Monday, April 25, 2011

Factionalism Forward to Korea Currently

Chongjo dies in 1800 and the new leader re-distributes wealth among the population. The bureaucrats are no longer the wealthy and social status become blurred. SLAVERY decreases and is abolished in 1801 (although a form of private slavery still existed). PEASANTS begin to band together in what is called a Brigandage (group of pillaging and plundering thieves). A new religion is created that is the combination of  Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism AND Shamanism - the purpose was to promote equality for all, reforms for government and society.

The people of Korea now had had a taste of peasant-rule and would never again give up their voices to a ruler. HOWEVER. Taewon-gun ascended the throne and ruled through the 1860's with an isolationist approach. He limited trade, destroyed or demoted noble families and recreated the bureaucracy to support him. Through the peasants, Taewon-gun lost power in 1873, their hope was to open trade to the westernized world and institute heavy confucian doctrine.

The Factions are still strong, some wished to be pro-Japanese trade, others are pro-Western countries trade. And even though Korea and Japan signed the "Treaty of Friendship" or "Kanghwa", Japan and Korea always fought over trade and China soon entered the mix. The anti-Japanese put Taewon-gun back in power which upset the Japanese enough to use military force against them. In the end, China joined and invaded the country, sending Taewon-gun to jail in Shanghai.

Soon, a progressive party, also pro-Japanese, led a coup d'etat in 1884. Russia steps in and convinces the King and Queen not to be pro-China. These threatening actions intensify British fears, England invades a Korean Island and makes moves to push Russia out. Now four countries are fighting for control over Korea, Russia, China, Britain and Japan. Here is my analogy: Two big dogs (Russia and China) are fighting over a piece of meat ( :/ Korea ) and here comes a person to take the piece of meat away (Britain). Both big dogs guard the meat they are fighting over and snarl at the person, who backs away slowly... Britain does run away but mostly because the fight was between China and Russia. A sly cat (Japan) realizes that the dogs are now paying attention to the person (Britain) and not the the meat (Korea) and steals it behind their backs.

Though it gets quite convoluted who actually has the power in the country, all you REALLY need to know (and I had no clue about until now) is that Japan beats out China and takes over the government within Korea. By 1894, Japan instituted reforms and China lost all influence in Korean life and culture. For being so close to the action all the while, Russia and Japan now get into it. The Russo-Japanese war takes place from 1904-1905.

JAPAN wins and begins to construct its own vision of Korea by building roads, railroads, and communication systems. The PROTECTORATE Treaty of 1905 guaranteed Japanese rule over Korea. I couldn't believe that Korea had become a colony of Japan! (and Taiwan too). The Japanese rule lasted until World War II. Korea suffered economically during this time, for everything that the people worked for, at least 50% went to Japan.

PARTIES: The Independence club -1896
                  Preservation Society 1904
                   Society for the Study of Constitutional Government
       These organizations became TOO strong that the Japanese disbanded them, including a growing Korean Army in 1907. BUT by 1908, the peasants and trained Korean Army began guerilla warfare to weaken the Japanese grip on Korea. In China, Korean men met and drafted a Declaration of Independence on March 1st. By fate, 33 men signed that document, but the Japanese would have none of it. They killed 7,000, injured 15,000 and arrested 40,000 suspected Independence supporters. The same exiles in Shanghai created a second document called the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea in 1919.

Among them was the to-be first President of Korea - Syng-man Rhee. The provisional government split Korea up into 13 provinces with representatives from each province. They recruited troops to go against Japanese-held government. Japan tightened its grip throughout the first World War and instituted a rough police state, which specifically forced all citizens to speak Japanese. The Korean language was not to be spoken at all, EVER. The Korean's pride was also taken when the Japanese forced them to changed their surnames to Japanese style names.

We all may think that World War II was nothing but horrible. And it WAS. However, KOREA could not wait any longer to kick out Japan. Many countries were again concerned with how Korea would be run after the Japanese would be made to leave. Mostly the U.S. and Russia were negotiating how to get Korea back up on its feet. The U.S. wanted everyone's input on how the country should be run independently. Russia refused to allow any naysayers and therefore any peaceful relations for the better of Korea were lost. Russia invades the Northern part of Korea, and the U.S. takes the Southern half of the peninsula. They come to meet and wage raging war on the 38th parallel. A five time turnover of Seoul ends in the U.S.'s hands as the capitol of the south. An armistice was agreed upon in 1953. The 38th parallel to this day maintains the demilitarized zone of division between north and south.

