'Syndrome Syndrome'

By Park Moo-jong

An English medical word, "syndrome," is enjoying a heyday in explosive popularity in Korea today far away from its home.

It is a piece of cake to find the word "신드롬" in Korean (pronounced sindrom) in newspapers and on the tube of late.

They are "Chung Hyeon Sydrome," "Park Hang-seo Syndrome," and "Hyon Song-wol Syndrome," to name a few.

And the title of this column, "Syndrome Syndrome," means a "syndrome to call any social phenomenon or fever, even bright and desirable, a syndrome."

It seems that media outlets are dying to use the term for every kind of new social trend, phenomenon or fever, somewhat recklessly.

Needlessly to say, Chung Hyeon Syndrome means a boom among young people, in particular, to copy the 21-year-old tennis player, who became an overnight global sensation at the just-ended 2018 Australia Tennis Open in Melbourne.

He joined the last four in the men's singles as the first Korean player at a major international competition by stopping higher-ranked players like Novac Djokovich of Serbia (former No. 1) and Alexander Zverev of Germany (No. 4).

What he wears ― shirts, shoes and watches ― are the things young people want to have, not to speak of those who have started playing tennis with brand new rackets.

Park Hang-seo Syndrome is somewhat different from Chung's, meaning his explosive popularity in Vietnam and love from the Vietnamese for the Korean soccer coach who led his under-23 Vietnam team to the finals of the 2018 AFC championship held in China.

Thanks to his outstanding leadership and love of his boys, supported by the Vietnamese people's ardent wish and support, the team survived the preliminary rounds and moved to the semifinals and then the final for the first time in the country's soccer history. He received a medal from the Hanoi government.

Some newspapers also used headlines such as "Hyon Song-wol Syndrome in PyeongChang," describing the people's keen interest in the North Korean artist who visited the South last week to prepare for the performance of a North Korean art troupe during the PyeongChang Winter Olympics to open on Feb. 9.

I don't have an idea what her syndrome means. In fact, what attracted the public concern was her dress, bag and her "powerful" status in the North Korean delegation to the South. The syndrome might have symbolized an overnight concern from the South Korean people, but especially newsmen.

Four years ago, a TV news program reported about the "Kim Yuna Syndrome" affecting young girls, who trooped to ice rinks with their parents and imitated the Olympic figure skating champion's moves. The brands that Yuna was endorsing also benefited ― from jewelry to milk. Portal sites were populated with her videos and bloggers praised her.

There was also a "famous" syndrome two years ago when the Republic of Korea became a weeklong global attraction thanks to the thrilling showdown between Korean professional "go" (baduk) player Lee Se-dol and Google DeepMind's artificial intelligence (AI) AlphaGo in Seoul.

Though Lee lost to the computer 1-4, the then 33-year-old was like the English poet George Gordon Byron (1788-1824), who said, "I awoke one morning and found myself famous." Nope! Lee became more famous, receiving a flood of calls for TV commercials for much bigger money than the $1 million prize the winner of the five-game match pocketed.

Many adolescents went to go salons with their parents in a new social phenomenon, following Lee's impressive fight against the machine.

A local daily, which says it has the largest circulation in the country, never misses the chance to use the term, syndrome. It made a headline, "As if a World Cup win, Lee Se-dol syndrome." A TV anchor said, "Lee Se-dol Syndrome is hitting the whole nation hard."

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin in the Major League was also a "victim" of the syndrome. When he was triumphant, local dailies reported the "Ryu Hyun-jin Syndrome."

To date, the word was unknown to Koreans, except for medical people, 37 years ago when the first patient with AIDS or acquired immune deficiency syndrome was found in 1981 in the United States.

What a dreadful word!

To be more precise, according to dictionaries, a syndrome is a medical condition that is characterized by a particular group of signs and symptoms, referring to an "undesirable condition that is characterized by a particular type of activity or behavior as a syndrome."

The Cambridge English Dictionary explains that the term is used to describe various illnesses such as irritable bowel syndrome and Down's Syndrome.

I asked, "Were Yuna and Hyun-jin were ill? Is Chung Hyeon suffering from a syndrome?" Yes, He is suffering from blisters on his feet.

We should choose such terms as "fever," "phenomenon" or "boom" instead of syndrome to describe the social trend following the success of sports stars and others.

I am afraid that we will have more syndromes in the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Olympics like "Yun Sung-bin (a skeleton racer) Syndrome" or "Choi Min-jeong (a short track speed skater) Syndrome."

Park Moo-jong is a standing adviser of The Korea Times. He served as the president-publisher of the nation's first daily English newspaper founded in 1951 from 2004 to 2014 after working as a reporter for the paper since 1974. He can be reached at moojong@ktimes.com or emjei29@gmail.com