The Korea Times

'Squid Game': Linguistic realities

Courtesy of StorebukkebruseBy David A. TizzardFor good reason, “Squid Game” is dominating headlines and streaming charts. It's an exquisitely made, claustrophobic thriller which brings to light the underlying economic struggles of Korean life in the 21st century, with echoes of “Battle Royale,” “The Hunger Games,” “Saw” and more. Lee Jung-jae rekindles the fabulous star power he demonstrated in 2019's “Chief of Staff,” and is supported by Gong Yoo in the first episode and then others as the story progresses. As expected with Korean dramas, however, Kim Joo-ryung and Anupam Tripathi struggle to present any nuance; their caricatures bring the occasional grimace for anyone seeking critical realism or a hint of Stanislavskian performance. Rather than give any spoilers or repeat what others have said about the socialist and capitalist implications of the themes presented, I thought I'd try and explain a couple of things for those watching the drama with English subtitles. Because we are a subtitle generation; young people often u

Sep 25, 2021By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

Mental health not missiles

Courtesy of Koen JacobsBy David A. TizzardThis week we've seen North Korea launch missiles from a train and, not to be outdone, South Korea launch missiles from a submarine with the President looking on all authoritatively. Those vertical peninsula pushes have since been surpassed by an announcement from Biden, Boris and “that fella down under” that there will be an axis of Anglo-Saxonism with its own missiles combining and being pointed towards Beijing. Taiwan seems to be getting involved too. Nothing to worry about though, of course. Just weapons of destruction being paraded in front of us. It's for our own safety. Our guns are defensive; theirs are a threat. And the missiles will be only used on the “other” people, and they don't count.Are Kim Jong-un and Pyongyang really an existential threat today though? Norm Macdonald got it right when he said no one really wakes up in the middle of the night clutching their blanket in a cold sweat worrying about North Korea. Perhaps John Bolton does, but the less said about him the better.And despite all of this, the d

Sep 20, 2021By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

The death of Korean politics

Courtesy of Chris ChristianBy David A. Tizzard“He said this about this. Then she said that about that. Oh my god, have you heard their latest comments? Outrageous! Are they going to apologize? There's a petition on the Blue House website!” Quickly, choose one of the three old lads in their colored ties. That's the only solution. And thus the machine doth turn.Current polls have the three main candidates for next year's presidential election as Lee Jae-myung, 56, Hong Joon-pyo, 67, and Yoon Seok-youl, 60. Essentially, three old dudes who all seem pretty out of touch with the country's youth and the values espoused in day-to-day life. Television news promotes coverage of this trio from morning to night, walking around, fist-bumping citizens, looking authoritative, sitting behind a desk, and striding stoically among a bustling group of photographers and journalists. All the things that politicians seem to do here. Then the news has a 20-minute break while a whole host of adverts shout things at you: eat this, drink that, buy this, pay for these. And then back to the images o

Sep 11, 2021By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

The Korean proletariat

Courtesy of Hokman ToBy David A. TizzardThursday morning was spent discussing the plight of delivery drivers in Korea as part of a live radio show. “Not all heroes wear capes,” I exclaimed in an effort to draw even a small amount of attention away from the glitz and glamour of Marvel action figures and photoshopped gods and goddesses living an idolized curated existence. The media likes to point to Korea's economic pandemic performance as a source of pride; the achievement is also used to bestow a sense of legitimacy on the ruling party. While there is some truth to this, beyond the headlines of financial security and gain there lies a more disturbing and frightening reality. We have witnessed a huge transfer of wealth in society, perhaps the largest Korea has seen in its modern history.Many corporations have emerged relatively unscathed from the pandemic: some have recorded soaring profits and given their executives and chairmen even more millions than they had previously. Against this, row after row of streets in the capital bear witness to empty stores and the sad sigh

Sep 4, 2021By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

K-Afghanistan: Welcome to Korea

Courtesy of tomscoffinBy David A. TizzardWelcome to Korea fellow people of the Earth. It is obviously heartbreaking to see the situation in which you have arrived: torn from your home, your land, and your loved ones amidst gunfire, explosions, and the click-clicking of global news cameras looking for stories. But once you eventually find a moment of privacy, we hope that you find sanctity, peace and freedom here in Korea. The country is already home to over 400 people from Afghanistan (legally, at least) so there are the beginnings of a community to join. But most of all, it's time for you to embrace South Korea. A country that, for the first time in its history, sent military aircraft overseas to rescue those in need because of conflict and warfare. Considering that, in the recent past, Korea was also home to a devastating internecine civil war and ideological conflict that saw people creating mass graves for political prisoners, the change has been truly remarkable. And it's that change which should be embraced because, as with all change, it's not finished yet either.Korea is a la

