mgedwards – Page 257

A star in our midst

Many a Korean woman will become envious when I tell them that I met Daniel Henney today and talked to him for a few minutes when he came to our office. Daniel Henney is one of the hottest stars in Korea right now, apparently more popular with Koreans than Bae Yong Jun. Henney is a model and an actor, and he is the star of Munhwa Broadcasting Company’s hit drama, "My Lovely Samsoon." A straw poll of Korean women I know revealed that Henney is by far their favorite heartthrob. A couple weeks ago, one of my coworkers said that Daniel Henney is her "dream man," and lo and behold, her dream man walked into her life today! She was stunned and flustered at first, too shy to come forward to meet him. However, she composed herself and ended up getting a personal photograph with him. I am very happy for her. Can you imagine? Think of the star you would most like to meet and then unexpectedly meet him or her in person. (I wonder if Bambi Francisco will stop by sometime.) My other Korean coworkers also went absolutely gaga over Henney. Me–I was bemused more than anything. The work stopped for awhile as my coworkers buzzed about the star in their midst. I sprang into action and located a digital camera. My star-struck coworkers happily gathered around Henney for photos (I think he enjoyed the attention.) For the rest of the day, the office was aglow with happy coworkers.

After the photo op, Daniel Henney came to see me. I helped him and thanked him for coming in, making sure he didn’t mind all the attention. (He said he didn’t mind at all.) I knew very little about him, so I asked him a couple of quick questions about his background. He is a very nice guy, completely unpretentious. He’s also an American whose mother is Korean American and father is British American. It’s very impressive to see a foreigner make such a big impact in Korean media, especially someone who did not arrive in Korea until recently. He may not be well known in the U.S. outside of Korean-American communities, but he is hugely successful here. He is someone who beat the odds and made it big in another culture. I wonder if his fame in Asia will eventually lead him to commercial success in the United States.

Blog Note: The photo MSN Spaces used to feature this space is a photo of the building housing the king’s throne at Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul. Gyeongbok Palace served as the seat of power during the Korean Joseon Dynasty until 1910. A family friend of ours wears hanbok, traditional Korean dress, and gives tours at Gyeongbok Palace, much like the women featured in the photo. For more photos of Gyeongbok Palace, see our photo collection.

Pondering Korean reunification

Very positive news came out of Beijing today, where representatives from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or North Korea, agreed to halt development of its nuclear program. As one who lives close to the Korean demilitarized zone (DMZ) in Seoul, I was very excited to learn that there was a major breakthrough in the Six-Party Talks on North Korea’s nuclear program. Congratulations to U.S. Assistant Secretary of State and Envoy to the talks, Christopher Hill, and his team for a job well done. There is still much work to be done, and the North Koreans have to follow through with what they have agreed to do. Nevertheless, this is the most positive breakthrough since the 1994 Agreed Framework. Perhaps as significant as the dismantling of North Korea’s nuclear program, the agreement also offers mutual security assurances and paves the way for normalized relations between the U.S. and North Korea.

This news is an excellent prelude to today’s blog topic, Korean reunification. I want to share with you what I think Korea will be like following reunification, assuming that Korea reunites according to what many Koreans believe will happen. Last month, the Korea Times released survey results indicating that 31 of 34 Korea experts believe that the Korean Peninsula will be politically reunited within 10-20 years. Many South Koreans believe that the two Koreas will reunite peacefully and that the South Korean political system will serve as the foundation of the government of a united Korea (as opposed to North Korean communism and juche, an ideology of self reliance). A large number of South Korean also think that reunification will is unlikely so long as Kim Jong Il rules North Korea. A internal coup d’etat overthrowing the Dear Leader is unlikely to happen. The 64-year-old leader (his exact age is unclear) could remain in power for quite some time, because many communist leaders have been blessed with very long lifespans. Many South Koreans assume that once a new leader emerges in North Korea, quite possibly one of Kim Jong Il’s sons or a prominent member of the Korean Worker’s Party, North Korea will be ready for reunification. I question this logic. It does not necessarily follow that North Korea will be ready for detente and reunification once a new leader is in place. Still, let’s assume that the Korean experts are right and that Korea will be reunited within the next 20 years. What will Korea be like after it reunifies?

