Catholicism and Violence in Late Chosŏn Korea

You know kannu, I was surprised when I first found out that Korea is a huge Christian country. Seriously. I guess my initial impression was coloured by the fact that both japan and china managed to keep the Christian missionaries at bay. But Korea didn't and has therefore managed to have a huge Christian population. 

Proselytisation has had a bad rap down the years son. With good reason. People have killed each other over which god is better. Heck, people have killed each other whilst belonging to the same bloody religion. See what's happening in Israel to Iraq to India. Maybe they operate on the principle that kill them all, God will sort them out. How weird. 

But it's a salutary exposition on how governments use religion son to keep us under control. And the sad part is, the governments lose control over religion. And then you see the mess that you can witness in the USA to France to uk and in rest of the world. Which is why a strong secular perspective is the only way forward for governments. 

Anyway. Happy reading about a small aspect of Korea. They make the most amazing kimchee. And if I may point out, they are one of the hardest working people in the world. Absolutely gobsmacking. For them to rise from pretty much ruins after the Japanese occupation and then the Korean War to where they are at the moment is simply amazing. Much to learn. 

Love

Baba

Catholicism and Violence in Late Chosŏn Korea - Dissertation Reviews
http://dissertationreviews.org/archives/9089

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A review of The Ambiguity of Violence:  Ideology, State, and Religion in the Late Chosŏn Dynasty,by Franklin Rausch

Why do governments and those who oppose them use violence to advance their aims? What are their justifications for the use of violence? These are some of the questions that Franklin Rausch confronts in his dissertation centered on two case studies in late Chosŏn Korea between the late 18th and early 20th centuries. They involve two famous Catholics, Alexius Hwang Sayŏng and Thomas An Chunggŭn, and it is in its elucidation of the complex history of Catholicism in Korea that this dissertation particularly shines.

What do you expect out of marriage?

Amusing study here.

I quote the abstract

This study examines whether communication and culturally embedded concepts influence cross-cultural similarities and differences in marital role conceptions. Young adults from the US, China, South Korea, Japan, India and Malaysia responded to a series of open-ended questions about marriage and marital roles. Analytic induction methods produced categories across six topics (good wife/bad wife, good husband/bad husband, good marriage/bad marriage). Results showed even greater variation in marital role conceptions than hypothesized. Only East Asians nominated a family home focus more and only Chinese and Koreans considered respectfulness and gentleness more for the good wife role than did US participants. Loving/caring nominations did not differ across the cultural groups except for greater nominations by US participants for the good marriage and good wife role conceptions, and proportions of controlling/abusive behaviors did not differ except for the Indian group's higher nominations for the bad wife role. Communication expectations for marital roles showed some cross cultural similarity, as both US and Asian participants rated communication characteristics as more important than attractiveness/ability characteristics, but only for the good wife/husband roles.

its a bit of a d’oh question, but would help raise a chuckle at the entrenchment of national stereotypes. Indian groups seem to be highly interested in the bad wife role, lol

Bathe once a week to save fuel costs

What a state of affairs! I quote:

South Korea’s soldiers will be asked to make do with one bath a week, while its air force pilots will have to do more training on computers instead of real fighters as record oil prices force the country to take drastic steps to slash its fuel usage.
The measures are among several that arose from an emergency meeting last week where senior officials in the army, navy and air force discussed ways of reducing their fuel bill, a military official said.
“We had to seek emergency steps to save fuel costs because oil prices have gone up too much,” the defence ministry said. It estimated that the military could save about Won77bn ($76m), or 11 per cent of its annual fuel bill, with the moves.

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!

Where's the beef and where's the pork?

I have been moaning about food prices for some time now on this blog. I have also talked about how Reliance and other firms in India are shaking up the agriculture value chain, and it has to be for the better. People have commented that this will throw people out of jobs, but here's a very good example of when distribution systems go awry, then the costs and inflation go wonky as well.

