By 
ICHEON, South Korea — A group of hanbok-dressed foreign wives married to South Koreans learn how to cook rice with the traditional Korean pot, “gamasot,” in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, on Oct. 1. The event was arranged ahead of the annual Icheon Rice Cultural Festival set for Oct. 21. Hanbok is a traditional Korean costume. [Yonhap]
6:43 am on October 10th, 2010 1
What the hell? You have to be kidding.
10:02 am on October 10th, 2010 2
Is that a woman of African decent in that picture? She is married to a Korean male? What's going on here? GI, is this a joke? Say it aint so!
Tokyo girl, is this possible? What about the Minjok? The pollution?
10:22 am on October 10th, 2010 3
Holy shit, there's also a white woman in that picture.
Tokyo,
What the hell is going on in South Korea?
1:50 pm on October 10th, 2010 4
"What the hell is going on in South Korea?"
South Korea is beginning to accept that something serious must be done, and done soon, to cap the steady deterioration of the South Korean labor force. The Korean government encourages the invitation of foreign wives to Korea. I agree with President Lee on this part.
I can almost expect Chickenhead to come up with some sort of retort to this, but remember… South Korean men have as much right to say 'fck monoculturalism' and marry whichever woman they want as the South Korean women have. If South Korean women deserve to marry foreign men like Chickenhead himself, then so do South Korean men.
2:28 pm on October 10th, 2010 5
Trust me, most normal South Korean men do not want to marry foreign women. It's the poor losers in the society who are desperate to marry anything that walks around and breaths. Frankly, I think these desperate Korean men should be castrated and prevented from marrying at all. Just look at what's happening in Western Europe. I don't want South Korea turning into a second Vietnam or the Philippines, or even worse, China. I don't want Koreans turning into brown people, and education grades and scores to collapse.
3:44 pm on October 10th, 2010 6
Whoa!!!! My posts were sarcastic, which was completely lost on two Koreans. I should have expected this!
K, I know you can do pretty much anything you want, you're an Ajoshi, the king supreme.
Tommy Two Times, When you return to the Hermit Kingdom, your immortality status will be re-instated. I wish you well.
Love,
Zero
5:42 pm on October 10th, 2010 7
"Trust me, most normal South Korean men do not want to marry foreign women. It’s the poor losers in the society who are desperate to marry anything that walks around and breaths. Frankly, I think these desperate Korean men should be castrated and prevented from marrying at all. Just look at what’s happening in Western Europe. I don’t want South Korea turning into a second Vietnam or the Philippines, or even worse, China. I don’t want Koreans turning into brown people, and education grades and scores to collapse."
You are of course correct, Tom. Maybe you should write an affidavit of complaint to President Lee about that. I'm sure it will contribute greatly to the development of Korea as a great nation.
"K, I know you can do pretty much anything you want, you’re an Ajoshi, the king supreme."
Fck ajusshi, I've not seen half Chickenhead's winters yet. And I'm very close to branding you a western version of Tom too.
5:46 pm on October 10th, 2010 8
#5
Tom, I suspect Hines Ward or Denis Kang wouldn't mind having a "private talk" with you about your views someday.
5:50 pm on October 10th, 2010 9
#5
P.S. You don't seriously believe someones academic ability is derived from their genetics do you?
6:11 pm on October 10th, 2010 10
K writes – "Fck ajusshi, I’ve not seen half Chickenhead’s winters yet. And I’m very close to branding you a western version of Tom too."
That's a serious branding! I could not handle a label of that magnitude. Please accept my apologies for the misunderstanding.
8:29 pm on October 10th, 2010 11
Hmmm… some quick thoughts… in kinda random order… so bare with the disorganization.
K,
"The Korean government encourages the invitation of foreign wives to Korea. I agree with President Lee on this part."
This is putting ideology before reason.
Ideally, Korean men and women should certainly be free to marry whomever they wish.
In reality, the government is doing the country a huge disservice to encourage marriage to the lowest, poorest, least-educated foreign spouses possible.
There is a huge difference between foreign spouses who truly contribute something to the advancement of Korea and foreign spouses who can only contribute an underclass of babies destined to fill future 3D jobs.
Lumping both types of foreign spouses together, as if they are equally valuable to the development of Korea and its globalized culture, is either unintentionally foolish or intentionally insincere.
Bringing in third-world peasants and calling it needed "globalization", "multiculturalism" or "diversity", is like bringing in a hillbilly with 3 teeth and a harelip and calling him an "English teacher".
Understandably, the men who are marrying poverty-stricken foreign women are unlikely to do much better… but, perhaps, it is correct in some way that they don't get married and reproduce… and they might not, if the government wasn't actively encouraging it.
