The Korea Times

Dreaming of North Korean memes

Courtesy of Roman HarakBy David TizzardDiplomacy with North Korea is both complex and challenging. For just when you think progress is being made or that there are signs of hope of reunification and reconciliation (or perhaps rehabilitation), Pyongyang blows up a symbolic liaison office and refers to your politicians and diplomats as “insane” and “stupid.” But then how does one respond? How does one communicate and interact with a country so far down its own rabbit-hole of historical interpretation that even the simplest of events can't be agreed on? Do you just block them on Facebook and Twitter like that crazed uncle who keeps talking about Pizzagate and Hilary Clinton's emails? If this week has reminded us of anything, however, it's that even Harvard professors can generate the most appallingly falsified and immoral versions of history when the money is right. This is not something that the DPRK fails in alone. But anti-imperialists, socialists, and pacifists shouldn't get too glossy-eyed about things North Korean. One can decry Western warmongering of the

Feb 13, 2021By David A. Tizzard

North Korea ranks lowest in world democracy index last year: poll

Opinion

K-pop dictionary: Queerbaiting

Courtesy of Mango FoxBy David TizzardA recent piece in the Korea Times questioned whether terms such as “idol,” “comeback,” and “main vocalist” were comprehensible to those outside of the K-pop universe. Despite the article's insistence on the arcane nature of these words, most casual readers of the piece were able to understand what was going on. But that does not mean the world of K-pop is full of vocabulary that is instantly intelligible or user-friendly. Because K-pop is discussed, analyzed and enjoyed by people all over the world, a whole ecosystem of terms has arisen. Significant shifts in social attitudes and values, as well as cultural lags elsewhere, have also influenced this.One of the terms that might not be instantly familiar to the casual reader is “queerbaiting.” Queerbaiting is neither new nor exclusive to K-pop: it began appearing with some regularity in the mid to late 2000s on Tumblr. One of the main forces behind its coming to prominence was the fandom and fan culture that grew alongside social media platforms on whic

Feb 7, 2021By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

The death of K-pop

Courtesy of Peter KaminskiBy David TizzardThe Korean ascent to greatness has been steep and fraught with danger, yet it is all the more remarkable for having overcome such obstacles. A people once on the verge of cultural extinction at the hands of a merciless colonial force, held down by military dictators bent on order at the expense of freedom, and constantly seen as unremarkable by a largely orientalist West, have risen to the pinnacle of cultural achievements.Korean culture has won Oscars, topped the Billboard charts, and been praised and commented on by world leaders, ambassadors, and adoring fans from Bulgaria to Bhutan. And rightly so. An important driver of this has been K-pop. And for this piece, as before, I will be using K-pop as a term to denote idol music specifically rather than Korean popular music more broadly.Others are of course welcome to argue over what the term “really” means. But I have observed that among many Koreans, K-pop is often used when talking about groups performing highly-stylized and choreographed music that is predominantly produced and

Jan 24, 2021By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

Morality, legality and tattoos

By David TizzardIf the modern world and the rise of social media have taught us anything, it's that we can be prompted very quickly and easily to pass judgment on a number of things ― many of which might be considered beyond our natural area of expertise. Putting that to the test, and without getting all Michael Sandel on you, consider the following two cases and your reaction to them. Case A: Mrs. Jeong, married for 15 years but largely unhappy at being forced to live an isolated and unappreciated existence as a housewife, begins seeing another man. They exchange text messages, meet for coffees and occasionally visit a motel in the afternoon. Her husband and daughter are unaware of her steamy tryst.Case B: Su-min, a young university student in Seoul studying fashion design, gets a tattoo of a star on her shoulder. It represents the light she found in friendship and solidarity. Her mother is unimpressed but ultimately accepting and aware that “kids these days” will do such things.Both situations are relatively commonplace. The first might make you somewhat sympathetic but

Oct 31, 2020By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

Korea, religion and the coronavirus

By Jian Seo and David TizzardSociety is composed of a variety of collectively gathered interest groups: Religious groups, politicians, journalists, educators, businessmen and so on. While they all are essential in creating the fabric of our society, their respective characteristics differ greatly.What unites these different interest groups is a common goal. Currently, one particular goal should be taking preference over many others: the health of the nation.Thus, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, artists have held shows and exhibitions on YouTube rather than stages; some restaurant owners have voluntarily closed their businesses; bus drivers, academy owners, delivery drivers, cleaners, electricians, medical workers, and a whole host of others have demonstrated their necessity to a society that had previously largely disregarded them.These people took on burdens and discomfort in order that the common goal might be achieved. But these benevolent acts and sacrifices should not be taken for granted.South Korea had been widely praised by the international community for its response i

