Answer to North Korea- South Korea question.

One of my readers here asked me what my South Korean students think about their neighbors to the north. Here's You Tube video that captures the mood and sentiment of many, maybe even most. That's their family. Almost all want reunification. The only ones who don't only don't for pragmatic "it wouldn't work" reasons. Some picture the bloodshed and disturbance of the North's way of life that they are entitled to. Some say that they can't merge with them economically. But they tend to feel this way:


And that's their family, so they can critisize, but be careful what you say.
This video is from You Tube, and I was the first one to comment, if you want to go there and check it out, the poster of the video responded and said that she was just over there and the sentiment there was emotional for reunification (paraphrasing), if you want to see the exact comment, just go to You Tube. I think there's more than one of these videos, though. This one is called DMZ and Korea- A Nation Divided. One of the neat things about actually visiting You Tube is that related videos will come up on the screen, so if North Korea interests you, you can watch other things.

This next one is a "tour" of part of the DMZ zone...the Military guy is obviously American.

Star Wars Korean

Shin Neung-kyun, Korean name...American name Nelson Shin. He's a professor in South Korea, originally from North Korea. He invented the Light Saber in Star Wars. This was reported in the CNN show Eye On South Korea and it's also in Wikipedia. He's a famous animator who's done shows like The Simpsons and X-men...and more. So there you have it. He's handsome in my opinion- he looks like my grandmother.

Mad as #$%%!

I've had it!
I just saw a video from the BBC World about a North Korean defector who has commit suicide. I'm so angry with all the tragic stories of these defectors, it's so unjust. What they go through is horrid. To put up this blog entry I searched for photos of "North Korean defectors" and I found this terrible photo of a woman in China trying to make it through the gates of an embassy and the Chinese gestapo, two of them pulling her down, one has her from behind, the other is blocking the gate. On the other side of the fence is her tiny little girl who made it through watching the whole thing. If you type in North Korean Defectors on Yahoo and click images you can see it, but I couldn't steal it for the blog, it didn't work.

That woman in the photo is likely dead now. She was sent back to NK, and usually there is an excecution. Yeah, I'm pissed at China, but they're quite open about their stupidity. I'm mad at South Korea which is where the defectors go to commit suicide after being treated like shit by South Koreans. I'm mad at the USA, but to know why one would have to follow the involvement of the US in the situation. South Korea is like the little brother who can't make a move without the US big brother, and big brother is kind of an ass. The US doesn't even treat South Korea with that much respect, especially when compared to Japan.

HELP these people...anyone...
I mean how much sense does it make to condemn North Korea if we don't Let The People GO!?!

North Korean Documentary Films

CNN interview with Nicholas Bonner

This is a cool CNN site, the Talk Asia segments are up. This documentary film-maker guy is awesome. He made this movie about two girls in the NK mass games that blew me away. I realized as I watched him answer questions that I know quite a bit about this topic, and I knew how Bonner would answer. I have less experience with North Korea, only through my interviews with South Koreans, but I would have answered the same way. I had more simpatico with the interviewee than the interviewer and that made me realize how much I've taken in on this subject. From the State of Mind website:

Welcome to the a state of mind website: http://www.astateofmind.co.uk/
The story of two North Korean schoolgirls and their families in the lead up to the Mass Games – the biggest and most elaborate human performance on earth. You may be interested in our new documentary on the last of the US defectors still living in North Korea, http://www.crossingthelinefilm.com

I recommend taking a peek at the "crossing the line" movie site also. I guess that film is narrated by Christian Slater.

Anyway, just a warning, this stuff is NOT boring by any stretch of the imagination. I need to see all this guy's work. I found it fascinating that Bonner, the British chap, was involved with film festivals in NK and said they brought in "Bend It Like Beckham" and they loved it, and they also brought in Mr. Bean's disaster movie and they love that humor.

I tell ya what, there's really nothing like watching Mr. Bean with people on the other side of the earth that don't speak your language. There's just nothing like it. Rowan Atkinson should get some kind of award or something. I've already blogged about this, I know.

Anyway Nicholas Bonner- check him out. Go to the link. Now. Thank you, and goodnight.

Never Heard of It

My students have no idea that most of the world calls this "The Great Wall". In Korean they call it something that translates to million mile castle. The word mile there literally translates to something like unit, but when they speak English, it sounds good to say 'million mile'...even though most everywhere in the world, miles are not used as a unit of measure. Interesting.

When my students ask me what this is called in English, it very often to degenerates to a "Who's on First" skit. "What do you call that?" "The Great Wall"

"Yes, what do you call that in English?"
"The Great Wall of China."
"Yes, what is the English word?"
"That's what we say, it's called the Great Wall of China."
"How do you say it in English?"
By this time the class is separated in to two teams. One side has started to understand and is now on my side trying to give an explanation. The Korean starts flying. If they are successful convincing the others that this is indeed what it's called:

"Oh! That's the name? The Greatest..."
"No! The Great Wall."
"Just The Great Wall"
"Yes, The Great Wall of China"
"Oh! So simple!"

The next part of class consists of students trying to convince me they have one in Korea. No, you don't. Yes! We do it's in North Korea. Ok you win. I'm sure it's just as big and wonderous and not just a "wall".