I quote:

Is it true that pork is cheaper in South Korea than in China? According to the South Korean Embassy in Beijing, it is true: the Embassy said on Monday that pork is traded at far lower prices in South Korea's wholesale market than in China.
According to an Embassy survey of pork prices in the two countries, pork costs less in South Korea's wholesale market than it does in China. But in the retail market, under South Korea's complex distribution system, South Korean consumers pay nearly three times more than what Chinese consumers pay for the commodity.
According to the Embassy, as of Feb. 26, pork was traded at W2,666 (US$1=W997) per kg in the South Korean wholesale market, a mere 88.3 percent of the price in the Chinese wholesale market (W3,020).
But huge wholesale-to-retail marketing margins for pork are added in South Korea, driving the retail price up to W12,000 per kg, more than quadruple the wholesale price. By contrast, the retail price of pork in China, which has a relatively simple distribution system, is just W4,420 per kg. That's a margin of just W1,400.
The average price of beef was W13,588 per kg in the South Korean wholesale market, but the retail price was W62,000 per kg. By contrast, beef cost W3,676 per kg in the Chinese wholesale market, but between W6,500 and W26,000 in the retail market.

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!

Educational Challenges in the World!

I have been waiting for this report. And this is not good reading. I remember reading in yesterday's FT something along the lines of the fact that the top performers in Finland and South Korea go into higher education and out of those top performers, you take 5-10% into being teachers. Compared to that, Saudi Arabian teachers come from the bottom 10% of the graduates. So no wonder it sucks. India is still doing well as being a teacher is still respected but in the UK, the situation is dire. I quote:

OECD’s latest PISA survey of the knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds shows that some countries have seen significant improvements in student performance since 2000. Korea further increased its strong reading performance between 2000 and 2006 by 31 score points, the equivalent of almost a school year, mainly by raising the proportion of top-performers. Poland increased its reading performance by 29 score points over the same period. Mexico and Greece saw significant improvements in mathematics performance between 2003 and 2006. However, across the OECD area as a whole learning outcomes have generally remained flat, while expenditure on education in OECD countries rose by an average of 39% between 1995 and 2004.

But as I already mentioned, this government is useless and its minister is a moron. When said that UK is 24th in the world for math skills, 17th for reading, do you know what he comes back? "Results were pleasing" adding "numeracy and literacy are the foundations of a good education. Please fire him. Please send him to Finland or South Korea. Please send him to Saudi Arabia, Please do something with him. Please. This Minister is like Robert Mugabe. Mugabe killed his country with stupid economic policies. Jim Knight and his government are killing the population with stupid educational policies. They have presided over the greatest fall in educational standards since testing began. Read above, South Korea presided over an improvement of almost 1 school year. We have dropped 15 odd places. What on earth is he pleased about? I am running out of adjectives to swear at this stupid idiot of a Minister.

I am definitely voting Conservative. Liberal Democrats do not have policies and Labour are pathetic in execution. Not much choice left, is there?

Read and Weep and worry!!




Asia-Pacific teenagers top OECD tests
By David Turner, Education Correspondent

Taiwan has topped a prestigious international league table of 15-year-olds’ mathematical ability, vaulting ahead of far richer countries.
The island state’s performance in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Pisa tests of mathematics and reading carried out in 2006 and released on Tuesday, reinforces its reputation as a high-tech Asian tiger. Taiwan also earns fourth place in the parallel Pisa science rankings, published last week, although in reading it is a mere 16th.

Asia-Pacific’s strong showing is one of the clearest themes of the Pisa survey, which was carried out in 57 countries that account for 90 per cent of the world gross domestic product. The region contributes five of the top 10 in the mathematics and science league tables, and four of the top 10 in reading – thanks to strong contributions from Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Macao, Australia and New Zealand. Mainland China did not participate.
But the league tables show Finland is the most consistently high performer – repeating its sterling performance in the last survey in 2003. It comes top in science, and second in maths and in reading – where it is bested only by South Korea.
The US, the world’s largest economy, is below the OECD average in science and maths, and fails even to make the tables in reading because a misprint in the test confused too many students and invalidated the results.
The UK is around the OECD average in reading and maths, but a little above average in science.
Germany, whose poor performance in the first Pisa tests back in 2000 provoked anguished soul-searching among its politicians, performs respectably rather than outstandingly. It is around the OECD average in maths and reading, but a little above in science. France achieves the average in all three categories, but no more.
The OECD is rather shy of making comparisons with previous surveys, despite hundreds of pages of analysis of the tests. But it does conclude with disappointment that performance in reading has remained “broadly similar” between 2000 and 2006. The report concludes: “This, in itself, is noteworthy because most countries have significantly increased their investment in education in recent years.” But South Korea and Poland are shining exceptions: their reading results have improved strongly, both in absolute terms and relative to other countries.

