Lee Myung-bak's 'Canal Plan'

The Korea Times, earlier this week, posted an article titled 'Seoul Mayor Lee Pushes for Massive Cross-Country Canal'. I'm sure the Times staff were trying to choose between that headline and "Mayor Lee Plans to Throw 10 Trillion in Taxpayer's Money at the Construction Cartel for Utterly Pointless Project" and flipped a coin.

Apparently, this is nothing new; according to the article, he first proposed the idea as a lawmaker in 1996. Why does he think this will work?

``The southern part of the Han River and the upper part of the Naktong River is only 20 kilometers apart. If we are able to connect Seoul and Pusan through an inner-country waterway, it will cut one-third of logistics costs and help the economy by creating more jobs and balancing regional development’’

Sounds wonderful. Luckily, a few sane people have spoken up about this idea:

[C]ritics question whether building a massive canal connecting Seoul and Pusan will be economically reasonable. In a 1998 report jointly published by the Korea Water Resources Corporation (KWACO) and the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements, the state-run organizations said that it would take more than 10 trillion won to build a canal connecting the Han River and Naktong River.

The groups also questioned the canal’s efficiency as a transport route, saying it would take 62 hours by ship to move cargo up the canal from up to bottom and will need an additional supply of 22 million tons of water to sustain the connection.

Let's address the '62 hours' bit first. I took a ferry once from Incheon to Jeju. It took about 12 hours. The most I could imagine it taking to get to Busan would be 24 hours. So obviously, the canal would save so much time, wouldn't it? Perhaps Lee means to transport goods to inland cities, but there aren't many large ones on the route of the rivers, excepting Daegu.

Let's address, oh, say the following picture:

The Chungju Dam, on the Namhan River, is 97.5 meters high. There's another dam 19 km downstream. There's also a 2km wide dam at the mouth of the Nakdong River. There are two dams on the Han River near the eastern and western boundaries of Seoul, which exist to keep the shallow river high enough for the sightseeing tour boats. According to this page, South Korea has 1,213 large dams, so I would imagine that there are many more dams on these two rivers. This would mean altering these dams to create locks. I can't help wonder if Hyundai Construction (Lee Myung-bak's old company) had anything to do with building these dams. He's already shown with Cheonggyecheon that he's quite good at spending a lot of money to undo projects carried out by his former company years ago. Suffice to say, it's not just a matter of digging a canal between the two rivers, but of building new dams, altering old ones, and carrying out massive dredging projects.

In an interview, he said "The Seoul-Busan Canal plan I announced during the 14th National Assembly is a comprehensive plan to foster national competitiveness and create jobs." Create jobs for who? What industry will benefit from such a huge construction project? He also said, "I went into a firm with 100 employees (Hyundai Construction) and made it into one with 160,000". A plan that will pour 10 trillion won into the construction industry, which happens to be his former industry - what a strange coincidence. Lamenting the fact that Korea does not use its rivers as transport routes, Lee said that "Korea uses its rivers as sewers". I wonder to what degree the actions of his old company played a role in the conversion of Korean rivers to 'sewers'.

It's worth noting that environmentalists opposed to unhindered dam building managed to stop dam building for 6 years, between 1996 and 2002 (though since then work has resumed, with the Peace Dam being finished this month). Much of it centered around opposition to the construction of the Yongwol dam, on the Dong river, in Kwangwon-do, the movement against which is described briefly here. Another article from 1999 mentions that "there are already seven dams within Kangwon, which have led to the displacement of 29,000 people in the past five decades." Considering these numbers refer to only one province, and the variety of dams described here, the effect dam construction has had upon people must be considerable. It's hard not to notice that environmental groups managed to halt projects in 1996, just 4 years after the first civilian government came to power. Under the dictatorships, people wouldn't have been able to complain much about the dislocation caused by dam construction.

One of the more insane projects that was halted only earlier this year is the Saemangeum reclamation project in Jeollabuk-do, where a 33km long sea-wall across the estuaries of the Mangyeung and Dongjin Rivers is almost finished construction. There's lots of information about it here, and relevant pictures are here.

Korean Punk

Speaking of Korean punk rock (yeah, I know it's been a few weeks; I've been doing research on some future posts), I came upon some pages on that topic the other day by accident, and thought I'd post some links to them.

I'd imagine the first article in English about punk rock in Korea would be Stephen Epstein's 2000 article 'Anarchy in the UK, Solidarity in the ROK: Punk Rock Comes to Korea'. It's a lengthy article, but well worth a read if you have any interest in this subject. Eptstein notes that many of the interviews are culled from footage shot for a documentary, released in 2001, called 'Our Nation: a Korean Punk Rock Community', which he made with UCLA folklorist Tim Tangherlini (an article about Epstein and his reasons for making the film appeared in the Korea Herald at the time).

I'd love to see the documentary, but as this page tells us, it only seems available to institutions, for prices well beyond what an individual would want to spend. If anyone is going to be at Seoul Selection tonight, where Stephen Epstein is giving a book reading, perhaps they could ask him about other possible ways to view it.

The Fate of the Pants Droppers

Another court related story...

After detailing the scandal that occurred when two musicians dropped their pants on a live MBC music show (and all the abuse hurled at the musicians, the indie music scene, and MBC by politicians, netizens, and the media), the story has come to an end (and only two months after it began - the courts are pretty fast here, at least in this case).

As the Marmot reported two weeks ago, prosecutors were asking for prison terms of two years and one year, six months for the two members of the band Couch who dropped their pants. Happily, today the Joongang Ilbo reported, in an article titled "Rude rockers get suspended sentences for raunchy stunt", (which may win an alliteration award) that

Seoul Southern District Court said yesterday that Shin Hyun-bum and Oh Chang-rae, musicians from an underground punk band called The Couch who exposed their genitals during a live MBC broadcast in July, received a 10-month suspended sentence and an eight-month suspended sentence, respectively, both with a two year probation.

It's nice to see this come to a happy end. The court also thought their time in holding cells was sufficient enough to cause reflection.

MBC, however, still manages to piss its viewers off, this time by showing, repeatedly and in slow motion, "gory accident images".

Re-examining the Past Too.

Update 2:

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea said yesterday (Nov. 15) that legislation is needed to remove any statute of limitations that bars prosecution of state-sponsored rights abuses of the past.

Update:

On a closely related note, the Seoul High Court ordered the prosecution's files on KAL858 bombing opened after a suit by a victims' families association.


Two days ago the Chosun Ilbo had an article entitled "
New Reform-Minded Supreme Court Chief Sworn In", which had this to say:

Lee Yong-hun was sworn in as the 14th chief justice of the Supreme Court on Monday. At his inauguration ceremony, the man widely expected to head reform of the traditionally conservative institution said, “In the decades of dictatorship and authoritarian regimes, the judiciary has not maintained its independence from political pressures nor served as the last stronghold of human rights protection. All jurists deplore the concerns and scars we have caused the Korean public.” [...]

Lee also expressed an intention to admit in whatever form that key decisions by the court -- examples include the discredited death sentence for innocent people in an incident known as the People's Revolutionary Party Incident in 1975 [pictured above] -- were miscarriages of justice. “Above all, it needs the courage to confess past mistakes frankly to restore lost public confidence in the judiciary,” Lee said.

Anyone wondering whether this meant that the courts would begin re-examining their past (like the Defense Ministry and the National Intelligence Service) didn't have to wait long to find out. Two days after Lee's inauguration, today's Chosun Ilbo gave us an article, titled "Courts Start Sifting Through Ignoble Past":

Court officials said Wednesday courts nationwide were ordered to collect several tens of thousands of rulings and trial records on security-related cases under Korea’s authoritarian governments. Courts have been told to prioritize rulings made between 1972 and 1988 with words in the title or text like “democracy”, “dictatorship”, “National Security Law” and “Molotov cocktails”.

Not everyone within the courts agrees with this however:

Some judges resist a drive they say could hurt the judiciary’s independence, but others say it comes not a moment too soon. The dissenting judges argue it is impossible to decide who would have the authority to revise rulings by judges who are considered individual constitutional bodies, and warn the effort could undermine judges’ trial authority.

The other examinations into the past by the NIS and Defense Ministry would appear to be fact finding missions, with little (at this point) intention of pressing charges or punishing those who carried out government sanctioned torture or murder. They also have had rather specific cases in mind, unlike the wide-ranging criteria involved in this judicial probe. Also, statements like "admit in whatever form that key decisions by the court were miscarriages of justice" are somewhat vague but could suggest overturning past rulings. I wonder if there is a legal framework that allows them to do this (especially on such a mass scale), or whether the legislative wing of the government will have to get involved. I also wonder if such wide ranging criteria for inclusion into the probe will make it a rather large undertaking - and just who will be expected to do the extra work. I imagine, beyond the judges who were complaining, that there will be a lot of clerks and whatnot complaining bitterly about having so much more work to do...

Kwangju Narratives in Different Media

In the book Contentious Kwangju: The May 18 Uprising in Korea's Past and Present, there's an interesting essay by Don Baker titled "Victims and Heroes: Competing Visions of May 18". For the curious, Baker was in Kwangju the day after the military retook the city, and the story of his escape from the city, along with Linda Lewis, appears in her book Laying Claim to the Memory of May. (A quick update - in his review of this book, Baker refers to his connection to the city).

