Flying Yangban

A sign of the times to be replaced by a sign of the old times in the 'spirit of the times.'

(NOTE:  This is a Yangban time delayed post.)

Gwanghwamun Gate.  You can see Park Chung-hee's sign in the middle of the upper section.

With all the mess going on in Korea these days, one issue that has strangely caught my attention is the brouhaha over the Cultural Heritage Administration's plan to remove the name plate on Gwanghwamun at Gyeongbok Palace carved from the writing of former President/Dictator Park Chung-hee.

According to the Joonang Ilbo (see first link) the original name plate, written in Chinese, dates from 1865 when it was made as part of reconstruction at the palace.  That plate was destroyed during the Korean war.

The current plate was written in Hangul (Korean script) for the gate by Park in 1968.  Park was big on restoring Korea's historical sites (although most often in concrete rather than the original materials) and a lot of the 'old' stuff we see today was in fact rebuilt on his watch. 

Of course, once Park Chung-hee's name is mentioned, you can almost guarantee that the Hanky is going to fly into hysterics.  They certainly did not disappoint.  Check this out:

Many signs remain in our society as evidence that even in our generation there was a time when someone ruled the country thinking he himself was the state incarnate, and that such thinking was not exclusive to the pre-modern era of tyrannical monarchy. Those signs mock the spirit of the times, since they are often found in the form of near-permanent carvings and inscriptions on precious old structures or massive memorials, so that many may know of their “great and lofty” significance.

I especially love the line; Those signs mock the spirit of the times, since they are often found in the form of near-permanent carvings and inscriptions on precious old structures or massive memorials...'  (emphasis is mine).  That is precious.  So writing on old structures should reflect the spirit of the times?  Cool, when I get to DC in a couple of weeks, I'll make a few changes to the writing on the Lincoln Memorial so that it better reflects the spirit of the times.  Thanks for the idea Hanky.

Shockingly enough I found myself partially agreeing with the Hanky on something.

The Cultural Heritage Administration says the wooden tablet on Gwanghwamun will be changed on Liberation Day, August 15. What is important is that the problem is not something that should be decided by the head of the Cultural Heritage Administration or a few people associated with him, and not just about the tablet on Gwanghwamun as a separate case. Civic and other groups should come together in an exclusive body to establish standards and principles for wiping away the calligraphy of a shameful history, because historical and cultural landmarks and memorials are Korean people’s estate and textbooks that must be handed down for generations.

First I must point out that the good folks at the Hanky contradict themselves again.  If historical sites need to be changed with the 'spirit of the times' then the calligraphy on those sites will not be 'handed down for generations.'  This is especially true since they talk about 'wiping away the calligraphy of a shameful history' in the very same sentence.  (This might be a case of Korean ideas not translating well into English.  I can't imagine them being this dumb in their native language.)

I agree that we should be leery of one administration wiping out the historical work of a previous administration.  It could set a nasty precedent for future administrations.  However, the Hanky has gotten a little ahead of itself here.  First, people need to decide if the sign should be replaced.  Only after that is decided can folks decide what to replace it with.

The Chosun has taken a much more moderate tone.  While suggesting that the sign should be eventually replaced, they point out a couple of factors which suggest that now is not the time to do so.  I recommend reading the whole article but they summarize at the end:

The Gwangwhamun signboard written by ex-president Park, having hung there for 37 years now, has attained a certain historic value all its own. If it must be changed, it won't be late to do so as and when the reinforced concrete structure is replaced with a wooden one.

Me thinks this is a less-than-subtle dig at the Cultural Heritage Administration to put its money where is signboard is and rebuild the gate in its original form before playing politics with historical sites.  There is also some logic there.  The placing of the last two signs at the gate (in 1865 and 1968) corresponded with its rebuilding.  It only makes sense that the replacing of the Park name board also accompany a rebuilding of the gate.  Call it the "You build it, you name it" rule.  Keeping with that precedent would also prevent the current government from opening a whole Pandora's box of revisionism at Korean historical sites every time Korea changes administrations.

Hangul please

I do have one request.  When the Park Chung-hee signboard is eventually replaced, please, please, please do it in Hangul.  The use of Chinese in Chosun-era writing was do to Chinese dominance of Korea (culturally if not always politically).  Korea is a big country now and I don't see any reason why they can't write historical name boards in their own language.  I guess I'm not above a little historical revisionism myself.  Maybe I can write for the Hanky or become a research assistant for Bruce Cummings.

