In other words, he’s gone native.

“They may or may not have understood the words, but the meaning was clearly not lost.”

If what you are saying is correct, that they were speaking English, then why did the author use the word “understood” and not “hear” or “catch”?

In It’aewon, there are generally two types of “swanky”-looking young Korean women: tourists having a visit and looking for fun, or professional types.

I doubt the tourist types would dis foreigners like that so brazenly and especially in English, particularly since the tourist types tend to be cowed and intimidated by the whole It’aewon vibe.

On the other hand, if they were juicy girls, they might have just been trying to be catty, but I tend to think that working women in It’aewon would not be throwing their hard-earned money away at Starbucks. They generally just come to the ‘hood and go straight to work, rather than hanging out too much. In fact, many of them have day jobs as well and are quite busy.

My vote is that those Korean women were snotty, shallow Kangnam or Apkujeong types who were slumming in It’aewon and were not trying to be “progressive,” but just being bitches — and felt comfortable enough to do so on the assumption that the foreigners to whom they were referring would not be able to understand them.

Of course, Koreans tend to understimate the ability of non-Koreans to pick up vibes or notice subtle cues, so that is probably what the young African-American women were responding to.

My hunch is that he needed to complete is piece for the next edition of whatever rag he writes for, he's not the sharpest pencil in the box when it comes to Korean culture, and he used a generous dose of creative license.

Complete conjecture on my part. But I have spent quite a few years in this place.

I just read this article again – and it sounds even phonier than the first time. We're supposed to believe that some well dressed (hence the adjective "swanky") Korean women **paused** while walking by a table of young African-American women – and made a comment like that??

I call BULLSH1T.

Now…if he had said they walked by the table (no pausing…just walking by), very briefly stole a glance at the African-American girls, and then while walking away leaned toward one another and said in a hushed voice only loud enough for the others in their group to hear, "They're pretty, even if they're black," giggle, giggle, giggle… I could believe the story. Of course, they would have been speaking in Korean.

The half-black girl ~ known to be the daughter of a madam ~ getting called names at school is an entirely different scenario. Korean school kids are brutal to anyone who doesn't fit in – whether they are Korean or not. A half-black girl, who probably doesn't have a father, whose mother is a madam – is going to get hit with the harshest of school-yard bullying every time she steps out the door ~ guaranteed.

Koreans do have a high opinion of themselves. Self esteem is Korea’s greatest natural resource. Korean pride knows no limits. Masters of the Universe, someday.

It is certainly the case that many Koreans will assume that foreigners cannot understand Korean and sometimes not censor themselves as much as they might when speaking in English directly to a foreigner. That right there is an ethnocentric assumption, of course.

It is not clear whether the author's Korean ability was good enough to accurately pick the exact phrasing and nuance of what the Korean women said.

However, it rings fairly true to me.

I knew a madam in P'yongt'aek who had a half-black teenage daughter who dropped out of high school there because she couldn't handle being called "komdung'i" all the time. They were planning to move to the US just to get away from it all.

This was about three years ago, I might add — around the time that Hines Ward hit the local scene and ostensibly improved the image of biracial kids here.

http://endic.naver.com/endic.nhn?docid=771100&amp…