The Modern Korean: Looks - Page 28

On March 22 2012 02:48 ecstatica wrote:
rottinegg has deep issues that need to be addressed. Like he's happy he went to specific clubs in Seoul because people there were "richer and taller" (while, mind you, he was wearing heels himself). Then he proceeds calling chinese dirty, which is especially hilarious given that Korea itself was basically founded by Shang dynasty. I'm not chinese but I can see how anyone with knowledge of history would just laugh at something like this



There would obviously be no SK the way we know it without all that foreign investment. US did the bulk of it, but Japan certainly participated too, since it was in their best interest.

On March 22 2012 03:54 TheToast wrote:
As far as Japan goes, I don't understand the Korean attitude. The chinese dislike of Japan is understandable, the PRC government has been using Japan as a scape goat to rile nationalist sentiment for decades. I realize that the US was never occupied or brutalized as much as in Korea, but we lost a hell of a lot of people in the Pacific war and American POWs were brutally mistreated. Yet I'd say 95% of Americans have never even heard of Yasukuni Shrine let alone get angry when the Japanese PM visits it. I can't help but get the feeling that the Japanese economic dominance in the region doesn't have something to do with Korean sentiment.

On March 22 2012 07:18 zoLo wrote:
I'm late to the party, but damn, nice blog! I love reading these types of blogs about culture and other countries. For anyone that is looking to read more about Korea, here is a nice thread on the Korean night life.

http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=121666

A question for you, rotinegg:

What is the general consensus on interracial dating or marriage? I have a friend who is Vietnamese American and his girlfriend is Korean American. Her parents are pretty traditional and don't really approve of the boyfriend. I don't know the full details, but I heard things like how Koreans aren't that fond of Vietnamese folks? I heard her mention something called ASL (Asian Social Ladder) and how Southeast Asians are usually looked down upon.

On March 22 2012 08:58 LuciferSC wrote:


Ecstatica - don't comment on what you don't know.
Japan investing heavily in Korea? Please.

And SKilledbob - no, Japanese government never did the honorable thing and formally apologize to Korea.
They keep on making excuses here and there, thus the reason for the Korean government recently demanding an official, formal apologies from the Japanese government.

Japanese government invested in what satisfied their self-interests, don't make it sound like Korea became what it is today because of Japan.

On March 22 2012 09:40 Funnytoss wrote:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_war_apology_statements_issued_by_Japan

What in the world is your definition of "formal apology"?

On March 22 2012 09:45 iMYoonA wrote:
I always thought of Asia as being Chinese people who floated expansions over to islands.

Also most of Asia is mad at Japan, they also tried to make the Shanghai World Financial Centre into a shape of a knife.

Should all just invade Japan collectively for some lols

On March 22 2012 09:53 LuciferSC wrote:


And I am sure you think of European and South American nations as being American people who floated expansions over to their islands too.

Think how offensive that statement can be.

On March 22 2012 09:12 LuciferSC wrote:


You do not understand because for one, US was never invaded - it obviously makes a huge difference.
And number two, it's because of the intentional brutality done against Korean cultural values and pride.
And also the fact that Japanese government has been very sly about their wrong-doings, and furthering their crime (unethical deeds) by setting up their national curriculum with altered history to cover-up their wrong-doings, and never being honorable and accepting and apologizing for their wrongs.

It is that slyness that Koreans recent and look-down upon.

On March 22 2012 10:39 adioN wrote:

America and South American nations were basically European people who floated expansions over to the New World. Why would he think that European and South American nations were American people that floated expansions over there?

On March 22 2012 11:08 TheToast wrote:


Technically Alaska was invaded. Yes, no major population centers were ever occupied. But we still lost something like 100,000 very young men in the war, not to mention countless civilians in Pearl Harbor and the merchant marine fleet. And that's not counting the thousands of terribly maimed and injured. The US wasn't exactly untouched by the Pacific War.

At some point you have to forgive and forget. I'm aware that Japan has played a bit of revisionist history, but so do all countries. For decades in the US, Native Americans were relegated to being generic bad guy goons in movies and on TV, there are even still people in this country today who believe Abraham Lincoln was a tyrant (despite the fact that the South started the war...). No one ever wants to accept that their ancestors were horrible people or did horrible things, so quite often history is looked at through rose colored glasses.

But most of that WW2 generation is gone now, few remain in Japan or the US. In a way, asking Japan to apologize and make amends for their actions in WW2 is like asking the Mongolian government to apologize for the actions of Genghis Khan. Current Mongolians had nothing to do with the actions of their ancestors.

