The Korea Times

Embrace the earth pig inside

By David Tizzard  My original article for this week was a defense of boy band BTS, which has recently been charged by the writers of the Korea Expose and online feminists with promoting misogyny. After realizing I didn't want to start my new year likely angering both of these groups, I deleted all of the topical content and left just the moral pontificating that surrounded it. Nevertheless, I await your further criticisms of what follows. Education provides an antidote to self-importance, self-pity and selfies. It enables us to break free from the notion that our world, the zeitgeist, is the culmination of everything. It reminds us that the next Trump tweet, the next inter-Korean summit, the next yearbook photo or iPhone release will not necessarily result in either unprecedented prosperity or unparalleled catastrophe. We do not stand on the precipice of a yawning chasm waiting to either swallow humanity whole or embrace us in a heavenly swathe. It is important for us to escape such narrow and provincial self-aggrandizing ways of thinking. And the cure, as always, is perspective

Feb 6, 2019By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

Can you speak Korean?

By David Tizzard It's a relevant question because last week reports came out that the Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK) will finally include a speaking section ― from 2023. But full implementation is unlikely to be in place until 2027.This is important news because it will surely give a more comprehensive and realistic assessment of a test that currently only judges people on listening, reading and writing. However, the National Institute for International Education is certainly not moving quickly on this and instead preferring to move slowly through what are no doubt huge bureaucratic circles with lots of heavily invested pockets of influence.There are even plans to move the TOPIK test to an internet-based assessment and finally embrace the 21st century. The domestic programmers of Internet Explorer, ActiveX and AhnLab are no doubt already rubbing their hands with glee at such news. Nevertheless, it gives many of us here four years until the speaking test becomes available for the first time. That's 1460 days, 1/6th of Hwasa's life, or what feels like an eternity of a Trump

Jan 26, 2019By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

Edgy Memes Only in Korea

By David Tizzard While most of the real-world here in South Korea was focused on air quality that seemed straight out of a dystopian movie or Fallout computer game, the internet was instead concerned with the closure of a popular local Facebook group, Only in Korea (Oink).The group itself has been viewed with equal amounts of affection and disdain and was home to a collection of people as varied as those found in the Springfield ― though perhaps with a few more Comic Book Guys and Ralphs than usual.For some, it was a source of local news, discussion, humor, and a place to communicate about issues that affected life here on the peninsula. From bus stops and fashion, to red bean foodage and inter-cultural violence in schools. For others, however, it was a cesspit of casual racism, defamation, and cyber bullying. It gave birth to characters, trolls, e-fights, paddlings, bannings, and spin-offs. With approximately 28,000 members (coincidently the same number of American troops based here in South Korea), the group was always likely to be uncontrollable.And it was that coming togethe

Jan 20, 2019By David A. Tizzard

Facebook shuts down 'OinK - Only in Korea' group

Opinion

What's the Korean for Ben Shapiro?

By David Tizzard Micro-aggressions, trigger warnings, safe spaces and unconscious racist bias training. These fill our prejudice-free echo chambers and social justice warrior-infused safe spaces of social media. If you don't know what any of those words above mean, congratulations. You are winning at life ― even if that means you are probably not very “woke.” But that's not necessarily a bad thing. You may have also missed the rise of non-mainstream media over the past couple of years: The reason why people now spend their subway journeys submerged in a smartphone screen and not in the latest edition of Caravan Digest. Joe Rogan's “The Joe Rogan Experience” gets more than 16 million downloads a month, mixing comedy with politics and science, talking with his guest for up to three hours at a time. Controversy was caused on the show last year when Tesla's Elon Musk took up Joe's offer of a joint and subsequently saw his stock price fall dramatically, wiping tens of millions of dollars off the company's value. Big figures, big guests, big consequences. But i

Jan 12, 2019By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

Meditations on Hyolin's bottom

By David Tizzard Obviously a married man beginning a discussion on the posterior of a young female entertainer is fraught with danger in today's age. However, with articles in The Korea Times presenting cosplay and pictures as “social costume” projects filtered through the near incomprehensibility of post-modern language, I should be OK. Hopefully. At the 2018 KBS Drama Awards, a room full of actors looked on as K-pop star Hyolin performed three songs for the star-studded audience in Yeouido. Known for her powerful vocals and strength as a singer, the former SISTAR leader started with the song “Spring Watch.” Yet the “controversy” has arisen because of what followed. Her performance of “See Sea” and her biggest track of the year, “Dally,” saw her wearing a silver leotard as she entertained the crowd with a rotating crew of back-up dancers. The performance itself seemed effective. It was coherent, well executed, displayed a good deal of confidence and personality and combined many different thematic elements in the six m