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!

Now South Korea wants in on the Islamic Finance train

Very amusing, the hype cycle on Islamic Finance is nearing the top of the "Peak of Inflated Expectations", i would say :) Now South Korea wants to get into the game! I quote:

Korea should work to attract investment from Muslim nations which are enjoying increasing prosperity thanks to soaring oil prices, a report released by the Bank of Korea on Wednesday said.

The Islamic financial industry has been posting annual growth of around 15 percent since 2000 as Muslim oil-producing nations benefit from increasing oil prices.

In the report "Strategies of Global Countries for Dealing with Islamic Finance and Lessons," Korea's central bank said Islamic financial markets have great potential for growth, despite problems such as religious restrictions and under-developed infrastructure, because they account for a mere 0.8 percent of the world's financial assets. That's low given that Muslims take up 28 percent of the world population and the economies of Muslim nations are growing over 4 percent annually.

Japan, where Muslims account for 0.1 percent of the population, issued Islamic bonds in Malaysia in January. Muslims make up 0.2 percent of Korea's population.

The report also said that Korea should not only seek a way to raise funds using Islamic funds which offer favorable purchase conditions and low interest rates, but also work to attract Islamic investment.

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!

Korean Unification to cost $1 trillion

Holy Moly, can you imagine this? Well, I suppose I can well imagine this. Given the fact that Germany ended up spending billions and billions of Euros. and is still paying for the reunification of East Germany with West Germany. I quote:

The Republic of Korea (ROK) will need to spend about $1 trillion or more to renovate the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) creaky infrastructure if the two were to reunite, a ROK study said, adding that the cost will go up further over time.
But the ROK's economy can expect benefits through decreased military spending, selling to new markets in the DPRK and tapping into its cheap land and labor, said the report from the National Assembly's Special Committee on Budget and Accounts.
The report, obtained yesterday, said if the two Koreas reunified in 2015, it would cost the ROK $858 billion over 10 years to absorb its poor neighbor and raise its economy to half that of the ROK's.
If the two started in 2030, the cost would be $1.32 trillion.
Many in the ROK are worried that unifying could wreck its economy - the world's 13th largest. They also fear a flood of refugees coming over the border from the DPRK - whose economy is less than 3 percent the size of the ROK's.
The longer it takes to unify, the greater the gap becomes between the two economies and the more the DPRK's factories and transport and other systems will fall into disrepair.

I agree. The question is, why do you need to unify? what's the pressing reason? Say the 2 countries have been apart for 100 years, do you think reunification will work? How about India Pakistan? Say Pakistan actually implodes even more, do you think it would be worth unifying? I bet it will cost several trillion dollars! How about Taiwan and China? that would be cheaper

Technorati Tags: South Korea , North Korea , Germany , India , Pakistan , China , Taiwan

Kimchi in Space!!!!

It wasn't bad enough that they have a Kimchi festival, now they are taking the damn thing up in space!

Korean food manufactures are competing to whip up space-edible foods for Ko San, Korea's first astronaut who will lift off in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in April.

The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute is working on kimchi with domestic food maker CJ and instant noodles with Nongshim. The Korean Food Research Institute is also developing space-safe fried kimchi, hot pepper paste and soy bean paste, rice, red ginseng and green tea with Daesang and Ottogi.

Russia will evaluate the safety and storability of the foods. If they pass the tests, traditional Korean food will be served to the astronauts on the spacecraft.

As the food makers race to create their space-friendly edibles, there are mixed opinions about the best way to sterilize it. Food makers working with the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute argue that freeze-dried foods don't taste good. But those working with the Korean Food Research Institute insist that consumers don't like irradiated foods.

