Articles by mgedwards

How to plan a Korean-style protest

Last night after work I went to a happy hour in downtown Seoul.  I was surprised to find that my way was blocked by a very large group of protesters, the largest I’ve seen since I arrived in Korea.  The protesters were in full force and protesting the Korean National Assembly’s recent ratification of a deal to increase nearly double the quota of imported rice from 4% of the Korean rice market to 7.96%, phased in over the next nine years.  Imported rice is a topic for economic policy wonks, but on the streets and in the fields of Korea, rice brings out the passions of the Korean people.  7.96% does not seem like a big deal to foreigners, who note that as much as 92.04% of the Korean rice market will remain the hands of Korean domestic rice producers through 2014.  However, rice is an inevitably explosive topic in Korea (perhaps that’s why the Korean word for rice sounds like "pop").  Some Koreans oppose the opening because of market share concerns and the assumption that the price of rice in Korea will go down as the market opens to imports.
 
Anyway, I walked through the police lines and protesters to get to where I needed to go.  Although I was briefly caught in the middle of some marching policemen in riot gear, I made it through without fail.  Tthe protesters rallied in opposition to foreign rice imports, yet as a foreigner I did not feel threatened as I walked through the protesters.  They were not overly aggressive, and I felt safe with all the policemen close by me.  I reckon that about 500 protesters showed up for the protest, most of whom appeared to be in their 20’s and 30’s.  I doubt that most, if any, were Korean rice farmers.  Most were likely students or members of Korean unions.  The sheer number of protesters, policemen, the blocked traffic, the bonfires in the street, and the silhouettes of the rally leaders under the streetlit statue of Yi Sun-Shin cast a surreal pall over the scene.  I wasn’t the only pedestrian passing through the protest, but I felt conspicuously out of place as I walked there.
 
This wasn’t the first rally I’ve seen, but it certainly was the largest I’ve seen here.  Korean protests are quite unique.  They are Asian in nature, emphasizing union and solidarity over individual protestation common in the West.  In order to plan a Korean-style protest, you need to do the following:
  • Wear matching jacket vests and hats.  You need to wear color-coded jacket vests against light colored clothing and matching baseball caps.  The caps and vests should ideally contain some slogan related to the topic of the protest.
  • Wear white arm bands with red or black lettering.  It’s always a good fashion accessory to have a conspicuous arm band on your arm featuring a protest slogan.  If you don’t have a hat, you can substitute it with a protest headband.
  • Hold the rally in an open location as close to the source of the irritation or at a patriotic rallying point.  For example, anti-Japanese demonstrations are typically held near the Japanese Embassy.  Anti-American or anti-U.S. Forces Korea protests are typically held either near the American Embassy or a U.S.-ROK military installation.  You can also protest near the statue of Yi Sun-Shin or the statue of General Douglas MacArthur in Incheon.  This protest was near the Blue House, the Korean White House, following another rice protest near the National Assembly in Yeoido.
  • Make sure that at least five policemen are in attendance for every protester.  There’s nothing better to magnify the effect of a protest than to bring out five additional people for every protester who comes to the rally.
  • Designate at least one man and one woman to work the bull horn.  The bull horn is a very effective way to address a large crowd.  Male and female rallying cries show solidarity and promote diversity and equality.
  • Sing patriotic union and solidarity songs.  Protesters draw from a large repetoire of songs and chants with which to rally to their cause and announce their message.
  • If the rally is large enough, the police will close off the street for you, amplifying your message by impacting the community at large.  There is nothing like getting the attention of everyone driving in a five-kilometer radius who is caught in horrendous traffic and must find alternative driving routes.
  • Serve food, water, and soju for large and lengthy rallies.  A large crowd will be a hungry crowd, so a good way to control and entice the crowd is to offer food, water, and soju.  I thought it ironic that the protesters served ramen noodles made of wheat and bottles of soju, a potato alcohol, at a rice protest.  Of course, ramen and soju are cheap and plentiful but not very symbolic at a rice protest.
  • Build some bonfires in key intersections to keep warm and cook food.  Use whatever you can find, whether it is wood or plastic.  The downside to this strategy is that the police must keep firehoses handy, which they could use to douse protesters as well as fires.

Managing frustrations with overseas finances

I didn’t really know what to write about tonight until I tried to do some investing for our community association and ran into yet another roadblock.  Last May I pitched a proposal to our Board asking for permission invest some funds into high-yield, low-risk municipal bonds.  It took me three months to win Board approval because of concerns about how best to manage the funds.  Then I spent another month setting up the investment account.  After I became Board chair in September, our general manager sent in the forms to change account ownership for our bank accounts over to me and to our treasurer.  In October, I found out that the account change request was lost in the mail.  In November, I spent hours working with this U.S.-based bank to change over the account owner, open a certificate of deposit for some of the funds, and wire funds from the bank to the investment account.  Today the funds finally posted to the investment account, and I was anxious to invest the money and be done with this project.  I just found out tonight over the phone that the brokerage needs our association’s tax identification number and froze the account until they receive it.  We’re a not-for-profit entity, but we still need to provide our tax number.  I couldn’t give it to them over the phone.  I have to fax a form to them, and then I have to wait another 24 hours until they unlock the account so I can invest the money and finish once and for all.  That is, unless I discover yet another roadblock along the way.  You never know.
 