It's not like Japan wasn't punished for what they did. At the end of the war something like over 3 million Japanese were dead, most of their large cities were completely and totally destroyed, they endured nuclear horror, and to top it all off they were forced to accept a constitution essentially written by the United States.

I'm not going to try to argue that it's moral for the Japanese PM to visit Yasukuni Shrine, but at some point you have to shrug your shoulders and realize it doesn't really matter. Japan essentially has no armed forces and is to this day still (in some ways) occupied by the US military.

On March 22 2012 11:25 LuciferSC wrote:


My exact thoughts on iMYoonA's post.



You bring up a lot of rational points, but one thing I have to argue against is regarding 'forgive and forget'.
Yes that has to be done at a certain point, but u can't 'forget' what is currently taking place.
I am sure a lot of Jewish people would be out-raged if Germany revises their history of WW2 as providing ethical and well-provided concentration camps for Jewish ethnicity.
I am not simply talking about deeds that are already done. I'm talking about the notion that Japanese are attempting to continue their ideology that they were enforcing upon Korean people during WW2.

On March 22 2012 13:23 StephanoTheGenius2 wrote:
Too much misinformation being floated around here :r

It's why I underlined the dangerous of generalization in my previous posts. (sorry lost my password for the first account) First South Korea isn't an anti-Japanese state like China. In a lot of the survey or polls conducted you would often seen Koreans actually having more positive view than negatives toward the Japanese. What a surprise! Not. This is if you actually know the politics in S Korea you would know better how the liberals (left wing) would often accuse the conservatives of being Pro-Japanese (친일)

As a conservative myself I wouldn't say I'm pro-japanese but more of a neutral stance. What people need to realize is that both Japan and S.Korea have their own extreme nationalists and they don't represent their country. I'm aware that K-pop culture can be quite popular there but I'm also aware of the fact that there is an equally big anti-Korean crowd (also anti-Chinese) where they completely dominate majority of the popular Japanese sites. From my own experience it's a lot more severe and far larger than the anti-japanese crowd in Korea both in the internet and in real life. So please stop with this accusation of Koreans irrationally hating on the Japanese which is more based on assumption and stereotypes than actual facts.

S.Korea is a fully democratic country where everyone has different beliefs on how they view each country. It's silly to group them as one and define them as such and this.

As for China, negative view is more due to the fact that S.Korea for most part has been dominated by the anti-communist, right-wing, conservative government. In the past they would often depict Chinese communists as dirty, barbaric, uncivilized people. Despite popular belief, Korean government didn't use Japan to rile the Korean nationalists like the lunatic right wingers in Japan often accuse us of. It was quite opposite since we were busy fighting with the N.Koreans and that has always been the biggest issue politically in S.Korea, even today. This really has nothing to do with the Chinese people in general since N.Koreans were often depicted in a similar fashion and they are ethnically Koreans. Chinese people who live in a democratic state are viewed more positively like Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan.

It also has nothing to do with Chinese constantly invading Koreans in ancient history which is really incorrect anyway since Chinese rarely invaded Koreans in the first place and just to clear things up, even though Koreans weren't expansionist they were quite good at repelling invaders from taking over their country. One good example was during Koryo Era where Koreans didn't have problem winning war against the Khitans, who at that time for good amount of period had the strongest miliatary in East Asia. So it was more than just the Koguryo Era (3 kingdom period) where Koreans had capable miliatry. Also Korean navy for most part had significant lead over the Japanese counterparts up until the 1800s. It's unfortunate that the Koreans aren't perceived that way mainly thanks to our left wingers in our country with their victim mentality and inability to move forward on anything.

Also most Koreans don't have problem with South East Asians. I love them. Me and my gf went to thailand and indoensia recently and we really enjoyed it. Great food, great place! Only reasons why Koreans are uncomfortable with non-Koreans isn't because they are racist but because of the extremely homogenous society. They aren't used to foreigners and they just don't know how to act and mostly because they don't want to embarass themselves and is why there are a lot of them that try to avoid such situation in the first place. It's not because Koreans think they are dirty or look down on them. It's why I keep saying it's more of misunderstanding than anything else and it has a lot to do with culturual differences. It's like asking african americans to eat fried chicken and watermelon without knowing such racist stereotypes exists.

At last and not least, S.Korea isn't anti-US or else the pro-US goverment wouldn't have been elected majority 90% of the time in the last 50 years. Problem with the anti-american sentiment here is that the liberals control the media and despite them being minority pretends to be our spokesperson. For instance they think Kor-US FTA is american imperialism when in fact majority of the Koreans think it's good on almost all polls and survey conducted. S.Koreans for most part are pro USA, pro western (including EU) and has been that way since forever.