However, there is a common view that developing space food will lead to enhancing the technological competitiveness of the Korean food industry. Currently researchers are developing space-edible hot pepper paste in tubes and soy bean paste in the form of instant soup. Preparing these foods is costly, so it remains to be seen whether the space-safe foods will be made available to consumers.

Technorati Tags: South Korea , Cuisine

Divorce Rising Sharply Among Middle-aged Koreans

Looks like the lack of financial planning is hitting people on the other side of the world but the article is not giving full details. I quote:

The number of divorced people in Korea has exceeded the one million mark, with a big increase in divorces seen in couples in their 40s and 50s. One out of 17 Koreans in that age group is divorced, accounting for over 70 percent (776,041) of the total number of divorcees. That's a 75 percent increase from 2000, when one out of 27 people in their 40s and 50s was divorced (443,166).

"Among the many causes for divorce among those in their 40s and 50s, the biggest one is financial difficulties," said divorce attorney Kim Su-jin. "This is the time when they are most needing money, for their children's education and other things, and they tend to divorce when they have serious money problems."

This is not satisfactory at all, it may well be that the lack of financial planning is forcing rifts between the couple, but surely there has to be more than just this. If one divorces, the financial troubles will multiply, not reduce so since this is very illogical behaviour, I am wondering if there are other reasons. Mind you as the quote goes, "when poverty arrives at the door, love flies out of the window". But worth wondering. Because once this family unit breaks, the load on the state will rise because of increased welfare spending.

Technorati Tags: South Korea , Welfare

Why are Finland, Singapore.. so good in their education systems?

The Economist has written a big article on how countries such as Finland, Singapore, Canada, Japan and South Korea always come up tops in the PISA surveys. This is taken from a McKinsey & Co survey.

Some shameful commentary:

The British government, says Sir Michael Barber, once an adviser to the former prime minister, Tony Blair, has changed pretty much every aspect of education policy in England and Wales, often more than once. “The funding of schools, the governance of schools, curriculum standards, assessment and testing, the role of local government, the role of national government, the range and nature of national agencies, schools admissions”—you name it, it's been changed and sometimes changed back. The only thing that hasn't changed has been the outcome. According to the National Foundation for Education Research, there had been (until recently) no measurable improvement in the standards of literacy and numeracy in primary schools for 50 years.

Simple counter-intuitive analysis. Read very carefully

Now, an organisation from outside the teaching fold—McKinsey, a consultancy that advises companies and governments—has boldly gone where educationalists have mostly never gone: into policy recommendations based on the PISA findings. Schools, it says*, need to do three things: get the best teachers; get the best out of teachers; and step in when pupils start to lag behind. That may not sound exactly “first-of-its-kind” (which is how Andreas Schleicher, the OECD's head of education research, describes McKinsey's approach): schools surely do all this already? Actually, they don't. If these ideas were really taken seriously, they would change education radically.

Technorati Tags: South Korea , Japan , Canada , United Kingdom , Finland , Schooling , Education

Stay away from Gwangju - Kimchi alert!

Gwangju in South Korea is holding its annual Kimchi festival. For those who do not know about Kimchi, it is the national Korean dish, made out of spicy cabbage leaves and other vegetables, fermented and then served. It is fierce and tear inducing by the gallon for the unwary. Keep a large glass of beer handy! And don't insult your hosts by falling over, say politely that you have a tongue problem or you have an ulcer and can only eat bland food (then you will get a plate of bland dog meat curry, but that's for another day!)

And as the joke goes, on a good day with the right wind conditions, you can smell South Korea in Japan. And that is all due to Kimchi.

Technorati Tags: South Korea , Cuisine

A Korean Nationalist Speaks on Education

This column is worth reading in its entirety and therefore I am posting it here. Education is highly emotive but it becomes even more dangerous when it starts to traverse the chasm which divides globalists/nationalists; right and left; liberals and conservatives, you name it. As you can see, even South Korea is facing the same issue. One thing which I noticed in my travels in South Korea (something that they share with Iran and Turkey, along with some other nations) is how nationalistic they are and how little others realise this sheer amount of nationalism. But read and weep!