Jan 5, 2019By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

Korea Wow! Much Awesome

By David Tizzard The bad news and disasters go on the front page. The “intellectuals” write about the problems and, more importantly, how and why people should pay more attention to their solutions. And any good news is either a fluff piece or a badly veiled advertisement. Despite this tripartite function of modern print media, I am going to continue to buck the trend somewhat by providing another reason why I like Korea: The healthcare. I have spent the past week in a hospital ― a shared room with six other men of various ages, as well as their children, partners and visiting well-wishers. Extra significance was surely added because it was Christmas.This would give most foreign visitors ample ammunition to fire at a fast-changing society.It would be possible to rally against the old man that didn't hold a door for me or the woman that didn't perhaps move as quickly out of the way of my IV drip as an Englishwoman would. Yet, I have returned home more infatuated with the nation and its people than ever. The resilience and collective attitude that has seen South Korea

Dec 29, 2018By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

I won the lottery in Korea

By David Tizzard Unfortunately, despite what the title might suggest, I will not be spending this weekend gorging on ginseng and imported whisky. Instead, I will be stressing over how to best put aside the money required for my son's pre-school education.The lottery my family won was a school placement one. A system in which places at educational facilities are decided based on luck: Your very own taste of the roulette table in a country in which gambling is banned.This often takes place with a selection of orange and white plastic balls being placed in a closed box. Parents of the various children then gather nervously to attend the event.Here, they will be tasked with drawing a single ball from the box and ultimately deciding whether their child will be admitted to the kindergarten or school with their friends and peers. A typical situation might see roughly 60 balls in a box, with 30 orange ones and 30 white ones, thus giving participants a one-in-two chance, as well as a very drawn-out and stressful process.In other circumstances, families are presented with 12 balls ― only

Dec 23, 2018By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

What would you ask President Moon?

By David Tizzard Scotland has given the world a great many things ― the television, flushing toilets, Grand Theft Auto, and deep-fried Mars bars. While not all of these have had the greatest impact on modern Korea, there is one that has: the online government petition system. The Scottish parliament was the first to introduce the e-petition system back in 2000. The first petition placed online was a campaign from the WWF (the nature organization, not Rowdy Roddy Piper) to protect the country's coastal regions. It ran for just under three months and collected 305 valid signatures and nine valid comments. Perhaps the Scots were busy at the time.It's fair to say that those early numbers from the system's inauguration are now being dwarfed in Korea. The saying here goes that “The People's Voice is the Voice of Heaven.” Domestically, it is symbolized by a drum. This has its origins in the drum that would hang in front of the royal palace, which people would beat to file a complaint to the king during the Joseon Dynasty. From a broader cultural perspective, it is known as

Dec 16, 2018By David A. Tizzard

Opinion

Beautiful game and its memories

By David TizzardNorth Korea's most famous footballing moment came in the English city of Middlesbrough 52 years ago as they beat the then two time winners Italy to secure their passage to the quarter finals of the 1966 FIFA World Cup. The Ayresome Park stadium in which the game was held is now gone and in its place stands the all too familiar sight of a council estate. Visitors to the area, however, will note that a bronze imprint of a football boot remains visible there today and signifies the precise position from which Pak Do-ik converted the winning strike for his country. A lot of stadiums and buildings, be they Olympic Stadiums or apartment blocks, rarely seem to convey much in terms of permanence. There are, of course, those historic buildings which fill us with awe whenever we approach them or stand inside their vaulted halls. For the most part though, human constructions resonate with a sense of the transitory. Particularly here in Korea where building facades will proudly display their heritage with signs declaring that they were establish as far back as 1992. Football itse

Mar 23, 2018By David A. Tizzard

David A. Tizzard

Read more

Embrace the earth pig inside

Can you speak Korean?

Edgy Memes Only in Korea

What's the Korean for Ben Shapiro?

Meditations on Hyolin's bottom

Korea Wow! Much Awesome

I won the lottery in Korea

What would you ask President Moon?

Beautiful game and its memories

Top 5 stories