At any rate, Baker's essay is influenced by Paul Cohen's book History in Three Keys: The Boxers as Event, Experience, and Myth, which distinguishes between the reconstructions of events by historians, contemporary accounts, and, as Baker describes it, the "perspective generated by the significance ascribed to [an] event." He continues:

When later generations draw lessons from a significant historical event...they change the way that event is viewed and discussed. Cohen calls this third perspective, refashioning the past to meet the needs of the present, the construction of a "myth"... [T]he mythical retelling of an event is designed not so much to relate what actually occurred as it is to encourage certain sentiments, arouse certain emotions, serve certain political functions, or fulfill certain psychological needs.

He goes on to describe how such myths isolate or focus on certain aspects of an event, and uses this framework to look at how popular narratives of the Kwangju Uprising in different media illuminate either the tragedy of the victims, or the heroism of those who rose up against those who brutalized them. Those narratives published in the years directly after the uprising (mostly short stories or poems) tended to focus on the victims, while some later narratives focussed on heroism of the uprising.

This essay is well worth reading (in fact, the entire book is), but the reason I'm going into a discussion of it here is that Baker's description of these short stories made me aware of their existence and prompted me to look for English translations of them on the internet. I managed to find a number of them, and so link to them I do.

Kim Jun-tae's 1980 poem Kwangju, Cross of Our Nation, was published soon after the uprising occurred; he was dismissed from his high school teaching post for publishing this poem (another translation can be found here). That's a picture of the poem as it was published in the Jeonnam Maeil Sinmun at the top of this post.

Im Cheol-woo's Spring Day (1984), about a character who feels guilty over his friend's death during the uprising, can be found here, while another story involving Kwangju by Im Cheol-woo, A Shared Journey, can be found here (scroll down to the very bottom).

Choi Yun's There a Petal Silently Falls (Part 1 ; Part 2) was the novella upon which Jang Sun-woo's 1996 film 'A Petal' was based.

Kong Son-ok's short story Parched Season (1993), depicts the lives of marginalized figures who are survivors of the Kwangju Uprising.

Parched Season and Spring Day (and 3 other stories about the Korean War) are discussed in the essay Remembering Trauma: History and Counter-Memories in Korean Fiction by Susie Jie Young Kim.

On the topic of visual depictions of the uprising, Hong Seong-dam's woodblock prints can be found here. Hong made most of the prints shortly after the uprising. In 1989 he was arrested under the National Security Law and sentenced to 7 years in prison, of which he served three. Hong's main offense was to have sent to Pyongyang, North Korea a photographic slide of a large mural that he had painted. He discusses the torture he underwent in prison near the bottom of this page.

Numerous Photos of the uprising can be found here, while documentary footage can be downloaded here (about 2/3 down there are 3 files listed; click on 영상1, 2, or 3 or right click and 'save as' to save. I believe the first file is a music video which contains footage from the second and third files).

Baker's essay mentions that in some cases, as the idea of who the victims were evolved, certain narratives considered the soldiers to be victims as well, as they were forced to carry out such violence. The protagonist of the film Peppermint Candy is portrayed as a person devastated by his role in the violence, for example. A 200 page manhwa (comic book) I picked up in Kwangju during the 25th anniversary of the uprising has none of this, however; the soldiers are depicted as the embodiment of pure evil, such as in the photos below, one of which depicts a soldier stripping a teenage girl (which was common practice for prisoners of either sex), and later, raping her.



This girl, whose name, Jo Hyeon-jeong, is clearly pointed out, isn't just meant to represent one of many victims; the comic depicts what happened to specific people. This makes clear that people in Kwangju, and the narratives that continue to be produced there, view what happened in much more personal terms than those from other regions of the country, for obvious reasons. When I watched high school students re-enact the shootings of May 21, two of the students I talked to told me proudly that their fathers had taken part in the uprising. The event's relationship with the city it occurred in is something Linda Lewis discusses a great deal in her book, a book I recommend most highly.

There are at least 6 or 7 documentaries (in Korean) about Kwangju on emule. Try searching for 518, 광주, or 5-18 and they should turn up. Some have contemporary footage, while others have interviews with surviving citizen's army members, former paratroopers, and foreign journalists.

Psychedelic Sounds

Update: Antti found the site linked to below quite some time ago. Also, a recent article on Patti Kim makes reference to her debut in 1959 on stage at a US Army base.


I pulled out some Sanulim cds that I bought last year and as I was listening to them again, decided to try to more information on the band. Luckily, I came across a link to a great site about Korean psychedelia and folk from the 60s and 70s, which has a biography of the band. I was shocked to learn that once upon a time, in 1977, Sanulim sold 500,000 copies of its first album, which is full of stripped-down, fuzzed-out guitar rock. The band only enjoyed this popularity for a short time, before 'dance music' became popular, but the idea that a band like Sanulim was popular seems almost inconceivable in this age of idols and manufactured, disposable pop bands. The thing about Sanulim was that they didn't sound like anyone else at the time - the site says critics said they sounded like they 'dropped out of the sky'. A diagram, followed by commentary, explained this:

The 1970s Korean music scene was divided into two parts. One is the Group sound (Rock band style) based on the US army stage circuit and the other is the folk sound base on Myung-Dong club. The goal of the former is a superb performance (technical skill and accurate copying ability of western classic rock numbers) while the latter had much more importance in personal expression. But both of them had the common point that the craftsmans mind was strictly trained. But San Ul Rim’s music style didn’t belong anywhere (in these 2 parts).

Now, my first question was: "US army stage circuit?" I was really curious about the influence the USFK might have had on Korean rock music. Another page on this site had some more information, regarding the genealogy of a band called He5, a member of whom came from a band called the Key boys, which had

played some 'Package shows', under the name of the Lock & Key in the stages of the 8 th U.S army which settled in South Korea. Also they played at some new venues like 'Music listen Rooms', 'Live Music Salons', or the traditional ones like in Cinema.
[Cf. At that time the concert was held frequently in Cinema Houses. It was called as 'Cinema Show].

With these latter [venues] they were known to general 'Korean' public... (Cf. Because the stages in 8th Army of U.S. was for the Korean in the forbidden area for the evident reason of security. So generally a Korean group or artist who played there was a totally unknown figure to general Korean public).

It goes on to say that the Key Boys broke up (one member joined the Korean army's entertainment unit, which was sent to Vietnam) and He5 was formed by Wha-Yang Entertainment Inc, which managed several bands and picked guys from the different bands to be in this 'supergroup' (management and record companies putting together bands? Sounds familiar...). It also mentions that "Wha-Yang Entertainment Inc. was one of the enterprises who dealt with matters concerning the distribution of musicians and entertainers for the 8th Army of USA.- with Universal, Dae-Young, Dong IL." He5 apparently played often in Itaewon. The article says that their live shows were 'heavy and psychedelic' but that the record company wouldn't let them make such records in the studio. On the other hand, the Christmas Album with the 'psychedelic sound' pictured at the top of this post has a 13 minute version of 'Jingle Bells' mixed with 'In-a-gadda-da-vida', and my heart just breaks that the 'Listen' link is broken.

Now, I was vaguely aware of the Myeongdong folk music scene, as well as the history of Itaewon (mostly due to the article 'Itaewon as an Alien Space within the Nation-State and a Place in the Globalization Era'), but I knew nothing about the 8th Army touring circuit, so now I'm intrigued and want to learn more about the effect of the USFK on Korean rock'n'roll. The effect of the US military presence on Japanese and German popular culture is a little better documented, but I don't know how much this has been looked into regarding Korea.

Well, if a Chosun Ilbo article posted today is anything to go by, it would appear North Korea has been aware of the US army's effect on Korean music for some time now:

The U.S. military in South Korea spreads “Yankee culture and all sorts of social ills,” North Korea's state-controlled Pyongyang Broadcasting has claimed. In a program on Wednesday, the broadcaster ... blasted the USFK for spreading "decadent music," citing the corrupting influence of blues and rock and roll in the 1960s, soul in the 1970s, disco in the 1980s and rap in the 1990s.

Ironic I would read this article and discover this psychedelia site on the same day. One question I wonder about - how available was US/UK rock music in Korea in the 1960s and 1970s? Was the USFK the primary conduit for rock'n'roll in Korea, or was edgier American rock music available on Korean record store shelves at the time? Anyone know?

A Single Spark

Update: Oranckay commented on protest suicide and it's political use by the left and the right, and Antti introduced me to the Chun Tae-il Memorial Foundation website which has lots of photos and even a comic about Chun's life.