The United States declared free elections and gave a set time for the north and south to hold them. North Korea refused to obey the U.S. demand for elections and began a period of intense isolationism, that we are still familiar with today.

Following the Civil war, a series of Republics of South Korea rise, a first, second, third and fourth. An additional military coup occurred in 1961. (Not that long ago!) Finally you would think that after all those failed Republics, a fifth would do 'er. But NOT! It took SIX tries to finally establish a Republic that incorporated a SMOOTH transition between authoritarianism to democracy.

HOW? - The three major political parties merged to focus on making Korea more democratic. Its firs free and fair election was in 1992. The success was in the hands of newly elected Kim Young Sam. HIs policies are as follows:

1. Work towards CLEAN government
2. Create a SOUND economy
3. Encourage a HEALTHY society
4. Promote peaceful unification.

ONE of the highest priorities that Kim Young Sam spoke in support of was the reunification of North and South. His wish for this is laid out in three principles:
                  1. Independence based on the wishes and inherent capability of the Korea people
                  2. Peace without the use of force or the overthrow of the other side
                  3. Democracy based on freedom and the sovereign rights of all Koreans.

His three idealistic phases would be:

1. Reconciliation and Cooperation
2. Korean Commonwealth - One peaceful coexistence and co-prosperity with a single socio-economic
                 community
3. Single Nation-State

As we know today, North Korea has denied these prospective ideas for a much more closed society and totalitarian rule over the Korean people.

It makes me sad to see that half of the Korea people live freedom everyday of their lives as if none of their past had ever occurred. The other half of Korea still live in old ages of oppression that has never ceased and generation after generation must continue to suffer this cycle of poverty.

Would I like to see Korea unified? I am pretty sure that my answer is yes. The Korean people should no longer be divided. Could I see this happening in the near future? NO WAY. Unfortunately there is too much dividing these two countries including history and leadership.

That is the end of Korean History and Culture. I hope to enlighten you on some of the newest info regarding relations between North Korea and South Korea in my next post. Thanks for sticking with this load of info. I have learned a lot! I hope you have too :)

-Jess
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Sunday, April 10, 2011

The Chosen Choson Dynasty

This dynasty seemed to have lasted forEVER. In the last blog about the history of Korea I got through a lot. Perhaps this time I will do a better job of summarizing up through the 17th Century. I would also like to  categorize the information so that it better suits my thought process and end of the year paper.

Part of the last section ended with talking about the Yangban. They are the Koreans in the highest social status during the Choson Dynasty. Following the Yangban is the Chungin, then Yangmin, lastly the Chonmin. The Chungin included citizens who were scientific, medical or fluent in foreign languages. This section was mainly known as the academics of society. Thirdly was the Yangmin, the commoners/peasants as farmers/craftsmen/fishermen/merchants. Interestingly enough, they all wore IDENTIFICATION TAGS which showed name, DOB, class, status and county of residence. This was to reduce the ability of their abandoning their land. The Chonmin were the outcasts of society, lowlifes I suppose they were called. They included butchers, tanners, wickerworkers, entertainment (exotic) women and shaman healers.

There were more peasant rebellions - 1467, 1510 1562, (plot of 1589) 1624.

Confucianism institutes the marks of new familial and social status by the show of 4 separate ceremonies-

1. Fresh stylish up-do's show coming of age
2. Marriage (usually arranged)
3. Funeral
4. Sacrificial rite for the dead

**Every household was required to establish a family shrine

WOMEN (during the Choson Dynasty)
- could only to come out at night
- no allowed to see male non-relatives
- wore veils
- worked on the inner part of the home
- not given names

MARRIAGE
- mostly at ages 13/14
- Wife belongs to the husband's family
- usually arranged

ECONOMY
- invention of better agricultural tools (rain gauge, wind strength gauge, measurement of land elevation  
       and distance (and CALENDARS!)
*no more slash and burn technique but more fertilization techniques
- cultivation of cotton
- use of wet broadcast of rice = less weeding & less labor
Standing Markets:
            disappeared around the 13th Century
            a few remained around the 15th Century
            made a resurgence by the 16th century due to agriculture advancements
Medium of exchange: COTTON (rather than coins, but coins were still used to pay taxes to the Gov't)