Aug 29, 2021By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

Masters of war

Courtesy of Raphael Labaca CastroBy David A. Tizzard“You play with my world like it's your little toy. You lie and deceive; you want me to believe. Come you masters of war,” said Bob Dylan in 1963, addressing no-one and everyone at the same time. As we see people falling from the sky in Kabul and think about the women and children fearing for their lives this week, we have to ask ourselves how far we have really come since then. We seek information, but lack knowledge. We read every headline and tweet, but never gain wisdom. We like, comment, and subscribe without ever actually communicating. We save thousands of photos and videos but never make memories. We horde followers and friends but forget to interact in real life. And all of this keeps the machine turning. This week, we are aghast at what is taking place in Afghanistan and our social media is filled with everyone's opinion irrespective of education or firsthand knowledge. But in a few weeks all those hot takes and demands that people recognize just how much we care about the injustice will be forgotten. So it was

Aug 22, 2021By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

Should North Korean YouTube be banned?

North Korean presenter Un A of “Echo DPRK,” a YouTube channel believed to be managed by the North Korean regime, introduces goods at a department store in Pyongyang. Korea Times fileBy David A. TizzardIf people in Pyongyang could watch Polish student v-logs, check reaction videos to the latest Italian espresso machines, and listen to Senegalese lo-fi beats while they travel around the city, things would be very different for them. But rather than focusing on what those inside North Korea can or can't engage with, how about those of us in more open and democratic societies: What should we be allowed to access on social media? And who should and shouldn't be allowed to post things?The reason the question is important is because YouTube has once again shutdown a North Korean channel. While much is said about South Korea's cultural outputs and the influence of hallyu, few are as aware that North Korea, in an effort to attract others and soften their image, has also embarked on a little soft power trip of its own, creating social media-friendly videos and posts for internation

Aug 15, 2021By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

Daoist lessons for modern life

Courtesy of Eleonora AlbasiBy David A. TizzardMy niece is crying at the dinner table. This is not necessarily a bad thing but it has interrupted my drinking. She finished second in the race for class president and is upset that she didn't win: This was a world crumbling before her eyes. Buoyed by cold beer, I decided to test out a bit of Daoism. The story of the poor farmer whose horse runs away is well known. Basically a melodramatic series of events unfold and at every turn the man's neighbors either congratulate or commiserate him. When the horse runs away, they console him; when it returns with 3 other horses they praise him; when one horse breaks his son's leg, they offer sympathy; and when the soldiers recruiting for war pass by his injured son, they extol his fortunes. But despite the neighbors' continuing rollercoaster of moods, the farmer greets every incident with a stoic remark: Is it good news or bad news? Who knows? Sometimes things seem like the best or worst things in the world, but in the long run we don't really know how it will affect us or our lives. To see things

Aug 8, 2021By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

K-retrowave and AKMU

Courtesy of Jrwooley6By David A. TizzardK-pop dominates the news with its schizophrenic approach to genre-bending and dizzying choreography. Yet despite this assault and insistence on heavily trained idol music, many find solace elsewhere. Amongst everything else, lo-fi, vaporwave, chillwave, retrowave and their various subgenres have all become popular over the past decade, providing the hypnagogic soundtrack for those stuck behind computers, cash registers, and crosstown traffic. The styles were a logical progression and extension of the filtered French house that preceded it. That trend relied heavily on 1970s disco samples and gave us Daft Punk's “Discovery,” Pete Heller's “Big Love,” Fantom's “Faithful” and which in K-pop could be found on EXO's “Lucky One,” Fromis_9's “Feel Good,” and Lee Su-hyun's “Alien.” It was a similar juxtaposition between old and new that gave birth to the analog nostalgia of retrowave. It comes in various forms, but retrowave (used here to point to all the associated genres and sub-

Aug 1, 2021By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

Korea's vaccine failure?

People queue in line to get a coronavirus test at a makeshift testing site in Seoul, July 16, while holding umbrellas to avoid the heat. AP-YonhapBy David A. TizzardThe tenth biggest economy in the world, its boy band crushing the U.S. Billboard all summer, and companies like Samsung as genuine powerhouses in the international arena, Korea is truly a cultural and economic phenomenon that has successfully transitioned from a post-colonial military dictatorship to a thriving democracy in a tough part of the world. Last year, it boasted of its “K-quarantine” program as a model that others could follow as it saw relatively low infection rates while much of Western Europe and North America was shellacked by the virus. It certainly implemented a lot of good top-down habits, but we should forget that mask-wearing and non-physical greetings such as bowing (rather than handshakes and kisses) were already the norm here in Korea. In his third inaugural speech in 2020 President Moon Jae-in said, “We have already become a country leading the world in epidemic prevention and cont

Jul 24, 2021By David A. Tizzard

David A. Tizzard

Read more

'Squid Game': Linguistic realities

Mental health not missiles

The death of Korean politics

The Korean proletariat

K-Afghanistan: Welcome to Korea

Masters of war

Should North Korean YouTube be banned?

Daoist lessons for modern life

K-retrowave and AKMU

Korea's vaccine failure?

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