The Chosun Ilbo, in an article titled 'Seoul Immortalizes Single Spark that Changed a Nation', says that when Cheonggyecheon is fully restored on October 1st, Cheonggye6-ga, the street which runs north and south between Dongdaemun and Dongdaemun Stadium, will be renamed Chun Tae-il Street. It was on this street, on November 13 1970, in front of the Peace Market (a building full of sweatshops where he toiled as a garment worker), that 22 year-old Chun Tae-il immolated himself in a protest against the labour conditions he and his coworkers were subjected to. Sweatshops like these were densely packed into the markets around Cheongyecheon street:

The article has a fairly good account of Chun's life and the year or two that led up to his death. Perhaps worth noting that it was the Kyunghyang Ilbo which, on October 7, 1970, printed a story at the top of it's city section titled "16 Hours of Daily Labour in the Back Room", a story which gave Chun hope that the publicity would force the owner of the Peace Market to make changes. When this failed, and the labour inspectors failed to keep their promises, he decided to burn his copy of the Labour Standards Act; or that's what he told his friends. Feeling that there was no other way to bring attention to their plight, he had decided on a more radical course of action, one portrayed in the 1995 biographical film, A Single Spark:

The Chosun article has a photo pointing out where he 'died'.

Well, actually, the spot, pointed out by the yellow circle, was where he fell, still covered in flames. He died 8 or 9 hours later after being sent to two hospitals. And 'Do not let my death be in vain' wasn't his last sentence either; he was conscious for several hours after having his entire body burned, and talked with his friends and mother for some time. As he hadn't eaten for two days, his final words were 'I'm hungry'. According to his biography, the reason he was so badly burned was that his body had been in flames for 3 minutes before anyone thought to put the fire out, so shocked were the people who had seen what had happened. It's a shock that has long since worn off, I think. In a time when self-immolation is still a reasonably common form of protest, it's hard to imagine a time when it was unheard of in Korea, when it could shock people so much they wouldn't think to put it out. While some might jump to blame Chun for starting it all in Korea, I think the blame falls more with the followers.

Within 3 days of Chun's death, several Seoul National University School of Law students had met with Chun's mother in order to take part in his funeral, and 400 held a demonstration. Another demonstration on November 20 led to SNU's indefinite closure, and the next day police arrested a student carrying a gasoline can. In short, it took 8 days for someone to attempt to do it again. That same day, Kim Dae-jung spoke out about Chun and months later Kim included Chun's name in his party's platform prior to the 1971 election (after which election Park Chung-hee declared martial law, before creating the new Yushin constitution in 1972). His name constantly appeared in the press, on the lips of politicians, religious leaders, and student activists. The manner of his death, and the fact that it brought the plight of these garment workers to national attention, almost guaranteed that others would use self-immolation as a form of protest, precisely because it had worked. What these other people who died by setting themselves alight didn't realize was that it was the shock of someone doing this for the first time that had worked, that had roused people into action (or more often, just words). Can you remember the name of another person who used the tactic?

And yet, one gets the feeling, reading a comment like "We Christians have come together not so much to grieve Chun Tae-il's death, but to lament over the apathy and hypocrisy of the churches of Korea," that Chun's name was being used by people to advance their own agendas. The fact that Chun was a Christian could be used by churches to help exaggerate their own importance, while of course the media just wanted to sell newspapers. Students had been protesting Park Chung-hee's 'heavy-handedness' and the extension of his rule (by amending the constitution in 1969, which allowed him to run for a third term in 1971), and it seems Chun's death was a great symbol of all that was wrong with Park's developmental dictatorship, which they seized upon within a matter of days.

Perhaps some of this sounds very similar to what happened to the deaths of Shim Hyo-sun and Shin Mi-seon in 2002, (with Park Chung-hee being targeted instead of the US military). Unlike the accident that killed these two girls, Chun's death didn't help a president get elected (or did it? Maybe one of these panels needs to turn its attention to the possible voting fraud in the 1971 election). If this sounds cynical, it's worth noting that these events cause both genuine anger and often see the rise of people who take advantage of this anger to advance their own causes.

Beyond Chun Tae-il and the girls killed in the 2002 accident, there have been several events where an 'unjust' death has changed the path of Korean history. The reaction to the death of Kim Ju-yeol, a high school student in Masan whose corpse was found floating in Masan harbour after a protest (with tear gas shell fragments embedded in his eye), was the final straw that pushed those angry with Syngman Rhee's fraudulent election onto the streets on April 19, 1960. After protesting crowds were fired on, leading to 192 deaths, Rhee was forced to step down (more info here). On June 9, 1987, Yonsei university student Lee Han-yeol was killed by shrapnel from a tear gas cannister which had exploded above him (in a month when 300,000 tear gas cannisters were fired by police). His death (helped perhaps by anger at Roh Tae-woo being given the presidential nomination the next day) helped propel more people into the streets, especially for a funeral procession where 1 million people marched from Yonsei University to city hall, where some forced their way to the roof and lowered the flag to half mast. On June 29th, Roh conceded to opposition demands for direct presidential elections and political reform. The Joongang Ilbo had an excellent article on Lee Han-yeol's death this past June.

While Chun Tae-il didn't bring about political change in the short term, Chun's protest did kick off the post-Korean War labour movement in Korea, even though martial law in October 1971, and the advent of the Yushin constitution forced it underground until 1979 (at which time the YH strike sparked off a series of events that led to Park Chung-hee's assassination). The movement had another burst of activity in 1980 (urged on this time by the Sabuk Strike), but was again held back by the Chun Doo-hwan regime, before finally kicking into gear in 1987.

It's been argued that the union activity after 1987 led to increases in wages that allowed people to be able to afford to buy more things, thus enlarging Korea's internal economy and leading not just to rampant consumerism but also to more and more people buying cars. Chun's immolation will have not only led to having a street named after him by a city that ignored the conditions which caused his suicidal protest (and having this chronicled by the Chosun Ilbo, a newspaper which likely never gave a shit about those same conditions when Chun was alive); it may have contributed to the traffic jams that will be found on this street every day.

(Most of the information here came from "A Single Spark: The Biography of Chun Tae-il", which is published by the Korea Democracy Foundation).

Investigating the Past

Update:
I found an issue of the Korea Journal (from 2002) which has several essays about "Settling the Past". Anyone interested in this will find lots to read there.


At a press conference on Monday, the Defense Ministry announced that a truth commission will investigate some of the darker episodes that took place during the decades of military or dictatorial rule in Korea. Eight episodes will be investigated in two rounds of investigations.

In an article misleadingly titled 'Panel to investigate four past military incidents in '70s-'80s' (only four?) the Korea Herald reports that

The panel, "Truth Commission on Past Military Incidents" consisting of 12 members - 7 civilians and 5 Defense Ministry - was launched in May as part of efforts to shed light on unjust history, a key agenda of President Roh Moo-hyun's administration. The panel aims to investigate questionable deaths and abuse that occurred during the military dictatorships of the 1970s and 1980s.

The chairman of the panel visited the Defense Security Command yesterday, which retains records of past military events. The DSC announced that "We will actively support the disclosure of reports that the Truth Commission Panel requests, in order to uncover the truth about past suspicions".

A Yonhap article titled 'Military to review brutal crackdown on 1980 pro-democracy revolt' adds this comment:

"We aim to clearly disclose before the public the past wrongdoing committed by the military so as to prevent the recurrence of such misconduct and lay the foundation for the military to receive greater public affection and confidence," said Lee Hae-dong, head of the panel.

(The Korean version of this article has a different photo than the one above - that of Chun Doo-hwan speaking as head of the Joint Investigation Headquarters, which was formed to investigate Park Chung-hee's murder - and from where he was able to maneuver his way into power). The Chosun Ilbo, in an article titled 'Defense Ministry to Review Gwangju, 1979 Coup', continues:

"We considered whether the incidents occurred in the process of the military intervening in politics and whether massive violations of human rights took place against civilians” when determining which incidents to investigate, a commission member said.

The first round of investigations will look into the rise of the Chun Doo-hwan regime, including the 1979 coup, the May 17, 1980 declaration of martial law and the May 18 democratic uprising in Gwangju the same year. It will also look into the Samcheong Re-education Program, the so-called "Nokhwa” or “greening” project of recruiting college activists, and the Silmi Island revolt.

The second round will look into the government's Oct. 27, 1980 clamp down on Korean Buddhists, the forced merger and closing of media companies and firing of journalists, military investigations of civilians during the Chun and Roh Tae-woo administrations, and suspicions of trumped-up spying charges against Koreans in Japan.

The Herald article provides further descriptions of a few of these incidents, like the 'Nokwa' project,

the alleged forced conscription of student activists by the former military regime led by President Chun Doo-hwan...Chun allegedly recruited around 1,100 students whom he considered dangerous to his regime between 1980 and 1984. They were brainwashed or forced to spy on other student activists or activist groups, and ordered to collect information about anti-state activities pursued by fellow students. The panel will probe into who led the conscription and how 6 students died in the process.

Another military abuse under investigation includes the so-called 'Samcheong' incident in which the government arrested around 60,755 alleged criminals in 1981, in the name of uprooting disorderly elements from society. These people were forced into labor, assault and suffered human rights violations. Around 54 people are known to have died in the process, but human rights committees suspect the death toll is much higher.

Of the Silmido incident, (which is well known due to the second most successful film in Korean history being based on it) the Herald tells us that "the panel will attempt to identify the secret agents and uncover the process of their recruitment and where their bodies are buried."

Though the focus on Kwangju will be to determine who gave the order to fire, the Chosun Ilbo article ends by telling us that

The incidents involving the Chun Doo-hwan regime could prove a hard nut to crack. In the case of the bloody crackdown in Gwangju, hearings on the matter in 1988 failed to establish who gave the order to fire, and if those involved continue to keep their mouths shut, the probe could hit a brick wall.

