Opinion - The Korea Times

Prominent surnames

By Mark PetersonRecently I wrote about the fact that Korea is very unusual, even odd, I would say, in that 21 percent of the people have one surname ― Kim. And it adds to the oddity that Yi comprises 15 percent of the population and Pak 9 percent. I pointed out that no other country has such a concentration of surnames. Today's question is: How did the aristocratic families of Silla and then Goryeo maintain their status through the 1392-1910 Joseon Kingdom?Before we look at the “answer,” let me take a moment to again emphasize how unusual Korea is. No other country has 45 percent of its population holding one of three surnames. The most common name in Japan is Sato: 1.5 percent of the population. There are several names that represent about 1 percent of the population ― these include Tanaka, Takashima and Saito. In America, the most common surname is Smith ― with about 1.5 percent of the population. In Germany the most common surname is Mueller ― 0.8 percent. In Spain, Garcia ― 3.5 percent. India, Singh ― 2.7 percent. China is a bit of an exception ― Wang is the most comm

Jun 30, 2019By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

Revival of rural economy

By Mark PetersonI wrote in November of a trip to visit a traditional village in the rural countryside. I was quite pessimistic and titled my article, “Death of Korea's Villages.” Today I'm going to write about the opposite phenomenon. I recently visited Wando and Gangjin on the south coast of Korea to find they are thriving rural communities.What was the difference? Aquaculture. Farming at sea.I was guided around Wando and Gangjin by a man who has helped develop aquaculture in the area, Dr. Yi Young-ho. He has a Ph.D. in fisheries science from Pusan Fisheries University, but his high school was in his hometown of Wando, The Wando Fisheries High School. He has worked in the state-run fisheries advisory agencies and set up several research stations in the area. But his most influential work was as a National Assemblyman, in the 17th National Assembly at the time of Roh Moo-hyun.As we visited various research centers, farmers' advisory centers, and aquafarms, I was surprised how everybody knew him and greeted him so cheerfully and with obvious appreciation. For example we vi

Jun 18, 2019By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

Korean surnames

Korean surnames, evidence of stable historyBy Mark Peterson Korean family names are unlike those of any other country. First, there are so few. Roughly 250, traditionally. In recent years there is a scattering of new names, mainly of immigrants, some from China and some from other countries. But traditionally, there were only around 250; compare this with Japan ― over 10,000 surnames.Germany, the United States, and many other countries have thousands of surnames. But Korea has only 250. Why? That is the question. What is the reason there are so few surnames in Korea?A related question is why are so many people named Kim? The answer, 21 percent, becomes a new question ― why such a high percentage? And the same question for Lee (Yi, Rhee) at 15 percent and Pak (Park, Bak) at 9 percent. The problem in Korea is that no one sees this as a question! It's just assumed that three surnames take in 45 percent of the population and that is normal. Well, it's normal for Korea, but it is absolutely odd for every other country on the planet. The only cultural saying about these three surnames is t

Jun 11, 2019By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

Korean folktales as protest literature

By Mark PetersonLast time I wrote about the Heungbujeon ― the story of Heungbu, also called the story of Heungbu and Nolbu. My point was that the story was written at a point when younger sons (like Heungbu) were being disinherited and the eldest son (like Nolbu) were taking control of all the property of the parents' generation. I presented my thesis that the story is really a form of protest literature, giving voice to the disenfranchised and pointing out that the newly emerging changes in inheritance practice were unfair to the sons who were not the eldest. This is one of the themes of my “frog outside the well” analysis of the greatly misunderstood Confucianization of Korea.Today, I'd like to extend that discussion to other literature that I think is also protest literature. There are three great so-called pansori stories in Korean culture. The story of Heungbu is one; the other two are the story of Chunhyang and the story of Sim Cheong. Collectively, they are not only the best-known pre-modern stories, originating as pansori performances before they were committed to

May 26, 2019By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

Heungbu and Nolbu

By Mark Peterson All Koreans love the story of the two brothers, Heungbu and Nolbu. I'm going to tell the story today, but conclude with a twist that most people don't know when they tell the story. Let's start with the story (or you'll never get the “twist” that I will offer).Two brothers: Nolbu was the elder brother and he was a scoundrel. At the outset of the story we learn of the awful things he does: kicks pregnant women in the belly, defecates in the village well, sprinkles rocks in the rice, feeds the baby from its own diaper ― really gross stuff, of course, meant to be crudely humorous. More importantly we find out that Nolbu has a big house with fields and plentiful harvests and grains of all kinds in his storehouse. And he is married to a “high-maintenance wife,” so to speak.Heungbu on the other hand, is good-hearted, married to a long-suffering, supportive wife, has between 10 and 20 children ― his story changes with each telling, depending on the mood of the storyteller, and he is very poor. He either lives in a cave or in a poor tumble-down shanty