Kim Jong Il is HOT!

And he's pretty much a fashion icon in Asia. His hairstylist works long hours to keep that quaff standing tall. He's got the hippest most now glasses frames, I see the hip hop world has taken to them. He wears huge platform heeled shoes. He's really really short. I read an article in Newsweek that said the first thing he said to one female foreign government official on her visit was "What do you think of my physique?Eh?" What's a girl supposed to say to that? Yeah...you're pretty hot. Umm, now...about those nukes...

I'm going to blog about the dmz soon, probably not today tho. Oh, no...I just found this...

I thought my sense of humor was original...guess not. The students really laugh though when I seriously say that I really like Kim Jong Il...for fashion, but that's all, otherwise he's not a good role model.

You Guys March Funny

I know quite a bit about South Korean's viewpoints on North Korea. I know more about North Korea than your average American, and I'm trying to put together a coherent post on something related to that, but I'm still working on the concept. I've found so many interesting pictures, and normally my blog entries don't have a lot of pictures, it makes the entry cumbersome. So do I have a series on North and South? Why not. Anyway, this is all coming soon, I'm saving pictures to the computer here.

My students have talked about this subject extensively. North Koreans are their family, they express. They really want unity. The students that say no to unity do so for pragmatic reasons, they can't see how it could be accomplished, and they don't want anyone getting hurt. Animosity that students have toward the US is often times North Korea related (or free trade-related). The US has been a force that has worked to estrange the two countries even further, I'm told. I have a bit of a fascination with North Korea, there is no other country like it. It's so small and so heavily controlled. It makes Cuba look like Disneyland,sponsored by Coke.

One thing I can say about this picture, I saw an excellent British documentary on North Korea, it was shown on the Discovery Channel a few months back, but here we get Discovery Channel Asia, which is not the same in the US. So, I don't know how many people at home got to see this, it was superb, so fascinating. Their military soldiers march like mad-men, I'm riveted! North Korean families watch on television from their homes (one channel, all government, all the time) and teach their children, "Look there's not another army in the world like ours. No other country has an army like this." They may be right.

Korea Times Article, N. Korean General Scorns Bush

There is no direct link to this article, it's on koreatimes.co.kr

N. Korean General Scorns Bush
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
Tuesday’s inter-Korean military talks got off to an unusual start with the chief of the North Korean delegation recalling an Internet joke about U.S. President George W. Bush.

Shortly after the meeting began, Lt. Gen. Kim Young-chul of North Korea started proceedings by telling a joke at Bush’s expense called ``Saving the President.’’

The story was about Bush who, going out jogging one morning, is so preoccupied with international affairs that he fails to notice a car heading straight for him.

A group of schoolchildren pull the president away just in time, saving his life. Bush offers them anything they want as a reward.

``We want a place reserved for us at Arlington National Cemetery,’’ say the children. ``Why is that?’’ Bush asks. ``Because our parents will kill us if they find out what we've done.’’

South Korea’s chief delegate Maj. Gen. Jung Seung-jo appeared befuddled but defended Bush, saying the fact that such humor about the president is circulating freely on the Internet reflects how democracy works in the United States.gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr

Japan PM

On the world front I've noticed some curious developments.

I have my own take on things, I amuse myself. One story that came out a few weeks ago is that Kim Jong Il, leader of South Korea, and the leader of Myanmar have decided to make nice. I guess they were enemies. Those two countries being enemies makes no sense, and one can certainly see why they would want to patch things up. They have a common enemy: everyone. So there was a meeting.

A very short time later, Abe, the PM of Japan visited the US. So to amuse myself, I picture Bush telling Abe, "They have a meeting. We have a meeting." Watch out.

THEN Abe goes over to China, "Hey, let's improve relations." (Not an exact quote)
I've been on this side of the world for a while. I was in school for a month in China. I know about the relations with China and Japan, and I can say honestly, that this 'let's patch things up' attitude seems right out of the blue.

It wasn't that long ago that Japan was playing the same old role of completely disregarding all opinions outside of their borders, engaging in controversial behaviors, like visiting shrines for war criminals, and maintaining their superior attitude on any issue raised by outsiders. There were bold statements made that there's not enough evidence to prove that Korean women were held captive and raped by soldiers. This is just one of many issues. China and Korea have beefs with them continually. Back and forth.It seems for the last year, there's always been something in the news. Someone made a speech, someone visited somewhere, there was a court ruling...all of it just Japan being superior, 'we don't care' Japan.

And them boom.
Hey let's make friends with China.

Here's what I think. I think they've got their eye on North Korea. When Kim Jong Il started in last year with this 'Go ahead, make my day.' stuff, Japan was jumping around like the kid in the crowd that wanted a rumble.

The latest news is that Abe wants to change the constitution to more accurately reflect their power in the world. Their constitution mandates peace for the country. As I understand it, they do not have attack rights. Abe wants to change this. On the news there was a story showing thousands of protesters in Japan that want to maintain their peaceful stand. One woman said in to the camera directly and succintly, "They want to change this so that they can kill people." Maybe there was a translation issue, Japanese aren't typically so direct. But I heard her Japanese sentence and it was very short. Her voice was strong and direct.

So, I think that all this is not passing news, and somehow these recent events are to shape world events to come.