Multiculturalism in Korea: Way forward

A good analysis by Prof. KIM Seong-kon, SNU

We often hear that South Korea is rapidly becoming a multicultural country these days. At first glance this seems to be true as approximately 1.2 million foreigners currently reside in Korea, and more than 8,000 foreign brides come to Korea each year to marry Korean men. Indeed, interracial marriage between Korean men and foreign women seems to be fashionable lately. As a result, one can see half-Korean children affectionately playing with full-Korean children in the countryside, and studying together in schools.

Has Korea really become a multicultural society? The answer may be "not yet," if not "no." Unlike the United States, which is truly a multicultural and multiethnic country, Korea is only in the fledgling stages of multiculturalism. Strictly speaking, we are striving to embrace minority cultures rather than seeking to build a multicultural society in which different cultures exist equally with the same weight and importance. When we say America is a multicultural nation, we assume there is no longer a single dominant culture in American society, at least theoretically. When we say Korea is a multicultural society, however, we naturally envision a society in which the homogeneous culture of the Korean people takes center stage and minority cultures remain on the sidelines. Consequently, the term "multicultural" cannot be used to describe contemporary Korean society. Rather, foreign brides and their half-Korean children can be characterized as a "minority" within our society.

Since the United States is a country made of immigrants, it was once called "the melting pot." However, the nickname, "the melting pot," was replaced by the term, "the tossed salad," to account for the fact that the many cultures in America remain distinct, and not blended into a hybrid mush. America is indeed like "the tossed salad," comprised of a wide variety of vegetables and yet producing a harmonious taste. Others call America "the rainbow coalition," with each color of the rainbow representing the unique cultures in America that come together to achieve the supreme harmony of a rainbow.

When Barak Obama was elected president of the United States, my daughter came up with an intriguing idea. She approached me and surprised me as usual with her creative suggestion, saying: "Wouldn't "assorted chocolates" be a good metaphor for the United States, Dad?" "Well, what makes you think so?" I asked. "In a box of assorted chocolates," she said, "there are chocolates with different colors and flavors. Usually, there are brown, dark and white chocolates of different shapes in the box. Sometimes there are yellow, red and pink chocolates as well, arranged side by side. They have distinct flavors, and yet together, they make a fine box of assorted chocolates." In a box of chocolates, indeed, one can find a fine symbolism of peaceful co-existence and harmony of different skin colors, cultural heritages, and individual identities.

The same metaphor may be applied to Korean society as well. Currently, our immediate concern is how to help foreign brides and their half-Korean children assimilate into Korean society. That is to say, we are trying to absorb minority cultures into mainstream Korean culture, instead of acknowledging their cultural or ethnic identities. That is why we have a nationwide campaign to embrace foreign brides and their children as fellow Koreans, and to acculturate them into Korean society. We do not think that minority cultures can be part of Korean society. In that sense, we are trying to create a melting pot, rather than a tossed salad or a box of assorted chocolates.

In 2050, however, experts predict that one out of four or five people in Korea will have an ethnic minority background. If so, we should be prepared to build a truly multicultural, global society on the Korean peninsula. Within 40 years, Korea will be like a box of assorted chocolates: yellow, brown, black, and white chocolates of different shapes arrayed together side by side. Each chocolate will have its own unique flavor and taste, and yet all of them will make up a box of delicious, assorted chocolates. Few people dislike chocolates. There is a theory that chocolates have the enchanting power to make us fall in love with someone. Moreover, who can resist the mesmerizing sweet fragrance when one first opens a box of assorted chocolates! We hope our society, like an open box of chocolates, can emit such diverse, yet heavenly fragrances that can make people fall in love.

Christians visualize heaven as a paradise where people of different skin colors and nationalities gather together and live forever. Strangely, however, many Christians in Korea are not free from racial prejudice, and have suspicions and hostilities against people of different skin colors and cultures, against God's wishes. In the eyes of those biased Christians, heaven will be a nightmarish hell, even though they are allowed to enter. We should realize that we are just one of the assorted chocolates in a box called the earth. All chocolates are equally unique, precious, and important.

Graduation ceremony / Convocation - a memorable day

Yesterday, 26th February, 2010 was the graduation ceremony day at the Seoul National University. Two students from my lab did their Ph.D namely, Seagu Lee and Hoon san Kim. They took about 4 years to complete their Ph.D.

It was a time for joy and happiness for all of us. There is few difference in Indian graduation day and Korean. Here I would like to write few points from where we can learn some thing from each other.

In Korea, every school organizes graduation day separately and normally degree is awarded to every one by Dean of the school. However they organize almost in single day so it looks like a festival for the university. In India it is a university affair and convocation lecture is delivered by some very prominent personality like Minister of HRD or some time President of India etc.

However, I observed that due to too big events normally university does not organize regularly in contrast to India Korean Universities organize two time in a year before spring and fall classes.

So in brief Korean University opt for decentralized system of award ceremony while Indian universities still go for centralized system, hopefully they will think and change towards more robust system.

Beside all this, Korean students make 50- 150 copies of theses and they distribute among the students, professors and potential employer, this seem to be also good practice. I got two Ph.D thesis and after analysis this thesis I found both are between 100-125 pages but very concrete and to the point.

Later I will write some more....

Concept Korea – Fashion Collective 2010

Source: http://blog.naver.com/korea_brand/10081592610 and for more detail

New York, London, Milano, Paris…..the mecca of the world fashion industry!

Amidst the festivities of “Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week,” a world’s premier fashion event held from February 11 to 18 in New York, “Concept Korea – Fashion Collective 2010” took place from February 12 to 14 at the New York Public Library.