The truth commission also lacks the authority to force figures to appear for questioning and will thus find it hard to investigate key figures in Chun's "New Military Group."

This website has some information about the 1988 hearings on Kwangju:

In August 1988, opposition legislators managed to form the Special Investigative Committee of the May 18 Kwangju Pro-democracy Campaign within the National Assembly, to conduct an inquiry into the government cover-ups. The committee found that 77 of the officers who had led the crackdown against the uprising had been decorated.

In 1989, the National Assembly investigations into the Kwangju uprising took place on a full scale when the hearings of the Special Investigative Committee opened in the spring. The victims of the military crackdown and the army officers involved were summoned for testimony. Their testimony was televised, live. The army officers had become senior officials in the government. Chun Doo-hwan was also summoned, and he testified on December 31. Due to its limited powers, the Committee could only publicize the proceedings, not prosecute those responsible. Attempts to introduce laws to punish the perpetrators of the Kwangju massacre were unsuccessful due to the power of the ruling party in the National Assembly.

From the wording of the above paragraph, ("summoned for testimony") it sounds like the 1989 hearings did have the authority to call people to testify, even if they kept their mouths shut or lied on the stand (This book picks apart some of their testimony by comparing it with contemporary military records regarding Kwangju). This testimony and the existing documents were compiled into the 'Complete Collection Of Historical Records of The Kwangju May People's Uprising' (광주오월민중항쟁사료전집) back in 1990. So while this is not the first time Kwangju has been investigated, questions linger, especially considering Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo were not found guilty of murder during their 1996 trial. Existing evidence suggests that the orders were coming from the top, but there is no way to prove this. If they are actually hoping to answer the question of who gave the orders this time, when they failed to last time, you have to wonder why they made this commission more toothless than the previous one.

The other incidents should be investigated as well, expecially considering the numbers of people involved in the Samcheong and Nokwa cases, and the number of deaths that resulted. Of course, the Defense Ministry isn't the only government ministry investigating its past right now. The Yonhap article reminds us that

In a separate development, the National Intelligence Service began probing past questionable incidents involving its former agents [something it announced back in February]. The cases include the death of its former chief Kim Hyung-wook in 1979, the kidnapping of then opposition leader Kim Dae-jung in 1973, the mid-air disappearance of a Korean Air passenger jet in 1987 and the execution of eight student activists in 1974, only 20 hours after they were sentenced to death [which has become the basis for both a novel, and perhaps a future Park Chan-wook film].

(The related articles to the right of most of the above linked articles are well worth reading, especially regarding the investigation into the death of the former KCIA head.)

A lot of people were victimized in the historical events which are being investigated by the Defense Ministry and the NIS, and I imagine these people, or their families, might be relieved to see the names of their former torturers, or the names of those that caused their family member's deaths, brought to light. Not everyone agrees that this is a good idea, at least judging by the debate a post on this subject by the Lost Nomad has caused. I think it is, as these events have been hidden from the public for too long. Hell, it took a movie being made about Silmido to really bring that incident into the public eye, and the Defense ministry panel now wants to learn who the Silmido operatives were and where they were buried. Whether such documents exist after 34 years is another question entirely, and is another reason to hold these investigations now. The most recent events occurred 20 years ago, and waiting longer will just make it more likely that those who were making the decisions will no longer be around. Not that these people will necessarily talk now, but in 10 or 20 years it may not even be possible to try. Of course, considering how toothless these commissions seem to be, they may not even be able to accomplish some of the simpler tasks they've set out for themselves, especially if they have to rely on possibly nonexistent documents.

As a postcript, I should mention that there is another government commission reconsidering the past, which is referred to in this August 18th Joongang Ilbo article titled 'Two leaders of 1980 strike deemed freedom fighters':

On Monday a government commission made the controversial decision to recognize two leaders of a violent 1980 labor strike as freedom fighters. The two men, Lee Won-gap and Shin Gyeong, led a four-day miners' strike known as the Sabuk Incident. That strike, during which hundreds of miners briefly seized control of a Gangwon province town, is remembered as having launched nearly a decade of strikes under the military dictatorships of the 1980s.

"The Sabuk Incident started out as a labor strike, but because it was carried out under martial law, it can be seen as an act of resistance against the authoritarian regime," said a staffer for the Commission for Restoration of Honor and Compensation for Democratization Movement Activists.

The commission, which was launched in 2000, is charged with investigating the history of the pro-democracy movement since 1969, redeeming the reputations of activists who were unjustly charged with crimes and providing financial compensation when merited. The commission's nine members are appointed by the president, the National Assembly and the chief justice of the Supreme Court. To date, the commission has awarded 22.4 billion won ($22 million) in compensation.

Some observers have said extending its mandate seems more likely since President Roh's speech Monday, in which he called for changing the statutes of limitations for crimes committed by the government.

(Oranckay makes a mention of this call for the change in the statute of limitations here). While designating striking miners as freedom fighters may push the limits a little (but I'll agree with it, considering the influence of their struggle), I don't know what to make of the attempt to rehabilitate Kim Jae-gyu (Park Chung-hee's assassin) as a martyr for democracy. I'm not sure if being 'not as bad' as everyone else makes you a democratic martyr, especially when we have only Kim's word that this was his intention.

Comic World is Un-Korean

A couple of my students went to Comic World on Independence Day weekend (yeah, I'm two weeks behind. I know.) One of them was nice enough to buy a Simpsons button for me (as I have a habit of bringing up pertinent Simpsons episodes in class), while the other introduced me to the manga Death Note (the first 6 volumes of which can be found here; the rest are here - but be warned that it's addictive...).

While both of these girls mentioned that there was a great deal of cosplay (costume play - where people dress up like their favourite characters, for those not in the know), the girl who bought me the Simpsons button told me that 'the netizens were angry' about this. Why, you may ask? Well, one of the days upon which Comic World took place was August 15, Independence Day. And of course, as most people know, manga (manhwa in Korean) are primarily Japanese-made. Thus, dressing up as Japanese-created characters on a day celebrating your country's independence from Japan is just not very patriotic. And, perhaps, looking at these people to the left dressed as samurai, I can perhaps understand the sentiments of some of these people. At the same time, it's just kids having fun, and perhaps its refreshing to see people not concerning themselves with the past so much in Korea - or is it an example of the younger generation's self absorption? At any rate, this post over at Daum's KIN board (KIN, when turned 90° to the right, looks similar to 즐, a slang term in Korean meaning something akin to 'Piss off') has just the right antidote - people dressing up in traditional Korean garb, as Korean soldiers, and of course, as An Jung-geun (who assassinated former Japanese Prime Minister Ito Hirobumi in 1909). My Korean skills aren't that great, but basically the message is calling on people to be more patriotic and realize how shamefully they are behaving.

There are other posts of this type here and here. (If anyone wants to fill me in a little better on what's being said, feel free to).

Worth mentioning, though, is that these comics are introducing a great deal of Japanese culture to Korean kids, and I'm not talking about kimonos and samurai swords. Comic genres in Japan run the gamut from romance, to action, to historical, to hardcore pornography. And in that last genre you find a great many fetishes like rope binding and ritual scarring. The sullen, always bored 6th grade girl who introduced me to Death Note talked about her friends and their piercings, how they'd seen Japanese websites featuring photos of scarification, and how they'd scratched their names into their arms with knives. Whether she was just trying to get attention or not, she was obviously aware of the existence of this stuff at a rather young age. A lot of popular or underground culture in Japan is extreme in so many ways, but such extremity is found only in very small subcultures in other countries. Partaking of the cultural products of other cultures can provide an opportunity to learn and challenge existing perceptions. The internet doesn't place any age limits or filters upon this however. While I don't think the 'toe the nationalist line' message of the netizens criticizing the Comic World goers really had this in mind, it's probably still worth saying.

It is Happening....Again

But this time it's on a New York subway.

And no, this time it's not dog poop, it's a guy masturbating in front of a woman on the subway, who decided to put her camera phone to use (and in another link to Korea, it was , as The Register notes, a 1.3 megapixel Samsung P777) and then post it on the internet. I found this by using my nifty statcounter account to see what sites had been linking to my blog, and found a link to said internet site - but had I waited another day, I would never had known what the fuss was about, because as of today the photo (and all the following flamed-out comments) has been deleted. Well, ok, the photo is gone, but Google's cache function has ensured that the text can be found here.

Suffice to say, eventually a suspect was tracked down (due to complaints by other women who had also witnessed the man's public wanking) and it was found the man in question co-owned a chain of 3 raw food restaurants in NY. Of course, netizens quickly found pictures on the resturaunts' website and posted them, and a few people (who were shouted down) argued that maybe posting people's pictures like this online was an invasion of privacy. It made a New York newspaper, as reported here, and today the suspect turned himself in. This is why the original photo was deleted: "This man needs serious help and when he does the right thing by turning himself in, then I will take down this image," the poster said in the original post.