Korea will be a major military power. With an estimated troop strength of 1.1 million in North Korea and 650,000 in South Korea, not to mention substantial weapons capabilities, a united Korea would instantly become one of the world’s strongest military powers. Although Korea may dismantle some of its military might following reunification, it will likely choose to retain most soldiers and employ them in rebuilding Korea. Reducing troop strength in the near term would add to the country’s unemployed ranks, contributing to instability.
Anti-Americanism will increase in Korea. One third of Koreans in the united Korea will have lived their entire lives in North Korea, immersed in an anti-American environment. Coupled with anti-Americanism south of the DMZ, a unified Korea is likely to be more anti-American than South Korea is presently. Recent protests in Incheon calling for the removal of a statue of American General Douglas MacArthur, who led the famous landing at Incheon during the Korean War, highlights the reality that anti-Americanism exists in South Korea. Reuniting with North Korea will likely magnify this sentiment. It could also be inflamed if Korea and the U.S. fail to work out an adequate arrangement on military cooperation (e.g. withdrawing U.S. troops or retaining U.S. military bases in Korea).
Northern and southern Koreans will have difficulty reintegrating into a single culture. North and South Koreans have been separated by the DMZ since 1953, over 52 years ago. As time passes, more and more Koreans who lived before the Korean War will pass away. By the year 2025, virtually no one living on the Korean Peninsula will remember what living in a unified Korea was like. North Korean and South Korean culture and language have diverged dramatically since the war, and reunification will be even more difficult for Korea than it was in Germany in 1989. For example, the Korean language in South Korea features over 5,000 common "loan words" (words borrowed primarily from English), while North Korean Korean substitutes these words with indigenous Korean words. Religion, especially Christianity and Buddhism, are central to South Korean life, whereas North Korea is an officially atheist country where the Great Leader, Kim Sung Il, and the Dear Leader, Kim Jong Il, are virtually deified. These fundamental cultural differences will make cultural reintegration extremely difficult in the new Korea. It will likely create mutual resentment between northern and southern Koreans that rivals the resentment Wessies (western Germans) and Ossies (eastern Germans) now feel.
Tourism will fluorish. The unique reunification of two very different countries will be a boom to Korean tourism. Because travel in North Korea has been so restricted and the country is so isolated, tourism to North Korea will explode once the country reunites and travel is unrestricted. The same phenomenon which occurred in Eastern Europe following the fall of the Iron Curtain will occur in united Korea. Koreans will travel north and south to see what they now only read in books or see on TV, and foreigners will converge on North Korea to see the "Hermit Kingdom" for themselves.
A "Gold Rush" mentality will emerge. The economic disparities between the north and south fuel a rush to develop the north. In 2004, South Korean per-capita income (est. $19,400) was 14 times that of North Korea. The disparity will continue to grow so long as the Peninsula remains divided. The opening of North Korea will present great development opportunities for South Koreans, but it will also lead to potential turf wars. For example, once the DMZ is dismantled, it will create a giant, undeveloped swath of land cutting across the entire Peninsula. The DMZ will likely be a major battleground between those who want to move on from the past and develop it, and those who want to preserve its legacy, perhaps as a national park. North Korea’s urban areas, particularly Pyongyang, Nampo, and Kaesong, will become hot real estate markets, creating sticker shock for former North Koreans. It is likely that the unified Korean government will retain tight control over development in the former North Korea in order to smooth the reunification process. Still, there will be a rush from the south to develop the north.
Reunification will come at a big price. Reunification will be extremely expensive. A 1999 report by Korean reunification expert Marcus Noland indicated that either $300-$600 billion would be needed to raise North Korean living standards up to 60% of South Korean standards, or 90% of North Koreans would need to move south and integrate into former South Korea. The World Bank estimates that full economic reunification will cost $2-$3 TRILLION. Considering that South Korea’s 2004 gross domestic product was $924.1 billion (the 12th largest economy in the world), that is a staggering sum to pay. Korea will go through significant growing pains as it reintegrates into a single economy.
However, the world will provide South Korea with substantial economic aid. Unlike Germany, Korea will likely not need to pay fully to economically reintegrate because of the immense burden it must bear. Tragedies such as Tsunami relief show that the United Nations, World Bank, and individual nations have been instrumental in assisting nations in development efforts (donor nations contributed over $1.8 billion in Tsunami relief). Successful Korean reintegration is critical to geopolitical stability. I believe that the UN and the world will be far more generous in helping the two Koreas reunite economically.

Happy Chuseok!

추석 잘 보네세요! Happy Chuseok to everyone, especially to gyopo (교포), or overseas Koreans, who cannot come home to Korea for the holiday. We are having a quiet Chuseok get together with some family friends tonight. My friend’s wife is from Tbilisi, Georgia (former Soviet Republic), so we’ll actually be having authentic Georgian cuisine tonight. It sounds delicious! I’ll let you know what we had for dinner. Because I have the day off tomorrow, on Monday we may get together with some Korean friends for a post-Chuseok party. It can be difficult to get together with Koreans on Chuseok if you’re not a Korean, because Chuseok, or the Full Moon festival, is a time for Korean families to reunite and spend time with family, both alive and deceased. The Chinese also celebrate Chuseok and refer to it as Mid-Autumn Festival. The Koreans, however, have taken the holiday to a whole new level by celebrating it as a day of remembrance. The closest American holidays are Thanksgiving, when Americans gather with friends and family to celebrate and say thanks, and Memorial Day, when they honor those who have passed. These holidays are not quite like Chuseok, though.