A word before heading to the States (LiNK meeting and interesting post)

I'm about to head off to the States for a couple of weeks where I will, among other things, introduce Lady Yangban to my mom.

I had planned on doing a couple of time-delayed posts but I am really busy and only had time to do one (which will come out on Wednesday).

In the meantime, here are two announcements:

LiNK-Seoul meeting

Here are the details for the next LiNK (Liberation in North Korea)-Seoul meeting:

The next LiNK meeting will be on Feb. 3, Thursday, at 8pm.

We will screen the documentary SEOUL TRAIN (www.seoultrain.com), and
have a regular meeting afterwards. SEOUL TRAIN is about the North
Korean refugees in China and the "Underground Railroad," the dangerous
journey to South Korea.

The film is both in English and Korean, and is subtitled in both
languages. Running time is 55 minutes.

Please invite anyone who is interested but please RSVP with the number
of people as seating is limited.

Date and time: Feb. 3, 2005, Thursday, 8pm
Location:  Laurus Education Center (in Apkujung)
7th Floor,  Gusan Bld. 93 Nonhyun-dong Kangnam-gu Seoul Korea
?쒖슱?밸퀎??媛뺣궓援??쇳쁽??93 ?€?숉???7,8痢?
(across the street from Cine City movie theater)

For some reason, the Korean always gets messed up in the email.  If Eileen or someone else from LiNK sees this, please post the address in Hangul in the comments section.  I would also appreciate someone posting information on the upcoming human rights conference in Seoul on February 16.  I've heard about it but have not information to share.

Speaking of Human rights, Woody of the aptly named Woody's Blog sent me a link to a post of his which highlights parts of a recent article on human rights and the situation in North Korea.  Woody likes comments and debate so feel free to share what you think with someone from the sovereign state of Mississippi.

I will check on my blog from time to time but don't expect too many posts until I get back.

Continue reading "A word before heading to the States (LiNK meeting and interesting post)"

Why the provincial assemblies are important in Iraq

In the previous post I said; The fact that Iraqis will also be choosing provincial assemblies is important. I then went off on a tangent without explaining why it is important. 

As I said before, by using proportional representation (PR), election administrators made so that depressed turnout in some parts of Iraq would warp the composition of the assembly.  With turnout in Sunni areas apparently low, what many people worried would happen has come to pass.  For this problem I blame the UN hack who came up with the idea of a single ballot, nation-wide PR election and whoever in the Coalition Provisional Authority (or the Iraqi government) who agreed to it.

One way to address that problem is for some additional seats to be assigned to Sunnies, but it might be difficult to choose who would take those seats and it would certainly be nondemocratic.  After all, which group of self-selected Sunni leaders should be selected. 

This is where the provincial assemblies come it to play.  Since they were elected by the people in their respective provinces, they would have much more legitimacy in choosing representatives from their province than would a Shiite-dominated national assembly.  If you are a Sunni in Al Anbar province, who would you trust more to pick your representative; the national assembly or the Al Anbar provincial assembly which was chosen by the people who braved terrorists and insurgents to vote in that province?

Of course, the ideal solution would have been to have had provincial-based elections but I think this is the next best thing.

Best wishes to Iraqis as they vote

I just want to take a moment to send best wishes from this little corner of Korea to the Iraqi people as they take part in their first multi-party elections.  Here Iraqis will be voting for and how (provided by the Associated Press): 

WHAT'S ON THE BALLOT: Each voter will be given two paper ballots — one for the 275-member National Assembly and the other for provincial legislatures. Voters in the Kurdish-controlled areas of northern Iraq will receive a third ballot for the self-governing region's parliament.

HOW WILL THEY VOTE: Each voter will be led to a cardboard booth to mark the ballots. Voters will choose one party list from 111 possible lists, with the number of candidates seated from each party determined by the party's percentage of votes nationwide. Once the ballots have been marked, the voter hands them to an election worker who drops them into a ballot box. The voter then proceeds to the final station, where an election worker marks his or her hand with indelible ink to prevent repeat voting.

The fact that Iraqis will also be choosing provincial assemblies is important.  Because the UN decided that Iraq should use a proportional representation (PR) system in which Iraqis vote for party slates rather than individual candidates and parties gain seats in the legislature based upon the percentage of votes they get.