"South Korea is beginning to accept that something serious must be done, and done soon, to cap the steady deterioration of the South Korean labor force."
Bringing in low-level foreign women to marry low-level Korean men to make low-level babies to do low-level jobs is NOT the solution.
It is a recipe for a presently successful and unified society to be divided in goals, values and purpose. It is a blueprint for making an ethnic/appearance-based underclass tolerated only as long as they stay in their clearly stated position of filling South Korea's labor force on farms and factories.
Further, while "something serious must be done", a country with the 2nd highest population density in the world (discounting city-states) does NOT need to solve their problems with more babies… as, any rational person can see, it simply prolongs the problem for another generation while further consuming resources and destroying the environment.
Everybody,
STFU about how Korea needs more babies… or, at the least, quit parroting the short-term thinking party line, think it through and explain how continued exponential population growth is a sustainable strategy for solving Korea's labor shortage.
Tom,
"Trust me, most normal South Korean men do not want to marry foreign women. It’s the poor losers in the society who are desperate to marry anything that walks around and breaths."
More accurately, most "normal" Korean men will NOT marry foreign women… even if they kinda want to.
Family expectations, social pressure and career opportunities, insure most "normal" Koreans marry other Koreans.
A large influx of low-quality foreign spouses makes it even more difficult for "normal" Koreans to marry foreigners… as the situations and motivations of all foreign spouses become suspect… much in the way a GI with a Russian or Filipina wife is assumed to have married a former whoore even if it isn't the case.
K,
"Fck ajusshi, I’ve not seen half Chickenhead’s winters yet."
Duuude! How old do you think I am? Unless you are a teenager or you live near the equator, you should reconsider that statement.
JoeC,
"You don’t seriously believe someones academic ability is derived from their genetics do you?"
Nope… but it is HIGHLY influenced by social status, culture and educational background of the parents.
Once again, the argument here should not be misdirected into irrelevant debate on race and genetics.
The point is that the Korean government should discourage its citizens from marrying low-level foreigners.
NO net good will ever come from that.
8:51 pm on October 10th, 2010 12
To pretty much every previous comment,
Right, because all know that projecting American race politics onto a frickin' picture of women cooking rice in Korea is the most logical thing to do.
8:59 pm on October 10th, 2010 13
Clap clap clap bravo!
Chickenhead hits it on the nail head again.
How's the bringing in of Third World peasants who can't even read, into Korea and marry them off to almost equally ignorant peasants who are 40 years seniors, going to advance Korea's IQ and Korea's competitiveness? What you are doing is creating another generation of equally ignorant class of people so that they can procreate again and again. So instead of the ignorant unmarriable people dying off, they continue to procreate and multiply… this is real bad. I hate the thought that my country's turning into another second homes of China, Vietnam, or Philippines.
9:59 pm on October 10th, 2010 14
@Chickenhead
The problem I have in agreeing with you is that I have seen so many examples who have exhibited the complete reverse of what you say, and so did many other people who support limited multiculturalism in Korea, including the government itself. Let me ask you first – how many of these children born between 'poor' Korean men and foreign wives have you seen fulfill their destinies as 3D workers yourself? Do you think the Korean government and many of its faithful extensions of pragmatic bureaucracy did not lay out comprehensive social security and settlement plans for the newcomers well ahead of the time the multiculturalism will eventually begin to brew trouble, before it active began inviting the foreign wives into Korea as the new stakeholders of Korea's future?
그리고 톰. 중국엔 이미 중국인,베트남인들이 천지에 널려있어요. ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 단지 당신이 감각에 총체적으로 이상이 있어서 못 보는거요. ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 필리핀인쪽은 아직 잘 모르지만, 그쪽여자들도 번식을 잘하는 편이라 짱개들 사이에서도 인기가 상당히 많을것으로 예측함. ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
1:48 am on October 11th, 2010 15
So instead of the ignorant unmarriable people dying off, they continue to procreate and multiply… this is real bad.
That sounds very Darwinian.
What happens to those who, at least a generation ago, felt an obligation to maintain the family legacy and heritage, and stayed down on the farm while their younger brothers an sisters went off to the big cities? Should they be penalized for that?
2:36 am on October 11th, 2010 16
I will sum it up. The korean men who marry foreigners are usually farmers from rural areas who can't marry other korean girls.
It's no big deal. Also, is that zilchy thing an esl teacher or something? It sounds like one.