While I think that, had this woman not taken the photo, the man would never have been arrested, the fact that his face has been published all over the internet may have had some unexpected consequences. One that stands out is that the name of the chain of restaurants, co-owned by his ex-wife, has been splashed all over the internet, as has his ex-wife's photo. While what the photo-taker did was likely a necessary thing (the photo could have aided the police), putting it in such a public forum has likely ruined the name of this restaurant, as well as his ex-wife (an innocent person), a result the photo taker never imagined. While I certainly give her credit for removing the photo she posted, it hardly matters, as, due to Google's cache and the actions of other netizens, that photo will never disappear. I didn't read all of the comments by a certain poster, but one (for which he was villfied by other commenters) in which he said, to paraphrase, (as they've all been erased) 'one day the winds of karma will shift and it will be you on the receiving end of one of these internet barrages, and then you may reconsider what you said here today.'

I can't help but agree with him. Don Park's quote, from a comment (#13) on his original Dogshit girl post, that "Attention cuts; retention bleeds", came to mind immediately. His quoting of a Korean netizen's comment, "Thanks to technology, we are able to build a better society in which citizens are the police, prosecutors, and judges," and his response to it - "This problem will visit us rest of us with more immediacy in the near future", were rather prescient. Much of the speculative commentary which followed DSG (an event in South Korean cyberspace, rather removed from the US), is now very much worth another read. This time, it's happening in a place where this commentary is much more pertinent.

And a damn good cup of coffee and a piece of cherry pie for those who caught the reference in the title...

North and South

This past weekend I had a chance to watch ‘A State of Mind’, a documentary which follows two young girls, aged 11 and 13, and looks at their lives at home, at school and as they go through intense gymnastics training. Sound pretty ho-hum? The fact the girls live in Pyongyang, and that they’re preparing to take part in the mass games North Korea is well known for tends to give it a bit of an edge over other documentaries of the genre.

When this documentary was filmed (by a British crew during the first 8 months of 2003) it was the first time foreigners had been allowed to see the home life of North Korean families, let alone film them. The result is a fascinating look at not just North Korea, but at South Korea as well, because such an intimate look at two North Korean families highlights the similarities and differences between Koreans on both sides of the DMZ.


Anyone with some awareness of Korea knows that the division of Korea has resulted in the Southern half being very much a part of the global economy, as well as inundated with western (read: American) popular culture, while the North has been, for the most part, cut off from the rest of the outside world (until very recently, with the influx of Chinese cell-phones and South Korean cultural products).

Therefore there are a number of things I noticed in the film, in the way the North Koreans acted, that must have come from the shared culture both Korean states arose from after 1945. In the end, these aren’t huge revelations, but they were, well, neat to see on the big screen. A lot of them were facial expressions, be they of exasperation, fatigue, or happiness, that I see in my students (many of whom are the same age as the girls in the movie), which I recognized as being very Korean traits. A lot of the interaction between the girls and their friends is no different than what I see among my students (playing ‘Rock Scissors Paper’ at one point, for example, though the words were different). There are a number of moments of home life shown, and we see typical scenes we’d see in apartments in any developed country, as many reviews have mentioned, like a mother scolding a daughter for not eating enough, or for watching TV when she should be doing her homework.

Seeing this kind of interaction would only have been possible in a documentary of this type. North Korean films (I’ve only seen one, and that was Bulgasari) are known for their overacting (and so are not so far removed from typical South Korean TV melodramas), and are not going to give us a very good look at how people actually act on a daily basis.

Now, one could argue that this film is not realy representative of North Korea, and that the people being filmed had to make sure they portrayed their country in the 'correct' way. Seeing as they were chosen by the government this is probably true; it’s quite likely that because the filmmakers were not censored by the North Korean authorities in any way, the onus was on the families to make sure there was nothing to censor. And yet, in comparison to another film (which I’ll get to in a moment) the people in ‘A State Of Mind’ seem quite relaxed and open. The reason for this, I would bet, is that they filmed these families for 8 months, which is more than enough time for someone, no matter how paranoid, to get used to your presence. (Of course, it goes without saying that a family in the central district of Pyongyang is not representative of the rest of North Korea.)

What struck me in watching some of the ‘quaint’ group dancing, or the family sing-alongs accompanied by accordian, guitar, or home karaoke machine, is that many of the styles of these sorts of things seem like they’re from the 1950s. One could argue that, being closed off in so many ways, the culture hasn’t ‘progressed’ the way other modern cultures have in the last 50 years, though this is basically just another way of saying that globalization has not really had much of an effect on the country as of yet. In the arena of popular culture, of course, the main exports American-led globalization has foisted upon the South has been computer games, pop music, movies, fast food and the internet itself, I suppose (as well as comics and animation, but in South Korea these arrived via Japan). Much of this is, if we take a second to notice, based on youth culture, something that first took off in the US (and Japan) 50 years ago, with the advent of rock and roll, which coincided with the US taking on the role of global superpower and allowing its corporations to become transnational and move around the world. This same globalized consumerist youth culture only began to really take off in South Korea around the time of the 1988 olympics, after the end of the dictatorships and organizing of unions drove up wages and created the internal, consumer-based economy (as opposed to the production-oriented export economy it had utilized to achieve its startling economic growth). This consumerist culture has changed the face of Korea (the massive increase in cars and freeways being one example) and Korean culture (and hell, even Korean faces and bodies, if you want to consider the popularity of plastic surgery and the effects of eating too many burgers, donuts and fries).

The westernization of South Korean popular culture (and of indeed, much of the world’s popular culture or their societies in general) makes the behaviour of North Koreans look rather bizarre; this film goes a long way towards making them seem like people, albeit people in a very bizarre set of circumstances. The differences caused by the South's adoption of western popular culture were very clear in a clip I saw awhile back of a South Korean boy 'band' performing in Pyongyang. They danced and sang their Backstreet Boys, uh, homage, the same as they always did in the South - except the North Korean audience just sat there, stone faced, not clapping. I was reminded of this when I read about Cho Yong-pil's performance in Pyongyang last week. At first the crowd gave him a similar response, but in the end he won them over, but not without having been gone through what he told the audience was one of the more nerve wracking performances of his life. Apparently, the newer songs did little for the audience; it was the classics which caused them to break into applause. Perhaps, to break into the Northern market in the future, Southern artists (I use that term loosely) may have to delve into past styles of music - which is not an impossible task when one considers that K-pop artists [>cough<] have always been good at mixing genres, often on a single cd. As the Minjung movement reclaimed (and rejuvenated) traditional art and musical forms to use in its battle against the dictatorship, perhaps reunification (one of the goals of the Minjung movement, after all) could be another opportunity to narrow the gap between the two populations by finding common ground in older, shared culture. Who knows if it could happen, and if it did, whether it would be motivated by social justice concerns, or by profit. In considering the gulf between the two populations, I can’t help wondering if it’s precisely because of the fact that the North hasn’t run headlong into an embrace with the west (like the South has), that it has perhaps preserved some of things that make Koreans, well, Korean, in a way the South hasn’t. There. I said it. Now, I realize what constituted their shared identity before the division had been very influenced by Japan for 40 years, (and China for centuries, and Mongolia for decades). I also realize that what could be termed North Korea's 'better preservation' of this identity has come at a cost that’s far too high, and that it has engendered ‘non-Korean’ behavior (like eating tree bark, corn cobs, and, refugees say, human corpses). I’m also fully aware that the reason western culture hasn’t made any inroads into North Korea is because of an information blockade designed to keep its people isolated from the rest of the world in order to make possible the belief that they are lucky to live in the country they do (and uphold the system their rulers exploit). B.R. Myers goes into some detail here about the xenophobia that has been the result of such a blockade policy, which is on display in the film. All I am really saying is that I hope when South meets North, the culture clash that reunification will bring about may cause some reflection amongst the Southerners – that they ask, “why are we so different?”

One reason they’re so different, anyone with a healthy antagonism towards the Northern leadership will tell you, is because of 60 years of propaganda, the effect of which is made clear in the film “North Korea: A Day In The Life,” which was filmed last year. The film traces the experiences of a family over the course of (ostensibly) a single day, and cross cuts between each of their experiences. A girl is taken to a kindergarten and told ‘as flowers need the sun, you need the love of the great leader’, before being shown an exemplary story of Kim Jong-Il’s childhood. Her mother goes to work in a textile factory that suffers through blackouts, (blamed on the US - like I needed to say that) and takes part in a self criticism session. The girl’s kindergarten teacher takes part in a criticism session, as she and other teachers discuss the meaning of the parable she was trying to teach the children that day. The girl’s uncle goes to an English class, which showcases, remarkably, the most humorous and light-hearted parts of the film. At the end everyone goes home and the girl’s grandfather shows his pleasure at his young granddaughter cursing the Americans, and explains how a US bombing raid killed his father and brother and destroyed his home. While those who suffered under American bombing raids in Germany, Japan, even Vietnam, have in general forgiven those who bombed them, in North Korea this intense hatred of the US is inculcated by the state.

Throughout the film we are inundated with propaganda, much of which is so woven into the fabric of the family members’ lives that it seems to escape their notice. Propaganda posters (like these), showing the life of Kim Il Sung in such a way as to remind one of illustrations of biblical scenes in childrens books, can be found everywhere in the film. The oppressive feeling the film creates is helped by the fact that the subjects of this film are nowhere near as comfortable with the camera’s presence as they were in “A State Of Mind”. Worth mentioning as well is the fact that the North Korean government actively took part in the making of this film, though as a commenter at IMDB put it “there is a jarring dissonance between what they must think is their "best face" and what international viewers will probably see as grim, claustrophobic, and stultifying”.

