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2013년 7월 7일 일요일

The Concept of Minjok

           The concept of ‘Minjok’ is a specific type of nationalism created in 20th century present in South Korea. While it is very much based on historical background of Korea and emphasizes Korean identity and racial greatness, the concept is rather calculatively crafted by the government to perform particular purposes.

The concept of ‘Minjok’ was first introduced to Korea by Japanese imperialists as they first mentioned it to show Korean and many other Asian countries’ races are not different from Japanese ones. Through this, Japanese colonists tried to unite Japanese colony to create a big East Asian Bond. Korean intellectuals naturally opposed this notion, but ironically, applied the same strategies to unite the Korean people. For instance, Shin Chae-ho, historian at that time, added ancient myths, legends and tales into his interpretation of history in his book <조선상고사>. He especially emphasized that Koreans are all sons and daughters of Dangun, a god-like king of ancient Korean country. He tried to encourage people to come together, have faith in themselves and fight against Japanese colonists.

Few decades later, president Park Jung-Hee has developed this concept and made ‘Minjok’ for the first time. As his policies were aimed for economic growth and prosperity, he needed to make people work harder according to his orders and endure sacrifices if necessary. While he gave out strong, strict orders to the people and led the economic plans, he also controlled people’s minds by arguing Korean people are of one blood and all belongs to one family. This developed people’s community spirit and cooperation in work places which led to efficient accomplishment of goals.

He also wanted to make people feel proud of them being a Korean so that they will develop romantic nationalism and become loyal to the government’s orders and devote themselves more for the growth of the country. He combined this concept with his prohibition of traveling foreign countries. This is when Korean local tourism started booming, as rural areas started to advertise their products and themselves exaggeratingly, for example the best apple of all is from Chungju and the best orange around the world is from Jeju.

President Kim Young-sam has raised the proud even higher by launching the segyehwa policy, or Korean globalization. He has developed Korean traditional cultures and started to make ‘national heritage’ such as samulnori(사물놀이) or Andong Hahoe village(안동 하회마을) which emphasizes Korea’s cultural superiority but is not actually old ones but artificially made.

           The concept of ‘Minjok’ is distinct from other types of romantic nationalism as it implies collective anger and victim mentality. As Saint Exupery said ‘If you want to build a ship, don’t drup up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea’, rather than giving out orders to the people, Korean national leaders fostered fear and sense of danger in the citizens towards Korea’s big enemies, especially North Korea as mentioned above. President Park cleverly utilized North Korea and the people’s innate fear towards North Koreans. He labeled North Korean people and anybody who follows them (or seems to follow them) as “the Reds”(빨갱이) and promoted people to fear them and feel they are in danger all the time. A typical strategy for this is making films or writing books about what kinds of bad things they have done to us. He defined North Korea as South Korea’s main enemy and constantly reported their evilness and cruelty to the people. Same thing was done with Japanese Imperialists. Korean government aggressively introduced what Japanese people have done through all sorts of media and formed anti-Japanese sentiments inside all Koreans. Especially, conflict on Dokdo and Korean comfortwomen in Japanese army are being the representative ones. Combined with self-pride of Korea made through ‘Dangun’ legend and all sorts of proud historical events, people felt their national greatness has been injured and built up hostility towards them. In other words, it is a necessary illusion, pride and self-esteem combined with anger and sense of danger.

With strong ‘Juche’ ideology, North Korea has been promoting even stronger necessary illusions than South Korea. However, some of you might be curious why they couldn’t develop into a wealthy nation as South Korea did. In fact, it is hard to discuss one country’s economic growth with only necessary illusions as economy is much more complicated system with so many variables in complex relationships. However, there might be some possible answers for this. The problem in ‘Juche’ illusion is that there is no anger or victim mentality in ‘Juche’ illusion. The North Korean government has been brainwashing people to think they are living on an earthly paradise and to feel proud of them, but didn’t form any kind of anger or eager to beat off enemies or rivals. Therefore, while the NK leaders could make people have less dissatisfaction towards the government, they failed to make their people work furiously and efficiently. With big economic problems such as adoption of communism, closed market and overall unstable economy, North Korean necessary illusion isn’t working properly as expected.

The concept of ‘Minjok’ did helped South Korea to develop into a prosperous country. First of all, it helped people to gather up and solve problems together when the country has confronted nationwide hardship. Take a tremendous economic growth occurred from 1960’s through 1980’s as an example. Men and women were sent to Germany to make more money, and soldiers were sent to Vietnam to support USA army. The people admitted these sacrifices and placed national advancement and people’s overall prosper in front of their own happiness. Also, people voluntarily gathered gold to save the country from terrible financial crisis in 1997. 1,230,000 volunteers visited Tae-an to clean oil spilled on the beach in 2007. Voluntary events of this big scale are unparalleled in history, and this clearly shows that the concept of ‘Minjok’ does help people to form solidarity and face problems together. Plus, the hostility, fear and anger help to increase the labor productivity of people. Those feelings easily arouse people’s protective instinct to their families and nation, making them to gather up to protect each other from the ‘villains’. This encourages them to work harder to beat the enemies’ economic level and enhance Korea.