“Concept Korea” is an exclusive presentation featuring 6 Korean fashion designers – Andy Kim and Debbie Yoon of ANDY & DEBB, Choon Moo Park of PARKCHOONMOO, Sung Wan Hong of ROLIAT, Doii Lee of DOII PARIS, JUUN.J, and Kuho Jung of KUHO – to represent and celebrate the animated, creative and ambitious design talent currently emerging out of South Korea.

This exciting event, attended by numerous prominent figures including models and movie stars, not only showcased Korea’s fashion, but also its food, music, and other fields of art.

A lot of celebrities could be spotted at the opening party held on February 15 at the Astor Hall of the New York Public Library; actor Keanu Reeves, model Eva Mendes, soccer player Nakata Hidetosi, in addition to over 650 major figures in the art community starting with Chuck Close.

A lot of celebrities could be spotted at the opening party held on February 15 at the Astor Hall of the New York Public Library; actor Keanu Reeves, model Eva Mendes, soccer player Nakata Hidetosi, in addition to over 650 major figures in the art community starting with Chuck Close.

The event was co-hosted by the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Korea Creative Content Agency in collaboration with the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA). This partnership with the government is expected to give significant momentum to promoting Korean fashion, technology, and culture to the world.

The Rice Chest of Wunjoru

In Kurye city, Cholla Province, there is a house built by Yu Yiju (1726~1797) who served as governor there during the reign of King Youngjo. The house is called “Wunjoru”, which literally means ‘House of a Bird Hiding in the Clouds’.

In this house there is a rice chest that has been passed down from generation to generation. It is a cylindrical chest, made from a hollowed-out log. On the underside of the chest there is a small rectangular hole (5 x 10cm), and an inscription “For anyone and everyone” carved on the stopper. Its meaning is that anyone can freely take rice from the chest.

The Yu family used the rice chest to help needy people in the area. Travellers who were passing through would also take rice from the chest. In order to protect the dignity of the people who used it, they put the chest far away from the main building so that people would not run into the owners.

The chest can hold up to two and a half sacks of rice (200 kg). When the stopper with the inscription is turned, the rice comes out through the hole at the bottom. The quantity of rice taken by each person was normally around two to four liters. People rarely took more than this, even though the owners were not there to see them.

The Wunjoru held close to twenty acres of rice paddies, which produced 200 sacks of rice every year. Since 36 of those sacks of rice went into the rice chest, the Yu family gave away almost a fifth of their total produce to people who were in need.

The owner of the household checked the contents of the rice chest each month. If there was ever any rice left over, he would always tell his daughter in law, “We have to practice the virtue of giving for our family to prosper. Give this rice to neighbors who are in need of it immediately. Make sure that there is no rice left in the chest at the end of the month.”

The Kurye area was notorious for the many peasant uprisings that took place in it towards the end of Choson period, and also for guerilla warfare during the Korean War. There is no doubt that the Wunjoru house was able to survive the tumultuous history of the region because of the benevolent spirit behind this rice chest, which had warmed the hearts of many people.
Source: Chung Hyo Ye - Tales of filial devotion, loyalty, respect and benevolence from the history and folklore of Korea

India and Korea moved closer a bit !

I did not write for long time, probably busy with the study as well as other academic activities.
The last month of 2009 and first month of 2010 was very important with respect to many ways. In Korea, we use to celebrate year end parties and distribute prizes and all in various organizations. I enjoyed very similar experience with the year end party of NIIED and others. All were exciting and interesting as well as encouraging.

On 26 January, 2010 was the 60th republic day of India. We celebrate 15 August as an independence day and 26 January as a republic day. Both dates are very important in modern history of India. There is one common similarity in India and Korea is that both the country celebrate independence day in the same day every year i.e. 15 August. I remember since school life we celebrate both the day as a festival like a lot of programs are organized in the school as well as universities in India.

This republic day was some special for us, as we live as a expat in Korea and Korea's president was chief guest in the republic day. Both countries are coming closer with respect to many things especially India's great consumer market for Korean's product and Indian human resource and other things are very useful for cooperation with each other. Both the countries sign some trade documents, however, still both have to go very long for more closer ties.

I surprised to see such a historical relation between both the country by the video on this link.

http://blog.naver.com/korea_brand/10079446525

I think this video will provide many useful tips to understand historical relation between both the countries.

Finally, I finished all except thesis for my PhD

In past two years, I finished almost 42 credits including 3 credit course Korean Language and Culture., it means I passed 39 credits course where minimum required credits are 36. I took 13 subjects related to my major.

I also passed thesis qualifying exam. It means I did all except thesis which is most toughest part in PhD program.

During last two years I progressed small in thesis work too. I presented two papers in the international conferences in Japan and India.

However, I feeling some relax from one side for all these formalities but in the same time I am feeling too much pressure for systematic progress in thesis work. In May 2010, I have to present proposal and finally in Jan 2011 final presentation of thesis.

See what happens, how much I will go with the schedule?

FIRST N-PLANT IN REGION South Korea wins landmark $40bn Gulf nuclear deal

Abu Dhabi/Seoul: A South Korean group won a landmark deal to build and operate four nuclear reactors for the United Arab Emirates, beating more favoured US and French rivals to one of the Middle East’s biggest ever energy contracts.
Under the $40 billion deal announced on Sunday, which Seoul said it hoped would kick-start an export drive for its nuclear technology, the first nuclear plant in the Gulf Arab region is scheduled to start supplying power to the UAE grid in 2017.
In stark contrast to the development programme launched by northern Gulf neighbour Iran, the UAE’s nuclear ambitions carry the blessing of its ally the United States.
A consortium led by state-owned utility Korea Electric Power Corp
aims to complete UAE’s four 1,400 megawatt reactors by 2020. The South Korean president’s office on Sunday described the nuclear deal as “the largest mega-project in Korean history”. REUTERS