I dislike PR as a general rule.  Among other things, it creates unstable minority or coalition governments in parliamentary systems (Italy comes immediately to mind) and sometimes gives an official government platform to extremist parties. 

For reasons why PR might not be right for Iraq, I give you an old piece from Michael Rubin (Warning to blue-staters; you are about to read something from a guy with a suspiciously 'neo-con' name.  You may want to shield your eyes.):

Liberal Iraqis favor constituency-based elections. The Transitional Administrative Law calls for a 275-member National Assembly, which translates into each district's member representing approximately 87,000 people. Contests would occur not between parties but between individuals, who would be accountable to local residents rather than party bosses... 

The party-slate system will not bolster representation. Many Iraqis share ethnicity but not local interests. Tel Afar, a town of 160,000 east of Mosul, is 95 percent Shiite Turkmen. Its Turkish-speaking residents have little in common with Turkmen in Erbil or Kirkuk. The party-slate system might also undercut religious freedom. Christians, for example, represent less than 3 percent of Iraq's population. They remain concentrated in towns such as Alqosh, Ainkawa and Duhok. Many Christians do not support parties such as the Assyrian Democratic Movement. Without district-based elections, they may find themselves without representation. Smaller religious communities that do not have their own political parties but who live in clustered districts may find themselves without political representation in the important constitutional process.

Another advantage of single-member districts is that we would be able to deal with one major problem facing today's election; uneven voter turnout.  In Shiite and Kurdish areas, up to 70% of eligible voters may come out.  In Sunni Arab areas, turnout might be less than half of that.  The net effect of this imbalance in turnout will be that the Sunnies will be underrepresented in the assembly. 

If the Iraqi election had been based on the Single-Member District Plurality system (SMDP, as used in the USA and Britain, among others), then Sunni-dominated areas would send their representatives to the legislature regardless of turnout discrepancies since every district would send somebody. 

On the other hand, using SMDP might have also been difficult for one simple reason; it would be extremely difficult to draft legislative districts before a government was in place.  One of the incoming legislature's main jobs will be to set up Iraq's permanent electoral system.  Perhaps they will draft districts for Iraq's next round of elections.

A logical compromise would have been for using a PR system but having the vote based upon each of Iraq's 18 provinces.  That would have gone a long way towards ending problems associated with regional variances in turnout.  It would not have been without problems (allotting legislative proportions to the districts would be difficult without accurate census data) but I think it would have been the most workable system.

In any case, I just want to repeat my best wishes to the people of Iraq from this little IKK outpost.

UPDATE:  The picture on the right worries me a little.  That ink, if designed correctly, will take a couple of days to wear off, even with washing.  In areas with a lot of terrorists, those ink markings could be a death sentence for those that fall into their hands.  There have already been reports of suicide bombings.

UPDATE 2:  While many pundits I have read think that religious parties will dominate the election, at there are at least some signs that moderates will do well: 

Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Iraqi interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi may gain the most support in the National Assembly election Jan. 30 because he appeals to all sides of the nation's religious and ethnic divisions, according to interviews with voters and the latest opinion poll.

Iraqis will elect a 275-member assembly that will choose a president and two-vice presidents. They will appoint a prime minister. Secular parties, including Allawi's Iraqi List coalition and the Kurdish Alliance, are likely to win the most seats.

``People have agreed it's in their interests to elect Allawi prime minister,'' said Rime Allaf, an Iraq analyst at Chatham House, a London foreign-policy institution that advises European governments. Many Iraqis ``don't want a religious government.''

A poll by the International Republican Institute, a nonpartisan U.S. research group, showed that almost 60 percent of Iraqis say Allawi, a Shiite, has been effective since taking office. The survey was based on 1,903 interviews from Nov. 24 to Dec. 5 and had a margin or error of three percentage points.

BTW, I hope to have a chance to visit the offices of the International Republican Institute while I'm in DC.  Once I'm done here in Korea I would love to have a chance to work with them or the National Endowment for Democracy in their vital efforts to help democracy around the world.

Robert Kim wouldn't be coming home anytime soon

I just saw in the Chosun that Robert Kim will have to wait over two years (when his probation is over) before he can return to Korea. 

Good.  Sit and stew buddy.

Philippines pics are up

As part of my house cleaning before I go to the States next week, I am updating my photo albums.  My pics from last summer's trip to Boracay in the Philippines are now up. 