POPULATION
- one strain on the previous economy was the decreased birth rate that barely allowed the Korean population to replace itself (less than 3 children per family due to high child mortality rate)
- the population did end up DOUBLING during the 15th century:
           1400: 5,700,000
           1511: 10,000,000

MEDICINE
- because of the high child mortality rate, the Koreans chose to pursue better medicines. From the 11th century to the 13th century great improvements were made - enough to put them on a level playing field with China at the time

LANGUAGE
- Sejong orders the scholars to creat a Korean alphabet/script based on the sounds of the spoken Korean language = HANGUL 1446 AD

WAR, UNREST and FACTIONALISM

JAPANESE INVASION in 1592 & 1597
Choson saved by 3 factors:

1. The admiral Yi Sun-Sin's navy ("Turtleships")
2. The angry peasants who harrassed and stood off the Japanese
3. Ming sent 50,000 reinforcements

MANCHU invasion and NEO-CONFUCIAN uprisings
1498, 1504, 1519, 1545

FACTIONALISM 1575
The country split into factions:
First --- WEST vs. EAST
Secondly --- WEST OLD vs. WEST YOUNG vs. NORTH EAST MEN vs. SOUTH EAST MEN
ALL must "toe the party line"
The affiliation was 1 inherited (factional strife was inextricably linked to families) + 2 academic loyalty
these two requirements dictated faction membership and ultimately political viewpoints

I could see this being a good idea for my comparison paper. The Japanese also have this problem in their country right now. Has Korea fixed this problem entirely and could Japan learn from Korea's success in eradicating factions? Will Japan be able to resolve their factionalism now or in the near future?

Questions with answers to be discovered...
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Sunday, April 3, 2011

Following Up: Korea's Rank

You may have gone home and asked your parents and your girlfriend's parents if you could find out the previous four generations. And maybe not. Let's zip to the future for a moment and take a quick peek at Korea's ratings on a few important websites we described earlier on in Comparative Politics.

I had written about a disappointing article that the CPJ noted about South Korea's increasing grip on the freedom of the press. Perhaps these links will point to more helpful information on the accessability of South Korea.

I have included some of the facts and tables that I found very interesting to note about South Korea's progression over time in each of the categories represented below... The first show over 30 years of information. The second shows 10 years of information.


Link
    Link
South Korea is really not hitting very high scores on its governance indicators. Of the six listed above, S.K. is "in the green" of Government Effectiveness and Rule of Law... NOT Political Stability which is getting the lowest scores, while Voice and Accountability and Control of Corruption are tied just above Political Stability. 

Here are the stats (in Percentile 0-100th):

                        V&A                PS               GE                  RQ                  RoL               CoC

1996                63.2                41.8             77.7                 64.4                 77.1                68.4   
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1998                66.8                45.7             63.6                 62.9                 73.8                64.6
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2000                67.3                47.6             76.2                 69.3                 76.2                63.6
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2002                70.2                50.5             80.1                 74.6                 76.7                69.9
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2003                69.7                51.4             78.2                 71.7                 72.4                67.5
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2004                71.2                59.1             79.6                 75.6                 76.2                68.9
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2005                72.1                62.0             82.0                 73.2                 81.4                71.8
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2006                68.3                56.3             83.5                 72.2                 72.4                68.4
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2007                67.8                58.7             85.5                 79.1                 82.9                72.9
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2008                67.3                57.4             82.6                 72.5                 76.1                69.1
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2009                68.2                52.4             83.3                 75.2                 82.5                71.4
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Corruption Perception I

2010 --  5.4 
2009 --  5.5
2008 --  5.6
2007 --  5.1
2006 --  5.1
2005 --  5.0
2004 --  4.5
2003 --  4.3
2002 --  4.5
2001 --  4.1

Just looking at the last decade of recorded scores for South Korea, it seems like the country has improved slightly. It mainly hangs in the balance as a country that really has a good amount of corruption but has hope for the future -- possibly. The highest recorded was 2008, and it has fallen .2 in the past 2 years... Hopefully it will not fall further, but the CPJ article may very well be an indication of troubles under President Lee Myung-bak.

-Jess
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Korean HIstory and Culture... moving into the future..slowly

So. Where I left off before, Koryo had united the three nations and had already had quite a few wars and threats of takeover itself. Certainly, much of the internal problems are solved rather quickly because the military ALWAYS takes over when they are discontented. SO is the case of the coup d'etat of 1014. Unfortunately for the people of Koryo during the 11th and 12 th centuries there was a lot to be worried about. Lt. Gen. Yi So-ung declared in 1170 that all civil officials would be killed. A massacre ensued.