Our Forefathers' Lessons Fell on Deaf Ears, by Kang Chun-suk

I have a couple of questions I'd like to put to the people of the Roh Moo-hyun
administration. I'd be more than pleased if the president, prime minister and
deputy premier would answer them, too. Only then will the arrogant 386
generation of former student activists now in office get serious.

The first question calls for identifying common features. Name two things these
figures from contemporary Korean history have in common: Lee Sang-jae, Syngman Rhee, Kim Jwa-jin, Lee Shi-young, Shin Chae-ho. Did you say they are all independence fighters? Then you're correct. But that's an answer any schoolchild who has read a Korean history book could give. Yes, these people do come from a list independence fighters, but you say you can't think of another quality they share? You, who boasted would rewrite our history, in which, you said, justice had been defeated and injustice prevailed, don't know it? Study your history books again. The correct answer is that they all aspired for the rebirth of
their fatherland and nation by establishing schools or becoming teachers.

Lee Sang-jae in 1894 established a foreign language school and served as
its principal. Syngman Rhee in 1895 taught English at Paichai Hakdang. Kim
Jwa-jin in 1907 set up Homyeong School in his hometown. Lee Shi-young in 1912
inaugurated Shin Heung Military Officer School in Bukgando (North Gando). And
Shin Chae-ho in 1905 taught at Mundong Hakwon in Cheongwon, North Chungcheong Province and established Sandong Hakwon.

Now let's identify one common feature that the following share: Kim Koo, Ahn Jung-geun, Lee Dong-hwi, Park Eun-sik, Ahn Chang-ho and Yi Sung-hun.

These too are all independence fighters. But is there more? The correct answer to this question, again, is that they all established schools or taught youngsters. Kim Koo established Bongyang School in Jangyeon, Hwanghae Province in 1900, Gwangjin School in 1904 and Yangsan School in 1906, and taught at each of them. Ahn Jung-geun established Samhung School in Jinnampo in 1906 and then Donui School. Park Eun-sik played the leading role in establishing Seobuk Cooperative School in 1906 and later became its principal. Lee Dong-hwi set up Hapil School in Gangwon Province in 1905, after which he opened schools in Kaesong, Pyongyang and Wonsan. Ahn Chang-ho set up Jeomjin School in 1899, the first modern school in the northwest, and started Daeseong School in 1907. And Yi Sung-hun established Osan School in Jeongju, North Pyongan Province, in 1907.

Although I don't know what scores the president, prime minister and deputy premier might have gotten, the Cheong Wa Dae 386ers would evidently have scored zero. For had they known these historical facts, they wouldn't have bungled the nation's education system so much.

Between 1905 when Korea was deprived of its diplomatic rights under the Eulsa Treaty and 1910 when the nation was colonized by Japan, thousands of schools were established in every nook and corner of the country.

The phenomenon was spurred by idea that the only way for the country to rebuild
and regain its independence was to train talented students with awareness and
savvy of world affairs. It's lamentable that the awakening didn't come 50 years
or at least 30 years earlier. That gap of 50 or 30 years resulted in the
nation's ruin. Observing the fruits of good education and the harm from bad
education requires the passage of time. People may regret their misfortunes
after years of bad education has ruined their country, but by then it's too
late.

What is our situation like today, 100 years after we had to suffer such grievances? In the past five years this administration has failed to develop a single elementary school, middle school, high school or university that can compete with their counterparts overseas. Instead it has crushed our budding talents. It has exhausted the national coffers by swelling the number of civil servants by 60,000 and building dozens of administrative offices in empty fields. It has been obsessed by a mistaken belief that shortening the tall and lengthening the small means equality, and that that is the objective of education.

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!

South Korea turns against 'arrogant' Christian hostages - Independent Online Edition > Asia

So are these Christian missionaries brave or stupid? Are they out to do God's work or are they being stupid? I talked about this strange human behaviour earlier. But it is still not the same.

If you think these are all hero's, then compare these missionaries with Rachel Corrie. She was killed after she was protesting against the demolition of a house by an Israeli bulldozer while these missionaries were killed by the Taliban who were presumably upset about their proselytising activities. Worthy of a "hmmm", no?