I hope to have some pics from Japan (along with a serious post or two) up by the end of the weekend.

Finally, here is an indication of the kind of stuff Lady Yangban has to put up with when she travels with me:  Download MVI_0391.AVI (You have to turn it up to hear me over the propellers.)

She is a very tolerant woman.

These are bloggers who died! Died!

Since I'm heading to the States next week to introduce my wife and my mom, I've decided that now is a good time to clean up ye olde blog roll.

So it is time to say goodbye to the following:

1.  Budaechigae:  I heard that he was going to open a new blog but I haven't heard where.  If somebody knows, I'd gladly link to it.

2.  Korea Watch:  The link is broken.  That's all I know.

3.  My 2 Cents:  Inactive since September 4.  That's blog roll clutter in my book.

4.  Rathbone Press, The:  I'm really going to miss that cranky Canadian; another causality of being nagged to get off the computer.

5.  seeing eye blog:  I kept hoping that he would come back.  He never came back.

6.  Brainy Smurf:  Another who pulled the plug.

7.  Gweilo Diaries, The:  I have no idea what happened here.  The link now goes to some home shopping site.

8.  Allah is in the house:  One of the funniest blogs I have ever read.  I guess the fundies finally got to him.

9.  the laughing linden branch:  One of my very early links.  Inactive since November.  I'm sorry to see him go.

To help give myself a ray of hope amongst all the carnage, I'm linking to one of the best 'new' (new to me) blogs out there:  The Diplomad.   I also want to give a belated welcome back to the Infidel at his new blog; Duophony.

UPDATE:  Budaechigae and Seeing Eye Blog are back on the list.  Thanks for the links Kevin.

My busy little life

(This is a Yangban ego massage post. You might want to skip it and come back later for something more serious.)

In case both of my regular readers have been wondering about my recent dearth of posts, I've been busy lately. Between teaching three different classes and helping some students get overseas training gigs, my winter 'vacation' is actually a lot busier than the regular semester.

'Anti-American sentiment naturally grows in the course of getting a U.S. visa' revisited

I've also have a few other projects going on, including getting a visa for Lady Yangban to visit my family in the States. Because she is married to an American, the process she has to go through to get a B2 tourist visa is more complicated (but faster) than that for a regular traveler from Korea. Here was the process we went through last Friday:

-Wait in line to go into the USA embassy.

-Go to the third floor. Wait in line for a while.

-Told by an embassy staffer that we should get out of line and go to window 20.

-Wait in another line at window 20. Given a folder and a number and told to go to the 2nd floor.

-Wait for our number to be called. Go to the window. Told to go up to the 3rd floor to file an I-130 (which I had already filled out at home).

-Wait in line. Told to go to window 21.

-Wait in line at window 21. Told by a nice lady there to go to window five.

-Wait in line at window 5. File the I-130. Told to pay a fee at window 7 and come back with the receipt.

-Go to window 7. Nobody there. Sign says to go to window 21.

-Go to window 21 again. Told by a different nice lady there to meet her back at window 7.

-Go back to window 7. Pay the fee. Take the receipt to window 5.

-Wait in line at window 5. Give the receipt to the guy. Sent back down to the 2nd floor.

-Get there just as the last window closes. Told to come back after lunch.

-Leave the embassy (I have to make a phone call and you are not allowed to use cel phones in the building.).

-Wait in line to reenter the embassy.

-Go to the second floor. Wait for a chance to jump in line (per instructions).

-File the papers and told to wait a few days for Lady Yangban's visa.

While that sounds pretty bad (and it was), most of the embassy staffers were really helpful. If I had known the process better, we probably could have gotten out of there in half the time it took.

Die Greek scum! (Killing my enemies in my spare time)

Another reason I haven't been posting much lately is that a lot of my spare computer time has been spent playing my newest obsession; Rome: Total War.

While it has a few kinks to be worked out, the game seriously rocks. If you don't believe me, check out these screen shots. Here is one that I stole to share with you:

Cool, ain't it.

"Keep your dirty barbarian hands off our women or we'll break them!"

As the Marmot has been diligently reporting, there has been a lot of fallout from the recent 'English Spectrum-Gate.'  Angry Korean 'Netizens' have anonymously been posting threats against white guys and their Korean girlfriends (or wives, hook-ups, friends, etc.).