The military rule lasted even through most of the 13th century, until 1270. This included the wealthy families' grab for land and slaves. Their slaves were trained to become each own's personal military. In the end, Ch'oe won out and took power with his own personal army of over 3,000 army slaves in 1196. By the time his reign ended, he had 30,000 army slaves plus calvary! His reign did end in 1258, but the years he was in control brought stability to the region through his political policies.
These were:
1. Remove supernumary officials
2. Return land to peasants
3. Reestablish impartial taxation
4. Prohibit the construction of Buddhist temples

The last one is interesting for in my last post I had described the religions as being fairly peaceful with each other. While that may have remained true, there came to be a time in Koryo's history that the militarization of Buddhist monks proved that they were a very powerful force in politics. Many wealthy families would pair up with Buddhist temples for continuous spiritual and physical property protection. Ch'oe saw this religious and political affiliation as being very dangerous to the well-being of his entire territory and reign.

Ch'oe himself was NOT King of Koryo, but he throned 4 Kings and dethroned 2 while he ruled the country. During the 12th century there were various slave/peasant rebellions as well: 1172, 1176, 1182. Additionally, a desire for liberation and just treatment was instilled by one very brave slave named Manjok. He organized nearly the entire slave population to seize the capitol, Kaesong. Their attempts and fights included the years 1193, 1199, 1200, and 1202. None of these were entirely successful but probably scared the pants off of the ruling elite, king and military-run government!!!

Sanity was restored, but not for long! The Koryo people now had to deal with a whole new threat: THE MONGOLS! (just makes me think of Mongolian Grill.. which then makes me hungry...) The Mongol nomadic warriors on horseback defeated Chin (a northern region of modern-day China) and pushed many survivors into the country of Koryo, who didn't want them. So together, the Mongols and Koryo exterminated what was left of the Chin population. (yikes!)

At first the relationship between the Mongols was fine. Of course over time there were border battles and one last political event that triggered a war in 1225. The military commander, Ch'oe flees to Kanghwado Island (what a coward!) and leaves the peasants on the mainland to defend themselves! Moreover, the Mongols use burnt earth tactics to completely obliterate the countryside.

When finally the peasants and King of Koryo surrendered, the Mongols settled in and began the infamous Yuan dynasty. Ch'oe and his military force continued to avoid mainland Koryo until 1273...without much avail of course. The Yuan Dynasty was a period where certain Mongol families rose to great wealth and power, the native peasants were unsure of how to survive under these circumstances so many CHOSE to become private slaves. The Mongol families turned free commoners into their private slaves in a short time after invasion.

In the final phase of this whirlwind tour of the early centuries, Koryo falls apart. King Kongmin and his powerfully Chinese-aided Ming Dynasty kicks out the Mongol Yuan in 1368. This King tasked one monk, Sin Ton with reestablishing order and eliminating the corruption of the previous Dynasty when there was another uprising by again, a hot-headed military commander, General Yi Song-gye. The people were split between supporting a Ming Dynasty with the new military commander and anti-Ming. Yi won the divide and created the Choson Dynasty.

Under the new Dynasty, the Rank Land Law was placed to destroy the economic foundation of the powerful families (which they weren't too happy about...) Yi called himself T'aejo and formed the Dynastic Foundation Merit Subjects from the most intelligent of the land (literati) to codify administrative law combined with Confucian ideals, principles and practices.

Following this, there was a FEUD between Yi's sons, and in 1401, his son Pang-won sets a new, clearer direction of the politics of the state. The governing process is to be directed by to orders of civil and military officials, the State Council would be a gathering of SIX ministries with the ability to approach the throne directly to address a particular issue of the state. A Hall of Worthies was created of scholars, but also a National Code was established with specific special advisors in both legislative and administrative bodies.

The rest of the country was organized similarly to the centralized government:

8 Provinces 
 1 Governor per state
   Magistrates (collect taxes and mobilize labor service)
     Hyangni (responsible for rectifying public mores and monitoring conduct)
       6 Chamber Functionaries (replicating the 6 Ministries of the Central Government)

Now let there not be any confusion -- there still is a rank and status of each citizen of the newly formed Choson Dynasty. At first all freeborn could be examined for civil and military orders, but then a 4-tier rank system was established and names were given to families based on their rank and status.