Still, while the scenes of kindergarten students sitting perfectly still for minutes at a time seem utterly alien and disturbing to someone who has taught South Korean kindergarten students before, the scenes of the uncle’s adult English class seem incredibly familiar. In fact, some of the students in the film remind me of some of my own adult students, making it clear that, whatever the differences, they are still people of a similar culture and the same language learning English, so the differences aren’t going to be vast. On the other hand, my experiences as a teacher here have made it clear that the culture shock South Korea alone is going to experience during the coming of age of a more selfish, consumerist generation raised on the internet during the backlash against past authoritarian governments is going to be startling. In the end, the generation gap in the North is likely quite small in comparison to that which will become apparent in the South as years go by. In ten years time, which gulf will be larger - that between that between the North and South, or that between the generations in the South?


Both of these films can be found by searching on emule. A State Of Mind is playing in Seoul for 2 more days (as well as across the US at the moment). It's well worth it to watch the trailer and music video on the State Of Mind website if you get the chance - the video has some of the dizzying footage of the mass games the girls perform in at the end of the film.

Pants Dropping Leads to Trail of Media Droppings

[Update - The outcome of the trial is here.]

On July 30, two Korean punk rockers dropped their pants and jumped around naked for 4 or 5 seconds on live TV, causing a scandal in the Korean media and amongst the netizens. It's a tale that involves politicians, police, a broadcast commission, netizens, a musicians' PR group, a TV producer's PR group, an overzealous mayor,and a dozen or more media outlets (a few of them foreign) producing (at times) oodles of nonsensical editorial commentary tinged with moral outrage, as well as a great deal of bile directed at the indie music scene that produced the two guys who dropped their pants. This lengthy post will follow the media trail from roiling overreaction to eerie quiet.

While the Chosun Ilbo, for example, had already published 6 articles on the 30th in it's online Korean edition, the first article to appear in English in the Korean media was on the 31st, by the Chosun Ilbo, and was titled "Punk Rockers' Privates in Affront to Korea's 'Bourgeois'":

In an unprecedented affront to Korea’s conservative mores, two members of a punk rock band lived up to their music’s history of subversion when they exposed their private parts on live TV during family viewing time on Saturday.

The Joongang Ilbo's first article, from August 1, "Rockers drop trousers, raise public ire" began in a somewhat more subdued fashion:

In an apparent first for Korean television, two rock musicians exposed themselves during a live broadcast Saturday afternoon, leading to a public uproar and an apology from the MBC network.

The Donga Ilbo's article, "Naked Bodies Shown for Five Seconds on Live TV", also from August 1, had a similarly subdued opening:

During a live music program, two performers took off their clothes and exposed their genitalia for four to five seconds on national TV, an unprecedented accident in Korean broadcasting history.

The best opening line is likely to be found over at andongkim.com, in the article "Korean wardrobe malfunction":

For the first time in Korea's 5000 year history, two rock musicians exposed themselves during a live broadcast Saturday around 4:15 p.m.

This of course is not a mainstream news article, and is presumably taking the piss; of course, I might be wrong about that. Head over there to look at all the pictures of the incident.

The incident in question took place during the MBC show “Music Camp,’’ a weekly music show broadcast live on Saturday afternoons, which, my students tell me, showcased a variety of up and coming bands (even 'reggae' bands, apparently). According to the Donga Ilbo article,

“Is this song good?” is a section that introduces an underground band every week, recommended by five music experts. A music critic, Park Joon-heum (43), who introduced RUX to the program, said, “The band members say that they performed in the way they normally did, but there is no indie bands that exposes their privates in clubs.”

Apparently, that may be wishful thinking on his part, but we'll get to that later. Right now, we need the Chosun Ilbo to describe what happened:

Punk rockers RUX were performing at about 4:15 when two members of another band named Couch including a 20-year-old man identified as Oh appeared on stage and took off their pants, one prancing all over the stage naked while the other had his trousers around his ankles. The cameras caught some four seconds of their display before panning away to the audience.

Yup, it looked something like that. Oh, if that's not enough for you, the uncensored video is here (right click and save as). The Donga Ilbo continues:

After the incident, the MBC website and other message boards were flooded with critical comments from netizens. Over 10,000 replies were posted on the message board for viewer’s opinions of Music Camp, shutting down the server temporarily. As the footage and captured photos of the scene are rapidly spreading on the Internet, website operators are busy deleting them.

During the rest of the show, the show hosts repeatedly apologized for the accident, and apologizing subtitles also appeared. The MBC network announced an official apology on its website and on News Desk, its daily news program, saying, “We offer a heartfelt apology to viewers for the indecent accident that occurred during a live show.

The Chosun Ilbo tells us that

Incensed viewers said an apology was not enough and the broadcaster should be punished. Some asked how MBC proposed to compensate teenagers, the largest age group watching the show, for the emotional shock [or "trauma"] they sustained. The two Couch members were arrested, as was the RUX lead singer for inviting them on stage, and are being investigated for violating public decency.

The Joongang Ilbo continues:

The musicians are being tested for drugs.... Police ordered them to provide urine samples, which tested negative for evidence of drug use. Police sent samples of their hair to the National Institute of Scientific Investigation for further drug testing.

The Korea Times' August 1 article, "Music Show Canceled After Indecent Exposure" brought us this news:

MBC television network decided on Sunday to shut down its live music program after members of a local underground band were arrested for indecent exposure after a telecast Saturday. “Music Camp,’’ a weekly music show broadcast live on Saturday afternoons, will be taken off the air, the network decided during an emergency meeting in Seoul.

The article goes on to quote Korea Broadcasting Commission official Kim Chang-keun as saying, “The unthinkable has happened. We are reviewing the appropriate action to be taken against the station,’’ a review planned for that day; the KBC would meet ahead of schedule. Another Korea Times article that day, "Sanctions on MBC Music Show Delayed", described the outcome of this review of MBC and the now cancelled "Music Camp":

The Korea Broadcasting Commission (KBC) said that [t]he level of disciplinary action for the incident of indecent exposure will be announced on Aug. 11. The commission also mentioned that it will soon enact stronger measures such as the levying of heavy fines to prevent such incidents which invade socially acceptable boundaries.

We can't have one of these popular gusts blow across the media and cyberspace without the government, in this case a regulatory body, getting involved, now can we? Not everyone agrees with this of course:

Monday morning, prior to the announcement by KBC, broadcasting producers from the Broadcasting Producer Association of Korea made an official statement arguing that disciplinary actions shouldn’t be used as another form of measures to censor programs.

And from the cultural side:

“Of course, there is no doubt that their wrongdoings should be criticized and punished,’’ said Kim Heoun-sic, a pop culture critic. But it would be wrong that all independent bands may suffer blame for this, and it is even more “ridiculous’’ to cancel a music program because of an unexpected incident without considering its original purpose, which is to share a diversity of culture with viewers by inviting these independent bands, Kim added. “The effort of the producers of the program to introduce underground music every week should be considered.’’

Of course, not everyone appreciates the efforts of these 'vulgar' TV producers, as an August 1 Korea Times editorial titled "Public Insult on Air: Rockers' Indecent Acts Should Be Sternly Dealt With" makes clear. I've quoted at length from it, as it's such a hoot:

Nothing can defend two male dancers’ exposure of genitals during the MBC’s live music show on Saturday afternoon. The incident, unprecedented not only in Korea but probably abroad as well, should never have happened in the first place. Now that it has, however, law enforcement authorities should harshly punish both the performers and broadcasters so that it never happens again. And this should serve as an occasion to look into broadcasting practices and popular culture in Korea overall.

That's right, nothing like this has ever happened in the world. I take the writer doesn't watch much American football. While the mention of targeting popular culture might worry the aforementioned critic, it's pretty clear who the writer is gunning for:

Right after the incident, the MBC took a series of damage-control steps, filing charges against performers, disciplining its own production staff and suspending the show. The network broadcaster then suggested the happening was a premeditated move. The dancers in question, however, said they were just overwhelmed with fun, and did not know it was a live program. Watching them pass the buck, and not take responsibility, is as egregious as their lewd behavior was a public insult on air.

The independent rock bands’ behavior is inexcusable by any standard, as it was nothing but a kind of sexual harassment of national proportions. Live or filmed, they performed in front an audience of hundreds, composed mostly of teenage girls. But who are MBC producers and directors to let these sickening scenes be aired for 12 seconds? The broadcaster cites difficulties of live music shows, but the main PD was not even aware of the performers’ faces, nor the fact that their costumes praised Japan’s militarist past.