Well ECHELON has picked up the threat (Well it was probably some guy in the basement of the USA Embassy in Seoul but, considering all the money we have spent on it, I would like to think that ECHELON picked it up.) and I received the following warning in my email as did Jeff in Pusan:

Recently, inflammatory sexual content was posted to a website for
English language teachers in Korea.  That posting together with subsequent
postings were taken by some to demean Korean women.  We have noted
recently, strong reaction in the form of web postings threatening attacks in
the vicinity of Hongik University and the Sinchon area against
Americans and other foreigners who speak English.  All Americans and their
families (especially young adults) are encouraged to exercise prudence and
caution when visiting these neighborhoods.  The Embassy advises that
inappropriate social behavior in public may be seen as provocative by
Korean nationals.

Does this mean I can't grab my wife's butt in public?

Actually she told me a few days ago that she felt worried about the situation now.  She doesn't fear violence when folks see us together (my being 110k does have some advantages) so much as dirty stares from some chonmin (bumpkins) on the subway.

The beginning of an anti-miscegenation movement?

As a native southerner (the former home of anti-miscegenation laws) this kind of talk strikes home.  It's a little disturbing to see folks talking offense at someone taking 'their' women.  And lets face it, that is the attitude we are talking about here.  If they were really concerned about what the guys at English Spectrum were saying, they would reserve their wrath for them. 

The weird thing is that the actual numbers involved in mixed marriages are pretty small and the main 'culprits' are Korean men marrying Chinese (mostly ethnic Korean) women.  If Korea could just manage to rebalance its birth ratio, there would be plenty of women for Korean men to chose from and we wouldn't have these bitter single guys so worked up over a relatively small number of women exiting the market.

The low numbers for Korean women marrying foreigners would suggests that a lot of the girls hanging out in Sontang and Itaewon will eventually settle down with a nice Korean boy.  They are just sowing some wild oats first.  So I think the people all worked up by this incident need to step back from their keyboards and take a deep breath.

Racism?  Whose?

By a coincidence I did a special class for a group of Korean college students on Martin Luther King's 'I have a dream' speech.  While most of the class focused on the speech as rhetoric (and it is a marvelous piece of rhetoric) we spent the last thirty minutes or so talking about the nature of racism.

One of the things well talked about was how racists use the conduct of the few to tarnish a whole race of people.  For example if see someone from your tribe littering, you would think 'That guy is a jerk' but if a racist sees a Bangladeshi littering he may think 'Those South Asians are really dirty and lawless.  No wonder they are poor.'

You see that thinking among the anonymous netizens who are calling for others to attack foreigners near Hongik.  That same kind of thinking is present in anyone who uses the conduct of those netizens to paint Koreans as naives.

Next LiNK meeting is tomorrow

Yes, my blog has become a bulletin board.  Here is the latest from LiNK-Seoul:

Dear All,

Sorry for the short notice...

For anyone interested in advocating North Korean human rights, LiNK is
holding its second Seoul Chapter meeting on Thursday Jan. 20, 2005 and
will be holding subsequent meetings every first and third Thursday of
each month.

This week's agenda includes discussion on:
- LiNK projects in the works
- planning for upcoming events
- fundraising initiatives


There are no limits to the ways in which you can contribute to this
movement and we encourage anyone and everyone to attend this meeting.
We are seeking compassionate and dedicated individuals to take
leadership roles and welcome all those interested in leadership
positions to speak with LiNK representatives after the meeting.

Date: January 20th, Thursday, 8pm

Place:   Ewha Women's University :Student Union Builing 2nd floor,
            conference room 1
          ?댄솕?щ? ?숈깮臾명솕愿€ ?뚯쓽??1??2痢?.  (YANGBAN NOTE: For some reason the hanguel is always garbled when I get emails from them.)
It is near the Ewha back gate.
You can take a subway line number 2, the station is Ewha Univ. station.

For directions or questions, contact LiNK's Seoul representatives:
Eileen at 0130-270-5258
Diana at 010-6361-2284

Thank you,
Diana and Eileen
LiNK, Seoul Reps

PS. Thanks to everyone who came to the first meeting on the 6th.  It
was very encouraging to see so many of you who feel compelled to take
action.

For more information on LiNK visit here:

Once again, I'm going to have to miss out on this one (business in Ansan until about 7:00).  I'm starting to feel like a bad person.