5:05 am on October 11th, 2010 17
K,
"The problem I have in agreeing with you is that I have seen so many examples who have exhibited the complete reverse of what you say"
Please elaborate. Please share a few of these examples that are the reverse of my conclusions based on my observations.
"Let me ask you first – how many of these children born between ‘poor’ Korean men and foreign wives have you seen fulfill their destinies as 3D workers yourself?"
Don't mess with me, K.
The foreign peasant-bride phenomena has not been going on long enough for the majority of the children to enter the workforce yet. They are still in the stage of being teased and marginalized in the country schools they attend.
I know a doctor who gives free medical care to foreign wives of poor farmers at his small town clinic.
Individually, the stories are mostly heartbreaking. As a whole, the situation is somewhere between revolting and hopeless.
On the plus side, but not for Korea, there is a certain class of English "teacher" who targets young SE Asian brides… and there are a lot of these brides who grasp at anything more appealing than their poor and unattractive, and frequently abusive, husbands…
…keep that in mind, GI Joe, next time you get tired of buying those 20,000w juices. Small town squares on market day are the REAL places to score some full-time action from little brown girls.
K, do you really want to know the layers of slime that surround the whole industry of importing foreign brides?
I think you aren't against the situation because you approach it all from an academic, ideological and theoretical standpoint rather than from a position grounded in reality and based on knowledge, observation and experience.
"Do you think the Korean government and many of its faithful extensions of pragmatic bureaucracy did not lay out comprehensive social security and settlement plans for the newcomers well ahead of the time the multiculturalism will eventually begin to brew trouble, before it active began inviting the foreign wives into Korea as the new stakeholders of Korea’s future?"
K, I hope you are not Korean. I hope you are a bitter leftest foreigner. Any Korean who would write something like this does not represent the traits that made Korea strong… but represents the culture of needless entitlement that is currently making America weak.
The "social security and settlement plans" you talk about cost money… money that productive people must supply to provide for the needs of the non-productive.
As a productive person paying a good deal of Korean taxes, I resent that.
While I believe in sacrificing a small amount of my productivity to help build the social safety net that is necessary in maintaining a compassionate and ordered society, I see no reason to squander those resources on a needlessly manufactured class of hopeless people who are incapable of ever contributing more than they absorb.
K, kindly address the points I made in the previous post.
P.S… in your comments to Tom, China's mostly third world, authoritarian-enforced multicultural society is of little relevance to Korea's situation.
5:32 am on October 11th, 2010 18
ChickenHead for Prez of Korea! What he said. What President Lee is doing is a complete disgrace to this country that rebuilt itself ground up from nothing, to what it is today. He's trying to imitate the Western open immigration system which has gotten those countries in big trouble. What did those foreign wives, 3D immigrant workers, and now all those smart alec Western ESl teachers with Liberal arts degrees do for Korea, that Korean parents did for Korea? Korea is now starting to look like the cesspool that many American cities are. Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, are romping around the streets with Muslim banners, while entire districts like the Ansan City are turning into filthy China Towns full of gang members, foreign criminal trash of all nationalities with knives walking around everywhere attacking victims in bold daylights, and now we even have reports of professional mobsters of Vietnamese, Chinese, Russians involved in criminal trades…. on and on… all the strange stuff that we've never even heard of just a few years ago! What the hell has happened to Korea in such a short time? All these foreigners are not going to be loyal Korean citizens who can be rallied around under one unity, when there are major crisis for the country to overcome.
7:25 am on October 11th, 2010 19
#16 – Orbit states – "I will sum it up. The korean men who marry foreigners are usually farmers from rural areas who can’t marry other korean girls.
It’s no big deal. Also, is that zilchy thing an esl teacher or something? It sounds like one."
Zilchy thing here. Yes I am an ESL teacher here in the Hermit Kingdom, thus the definition of my moniker. I'm nothing, based purely on the decision to "teach" in this country. I do currently hold a B.S. in the biological sciences and have 12+ years experience in the Biotech research realm. Personally, I could care less what my resume says. I do however care about the public perception of foriegn teachers in S. Korea and all the bullshit that tags along.
My previous posts on this subject were pure sarcasm. I could honestly care less who marries what flavor and at what cost. If one believes a union of this nature is the right thing to do, then in my eyes, that's a beautiful thing.
Orbit, What makes a Korean male a loser in this country? The fact that he is a farmer which basically translates to " he doesn't make enough money"? Why is the foriegn bride an undesirable? Because she comes from a country who's GDP is far below that of this country and her skin tone is on the wrong side of the electromagnic spectrum?
