Jon Dunbar is a copy editor at The Korea Times, as well as editor of the Foreign Community page and curator of the Korea Times Archive. If you have suggestions for possible articles, or wish to contribute articles yourself, contact jdunbar@koreatimes.co.kr.
Korea Encounters When 'guests criticize their hosts'
The Korea Times on Aug. 27, 1975 / Korea Times archive
By Jon Dunbar
By Matt VanVolkenburg
On Aug. 27, 1975, The Korea Times published a “Thoughts of the Times” piece by John G. La Bella titled "Ups and Downs." While prefacing his column by saying he liked Korea very much, he began listing its “downs,” such as the “well-dressed and good looking gal” who “spits on the sidewalk,” “guys who beat up their women,” corrupt contractors and “filthy buses and taxis.”
Among the “ups” were “the practice of seated bus passengers holding the bags and packages of those who must stand,” “hardworking and intelligent people,” “hard studying students,” “charming, beautiful and intelligent women,” and “safe streets to walk at night.” He also lauded the “low prices…the foreigner enjoys” and Westernized Koreans like fathers who didn't “think it degrading” to carry their babies and couples who weren't afraid to hold hands in public.
The debate that unfolded in The Korea Times' letter section over the next month in response to LaBella's critical comments centered on the question of whether it was appropriate for guests to criticize their hosts, and the various positions taken will likely be familiar to readers of certain blogs or members of certain Facebook groups today.
On Sept. 6, Ma Tai-jin, a reader who was “disturbed” by the column, chastized the author: “Mr. LaBella should remember that he is a guest in this country and must show more respect for his host. What right does a guest have to criticize his host in public?” A week after that, Park Myong-ki was even more emphatic, accusing LaBella of lacking etiquette and having “contempt for Korean people.” After pointing out that Koreans were well aware of their country's problems, he “kindly advised” LaBella “to go back to his country.”
Not every Korean reader agreed with these views, however. On the same day, Lee Sung-rack criticized Mr. Ma's “old-fashioned and isolationist view” and wrote of LaBella, “I can't believe he criticized Korea for the sake of criticism, but he may intend to criticize negative points of a society he lives in and is acquainted with.”
The next day, Dennis J. Swing wrote a letter criticizing the “blatant prejudice” he had experienced in Korea. When he was with a Korean friend people would “badger him because he is speaking English instead of Korean.” He was also bothered by the fact that “any Korean girl whom I might have accompany me is considered a whore by many. I have been with many Korean girls who were shocked at the way other Koreans treated them and have broken down into tears because of vicious comments directed at them.”
Swing made certain to contextualize his comments, however: “You must take into account that: (1) I am giving speci?c examples to a general question; (2) these examples aren't true of all Koreans; (3) foreigners are not always angels themselves; and (4) these are my personal experiences.”
Responding two days later to Swing's article, retired USFK First Sergeant Aubrey Choson wrote, “Pardon me, dear Korean People, for injecting myself into your domestic affairs, but I have been irked, yes, even embarrassed, by my fellow countrymen” for their “unfounded” criticism of Koreans. This was because, in his 10 years in Korea, he had never been subjected to any such vicious comments when he was with his Korean wife, and wondered what kind of establishments Swing patronized.
In a letter four days later, Hugh C. Craig stated that he understood why locals would “express opposition” to “foreigners act[ing] in a superior, proud or patronizing way.”
Writing a week later, Korean War veteran Anthony Gerke, who had spent most of his life since 1947 in Korea, thought he had a “right to voice my opinion” because “I am a part of the society in this country, just as much as Mr. Park Myong-ki” who had urged LaBella to “go back to his own country.”
The final letter to appear was by Sergeant Charles E. Andrews, a black American soldier who wrote that he had found Korea safer and friendlier than the U.S. and urged Americans to remember that “there are good and bad experiences in every country.” To Koreans he apologized for any ill will the critical letters might have caused and concluded by writing, “All we ask of the Korean people is that they not judge us too quickly as people undeserving of their trust and friendship.”
Matt VanVolkenburg has a master's degree in Korean studies from the University of Washington. He is the blogger behind populargusts.blogspot.kr.