Top tier:  Yangban - 2 orders, highest ranks of military and civil officials (10% of the population)
Second tier: Chungin - middleclass intelligentia medical, scientific, and foreign language
Third tier: Yangmin/Sangmin - "the good people" commoners
Fourth tier: Ch'onmin - slaves, outcasts etc.

Test of YOUR class:  (In order to become a Government Official during the Choson Dynasty was if-- )

1. You must specify the native place of your family (clan)
2. Your date of birth
3. The names of your 4 previous generations of your Father
4. The names of your 4 previous generations of your Mother
5. The names of your 4 previous generations of your Father-in-Law
6. The names of your 4 previous generations of your Mother-in-Law

Think you can do it?

Until next time.... Stay tuned!!
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Some Cultural Updates from Korea

Ever wonder what the Academy Awards are like in the Far East? This article is brief coverage of the ASIAN FILM AWARDS, where South Korea's talent in the entertainment world were presented more awards this year than any other asian country!  CONGRATS! The 5th annual ceremony was held in Hong Kong and best director, best screenplay, best actor, best supporting actress, and best editing were garnered by South Korea's best!

Here is something interesting... We are so obsessed with pop culture.. but come on now HOW unique and original is it REALLY? I will let you decide for yourself on this one, but LADY GAGA is being accused of plagiarizing a song done by SNSD of South Korea. But this is not the first time that "Born This Way" has been targeted as a repeat... click here for the article... click here for the comparison track...

So now that South Korea understands that the North is serious about being a bully... it has been prepping the biggest and best of its military force. And they had a little practice run a week and a half ago to flex its muscle to North Korea. This message goes basically like this, "You had better watch yourself, we are not weak nor afraid to retaliate."

The most devastating event to have occurred so far in the world 2011 is the Japanese Earthquake/Tsunami. This event has set off another series of volcanic eruptions less talked about in main media news. If you want to read about the most recent volcanic activity in Japan click here. South Korean and North Korean scientists are talking about a different volcano... The Baitoushan Volcano on the North East Chinese border with North Korea.

A MUST READ:
as far as liberal democracy goes, South Korea seems to be looking down a dangerously slippery slope... 

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Asia Program Coordinator recently published an article about the tightened restrictions on the freedom of opinion and expression. Bob Dietz is convinced that throughout President Lee Myung-bak's term, journalism and coverage of controversial topics has been increasingly scarce and prohibited. The tightening grip of this administration has also been noticed by the U.N.'s Frank La Rue. Read more here.
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Koryo Domination

If you haven't read any of my previous posts you may not understand the title of this post, but here it goes anyway. In my Korean History and Culture book it describes a dominating kingdom that rose from all of the in-fighting between kingdoms and other invaders into the Korean Peninsula.

Later in Korean history, Koryo finally unites all three kingdoms after many, many, MANY years of constant turmoil. The many Kingdoms/Castle Lords throughout the peninsula have their power taken away by one man, Wang Kon (T'aejo: 918-943). He has a very tumultuous rule that includes an up and down cycle of complete aristocracy and limited aristocracy. He abolishes the bone ranks that I described before and calls himself KING of the entire peninsula. He takes 29 wives and begins a royal blood line for future ascendence to the throne. Class is now determined at birth if your family is part of the civil official order, the military officer order, the court functionary order or the soldiering order.

Kwangjong (949-975) : Established the system of coming to a particular order or rank. During the time he made his decision on this matter, he wiped out anyone and everyone who may have disagreed about his hereditary line and ranking process preference.

Songjong (981-997) : Made it possible for everyone, even slaves, to be able to climb the social ranks dependent on the merit or worth/intelligence of the person.

The new unified Korean peninsula was called Koryo under these leaders and their biggest focus was on their agriculture. However they did trade some (but not to their full potential) with China and the Jurchens of Manchuria. Exports included gold and silver utensils, raw copper, ginseng, hemp, cloth, paper, inkstones, felt while Imports included tea, lacquerware, books, dyestuffs and medicines. They traded very rarely with any Japanese or Arabs.