"Public insult on air","Sexual harrassment of national proportions", "sickening scenes"; oh what fun! I'm reminded of H.L. Mencken's definition of puritanism: "The haunting feeling that someone, somewhere, may be happy." Granted, someone made a point that if you were at home watching this with your children, you'd be angry, and sure, if I thought there were more than 10 Korean families watching punk rock on TV together, I might be inclined to agree. The point is that it's teenagers (and teenage girls at that) that this writer seems so worried about. An August 4 Canadian Press article played up the "nation in shock" angle with quotes like "It was shocking," said [a 23 year old female student] "I felt disgusted." or "It's as if they've committed sexual violence against all viewers," (a knee slapper attributed to a Joongang Ilbo editorial). I've found that many of these teenage girls they're so worried about (amongst my students) found the whole incident to be more funny than shocking. Perhaps the nation's "vulgar broadcasting culture" is to blame for this.

The Korea Times' editorial misrepresents the amount of time that they were naked onscreen for (from 4-5 seconds to 12 seconds) and exaggerates when it says that "their costumes praised Japan’s militarist past", as only one member wore the Clash shirt in question (a controversy the Marmot examined briefly here) . The editorial ends with the suggestion that "KBC should hasten to devise effective regulation."

By the end of the day, the story had made Reuters, which ran with the headline "S.Korean rockers perform naked on live TV show." The next day, August 2, saw a rather remarkable Korea Times article (at least for Korean media in English) titled "Newspapers Divided Over MBC Live Show":

The recent incident of indecent exposure on a live music program on MBC has brought different reactions from newspapers, with conservative dailies heavily criticizing the broadcaster and moderate media remaining cautious on the issue.

The Chosun Ilbo, the biggest conservative daily, made the story one of its top headlines Monday and questioned MBC’s responsibility for the incident. Yesterday, it again criticized terrestrial broadcasters on its front page and all of page 3 with the headline, "Uncontrolled Broadcasting, Nobody Responsible for It."

Another conservative daily, the Donga-A Ilbo Daily, was more adamant in lashing out at the broadcaster. With the headline "Wanting to Turn off Terrestrial Channels" on Monday, the daily insisted that the gate-keeping ability of broadcasters KBS and MBC have virtually collapsed. It devoted almost half of the day’s second page to covering the incident of exhibitionism. It also reported a related story the same day on its third page.

The conservative papers’ all-out criticism shows a stark contrast with that of progressives such as The Hankyoreh, which reported the incident on its ninth page in a single article on Monday only. Its title was "Incident Feared to Distort Image of Independent Music Culture."

Meanwhile, the JoongAng Ilbo, one of the three major conservative papers, remained cautious. It reported the incident only on the 10th page on Monday.

Other relatively neutral dailies, the Hankook Ilbo and the Kyunghyang Daily News, raised the issue of sensationalism on televised entertainment programs, but did not target the broadcasters’ gate-keeping processes.

A civic group called Citizens’ Coalition for Democratic Media on Monday issued a statement and suggested that the broadcasters overhaul the reviewing system to prevent recurrence of the undesirable incident. It also warned that a few newspapers should not exaggerate the fault of the broadcaster, calling the papers’ criticism "mere mudslinging."

It's interesting to view this event in terms of how much different media outlets are criticizing MBC, (something prevalent in the Korean language media) as opposed to the moral outrage that seems to dominate in the English language media. (The article neglects to mention anything about the Korea Time's own point of view, though it does mention the Hankook Ilbo, it's sister publication, describing it as 'neutral' (is it now?)) Also worth noting is that far more Korean language articles were published online than English ones (for example, the first Korean language article to be published by the Chosun Ilbo about the scandal has a list at the bottom of all the related articles it published online - over 30 of them, which appeared over 6 days, 20 of which on the first two days alone!)

Of course, while media outlets were displaying their moral outrage, attacking MBC and calling for more regulation, the police were investigating the men who had dangled their penises in front of the nation. According to the first Korea Times article:

The two musicians, whose full names were withheld, were arrested almost immediately after the show. Although Won Chong-hi, the lead vocalist of RUX, did not expose himself, he was also arrested for having invited the members of Couch, aged 20 and 27, on the show.

"I knew the program was a live show, but I don’t think the others did,’’ Won said in an interview with a news program on MBC. "But I am really sorry. I didn’t know the incident would create so much controversy.’’

Won added that although the bands are well known for being free and experimental during their club shows, they have never done such a thing during any of their performances.

Regarding them never having done such a thing before, an August 2 Korea Herald article, "Police to probe funk band; Was TV flashing planned?" had a slightly different take:

While admitting the scene was not fit for public broadcast, Won Jong-hee, the leader of Rux, said that the kind of performance seen during the MBC broadcast is common at clubs in Hongdae region, a hot clubbing district. "We are free to perform there. Sometimes we break a guitar or bottles of beer," Won said.

Of course, seeing as the Herald can't even get the genre of music right (a funk band?), there may be confusion over what was meant by that "kind of performance" which was said to be common - the direct quote from Won Jong-hee says nothing about nudity. Still, his perhaps off-the-cuff comment (not translated in its entirety by any paper) could have consequences for the music scene in Hongdae.

At any rate, while the previously quoted Korea Times article ended by saying "They are still being questioned about whether or not they knew it was a live broadcast when they exposed themselves", this Herald article made clear that MBC thought the 'exposure' was planned:

Kim Young-hee, director of the MBC's entertainment bureau, cited four reasons; 1) the two wore clothing which can be easily pulled down with a zipper and they did not wear underwear. 2) they exchanged eye signs before taking off their clothes 3) they wore heavy make-up 4) they did not identify themselves as a separate act, Couch, while performing on the show with Rux.

While police investigated further, the Seoul city government apparently felt left out and decided to get involved:

Seoul Mayor, Lee Myung-bak, weighed in on the issue, saying each ward should supervise obscene performances and make a blacklist of the acts who do them.

"Given that the accused said that indecent performances happen every night at clubs in the Hongdae area, the performance, which is not generally accepted, has not been regulated by the authorities," Lee said in a meeting with executive members of the Seoul metropolitan government.

This is also elaborated on in this article:

Lee, a member of the conservative GNP, ordered officials of the Seoul City government Monday to draw up a “blacklist’’ of bands whose performances are “decadent and not socially acceptable.’’ Those bands will not be invited to events organized by Seoul City or affiliated institutions, Lee said. The mayor also demanded that each district office strengthen control over possible decadent public performances.

Of course, this got a pretty quick response:

“Lee’s instruction is an irresponsible attempt to jump on the bandwagon of public opinion which is formed without concrete knowledge about the local scene and club culture,’’ said Cultural Action, a civic group, in a statement. “That kind of order violates human rights in an attempt to regulate citizens’ diverse cultural tastes by means of administrative power,’’ the statement said.

As an August 2 Chosun Ilbo article "Seoul Mayor Blasted for Authoritarian Mindset" tells us, it was more than just civic groups who were angered by the (GNP) mayor's actions:

Uri Party lawmaker Kim Hyun-mee said Tuesday Lee's order to draw up a blacklist of artists that will be excluded from Seoul City events was a concept befitting a "disciple of Yushin." "I'm not sure if deciding who can and cannot be invited to performances under Seoul City is up to the mayor, but it's really an anachronistic and absurd order,” Kim said. “So I say Mayor Lee is an antiquated and dangerous figure." "To cry for a blacklist, label 'indie' culture subversive and try to restrict it is something the ghosts of the Yushin era would do."

The indie community based in Hongdae responded quickly to this challenge (and the negative publicity from the incident itself), as the article continues:

Meanwhile, indie musicians active in the clubs around Hongik University and club managers held a press conference Tuesday to apologize for Saturday's incident but warn it should not be used as a rope to hang all of indie culture with.

As the Korea Times tells us in an article titled "Hongdae Community Distances Itself From `Music Camp' Incident",

Hongik University is an institution especially well known for its fine arts department, but the mushrooming of underground venues across the college front set off an explosion of musical energy that later evolved to become the launching pad for many talented acts.

(For more information about the history of the Hongdae club scene, do read this Korea Times article from a few months ago) The previous Chosun Ilbo article continues it's description of the indie community's press conference:

“There are about 30 clubs around Hongik University and about 500 active bands, and they have diverse music, genres and styles of expression."

They said the show “Music Camp”, cancelled after the two musicians exposed themselves on the program, "newly attempted to focus attention on the cultural diversity and musical healthiness of indie music... We propose a signature campaign to the culture and art and pop music worlds to have the program restarted."

An August 3 Korea Herald article, "Hongdae musicians apologize for flashing", adds that "The musicians supported the claim that Rux and Couch did not plan the flashing incident beforehand, but that it was a spontaneous broadcasting accident." A Joongang Ilbo op-ed titled "A little obscenity can boost a career" makes it clear whether it thought the incident was an accident:

Last weekend, there was a major incident on a broadcast network when two young men performing in a rock concert exposed themselves on live television. It was obscenity, of course, but were these performers merely showing symptoms of exhibitionism, or did they have another goal in mind?
Since when is it necessary to treat audiences this recklessly in the pursuit of money and fame? It is said that there aren't even specific laws that can be applied to punish this kind of broadcasting "accident."

Well, the title said it was about obscenity, but it seems to be gunning for a certain 'broadcast network'. As the title of the (completely unsurprising) August 3 Korea Times article "Parties to Toughen Broadcasting Rule" tells us, it would appear these media exhortations for more regulation had paid off:

The ruling Uri Party plans to revise the Broadcast Act to dispense stronger punishment to broadcasting stations that disobey regulations, a party lawmaker said Wednesday.

