changing products and create new jobs. Park’s plan to rein in the chaebol is off to a slow start, and media elites share in the blame.
The chaebol are major advertisers with deep pockets and, like Japan’s vast power industry or America’s military- industrial complex, they are adept at using their brawn to muzzle criticism. In his explosive 2010 book “Think Samsung,” that company’s former in-house counsel Kim Yong-chul detailed how family-owned conglomerates allegedly used bribes and intimidation to “lord over” the government and the media. Kim says that when he first approached local news outlets with the story, he found no takers. [Bloomberg]
You can read the rest at the link, but I think with the rise of alternative media it is getting harder for the chaebol to cover up their transgressions. With that said I would be surprised to see anything change anytime soon.
This photo released by the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Oct. 8, 2014, shows an officer of the Dongmyeong Unit, a South Korean military contingent serving as U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon, teaching the Korean alphabet Hangeul to Lebanese college students. The unit will receive the prime minister’s award on Hangeul Day, which falls on Oct. 9. (Photo courtesy of JCS) (Yonhap)