The religion, at this point, is still getting along. Buddhism and Confuscianism make a combined effort to teach the people about the spiritual well being of a good citizen as well as hope for the afterlife. They are starting to get a little different in their methods of teaching. Confuscianism at this stage is concentrating more on the academic portion of learning, while Buddhism is concentrated on training their monks in military discipline and skill. The "getting along" portion was initiated by Uich'on (1055-1101) who believed that the two need to be reconciled in both the study of scriptures and the method of religious meditation.

Koryo comes out on top of the large dynasties and smaller tribal invasions of its country... but not until after a few defeats as well. Its defeat over the Khitans (Mongol tribe) strengthened its power and ownership over the northern part of the peninsula.

A strong Koryo monarchy was established through

1. Marriage ties
2. The examination system: Lineage, heredity, ownership, pedigree (academia)
3. The Stipend Land Law

Through this same system. the aristocracy became very strong. One military minded man gave his first daughter in marriage to the king. And his other two daughters to the seceding king. The father of these three queens seemed to just get fed up with the kings and imprisoned the latter one, killing a great many of the supporters and burning the royal palace to the ground (and I think dad shining his gun for when my date comes over is bad!)

Dear ol' pops is then betrayed and the previous king returns to his throne.. go figure. This king, Injong decides to move the capitol to Pyongyang instead of Kaesong.

TO BE CONTINUED....
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Sunday, March 6, 2011

Child-like North Korea threatening war -- "Moooommmmmm!!!!!! South Korea is training with the U.S. again!!!"

To begin with:

Look at some interesting pictures of the U.S. military and Korean military chilling together --  The South Korean-US Key Resolve and Foal Eagle joint military exercises at Camp Carroll south of Seoul. 


What's happening: 


MOST recently (today) -- North Korea has interfered Global Positioning Systems and some phone reception via signal interruption by using revamped Russian equipment. Their main purpose is to "jam" guided missiles during US-S.K. combined training. 


In the last couple of weeks: The Korea Herald sums it up here. This article describes the high-tension between North and South over the peace/missile/defense/military talks that were SUPPOSED to happen Feb 8-9. BUT according to this article, a supposed reason for N.K. calling it off was because they had issues with how much the world was being informed (through the media) on their pending "negotiation strategy". Perhaps the most unnerving threat was N.K. saying they would "turn Seoul into a sea of fire" IF they began training with the U.S. again.....


Well from the very first link as you can see WE HAVE BEGUN. No fire has been reported in Seoul... some say that N.K. wouldn't dare because they don't have enough support, but WHO KNOWS considering the Kim Jong-il is a stubborn and somewhat crazy old dictator!


IN OTHER NEWS: 


South Korean internet and official Government websites under cyber terror attacks... Read full article here. Fingers point to N.K (of course) and possibly China. But no true culprit has been found. It seems like S.K. is very technologically advanced so many of the issues were caught before damage occurred. 


KOREA FREEING UP TRADE!


Over the last few weeks since I started receiving google alerts, a good portion of what I have seen is ALL ABOUT Korea signing new free trade agreements with countries and more factors leading to better times! Most likely more trade will help South Korea have a stronger economy in the near future, but we will find out!


Here is a list:


Peru

$$$ Exports Rise

New Energy?

China stabilizing may = S. Korean economic growth?

U.S.'s Hawaii (also to benefit) with S. Korean trade!

And anyway... some more Korean CULTURE happenings:

Robot teachers??? An old argument is whether physically present human teachers may some day be replaced with robots who can do just the same -- or better.. but that is still to be decided, for now, some Korean students are enjoying a 3-foot tall penguin-like robot that speaks, and sings in english. It also dances! Check out the full article, a picture and even a VIDEO of the teacher robot!

Feeling like some nice spicy fermented cabbage? As emotionally attached Americans are to their peanut butter, AND Australians are to their vegemite -- according to this aussie article Korea is emotionally attached to their KIMCHI!!! Check it out here, plus +++ get a RECIPE for making your own spicy fermented cabbage ;) yum!

And you think the US's biggest cities are PARTY central? The statistic from this article shows that S.K. has a bit more fun than us! "For the years 2003-2005, the WHO found that South Koreans drank an average of 14.8 liters of alcohol, compared to 8.03 liters in Japan and 9.44 liters in the U.S."!!! I really want to see how that spreads across age level.. could I possibly guess that that is mostly college students? I would have to do more digging to find out ---


Hope you enjoyed your rather long update... let me know if you enjoyed any of the articles!!!


-Jessica
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