7:46 am on October 11th, 2010 20
You've answered your own questions Zilchy. plus I may want to add, their IQ level is not up to standards, they put stress on tax payers, they can't speak Korean, let alone read and write (even in their own languages), don't know anything about Korean culture, they bring their own backward cultures, and dilute Korea's homogeniety which is a strength of Korea and not a weakness.
7:48 am on October 11th, 2010 21
Plus they keep Korean wages down, by willing to work for next to nothing, living in 12 people in one bedroom basements, while Koreans trying to make it daily, are out of a job because of cheap foreign labor.
8:26 am on October 11th, 2010 22
The arguments here come from some assumptions about foreign women's education capacity and income potential based on their skin color and perceived nationality.
There is a TV program (or was, I don't know anymore) which seemed to have been popular, where young foreign women sat center stage and were interviewed by young Koreans about their experiences in Korea. All of the women, as far as I knew, were in Korea to study in university. They all spoke Korean well enough to be interviewed in Korean. Some came from third world countries and a few were dark skinned.
Which of those conditions would have eliminated any of them as suitable wives for "normal" Korean men?
8:44 am on October 11th, 2010 23
Tom,
Both you and Chickenhead are approaching this subject from an optimal socio-economical point of view, while disregarding certain realities. I'm in no way saying that you guys are wrong or invalid.
A certain level of "multiculturalism" or "other culture influence" is an outgrowth of the neuvo world economy. Whether you want to believe it or not, it was "other cultural influences" that brought S. Korea to the position it is in today. There's absolutely no doubt in my mind. It's easy to want to accept the "desirable" foriegners and dispose of the "dirtbags" who's – "IQ level is not up to standards, they put stress on tax payers, they can’t speak Korean, let alone read and write (even in their own languages), don’t know anything about Korean culture, they bring their own backward cultures, and dilute Korea’s homogeniety which is a strength of Korea and not a weakness."
In the natural order of things, you can't have one without the other. What's on the center of the Teaguki? Ying and Yang (Chinese definition). Balance! South Korea is now learning that in order to compete and stay as a "first world country", a certain level of tolerance and acceptance of other cultures is absolutely necessary. We can argue the positives and negatives of this idea untill we are all decomposing. The bottom line – It's here to stay or S. Korea will revert back to it's pre-1950 status with a GDP similar to Afghanistan.
11:27 am on October 11th, 2010 24
"There is a TV program (or was, I don’t know anymore) which seemed to have been popular, where young foreign women sat center stage and were interviewed by young Koreans about their experiences in Korea. All of the women, as far as I knew, were in Korea to study in university. They all spoke Korean well enough to be interviewed in Korean. Some came from third world countries and a few were dark skinned."
The program's called Misuda. Previously they focused on sob stories of mostly 'first world' women, which are actually not really sob stories. They are now slowly shifting their focus to 'third world' women partly under viewers' direction, and under their autonomous decision to increase viewer rating and earn more profit. They have reasonable expectations that many Korean viewers are actually very interested in knowing more about the toils of third world women, their children, and their 'poor' husbands. There are other KBS/KBS2 '다문화가정' programs though which are shown the first few babies steps that the Korean government chose to take to give multicultural children, even those from third world countries, the chance to serve Korea as accepted, if not welcomed, companions of the Korean society.
I'm tackling other posts later.
12:37 pm on October 11th, 2010 25
There's another show called "Love in Asia" where they show foreign brides and their sob stories.
The Korean government and media is doing an all out attempt to prepare Korea for a mass immigration open door policy which will be in place by 2012. This is insane, absolutely insane. The brain washing and propaganda begins in the media which is bombarded daily about the good merits of multiculturalism. The demise of Western economic system began with unchecked immigration followed by lofty ideals of multiculturalism. There's a good reason why Western countries are failing with huge debt to GDP ratios – all spent on unchecked generous social programs to help those poor SOB's. Korea wants to copy this western system and follow them into the same demise of ghettos and race wars.
The new dual citizenship law is also insane. Just wait until all those uneducated crap people who are going to take advantage of the system to gain entry into Korea, take up residence, and then take up citizenship in five years. What happens after that? They take advantage of their passports to all the visa-less passage to every country in the world. Just you wait and see how the number of these "Korean Citizens" double, triple, and quadraple the number of illegal Koreans staying abroad – giving a huge black mark to Korea. The worst perps I worry about are the Jeosonjok Chinese and the ethnic Han Chinese. These people are loyal subjects of China which will never change. They will betray Korea someday when it's convenient. Their only interest is to take advantage of Korean passport, get the maximum out of it including money, then they go somewhere else when the profit margin thins. In the mean time they will bad mouth Korea, praise China, spread all kinds of lies about Korea on the Chinese internet so that Chinese can hate Koreans. They are a ticking time bomb. They cannot be converted to Korean citizens, they are Chinese first and they will help China come first. It's insanity to give duel citizenship to these people, they're not going to be loyal to Korea.