Here is my understanding of Chuseok based on numerous conversations I’ve had with Korean friends. Chuseok is a lunar holiday that lasts three days, the duration of the full moon during harvest season. Three days also allow Koreans enough time to reach their destination, celebrate with family, and return home by car. Traditionally, Koreans return to their ancestral hometown to thank their ancestors for a bountiful harvest. Because most Koreans no longer farm, the holiday now serves as time for families to reunite and pay respect to their ancestors. Typically, the patriarch of the extended family who lives in the family’s hometown hosts a large family gathering at his home. Families also visit their ancestral graveyard, clean up and decorate family grave sites, and have a picnic lunch near the graves of their ancestors, perhaps a grandparent or great-grandparent. Americans too return to pay respects to their lost loved ones, although we typically do not gather for food at a cemetary.

Times have changed, and contemporary realities have also changed Chuseok. Traffic congestion is a new, unwelcome Chuseok tradition. Because most Koreans who live in the greater Seoul area hail from elsewhere, the city empties for a few days as families pile into the car and brave horrendous traffic to drive to their hometowns. Seoul and cities throughout Korea host public Chuseok celebrations for those who remain in the city over the holiday. Also, because some families’ ancestral homes lie in North Korea, these families have had to establish new, innovative ways to celebrate the holiday. In addition, for some Koreans, Chuseok is merely an inconvenience. Frankly, holiday travel isn’t much fun, and some Koreans prefer to not to sit in traffic for hours on end. In addition, many cemeteries and grave sites in Korea are now tended by professional services. This is not much different in America, where most cemeteries are manicured. I would love to head home to the U.S. for Christmas, but because my brother will not be home, and for a few other reasons, we decided not to travel home this Christmas. We will wait until next summer when the weather is better and traveling is more convenient.

Thanks again to everyone who stopped by World Adventurers. Thank you for posting great comments. I’ll try to visit your blogs too. Here are a few responses to some of the questions I received:

Note to timeless_traveller: It’s hard to say exactly why MSN Spaces chose to feature my blog this week, but I am glad they did. The magic of blogs comes from the freedom it brings in allowing people to express themselves in any way they see fit, whether it be in documenting a travelogue or writing about nothing. For me, this is a chronicle of our lives overseas as well as a way for me to share some ideas I have. I think it’s a lot more interesting to rotate topics daily than to focus solely on cataloguing life overseas.

Note to AmyKristen: I worked for Boeing for several years before I quit to pursue my MBA at the University of Washington in Seattle. I graduated in 2003 and left Seattle in 2004. I miss it very much! I wouldn’t trade this life for the world, though. I’m living out my dream. Keep the light on in Seattle! I’ll probably be back after I retire.

Note to Love-is-a-Verb-2: How did I set up the language translation? If you visit http://www.google.com/language_tools, then input your blog’s URL (e.g. http://spaces.msn.com/members/worldadventurers/ and select the language you want it translated into, Google will return a translated version, albeit a rough translation (I hear that the Asian translations are especially bad). Then paste the resulting link into a list with a title, and the title will appear. When clicked, the page will be automatically translated by Google.

Note to JenineElisa: Congratulations on your marriage, your husband’s job offer with SkyWest, happy birthday, and congratulations on 1,000 hits! I lived in the Seattle area before I started my new job and traveled abroad. I used to work down in Auburn not far from Federal Way and have spent quality time at Weyerhaeuser in Federal Way. I really miss Seattle. I still think it’s the best place in which to live on that side of the Pacific. I have a question–how did you add a page counter and graphics to your blog header?

Note to AngeLine11285: Thanks for all your wonderful comments over the past few months. I’m really glad you stop by and post great feedback from time to time. I hope my remarks were positive enough about Korean dramas! I know you like them. 🙂

Note to Lyz: If you liked my blog entry on nothing, check the archives for blog entry I wrote in July about things we do unconsciously–like breathing!

Note to Rosebay_fl1: Thanks for playing the World Adventurers Game. OK, maybe it was a little easy to figure out, but I didn’t want to make it too hard. If I did, no one would figure it out!

Note to AnneProm1989: Congratulations on recently being featured on "Best of MSN Spaces"! Thanks too for stopping by for a visit and posting a comment. If you go to Settings…Statistics, you can check the number of page views. Before this site was featured on MSN Spaces, it had about 9,500 hits. Yesterday it logged 7,000 hits and another 1,000 today. That’s amazing. Last month, I was excited when World Adventurers had 3,000 hits in one month, but 7,000 in one day is absolutely amazing. We’ll see how many people visit again after the feature is over.

Note to IncognitoCatholicMom: Thanks for letting me know about my son’s guestbook. I’ll have to check out the error. Congratulations on figuring out the World Adventurers. 🙂 Washington Huskies don’t begrudge the Huskers too much. As long as your favorite team isn’t the USC Trojans or the Washington State Cougars, you’re OK. LOL

Note to Insadong Korean Restaurant: Thanks for the great comments! You’ve visited World Adventurers for a long time, and I really appreciate it. It’s my pleasure linking to your blog site. The next time I’m in Vancouver, BC I will definitely visit your restaurant. The food looks delicious!