 Some people might view necessary illusions as government’s manipulation of citizens’ mind and regard it as a form of violence since it blocks people from thinking freely. While it is partially true and is not perfectly right thing to do, the result was undeniably successful. It isn’t that every ends justify its means, but in this particular case, it is hard to say the means was wrong. It was ‘Minjok’ that enabled the people’s minds to change and fully devote themselves. Without the concept, Korea might not have developed into the world’s 13th wealthiest country (2010). Also, as the concept wasn’t aiming for evil purposes as German romantic nationalism in the World War II was, I see no big problems in this means.

           As discussed above, ‘minjok’ has been working as a catalyst for people to make progress faster. However, this doesn’t mean that the concept can remain that way, unchanged forever. Until now, most of the developments of the nation were based on what is done inside the nation: economic production, social movements and political advances. However, as the society develops and improves, countries around the world are more related to each other. The concept of ‘Minjok’ can be a huge obstacle in this situation. With anger and repulsion toward other countries prevailing inside us, deep and truthful communication will never be made. Also, ‘Minjok’ might work as a shield blocking foreign people from becoming a part of Korean society, which will hurt human equality and will worsen the nation’s overall image. Lastly, it will slow down the true meaning of globalization. As deep communication will not occur very frequently, global interactions and information exchanges will occur somewhat less than other countries relatively. This concept surely needs to be updated as the society has changed.

           Then, how should this concept change? This is the question left for everybody. As the concept is now deep-rooted in Koreans’ minds, it is very hard to change in the first place. Expanding the concept into a worldwide one and opening the people’s minds up towards the foreign countries will be crucial, but this will need long period of time and will never be easy. Therefore, nationwide campaigns, government’s policies and people’s active participation in changing the ways of viewing the world and ourselves will be significant.

2013년 6월 28일 금요일

Lotus Exige S and other things - Random Image Essay #1

<Reading the post published right before this first is highly recommended to understand the whole thing.>
So I found this.
 
What do you see in thi picture? Well, obviously a green, fancy sports car. Also cloudy white sky, wet ground and some grass and forest behind the car. There is a bright sunlight so it isn't night yet, but its not near noon. There is a reflection of the car on the water so there are technically two cars in this picture.
This car is from Lotus, and the model is called 'Exige'. From Exige series, this car is "Exige S". That was why the image came up when I searched for 's'. Lotus makes sports cars, not just being fancy but actually used for car racings and so on. With its dynamic, unique design, this is being one of the most successful models among Lotus cars.
This picture is probably took in morning. It's obviously not afternoon when the sun is strong, so it might be evening or morning. But I see more of freshness from the color green, grass and the water on the ground, which makes me related to the morning times.
I thought there will be something else I can write from this kind of picture, but right now I am too tired right now to relate this image to broader concepts(culture, social impacts, picture's symbolic meanings, etc.) or search for more details. (I need to get some sleep today- I don't know why I'm so exhausted right now)
Good thing : I found a good way to find something to write about!

Randomizer + Google = Something to write about!

I trying something new today : I first visited Random.org where I can get access to a perfect randomizer, and selected one from 26 english alphabet letters(randomized numbers from 1 through 26).  I got number 19, so the selected one would be s, the 19th alphabet letter.
Then I searched the letter on google, and looked for 19th image from above - and I found this.


I didn't know that there are so many 'S' designs.

Since I felt it will be so hard for me to extract something from this letter, so I tried 38th(19 times 2 as it is step 2) image presented, and lucky I found something else:
 Wondering what would this car be.

So I am going to write something on this picture right after this. Go see the next posting to find out!

2013년 6월 24일 월요일

Favorite Singer Sings Favorite Song!

 
<Nessun Dorma>
 This is an aria from opera "Turandot" composed by Puccini. The notes reach up to top b, one of the highest a man can sing. Moreover, as the song starts very soft and silent and ends strong, the song is considered one of the most difficult arias of all. Maybe that's because we feel so impressive and beautiful listening to it.