Multiculturalism in Korea will not work because Korea keeps importing all the uneducated temporary manual laborers and foreign mail order brides from villages with no running water. In the West, at least many immigrants are highly educated professional people from the cities who can adapt much better in the long run, who will put their roots down. In Korea, that's not the case. The immigrants in Korea will forever work in low labor jobs with no hope of escaping poverty. In essence, Korea is creating a whole generation of underclass uneducated people who will once they get their Korean passports, will head out to the West where they can apply for welfare and free government subsidies. If Western people want to advocate multiculturalism in Korea, they better be ready to accept 10 times the immigrants (legal and illegal) from Korea then they do now.
I can imagine what kind of nightmares Korea will run into giving out citizenships and passports like they're candy.
1:11 pm on October 11th, 2010 26
Btw Tom, it's not ok for 3D girls to marry Korean men, but it's ok for GIs and drug-addicted ESL teachers to dig Korean women till their holes go sore, right? Right? Korea can accommodate a few more 양놈세끼s in the country, right?
Zilchy, how many Korean women have you slept with until now?
1:38 pm on October 11th, 2010 27
#26 K – "Zilchy, how many Korean women have you slept with until now?"
In the interest of my private life, why does it matter and how does it relate to the topic at hand? Is this your idea of tackeling my thoughts on the subject.
1:41 pm on October 11th, 2010 28
Of course, 양놈들's are a different story. Most of them are not going to be staking up roots in the country so they're less of a threat. Most of them will head back home so they're more considered to be pain in the asses but not a long term threat. Just beat the crap out of them and kick them out when they behave out of line.
Get rid of the ESL jobs, and kick out the USFK, they're using Korea to keep an eye on Asia, they don't care jack shit about Korea, and they're getting free land to use as free US military base. If they set up the same base at home in the USA, they'll pay five times the cost. Korea gives them a cheap training ground plus the 50% subsidies from the ROK government – all a sweet deal for the US.
2:34 pm on October 11th, 2010 29
Korea gives them a cheap training ground …
The ONLY military value for U.S. training in Korea is that it is the same ground and airspace they can expect to see in another Korean War..
Other than that, training in Korea is not optimal for anywhere else in the world the U.S. military can expect to be fighting.
2:45 pm on October 11th, 2010 30
I said cheap training ground. I didn't say the best training ground. But my point stands, China is now more important for Korean economy and Asia for that matter. US has no business in Asia, the business has changed and there's a new boss in town.
3:24 pm on October 11th, 2010 31
Trollops, all of them.
4:08 pm on October 11th, 2010 32
All of this hatred over a picture of women cooking rice? Damn, some of you really are pathetic.
4:13 pm on October 11th, 2010 33
Now, now, it IS propaganda. It's quite obvious. Is it a big deal? No. Is it cool Koreans are proud of their culture. Sure, I think it's great.
I do wonder though, when may I be proud of mine?
4:28 pm on October 11th, 2010 34
#33
Hmmmm. I get asked by Koreans every so often to tell them about American culture. I never really know how to answer that.
4:43 pm on October 11th, 2010 35
Zilchy, K,
You guys have not responded directly to anything I have written and continue to miss the point in your own writing… talking around the issues, discussing imaginary theories and arguing against irrelevant concepts.
I would like to think that you have no way to counter my flawless logic… but, perhaps, I have only been unclear.
Let's try again.
You demand that Korea open itself to foreign influence.
O.K.
Then, if "diversity" and "multiculturalism" must be encouraged, why not have a government subsidy for companies to hire more foreign engineers, scientists and professors to bring their knowledge, experience and cultural influence into Korea?
Why does the government have to encourage an influx of third world human refuse? What multicultural capital do they have to offer Korea?
Stop trying to push the "all goals, values and behaviors are equally valid and acceptable" ideology.
Zilchy,
"Orbit, What makes a Korean male a loser in this country? The fact that he is a farmer which basically translates to ” he doesn’t make enough money”?
What makes him a "loser" is that he cannot provide the education and opportunity for his children that Korean women demand… and which is an important Korean cultural trait that took the country from third world to first world in a matter of decades.
"Why is the foriegn bride an undesirable? Because she comes from a country who’s GDP is far below that of this country and her skin tone is on the wrong side of the electromagnic spectrum?"
Stop trying to make a racial issue out of what is a cultural issue. If you will notice, ethnic Korean Chinese are equally unwanted and undesirable.
