K-pop, Pretty through Plastic?

Hi everyone~

Back in Indonesia, people around me generally has the idea that almost every single South Korean celebrity has gone under the knife, especially the female ones. I remember when I was watching Girls' Generation music video "Dancing Queen" several years ago on my living room television, my mother came over and watched the video together with me. Several seconds into the video, she commented, "They are really skinny and pretty, do they even eat?" and then she continues again, "How can all of them be so pretty, how many times did they fix their faces?"

I thought it would end there. But the next day, when I was watching a Korean variety show Strong Heart, she looked at one of the guests and commented, "Oh, this one is not as pretty as the ones you showed me yesterday. But she had some surgeries too, right?" And not only my mom, most of my friends also had similar comments.

So, are all k-pop idols "artificial"? I doubt so. I believe some of them are what people like to call "Natural beauties", and I also think that even the ones who had gone under the knife did not reconstruct their whole face, just some particular part, such as nose or jaw. But still, since plastic surgery is not very common in most countries and even is considered taboo by some people, I can understand why my mom or other people think that all k-pop idols had done it.

Can we really blame them though? In a society where even normal people care so much about their looks, a celebrity would be forced to look as good as possible. Lee Jung-bok, 17, a contestant of K-pop Star from Los Angeles said that talent still trumps looks, but looks are major selling point in the industry. Lee added, "When I was in K-pop Star, they wanted me to be a typical looking star... You can't be who you are. It's like being a puppet". Lee also said that her friends get plastic surgery to look prettier, "They want to look like Girls' Generation and f(x)... They want to be pretty like them".

Around a decade ago, the majority of Koreans receiving plastic surgeries are females in their 20s and 30s. But then the trend shifted to younger generation, as more teenagers went under the knife. In 2011, an e-Seoul survey reported by JoongAng Daily found that 41.4 percent of teens were "willing to have plastic surgery for beauty". While it is difficult to prove that this phenomenon is caused by K-pop explosion, everyone knows that k-pop artists are not only recognized for their music, but also their physical appearance. The fact that this trend started right after the boom of K-pop strengthen the belief that K-pop was the cause of this phenomenon. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not.

Back to Lee Jung-bok's statement, "Talent still trumps looks". There is a good example I want to share. Do you guys know Brown Eyed Girls? The ones who sang 'Abracadabra'. Yes, they are well-known by public for their amazing vocals and stage presence. But also, they are known for their plastic surgeries. Yes, even with talents they still needed cosmetic surgeries (and hip sway) to be recognized by people. From this case, it seems that Lee's statement is incorrect.

1-0 for Looks

But hey, there are many cases where the statement is correct also. I picked two examples, one is the world star Psy, and the other one is the K-pop Star 2 winners Akdong Musician. Everyone knows Psy, right? Everyone knows Gangnam Style. Everyone also knows that Psy's success was not driven by his outer appearance. His looks were not objectively stunning (hey, some people like his looks, mind you), but his charisma and ability in composing catchy tunes brought him up there.

1-1. For both talent and looks. Tie.

As for Akdong Musician, while they are still not well known by people outside of Korea, they have a huge popularity here. Most people think they don't look as good as most celebrity do, but whenever they release a song, it becomes a hit. Of course the fact that they got recognition through K-pop Star must not be forgotten, but they became the winner because of their talent too, so...

2-1 for Talent

Well, there are millions of examples out there, whether in Korea or out of Korea. Whether you like talent better or looks better, whether you like natural beauty or "enhanced" beauty, that's up to your choice, folks. The important thing is...

Be a nice person.

And also....

Bye everyone~

North Korean Defectors

Have you guys watched this video?

I nearly cried watching this video. She is Yeonmi Park, a girl who successfully escaped from North Korea after facing many many difficulties. While we don't know what is really happening behind the doors, if all the things that she said are true, then I really hope we can help those who are still trapped inside of the country...

Many North Koreans defected since the division of Korea after the World War II and the Korean War. Most of them have strong reasons which are political, ideology, religious, and economic reasons. The North Korean famine, which lasts from 1994 to 1998 increased the number of defectors. This is reasonable, because with the condition of the country where around 3.5 million people died because of starvation, naturally North Koreans would seek a more promising place to live in.

At first I thought that all North Korean defectors left their homeland due to economic and ideological differences only. But then after hearing about the regimes of North Korean current and former leaders and hearing stories about how they are being oppressed over there really sparked something in me.