Aug 30, 2020By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

History, heritage and Hashima

Hashima IslandBy David Tizzard and Benjamin AcreeOne of Northeast Asia’s greatest challenges is for there to be constructed an account of history that is acceptable to Koreans, Chinese and Japanese people alike. If history is real, such a thing should be possible: the facts should stand clear and distinguishable. One should be able to read a text and not know where the Korean historian put his pen down and the Japanese historian picked his up. A single narrative that recounts the factual events that have taken place here over the past couple of centuries.Such an idea, however, even as we enter the second decade of the 21st century seems little more than wishful thinking. History hurts, it scars, and it lingers. The past is still well and truly alive today, particularly for South Korea. South Korea’s current relations with Japan are probably at their lowest ebb in the modern age. Paradoxically, this is probably good news for President Moon and Prime Minister Abe as they bolster their relative domestic positions by mobilizing their support base against an external

Aug 23, 2020By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

An Ode to South Korea

By David TizzardDavid TizzardYesterday was Liberation Day in South Korea, known locally as “Gwangbokjeol”. It is the one national holiday shared by South Korea and North Korea alike.On August 15th 1945 the light was returned to the Korea Peninsula with the Allied victory over Imperial Japanese bringing an end to a decades-long brutal and unrepentant colonization and the Greater East Asia War. This was, of course, helped by a couple of nuclear bombs being dropped on civilian populations in Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well as fire raids on Tokyo which all resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands non-combatants.Emperor Hirohito took to the airwaves to announce that Japan would abide by the Potsdam Declaration at which Truman, Churchill, and Chiang Kai-shek had called for Japan's unconditional surrender or face, as the US President called it, “a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth.”US Air Force general Curtis LeMay, the man responsible for ordering much of this, is said to have remarked that were he on this losing si

Aug 16, 2020By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

Ryu Ho-jeong: the future of Korean politics?

By David TizzardDavid TizzardIn 1973, South Korean president Park Chung-hee introduced the Minor Offences Act which mandated limits on the length of men’s hair and women’s skirts. Women suspected of wearing a skirt or dress that finished 17 centimeters or more above their knees were often subjected to public checks and then taken to a police station if they were found to have violated the rule.His daughter, imprisoned and impeached president Park Geun-hye, sought to reinvigorate a variation of this rule as late as 2013 when a decree was passed at a March 11th cabinet meeting that meant anyone found to have “exposed any part of their body which should otherwise be concealed” would be subject to a 50,000 won fine.It’s no wonder casual foreign observers sometimes get their Koreas mixed up.Yes, South Korea can be described as a conservative country. It often seems that to really fit in, one shouldn’t stand out too much. Get a car in one of the three available colours, wear a suit in one of the agreed upon designs, get your botox and cosmetic surgery do

Aug 10, 2020By David A. Tizzard

Ryu Ho-jeong: the future of Korean politics?

Opinion

Declare your ideology

By David TizzardDavid TizzardIn a democratic society, one normally assumes that an individual is given certain freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of association, and freedom to assemble. That little space inside our head where thoughts appear and circulate is deemed off limits to the government.Article 19 of the South Korean constitution declares a freedom of conscience and that no citizen be forced to make public their inner thoughts. It is a sacred place: A sanctuary to which we can retreat from the overwhelming barrage of narratives and messages thrown at us by social media. There is no policeman in our head.Yet last week in South Korean domestic politics the public was treated to one of the most peculiar stories in the modern age. A politician being elected to a ministerial post was asked publically about his ideological beliefs stretching back to the 1980s.If that doesn’t sound too strange, one needs to consider the identity of those taking part in the Korean inquisition (After all, no-one expects it).The one asking the questions was Thae Young-ho. T

Jul 26, 2020By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

True leaders don't commit suicide

By David TizzardDavid TizzardSouth Korea is a thriving modern democracy and a relative beacon of openness and freedom in Northeast Asia. It stands proud among the far more oppressive Chinese Communist Party and the totalitarian rule of the Kim family in North Korea.Yet its two main cities, Seoul and Busan, are both without a mayor for the first time in 70 years. The last time this occurred was due to the Korean War. This time, sadly, the problem is more internal: sexual assaults have forced both mayors to abandon their posts.In Busan, Oh Keo-don stepped down three months ago amid allegations he had sexually harassed a female official. In Seoul, Park Won-soon chose to take his own life rather than see justice carried out after a former secretary filed a charge of sexual harassment against him.With fellow Democratic Party member Ahn Hee-jung serving a three-and-a-half-year jail term for sexual assault, it is no wonder people online have begun referring to President Moon's ruling party in a clever play on words (in Korean) as the “party that gropes.” They are part of the &ld

Jul 19, 2020By David A. Tizzard

David A. Tizzard

Read more

Dreaming of North Korean memes

K-pop dictionary: Queerbaiting

The death of K-pop

Morality, legality and tattoos

Korea, religion and the coronavirus

History, heritage and Hashima

An Ode to South Korea

Ryu Ho-jeong: the future of Korean politics?

Declare your ideology

True leaders don't commit suicide

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