This is about net social, cultural, educational and economic contributions to Korea. If third world citizens has desirable characteristics, the third world wouldn't be so… so… third world.
Korea left most of that third world crap in the dust and doesn't need it back.
Korea needs to pick and choose what foreign influence it accepts… and it needs to do so from countries that are doing better than Korea in one way or another.
4:58 pm on October 11th, 2010 36
Tom, as you said in number 28: "Most of them will head back home so they’re more considered to be pain in the asses but not a long term threat"
That's exactly what the girls on the hills say after wards! At least you know the true value of corean women now!
6:33 pm on October 11th, 2010 37
I'm not on vacation this week. I don't have enough time to linger on one post for too long. I can tackle them one by one, but later.
"Please elaborate. Please share a few of these examples that are the reverse of my conclusions based on my observations."
I work with the children everyday. I'm not some bitter leftist foreigner; I'm a guy trying to do his educating job the best he can, believing that his educating works is meaningful, who has a lot of faith in his renowned employer's (Korea's) master plans. Korea is my employer. The Korean government is my government. I already see a lot of prevailing opportunities for the Korean government's plan to eventually achieve maturity and success from my own vantage point, efficiently with noteworthy effectiveness. I'll elaborate more later.
8:25 pm on October 11th, 2010 38
CH – "You demand that Korea open itself to foreign influence."
We already had a bitch fest about this a few months ago. This has already happened to a certain extent. Again, it's not "blanket multiculturalism" as you eluded to in our previous discussion, but there is a major western influence going on in this country as we speak. From what I see, the social issues arising from this idea are severe and deep. Again, Korea has come to the conclusion that in order to compete and sustain it's "first world standing", some outside influence and "waygoogin" have to be present in Korea. In my opinion, the "global economy" demands this idea, there's no way around it.
CH – "Then, if “diversity” and “multiculturalism” must be encouraged, why not have a government subsidy for companies to hire more foreign engineers, scientists and professors to bring their knowledge, experience and cultural influence into Korea?
Why does the government have to encourage an influx of third world human refuse? What multicultural capital do they have to offer Korea?
Stop trying to push the “all goals, values and behaviors are equally valid and acceptable” ideology."
Why the Korean government does not accept foreign professionals is anyone's guess. From what I have heard, this has been tried many times before and the foreigners lose their minds in dealing with the Korean corporate culture and the society itself. It eventually fails and the individuals leave the country. Also, in keeping with the monocultural ideology, they send Korean nationals to be educated overseas to acquire the professional knowledge.
Why do you think they import foreign brides to this country? Obviously there's a call and need for it. Korea still leans towards the patriarchial side of the scale. Do we see "mail order grooms" from first or third world world countries? HELL NO! The chances of seeing imported grooms from "third world countries" would be unfathomable, simply because of the money issue. Which you state as being related to the idea of education as a pillar of modern day Korean society. I see it as the idea of staunch materialism that Koreans are soaking in.
What multicultural capital do "undesirable peoples" offer Korea – They do the shit jobs that Koreans (soaking in their neuvo riche dilerium) do not want to do. Korea as a country will alway's need a manufacturing sector, farming sector, etc. These occupations do not pay as well as city corporate gigs which all the men dream of, because the only other option in acquiring a lady to continue the Minjok bloodline is a foreign undesirable female.
The idea that manufacturing and farming sectors are an integral part of Korean society has lead to "foriegn brides". It's done, over with. You can label them as uneducated, dirtbags, morons or whatever you'd like.
Personally, aside from all the economic and cultural bullshit, If two individuals want to enter a marriage, for whatever reasons, this is a good thing. Leave the skin tone, education and outside egomania out of it.
8:28 pm on October 11th, 2010 39
K,
Since you decided to ask me a completely irrelevant question in regard to this subject, let me reciprocate.
How many Korean men have you slept with to date?
9:00 pm on October 11th, 2010 40
Zilchy. Maybe I asked that question to take a piss at Tom.
As for slept with, it depends on what meaning you are trying to convey with that phrase. If you are talking about sharing the same floor, bunk bed, or tent, I had 'slept' with too many men to count.
11:03 pm on October 11th, 2010 41
"Hmmmm. I get asked by Koreans every so often to tell them about American culture. I never really know how to answer that."
Funny thing is, just today I was asked by some Chinese students (as in, from China, not Chinese language majors) how Canadian and American is different. To be brief, I summed it up by, "Canada is a social democracy and the US isn't". They didn't know the meaning of social democracy, so I found it in my English-Korean dictionary for them. They knew its meaning. Then I added, "Going to the hospital is free in Canada and very expensive in the US". Their answer? "Oh, Canada is a great country!". I swear I'm not making this one up.