The video above has about 1.8 million views on YouTube site, and till today, it is still increasing. While it isn't a big number for a video on YouTube, it is certainly a big number for a speech video. I really hope people will be more aware of this problem.

Starcraft~~!! (Help me people...)

I remember one of my close friends who was a fan of Super Junior member Kyuhyun told me about Kyuhyun's hobby of playing starcraft. I even heard that he has a nickname Game-gyu because of that.

And even though at first I did not really care about it, friends around me were all Kyuhyun's fans, and thus I kept hearing about Game-gyu everywhere, at school, through facebook, twitter, etc etc~

As someone who has never played starcraft, or any popular online game in general, this topic is quite foreign to me...

But hey, WHY NOT?

Starcraft poster... cool but kinda scary for me....

I cannot talk much about it here, but I would love to hear your personal opinions and maybe some stories about Starcraft gameplay if you have tried before.

Do Koreans Speak English?

So... this week's topic is about English education in Korea.

This is an interesting topic for me, since a lot of my friends from Indonesia ask me whether I use English or Korean to study at school. As an International student, I studied using English, but my Korean friends study mostly in Korean.

Some people might think, why bother using or studying English if it is not our first language? Well, quite obviously, since English is the international language, many people try their hardest to use English in their daily lives.

The thing is, most of my friends who are kpop fans often assume Korean students are not very good at english. Why? Because many of their favorite Korean singers or actors/actresses are not very capable of speaking English.

The video above, even though it is clearly a video for fun, unfortunately reflects my friends' views on most Koreans' English speaking ability.

Actually, most of you guys might not know, but there are many K-pop artists who can speak English quite well, even though they are not native speakers. For example, girl group After School's member Lizzy is known for her English ability among K-pop fans. Here is a video:

Again, it's a fun video. Who am I to take away the fun from K-pop, right? :D

Lizzy (the member wearing green jacket) herself once commented on how people praise her for her English. She said, "My English is actually just average among Korean students. I studied hard, but still I am not very good at it".This statement of hers did not really surprise me to be honest, since I know many Korean students who speak English quite well.

So, of course not every Korean is fluent in English (well, they don't need to be, since it's not their mother tongue), but if you come to Korea you will find people who can speak English. Some of them are brave enough to hold a conversation, some of them are maybe a little bit shy but they definitely can hold a conversation fairly well.

Anyway folks, English is helpful, so let's study English ^^

Sachultang!!!

This week's topic is about Korean food, and I am going to post several entries about it, because I love Korean food, or just food in general... don't you? I mean, look at this:

fig.1 Korean side dishes

Sorry I made you hungry guys~ but let's get to the main topic.

Years ago, I use to watch Girls' Generation's Hello Baby (by KBS TV), the variety show every Girls' Generation fan knows. I enjoyed it so much, and it is still one of my favorite variety shows. I remember when I was watching one of the episodes, the members were teasing their American-born member Tiffany because her Korean language skill is still lacking. Here is the clip:

If you click on the image up there you can watch the clip with English subtitle. So basically Tiffany (the one with short hair who keeps asking) asked the other members what is sachultang. The other members teased her by saying that sachultang means soup with 4 bars of iron in it (Sa(사) = 4, Chul(철) = iron, Tang(탕) = soup). She seemed to not believe it at first, but then she asked when do people eat the soup, and the members answered "The first ten days and the last ten days of midsummer heat". She seemed to have believed it at first, but then the members started saying weird things such as "That's why if you exercise and get tired, you shave off iron from an iron bar and eat it". She then realized that they were all teasing her.

After watching the clip, I was very curious about sachultang, and so I asked my Korean friends, but they did not know about it and ended up searching it on the internet. And so I thought, "Is it not common to eat sachultang in Korea?"

Sachultang, or Boshintang, as most people call it, is a kind of soup with dog meat inside of it. I know it might sound weird to you, but it is true. Sachultang is believed to have the ability to increase virility (manhood/manliness). It is also a traditional dish with a very long history. A wall painting in the Goguryeo tombs complex depicts a slaughtered dog in a storehouse. Also in 1816, Jeong Hak-Yu, the son of a famous politician and scholar of Joseon dynasty wrote a poem called Nongwollyeonga, which describes that families often bring dog meat soup to their parents in August. This shows that dog meat consumption had been a popular thing since long time ago.

fig.2 Boshintang

But nowadays, people from both inside and outside of Korea are protesting the dog meat consumption, with the reason that "dogs are human's closest friends". As someone who has never have a dog as a pet and as someone who does not think dogs exclusively as humans' only animal friends, I think the fact that people are protesting the consumption of dog meat for the reason mentioned above is quite wrong. I believe every animal has its own mind and they have feelings too, not only dogs. And the consumption of dog meat has been a part of Korean food culture since long time ago, even though it is not a significantly big part. I believe that people who eat dog meat should not mind others' opinions and continue to enjoy their meals.