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South Korea turns against 'arrogant' Christian hostages
By Daniel Jeffreys in Seoul
Published: 04 August 2007

The kidnap of South Korean church volunteers by the Taliban has caused deep divisions back home, forcing into the open a dark truth: many Koreans resent Christians and the speed with which they have become a dominant force in the upper echelons of society.

The captive missionaries - 18 women and five men - who were seized in Afghanistan two weeks ago hailed from the Saemmul Presbyterian Church, which is based in an affluent dormitory town south of Seoul.

After they were taken hostage, the church's online bulletin board was deluged with negative statements. Many called the missionaries "arrogant" for trying to proselytise in a Muslim country gripped by conflict.

When the group's pastor, Bae Hyung-ku, was killed last week, the hostile messages increased and the church decided to close its site rather than endure what a press release from Bae's family called "more hatred and misunderstanding."

But this did not halt the critics. A news bulletin board at Naver, Korea's leading portal, attracted vicious denunciations. "Yes, let's pray for the hostages' safe return, only to see these missionaries kneel down and apologise to the people for the Protestants' arrogance," wrote a man who described himself as a "humanist teacher."

Whang Sang-min, a psychology professor at the prestigious Yonsei University, said: "There is growing resentment toward Christians. Many Koreans feel oppressed by the power of the church."

Korea was a Buddhist country 120 years ago, with only a few thousand Christians, mostly Catholics, who faced intense persecution. By the 1960s, Korea had about a million Christians, but their numbers exploded in the decades that followed.

Christians now make up 31 per cent of South Korea's population. At night, the Seoul skyline glitters with video billboards and neon lights but all the commercial illumination is rivalled by the thousands of bright red crosses that shine from the churches found on almost every street corner.

Korea now has more than 36,000 churches, and many of them are loud and proud with a firm commitment to missionary work and a passionate zeal for evangelism.

A typical example is Somang church in the Apgugeong district, Seoul's equivalent of Knightsbridge. It attracts over 15,000 worshippers every Sunday, and the weekly church collection plate rakes in more than £30,000, much of which is devoted to funding overseas missions. The choir is packed with professional and semi-professional opera singers, and the conservative presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak is a member of the congregation.

Saemmul, the captive missionaries' church, was formed by a breakaway group from Somang and it has grown so big it recently converted a five-storey shopping centre into a new church - the Yeoido Full Gospel church in central Seoul, which has 750,000 regular attendees, making its congregation the largest in the Christian world.

Korea has 16,000 missionaries working overseas, second only to the US.

The chairmen of all South Korea's top-10 companies are Christians, as are the majority of National Assembly members.

If the Taliban kills another one of its hostages there will be great sadness here, but also more anger against Christians. A posting on Naver earlier this week gives a taste of the degree of resentment some Koreans feel: "The missionaries are getting what they deserve," wrote a woman who described herself as a secular Buddhist. "Maybe now some of them will stop trying to ram Jesus down our throats."

Kang Sung-zu, South Korea's ambassador to Afghanistan, has arranged to meet with Taliban forces within the next few days to begin negotiations for the release of the remaining 21 church workers.

The Taliban have already killed two of its captives, but it announced yesterday that no more will be executed before the direct negotiations with Mr Kang take place.

FutureGen project being set up to generate power and hydrogen from clean coal technologies and sequestration of carbon dioxide in danger

Surely something good and new that comes out of this project that is so crucial to mankind relating to climate change should be in public domain rather than belong to just one country? no wonder this is causing problems in India, China and South Korea.

Indian envoy pens historic love story

One of my friends referred to her father's book, which is unfortunately in Korean so I cannot get to read it. But I love this genre', its very evocative and well, strange mixture of nostalgia and historical interest. When i read history, it was dusty, dry and always associated it with examinations, not a good thing. But now, if I read something like this, its brilliant, love it. This is the last book which I read, Cuckold by Kiran Nagarkar. lovely! Cant wait for Indian Ambassador to South Korea, Shri Nagesha Parthasarathi to come up with the english edition of his book, sounds like a brilliant read!