11:32 pm on October 11th, 2010 42
“Going to the hospital is free in Canada and very expensive in the US”.
Not true at all. You pay for your hospital care through taxation, there is no free flu shot. The US is about to do this as well, we just make sure not to call it a tax.
Also going to the hospital in the US is not necessarily cheaper in Canada vice the US unless you want to discount what I posted above.
11:45 pm on October 11th, 2010 43
#42: Yup! TANSTAAFL.
12:55 am on October 12th, 2010 44
"Not true at all. You pay for your hospital care through taxation, there is no free flu shot."
Say what you want, you'll have to look very hard to find Canadians who lost their homes in order to pay their medical bills (if you do, they probably reside in the United States). Besides, the Canadian government spends less on universal health care than the United States spends on health care:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_the_he…
And I wouldn't go to the hospital to get a flu shot. It's more convenient to go to the clinic where there is a nurse who does nothing but give shots. In any case, last time I was vaccinated in Canada, it cost me 10$. How much does it cost in the US? 25$ to 30$ according to the net.
I guess it's better to laugh about it than cry about it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer%27s_Triple_Byp…
It certainly beats your approach: denial.
1:17 am on October 12th, 2010 45
JoeC,
"Hmmmm. I get asked by Koreans every so often to tell them about American culture. I never really know how to answer that."
You are funking kidding, right? What the hell kind of ignorant talk is that?
Maybe…
…that's because you have never watched a Hollywood movie, seen a sitcom or listened to pop, rock, jazz or the blues.
You don't have a computer, don't use the Internet and don't have a game console.
You never went to a mall, ate fast food or shopped in a convince store. You don't drink Coke and you don't eat junk food.
You don't play baseball, wear blue jeans or go to Disneyland.
…and those are just a FEW things off the top of my head which define a very small slice of American culture… all of which have been hungrily copied by the rest of the world.
…there are a million more aspects of American culture which isn't exported that you seemingly have missed.
You never drove a muscle car with the top down on a road trip, fired a privately-owned firearm, drank Jack and Bud at a house party or went to a strip bar for a bachelor party.
You don't watch football, eat hamburgers at a back yard BBQ, celebrate a very commercialized version of Christmas, shoot off fireworks on independence day, own a pickup or go hunting.
You don't know that freedom of speech is an inalienable right and you are resigned to spend your life in the class, status and situation you were born in.
And, apparently, you don't know down deep in your heart, through the overwhelming evidence of history, that you undeniably and irrefutably live in the best goddamn country the world has ever seen… to the point that if anyone says otherwise, you confidently laugh at them instead of getting angry and indignant (like Canadians… or just about everybody else when their country is disrespected).
We can go on and on about subcultures from urban to hillbilly, California to midwest to Key West, Silicon Valley to Ft. Bragg.
And we can comment on how America once carefully embraced the best parts of other cultures while rejecting the drek… then took these cultural gems as its own, slyly reworked and repackaged them and exported them to the world as the latest innovation to be envied, copied and aspired to.
If an American is ever asked to defend the existence of American culture and is unable to do so, they should feel great shame in themselves.
2:06 am on October 12th, 2010 46
TD, I'm not in denial but you are showing signs of it.
Canadians are unlikely to lose their homes due to health care issues but so are Americans covered by their employers. The trick is to put together a plan that covers everyone without undue tax burden on the middle class and businesses. We haven't done that.
You pay taxes which are put toward your health care. Americans only do so for the limited program of Medicaid. Your 10$ shot isn't 10$, if you are a taxpayer and being honest.
"Besides, the Canadian government spends less on universal health care than the United States spends on health care" No doubt about it, this is why many Americans are concerned with how well run a bigger medicaid system will work. We haven't exacltly done well with what we have on a smaller scale.
Canada has done well with its system but it isn't all peaches and cream. There are many areas without access to equipment that is standard in small US hospitals, many times the wait periods are quite long and even Canadian ministers have opted to travel to the US for procedures on their own dime.
7:38 am on October 12th, 2010 47
#46,
Oh, right. Because a cheaper system must be inferior? No, it's more efficient. There are fewer people needed to administer health care in all Canadian provinces and territories (health care is a provincial government responsibility in Canada) than there are who work for Blue Cross in some US states. Yeah, keep arguing that the huge waste of money is somewhat justified all you want…You can't change the fact that Canadians live on average longer than Americans. So do South Koreans, for that matter.