May 20, 2019By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

Registry of adoptions

By Mark PetersonI had a heartwarming experience on my recent trip to Korea. Met an old friend who I had never met before!Well, he seemed like an old friend because he knew of my work and had worked in the office of the Korean Traders Association, the precursor to today's Korea Foundation. He was a junior officer there and had the duty of going over applications for grants and he remembered mine. It was 1977.Forty-one years ago I was a Ph.D. student working on my dissertation in Korea. I had just completed my coursework at Harvard and was in Korea on a Fulbright doctoral dissertation research grant. I applied for a research grant to hire an assistant to help me make an index to a set of “registers” ― the Kyehu-deungnok and the Pyeol kyehu-deungnok ― that recorded applications for adoptions. The registers were kept by the Ministry of Rites, one of the six cabinet-level ministries of the 1392-1910 Joseon government.Ham Young-jun remembered my application for the grant and worked on the administrative side of things as the application was vetted and approved and moneys were d

May 3, 2019By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

1694 wedding gift

By Mark PetersonOnce in a while a researcher finds a document that changes everything. Such was the case for a 1694 document where a mother-in-law gives a wedding present to her daughter-in-law. The document tells of a woman named Pak who is the mother-in-law of a woman named Hong. Their husbands, father and son, are named Yi.The document says, “My husband died young, leaving me with only one son. I've always longed to have a daughter, and now, finally, with a daughter-in-law, my dreams have come true. Every time I see your face I am overcome with joy. Here on the occasion of your marriage I have a gift for you of five slaves [each is named and identified by gender, age, and parentage]. Have them step and fetch for you to make your life more comfortable.”There are several points to draw from this document. References to slavery remind us of the slave-holding tradition of Korea.The “dojang” or personal seal was dipped in black ink, not the usual red used for seals; this was typical of widows who were assumed not to know how to write, or at least how to write in

Apr 25, 2019By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

Ancestor ceremonies today

By Mark Peterson After writing about modern “jesa” ― ancestor ceremonies in today's Korea ― it occured to me that many readers do not understand much about ancestor ceremonies, either today or yesterday. Korea readers will largely know from their own experiences, but the foreigner has probably only read about “ancestor worship” and has not attended a ceremony. Let's look at the ancestor ceremonies briefly today.Last week I wrote about visiting the Gwangsan Kim ceremony in a modern hotel with some of the traditional trappings of the ceremonies and some new features ― such as holding the ceremonies in a hotel ballroom.For those who have never attended a ceremony in Korea, it might be worth taking a minute to learn more about the ceremonies. First, they are the heart of Confucianism ― the core ceremony in Confucianism. Oft times one reads about “ancestor worship,” but that phrase is misleading. One performs the ceremony at home for close relatives who die, and there are ceremonies for those ancestors of greater and greater distance, but no one is real

Apr 8, 2019By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

Understanding ancestor ceremonies

By Mark PetersonOn my recent trip to Korea I was privileged to be invited to the annual meeting of the Gwangsan Kim lineage association. I didn't realize at the outset that it was virtually a modern version of the ancestor ceremonies, without the ancestor ceremonies! I have attended many ancestor ceremonies over the last 50 years of living in (and out) of Korea. Because of my interest in Confucianism and my interest in Korean history, I've always wanted to see actual ceremonies, and not just read about them in books. I am also interested in Korean families and how they function, their value system, and how they acculturate the succeeding generations. I've always been impressed with Korean families ― how solid they are and how Korea values are perpetuated in the family.The ancestor ceremonies tell us a lot, and although they are Confucian in their origin, people who outwardly do not claim to be Confucian, still, carry on the ancestor ceremonies. In fact, people who are critical of Confucianism and even blame Confucianism for some of Korea's problems will still carry out the family cer

Mar 29, 2019By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

Thousand-year border

By Mark Peterson Today, I want to return to an earlier theme that I like to write about ― that of the stability of Korean history. The stability argument runs counter to the general perception of Korean history among the average Korean citizen these days. Of course, the 20th century was not very happy for Korea, with the Japanese takeover, division, war and unresolved division, but if one looks beyond the 20th century ― both forward to the 21st century, and back into the 19th century and earlier, leaving the 20th century, the hallmark of Korean history and culture is stability.I have written about Korea's long dynasties, and the smooth transitions from one dynasty to the next. I've written about the uniqueness of Korea's surnames ― that there are so few, compared to other civilizations ― and that such large percentages of the population bear few surnames: Kim, 21 percent; Yi, 15 percent, Pak 9 percent. And that these surnames were the royalty of former dynasties. Along these lines, I thank professor Martina Deuchler for arguing that Korea's ruling aristocracy has not changed or been

Mar 17, 2019By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

Read more

Prominent surnames

Revival of rural economy

Korean surnames

Korean folktales as protest literature

Heungbu and Nolbu

Registry of adoptions

1694 wedding gift

Ancestor ceremonies today

Understanding ancestor ceremonies

Thousand-year border

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