Jae-beom From a Different View

By Hwang Hye-jung

Amidst cries of nationalism surrounding the recent Jae-beom debacle, I would like to offer a different view as someone from a foreign yet similar culture.

First of all, this article seeks to examine the question of whether national chauvinism was the only force that drove out Jae-beom. Second, I would like to offer a different view on how foreigners (and those seen as foreign) are treated in this country.

In the decades following World War II, the world has seen how materialism and economic prosperity can affect a country's values, especially that of its youth. Technology, material comfort, not to mention globalization and the Web, has made so-called Gen-X'ers, and their successors, a whole new different breed than those born before 1968. It doesn't take Psychology 101 to teach us that with growing material comfort and liberalization of society, nationalism becomes a lower item on the agenda, especially among the young.

Hence, there was the ridicule which greeted notions of a ``Fourth Reich" when the question of German Reunification arose after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Hence there is the generally-accepted impossibility of Japan re-morphing into a militaristic state. The same could be postulated about Korea, where not only most youths would shun the army if they could, and the number of young people who can sing the ``Aegukga" by heart is dwindling.

The English-learning craze, increasing influence from foreign mass media, not to mention the number of foreigners in Korea passing the 1-million mark, all contribute to the increasing acceptance of foreign people and culture among Korean youths.

Therefore, whether it is his mostly teenaged fan base that ousted Jae-beom is questionable. The author raised this question not only based on the above observation of Korean youths; in reality, support for Jae-beom is an undeniable force among his fans. Questions of nationalism aside, one must also bear in mind that the majority of his fans belong to the Internet generation. Most of them use sites similar to MySpace and are fully understanding of how easy it is to get ensnared by careless words.

The whole point is, his fans might really not be the driving force behind his departure. On the question of who's the true culprit, the author suggests looking where the money is. Youths might not care that much about nationalistic rage; however, the old ones paying the money might. One must remember that support of fans is only one element of an entertainer's success. The investors, agencies and powerbrokers are the real kingmakers of who you see on stage, and it is the economic ― and political ― motives of such men who should be taken into account.

The second part of this article deals with the non-conventional viewpoint the author holds concerning the treatment of foreigners and those perceived as foreign in Korea. Many recent events concerning clashes between foreigners and locals, especially the high-profile case of Indian researcher Bonojit Hussain, reinforce the stereotypical notion that only foreigners of a different skin tone are treated with disdain. In the view of the author, this is a dire mistake not only in general, but especially in examining the Jae-beom debacle.

The author of this article is Chinese-Canadian who grew up mostly in Hong Kong, spending much of her adult life in North America. Growing up, I've made frequent observations and comparisons between my own people and other foreign-born East Asians.

Since a long time ago, I've come to the conclusion that there is a way bigger gap between local and foreign-born Koreans than between local and foreign-born Chinese. This is likely due to the fact that modernized Chinese societies like Hong Kong and Taiwan bear more resemblance to the West than South Korea, which remains deeply Confucian even with the advancements of this day.

Hence, the understandable difficulties of an American-born Korean like Jae-beom in adjusting to South Korean society, not only in terms of language and culture, but also in the way many people treat him. In the author's view, it is a sadly unacknowledged fact that very often ``Gyopos" and ``Yisaes" (second-generation foreign-born Koreans) face way more stigma here than so-called full foreigners.

Adoptees frequently fare worse, especially those who actually have a Korean mother but later adopted the surname of the western stepfather. The fact that these people are ethnically Korean often make people cut them even less slack, expecting them to behave like a Korean from a strictly South Korean point of view.

It is not surprising at all if Jae-beom has suffered the above-mentioned discrimination, which might again, unsurprisingly, have driven him to write those fateful quotes. All the author hopes is, that through reading this article, Koreans might not only reflect upon their society, but how they treat their own people as a whole.

The writer majored in German studies at Brown University, 9in the United States. She is now teaching English at the UNESCO Global Peace Village, and can be reached at thepalacemaid@hotmail.com.