7:47 am on October 12th, 2010 48
PS. Bother to check the link?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_the_he…
Yeah, people wait so long in Canada, about as long as most Americans.
8:05 am on October 12th, 2010 49
"Yeah, people wait so long in Canada, about as long as most Americans."
That's pretty terrible for both countries. It tells us how much more relatively superior Korean healthcare system is, compared to the other two. So such waiting around in Korea, and the life expectancy is outstripping both countries.
8:08 am on October 12th, 2010 50
correction: no such waiting around in Korea where life expectancy is increasing much faster than the other two countries. Koreans now outlive Americans by a full year, and the gap is increasing.
3:01 pm on October 12th, 2010 51
#49,
Yes, the wait is extremely short (I took 3 days between the time I decided to get surgery to me being in the operation room. Then again, I'm well connected because practically every one of my neighbors are doctors and surgeons) and the deductible is very low (3 or 4000won for a visit to the doctor's office). Another plus is that dental is also covered by the medical insurance, as it should be.
But, it isn't without its faults. My biggest concern is sanitation. Things that should be sterilized between patients, like thermometers, aren't always. There are also too many patients in a dorm and family members come and go as they please (some people may enjoy the party atmosphere, but I think the prime concern should be protecting the patients from infections, not accommodating family members), which is why it's wise to go to the hospital early in the day: it will increase your chances of getting a private room if you need to stay overnight. Private rooms aren't cheap, but I imagine they're a bargain the fee to what you could expect to pay in the United States.
3:03 pm on October 12th, 2010 52
considering the fee…the other little mistakes don't affect the meaning.
3:16 pm on October 12th, 2010 53
TD, you are building a strawman and effectively knocking it down. I never knocked Canadian efficiency, I knocked the efficiency of US Medicaid. Many knee-jerk US liberals and Canadians knock people in the US for not adopting universal medical care when the reality is we already pay a lot and we don't get much in return for the Govt funded portion. Universal Health care passed by the Democrats is very expensive and will not necessarily be more efficient than medicaid by any estimate.
Knock the chip off your shoulder and re-read what I wrote if you are honest.
#51 I agree with your assessment, Korean hospitals take way too many shortcuts and it is pretty much do it yourself medication since the nurses do not do what is considered basic in the US or Canada. I have been told repeatedly (By a Korean nurse) that if you want to have a colonoscopy, have it done on Monday, many hospitals only clean the scope on Sunday.
5:14 am on October 13th, 2010 54
"I have been told repeatedly (By a Korean nurse) that if you want to have a colonoscopy, have it done on Monday, many hospitals only clean the scope on Sunday."
This is not good. I would also agree that when it comes to basic sterilization techniques and frequency, the Korean health care system in general is severely lacking.
Also, the idea of universal health care in Korea is only partially true. If you have enough bread, you will magically, receive better care at a faster rate.
8:13 am on October 13th, 2010 55
Rubbish! That's the excuse embarrassed Westerners use when they can't explain why they can't give their citizens a decent healthcare. Most Americans can only dream of to get the level of Korean health care. Either that, they have to be rich enough to afford pay expensive insurance. Everything shows up in the life expectancy. Koreans live 80, Americans live 78. What does that tell you?
7:29 am on October 14th, 2010 56
"Everything shows up in the life expectancy. Koreans live 80, Americans live 78. What does that tell you?"
It tells me that two years isn't going to make much of a difference when reverting back to wearing diapers. Also, the choices a person makes during the course of one's lifetime also factor in to life expectancy. I would agree that in general, the American lifestyle contributes greatly to a shorten lifespan. That's some Americans, not all.
8:17 am on October 14th, 2010 57
Rising Cost of Kimchi Alarms Koreans
by Mark McDonald
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/15/world/asia/15ki…
6:25 pm on June 19th, 2011 58
In response to number 7, you are brown people and yellow people, you are not white! Your people do not want to marry a divorcee, they have to abandon their children to do that. Your people do not want to marry a poor country farmer, you prefer to look for the white rich men, most of your people are social climber who want to better themselve, so you should not throw stones. If you marry a foreigner both of you should learn each other cultures not me learning to be Korean crock of doodo, that is why their is sooo many husband killing the foreign wives. Due to lack of knowledge, and iliteracy. So you hush your UGLY mouth. Go back and marry a farmers daughter and help till the land with her. Please remember you are Orientals i.e Asians and you are not WHITE, you culture is a multitude of different colors, just like Blacks, Whites, Jews, Spanish. You are not and never will be considered Caucasians.
8:23 pm on June 19th, 2011 59
The real question is, what did the foreign wives do with the nurungji at the bottom of the pot?