“First we will ask broadcasting stations to intensify activities on their own for reviewing content,’’ said Rep. Kim Jae-yun, a Uri Party member and a member of the National Assembly’s Culture and Tourism Committee. “But we’re also considering revisions of the Act that will levy heavier fines on regulatory violations as in the United States,’’ Kim said.

The largest opposition Grand National Party (GNP) also came up with a similar idea. Rep. Shim Jae-chul of the GNP, also a member of the Culture and Tourism Committee, said that he will propose a revision to the Broadcast Act soon.

Scandals like these tend to provoke some sort of quick action or proposals by the government or politicians. English Spectrum Gate led to more crackdowns on foreign teachers, Dogshit Girl led to the proposal of the 'real name' system, and now some naked dancing on TV has lead to proposals to toughen broadcast laws.

While politicians devised plans to make sure this never happened again, the police had an announcement to make on August 4. In aJoongang Ilbo article titled 'Police say musicians planned TV incident' it was stated that

If the musicians are determined to have planned the incident in advance, they could be charged not just with breaking laws pertaining to public performance, but with interfering with a business, which could mean a maximum jail term of five years instead of one. MBC yesterday filed a complaint with police accusing the musicians of interfering with its business.

The Chosun Ilbo article, 'Indie Flashers Planned Exposure in Advance', tells us that

Police said Shin and Oh hatched the plan at a billiards hall near Hongik University on July 27, three days before an MBC daytime program beamed their private parts across the nation. The day before the show, Shin met the 25-year-old lead singer of the group RUX, identified as Won, at a swimming pool at Hangang Citizens Park and let him in on the scheme.

However, officers said, "Considering the gravity of the act, which as a preplanned incident not only had an ill influence on minors but also harmed a healthy performance culture, we have decided to punish [the offenders] strictly."

The force said it could not rule out copy-cat acts with a detrimental effect on minors and vowed to “expand our investigation into unhealthy and corrupt performance venues and related businesses near Hongik University.

Interesting that they cited the harm caused to a 'healthy performance culture' as a reason to punish them, when in the same breath they mention 'unhealthy and corrupt performance venues'. Perhaps one reason why they plan to investigate in the Hondae area further may be due to what the Korea Times article 'Band Members Planned Indecent Exposure' confirms:

The police also found that the two members of Couch previously dropped their pants during their own club performances in July and August.

I guess the statement Rux's lead singer made about this kind of thing happening often did refer to 'exposure'. Though Rux's singer didn't drop his pants himself, he too will be charged:

The police will formally charge the two musicians of Couch for putting on an obscene performance and for obstructing the work of a television network. Won, who did not drop his pants, will also be charged for the obstruction.

The obstruction charges, again, raise the possiblity of a maximum 5 year jail sentence. Another Joongang Ilbo article reviews the same information here, while a picture can be found here. The same day saw a Korea times article about the upcoming Seoul Fringe Festival called 'Celebrating Independent Spirit' which referred to the scandal before discussing the Hongdae-based festival:

Ever since members of punk band Couch flashed their private parts to television viewers across the country, the alternative culture community in the Hongdae area in Seoul has come under the microscope.

It goes on to say that the festival "should be the perfect opportunity to show the nation a better side of the independent art spirit." A Joongang Ilbo article on the same topic also begins by mentioning "the media bashing of indie bands", without mentioning the role it played in that bashing.

One of the most bizarre articles to invoke the scandal was an August 8 Donga Ilbo article titled 'The “Let’s-Get-Naked” Culture', which, after presenting a history of nudism, tells us:

If the right to get naked should be respected, what also needs to be respected is one’s right to choose not to see others naked in time and places he or she does not want. For “Couch,” the indie band who stirred a huge controversy by exposing their naked bodies on television, their bodies might be a means of expressing art. For others, however, their expression of art can be an attack or pollution.

Uhhhh. Ok. I don't think anyone ever suggested that pulling your pants down and dancing naked on live TV was art. Methinks the Donga Ilbo staff had a lot of time on their hands, or perhaps a writer who had always wanted to write an article about the history of nudism finally saw their chance and took it. Speaking of half-baked writing, someone should have told AFP that using the Korea Herald as a news source isn't really the best idea. In an August 4 article titled 'Dancers charged for going naked on TV' we are told that "Police said they had asked for court approval to arrest the two members of funk group RUX on charges of obscenity." Ah yes, that funk group RUX. They sound a bit like that reggae band, Coldplay.

Good news, though. As the title of a Joongang Ilbo article from Friday August 5 tells us, "Free-spirited Hongdae still clubbers' mecca":

Earlier this week, the police vowed to crack down on Hongdae clubs, following an incident of indecent exposure last Saturday by The Couch, an underground rock band from the Hongdae area, live on MBC-TV.
However, the Hongik University neighborhood, largely known for its rowdy clubs, remained vibrant and wild-spirited on Thursday night, while patrons say the area is still their haven for free expression and stress relief.
While no band members exposed themselves on Thursday night, outrageous acts were still in store. Various bands screamed into the microphone, jumping up and down in front of sweaty audiences, while one performer wound the wire from his microphone around his neck and bit down on his guitar.
"Here I can enjoy fresh performances by underground bands that I cannot see on TV," said a 31-year-old office worker who requested anonymity.
"All my stress is gone while I am screaming and jumping in the club," he added.

Moving from sweaty punk clubs to the 'psychedelic lights' of dance clubs, the article describes the scene: "In one dance club, a man and woman in their 20s danced together in moves that one clubgoer, who has been a patron of Hongdae for five years, described only as sexual." The articles ends by telling us just how decadent these clubgoers are: "many of those out on Thursday headed home at 5 a.m. the next day." The horror.

While this article was quite harmless, an August 5 Korean-language article by the Herald Business News titled "Hongdae - A one night stand area for foreigners", which was translated by the Marmot here, has the kind of xenophobic (if not racist) commentary reminiscent of English Spectrum Gate. Here are a few examples:

[Referring to 2002, after the Anti-US hate-a-thon saw many foreigners banned from Hongdae's clubs] Local residents openly complained that the Hongik area had been ruined “because of the U.S. soldiers and foreigners,” and club officials thoroughly put an end to the improper foreign club culture.

Hongdae is now an area hot with youthful passion that has degenerated from being mixed up with foreigners. As the recent act of indecent exposure by a punk band on live TV showed, the diversity and individuality of the area in front of Hongik University is nowhere to be found.

Ah, so this makes sense. Those crazy guys who dropped their pants - they did it under the influence of foreign culture! Blame the foreigners! And I like that non sequitor of a last sentence. A quick question - isn't a lot of the diversity of Hongdae precisely because it's a place where different cultures collide? Many of Korea's best bands have cut their teeth performing in the Hongdae area, and have been influenced by foreign music (punk, indie rock, electronic, post rock), and if not for these bands, the state of Korean music would be woeful indeed. Of course, most of the more interesting bands out there can only be found by doing some searching - the independent scene, as far as the number of fans is concerned, is very small. Most people you talk to will tell you they like pop or ballads (arrgh), not rock or electronic music, and every time I hear that I think, 'ah, so you're one of the reasons few good bands ever come to Korea to perform' (whereas everybody makes their way to Japan at some point, as Japan has had a thriving underground scene for a long time - one of the advantages of not having had decades of authoritarian governments and curfews, I guess). Ok, ok, the rant is over. (If you want a first hand account of how the 'improper foreign club culture' (as far as electronic music clubs are concerned) got its kickstart, Bug 5 has an interview with the founder of Sickboy Productions (a small tidbit of which can be found here.)

The final chapter of this tale (at least in the English language media (and until the trial of the 3 musicians who have been arrested)) is found in a Korea Times article from August 12 titled "Broadcasting Commission Punishes Controversial Programs":

The commission ruled Thursday that the producers of MBC’s live music show, ``Music Camp,’’ and KBS’s sitcom, ``Old Miss Diary,’’ should be disciplined by their respective networks, which were also ordered to make official apologies to viewers. In addition, the offending episodes have been banned from rebroadcast and retransmission.

``By telecasting live the indecent exposure of musicians, the program failed to carry out its responsibilities operating under a major TV network, provided a negative influence on societal values, and violated rules regarding sexual expression,’’ said an official from KBC in regard to ``Music Camp.’’

As ``Music Camp’’ has been cancelled, its official apology will be shown before the airing of its replacement program, ``MBC Special.’’ The networks are also required to report to the commission on the punishments they will hand down to the employees at fault within a week.

And so we come to the end of a tale (for now). I'm sure when the three punk kids come to trial we'll hear more, but for now I hope we won't be hearing any more about the mayor's plan to have the city monitor shows in Hongdae. Of course, these incidents, while featuring a lot of heated commentary that gets tossed off due to the centrifugal force of the scandal, do tend to have one or two longer term consequences - I just hope that this time the strengthening of broadcast rules is where it ends.

Update

The Joongang Ilbo has a rather good article titled Society’s ambivalence about nudity emerges in reactions to art which makes mention of the Couch scandal. And this Chosun Ilbo article talks about nudity in clubs in Seoul (not in Hongdae, though).