Ruminations in Korea

Trackback by Flying Yangban

24 January 2005 @ 5:26 pm

“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.’

Comment by Daehee

25 January 2005 @ 8:43 am

Do you think the Koreans would actually follow through with the threat?

Comment by Jeff in Korea

25 January 2005 @ 11:10 am

Unfortunately, it is a very real threat. There is existing precedent to support and justify the warning. Although rare, it has happened before. An American was attaked on a subway because for inappropriately touching a Korean woman (he put his hand on his wife(? or gf?)’s hip. One US soldier was verbally and physically assaulted and hauled off the subway by a group of Korean students and taken to a local university stadium where he was forced to apologize for Everything. Back in 92, an American was beaten to death by a Korean with a dumbbell…the explanation being, “I didn’t like seeing a foreigner smiling together with a Korean girl on such a hot day.”

There are other examples. Although I think it is unlikely that anything will happen, the threat has been made, and things have happened before.

Also, it’s not just the Korean side that is the problem or contributes to the liklihood of something happening. Foreigners, particular Americans tend to be “in your face” when challenged. In 16 years, I have been in 2 fights here…one of them beause of my own stupidity. However, I know people that have been here two months and have already been in 5 or 6 fights.

99% of problems can be avoided simply by swallowing your pride and walking away from insults or challenges. However, foreigners often take the “What did you say??” approach, and things escalate to the point of violence. Another way of minimizing the possibility of problems is to learn at least a little Korean, but most foreigners don’t bother to learn more than the absolute basics.

So, again, violence is a possibility, even if remote, and there are things that foreigners can do to further reduce the possibility of anything occurring.

Comment by Brendon Carr

25 January 2005 @ 11:20 am

Jeff is right that Korean language can help avoid fights. Once late at night in 1992, in Changwon, I stumbled into a group of seven drunken men in their late 20s/early 30s sitting around a pojangmach’a who shouted at me “Yankee Go Home”, “Fucking USA” or other such foolishness. And at least two of them strongly intimated by getting in my face that they wanted to kick my ass simply for being (they presumed correctly) an American.

At that time I knew some Korean but not too much. However, what I did notice was that by manipulating them with what little I knew of honorifics, the whole tenor of the encounter changed dramatically. It pays to be polite.

Comment by brian

26 January 2005 @ 1:34 pm

I know some street Korean; a couple of years ago, during all the anti-American/anti-foreign bullcrap, some stupid butthole student shouted “Fuck you! at me, so, in perfect Korean, I shouted back with greater ferocity, “Yut muguh, shippal seki!!!” (Eat shit, f**ker!)

It felt wonderful. it’s not always good to swallow your pride.

Comment by jeowblogh

26 January 2005 @ 1:36 pm

i’m too chicken to do that….

Comment by brian

26 January 2005 @ 1:39 pm

That’s not to say that I’m not extremely angry at the “foreign feral freaks” who have been writing sexist, perverted, bigoted, (and sometimes even) illegal material on the “English Spectrum” page.

Those people make me ashamed to be a foreigner.

Comment by Dinglse

31 January 2005 @ 7:18 pm

I am ashamed that you are american too Brian. 99% of that silly bs on english spectrum is on every single “korean foreinger” website. Foreigners, a lot of them, who get to konw korea, have a lot of negative things to say. However lots of shiteaters like you Brian save their anger for other foreigners.