If you live overseas and manage your finances and investments abroad, you inevitably face immense frustrations.  For example, if you own and rent a home in the U.S. while living overseas, insurance companies will not exclusively insure rental properties.  We had to purchase renter’s insurance for our personal affects first and then obtain property insure for our properties.  When we set up our brokerage accounts, we needed to provide a U.S.-based address even though we don’t have a physical address in the U.S.  Banks, brokerages, and other institutions invariably require signatures on a wide range of documents, and they only occasionally do they allow faxes.  You can’t send any official requests by E-mail.  Most official business must be done by snail mail, which can be severely impeded depending on where you live overseas.  Many documents require notarials, so you have to go through the additional exercise of having to notarize documents overseas through public notaries who may not speak English.  That’s easy enough to do in Korea, a modern country, but it can be extremely difficult if you live in a remote location.  Time difference is also a major source of frustration.  Currently, we live 14 hours from the East Coast of the United States.  I typically have to wait until at least 10 p.m. to do any business with U.S. institutions.  Between snail mail, which may never reach its intended recipient, and international calling, managing your finances remotely overseas can be a major pain. 
 
In the case of our community association, this frustration is magnified because the account owners change frequently whenever Board membership changes.  If signatures are required, you have to obtain them before the Board member leaves (I found out I have to catch two previous members before they leave in December and get their signatures on some account owner change forms).  If someone had told me it would take six months to do this investment project, I might have declined to tackle it.  Knowing now that it can take months to complete business transactions overseas and that I would need to gather obscure pieces of data, such as the birthdate of the person who opened the account many years ago, I might have spared myself the frustration.  Now that I’ve been through the frustration and I’m close to finishing, I’m going get this project done as soon as possible. 
 
In short, thank goodness for the Internet.  The Internet has made finances so much easier to manage overseas, mitigating the frustrations brought on by dealing with financial institutions from abroad.  Automatic electronic direct deposit and bill pay is your best friend when you live overseas.  I think I would go crazy if I had to manage our finances over the phone and by mail.

Having a charity ball

Where is Jerry Lewis when you need him?  A friend of mine invited my wife and me to a charity benefit tonight at the Seoul Grand Hyatt Hotel Grand Ballroom.  The benefit honored the many donors who graciously gave to the victims of muscular dystrophy, a debilitating disease.  The setting for the event was gorgeous, and we had excellent seats not far from the stage.  The atmosphere was very festive with the sights and sounds of Christmas pervading the Grand Ballroom.  (It was wonderful to hear all the Christmas songs you never seem to hear in the U.S. anymore.  Instead of "Santa Baby," "Jingle Bells," "Rudolph the Red Nosed Raindeer," and "Frosty the Snowman," tonight’s Christmas repetoire included "Silent Night," "Away in a Manager," and "Hark the Herald Angels Sing.")  My friend’s mother-in-law helped organize the event, and we were happy that they thoughtfully included us in the affair.  Another friend who attended won a new bed in a raffle, and he gave it to my other friend’s mother-in-law.  What a nice gesture!  It’s a really nice bed.
 
The entertainers tonight were quite different from Jerry Lewis, who heads the annual Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Telethon.  The stars of tonight’s event were the Korean children who are victims of MD, especially one child who read a Christmas carol and a group of children who sang an inspiring song with singer Chui In Hyuk (최인혁).  Other artists who performed included pop artist Gang Ta (강타), who cut short his China tour to perform at the charity benefit, crooner Pak Hyo Shin (박효신), female artist Jang Yoon Jeong (장윤정), boy band Oriental New Land (동방신기), Song Il Guk (송일국), Jo Hae Ryeon (조혜련), and Pak Sang Won (박상원).  If you don’t know these Korean artists, never fear.  I didn’t know most of them either until I heard them perform tonight.  I was happy to see Pak Hyo Shin perform a couple of songs, because he is my wife’s favorite Korean singer.  I call him the "Michael Bolton of Korea," partly tongue in cheek.  He doesn’t look a thing like Michael Bolton, but his deep, raspy voice is reminiscent of Michael Bolton’s (that is either a compliment or a slam, depending on your view of Michael Bolton’s music).  Oriental New Land did their best impression of N’sync, although their songs are bit catchier than N’sync’s bubble gummy pop.  Jang Yoon Jeong’s tunes were energetic with a hint of ethnic flavor, far different from the young male singers who I thought were much too much like "gotminam," or "flower men" (꽃미남–sometimes referred to in English as "girlymen").  I thought it very interesting that these artists were performing for a decidedly older crowd.
 
A man and a woman hosted the event tonight, much like the variety shows you often see on Korean television.  They improvised and elicited laughter from the crowd, although I couldn’t really follow the dialogue with my meager Korean.  I did understand when they poked fun at some big donors, such as hospitals, who donated less than $100 to the cause.  Their style was true to Asian form, most akin to the banter that occurs in the U.S. during awards ceremonies such as the Oscars or Grammys.  American media rarely feature male-female hosts on television anymore.  We were again treated to a succulent dinner, dessert, and wine.  I think this will be the first of many dinners and parties during the final weeks before Christmas.  The food is scrumptious, but I just hope that my New Year’s resolution next year won’t include shedding weight I rack up during the month of December.