--Lyrics--
Nessun Dorma! Nessun Dorma!
Tu pure, o, Principessa
Nella tua fredda stanza
Guardi le stelle che tremano d'amore e di speranza

Ma il mio mister e chiuso in me
Il nome mio nessun sapra, no, no
Sulla tua bocca lodiro quando la luce splendera

Ed il mio bacio sciogliera e silenzio che di fa mia

Dilegua o notte!
Tramontate stelle!
Tramontate stelle!
Alla'alba vincero!
Vincero, vincero!


The man singing in this video is Alfie Boe, a famous tenor from England. He performed "Les Miserables" as Jean Valjean, the main character in the musical's 25th anniversary concert(This was held in concert version -meaning it was more like a concert than a play). With stable breathing, nice, tender voice and absolutely amazing high notes, at least I think he is now one of the best opera/musical singers worldwide. In 2014 he will be performing Les Miz in Broadway as Jean Valjean, in actual musical version. You can find his awesome songs and performing videos on Youtube, and you will also be able to see him cooking if you search for it little deeper.

2013년 6월 3일 월요일

What do you see 'In Your Fantasy'?

In my fantasy I see a fair world,
Where everyone lives in peace and honesty.
I dream of a place to live that is always free,
Like a cloud that floats,
Full of humanity in the depths of the soul.

In my fantasy I see a bright world
Where each night there is less darkness.
I dream of spirits that are always free,
Like the cloud that floats.

In my fantasy exists a warm wind,
That breathes into the city, like a friend.
I dream of souls that are always free,
Like the cloud that floats,
Full of humanity in the depths of the soul.




Any ideas what this poem means??

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Nella Fantasia

Nella fantasia io vedo un mondo giusto,
Li tutti vivono in pace e in onestà.
Io sogno d'anime che sono sempre libere,
Come le nuvole che volano,
Pien' d'umanità in fondo all'anima.

Nella fantasia io vedo un mondo chiaro,
Li anche la notte è meno oscura.
Io sogno d'anime che sono sempre libere,
Come le nuvole che volano. (Pien' d'umanità)

Nella fantasia esiste un vento caldo,
Che soffia sulle città, come amico.
Io sogno d'anime che sono sempre libere,
Come le nuvole che volano,
Pien' d'umanità in fondo all'anima.


'Nella Fantasia' means 'In My Fantasy' in italian.
This music was initially a part of "The Mission" soundtrack. Composed by Ennio Morricone, it had no singer in it at first since he thought human's voice is the worst musical instrument and doesn't go with his music well. Instead, the main melody was played by oboe. (This is why the title was 'Gabriel's Oboe' at first) In the film, the oboe melody is presented as if a man in the movie is actually playing it.
Sarah Brightman, a famous soprano singer persuaded Morricone and first made it into a vocal song. This song became extremely famous in Korea after it was introduced in a TV program "남자의 자격".

 
This video is a performance of "Il Divo", an international popera group. I recommend you to read the lyrics along the song - it gives you a new impression.

 

Bible Verses #1

I usually read the Holy Bible in Korean, but I once planned to read it in English (..which also remained as plans..). I would like to share some merciful scriptures from the Bible with you guys! (Unfortunately in English of course..)
 
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.     
John 3:16

Call me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.
Jeremiah 33:3

"Arise, Shine, for your light has come,
    and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
See, darkness covers the ewarth
    and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the Lord rises upon you
    and his glory appears over you.
Nations will come to your light,
    and kings to the brightness of your dawn."
Isaiah 60:1-3

"Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."
Hebrews 13:5

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."
Matthew 11:28
 
 
Amen!

Rhetorical Device - Alliteration

          Alliteration can be defined as a repetition of the first sound or sounds in two or more words that follow each other in succession. However most of the examples of alliteration usually contain at least 3 words that start with same sound as alliteration of 2 words often occurs coincidentally.

These words may be adjacent or may be separated by some words between them. This is because prepositions are often fixed as conventional expressions, so it is hard to think of new one that starts with particular sound that matches in those cases. This also happens to verbs as there are not many synonyms for often used ones, such as ‘have’, ‘do’, ‘be’ and so on. Because of this, many examples of alliteration are comprised only with nouns.

Alliteration is found very often in poetry; but, is also found in many works of literature because it adds interest to the written and spoken word as it makes the sentences sound rhythmic.

           Alliteration is also often used in tongue-twisters as it is hard to pronounce quickly and makes the sentences sound fun. There are some famous ones such as :
-She sells sea-shells by the sea shore.
-Peter Piper picked a pack of pickled peppers.
 
           This device is also used often in novels and poems as well as following :

-I watched the bare brown back of the prisoner marching in front of me. (A Hanging, Gearge Orwell)
-Behemoth, biggest born of earth, upheaved His vastness (Paradise Lost)
-So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past. (The Great Gatsby)

Bibliography : examples.yourdictionary.com