Even though it is NOT illegal to consume dog meat in Korea, many younger people here do not consume dog meat, at least not on a constant basis. This shows how the view of people on dog meat consumption has become, and shows that Korea is globalized not only in Science and Technology but also the cultural shift towards something more 'westernized'. Well, what do you think about the consumption of dog meat? Should Koreans keep this cultural habit or should they throw it away?

Irfan Rulianto

Korean Crisis

The topic for this week is about Korean Crisis. But rather than focusing on the crises South Korea have been exposed to for the past few decades, we are going to focus more on the crises both North Korea and South Korea faced as they were separated from each other.

Yes, forgive me, but no K-pop for this week (sorrysorrysorry) but we will have many weeks upcoming so we can talk about it later, right? :)

Both Koreas were born in crisis. Even though Korea was released from Japan's colonial rule in 1945, it faced the separation very quickly, in 1948. It's as if the world does not want to give Korea a break. And even after that, in 1950 the Korean war broke and brought even more crisis to both countries. Since then, Korea has been known as one of the most 'sensitive' places in the world, where a small misunderstanding can lead to a nuclear war between the North and the South. Although the war has died down by now, the tension is still thick enough to be felt by the whole world.

In this post, I am going to talk about the prospect of the reunification of the two Koreas.

The idea of reunification of the two Koreas has always been one of the most discussed topics among not only Koreans but also people of other countries. Many believe that at one point in the future North and South will reunite, but others believe that they would not, even some believe that they should not. But if the two Koreas will be one someday, how should they?

On account of the sharp experience of the Korean War in 1950-53 the Korean individuals in the North and South need to accomplish the reunification of two Koreas by quiet means. The two Koreas have changed their ways to the two-sided relations by expanding financial cooperations and also the gathering of divided families. There are 10 million Korean individuals who are divided from one another because of the Korean War and a significant number of them are maturing and need to accomplish the get-together of differentiated families amid their lifetime. 

Amid the characteristic fiasco of surge, draft, and starvation in North Korea in the 1993-94 period South Korea gave million tons of nourishment, fuel and alleviation supports for philanthropic motivations to the starving North Korean comrade. The more youthful era which has never encountered the Korean War constituted more than 70 percent of South Korean populace and request more reconciliatory and compassionate way to North Korean individuals and perform the reunification of two Koreas by tranquil means. 

Be that as it may, the grandiose objectives of compromise and reunification of the two Koreas could be attained to just when the North Korean administration is willing to surrender the improvement of the atomic weapons by tolerating the security insurance and philanthropic support of the significant forces at the Six-Party Conference in Beijing. At that point the reunification of two Koreas may be accomplished gently with the assent and security assurance of the four noteworthy forces encompassing the Korean promontory including China, Japan, Russia and the United which are affecting the future heading of compromise and reunification of two Koreas.

source: http://www.iic.edu/Main/AboutUs/publications/IICKoreaDivisionImpact.htm

K-pop's Rise to Globalism

This week's class topic is The Rise of Globalism. So this post would be about The Rise of K-pop and its role in globalizing Korea. It is a little bit serious topic, but it is good for your additional knowledge... Enjoy this post and come back for the next one!

In the past 60 years, Korea had been undergoing a lot of changes. While Korea officially became an independent country in 1945, the struggle of Korea and Koreans did not stop there. The Korean war, the 1997 crisis, the list just goes on. But now, when foreigners talk about Korea, the words that would first pop out to our minds probably are Samsung, Hyundai, Kimchi, or Psy.


                     Psy's 2012 mega-hit 'Gangnam Style' (source: www.soompi.com)

Psy, with his 2012 hit single "Gangnam Style" shook the world with his "horse dance" craze. Even though he remains the most well known K-pop artist in the world so far, he was not the first act to start the K-pop wave globalization.

K-pop, which emerged in the early 2000s, has been "replacing" J-pop's place as Asia's center of pop music. The very first emergence of the Korean Wave was actually right after the 1997 IMF crisis in Korea. The Korean Government which was ambitious in bringing back the economical power of South Korea tried to exploit new markets for its products and also to diversify the range of products exported. And as Koreans realized that their culture can be marketed just like cars and electronic devices, K-pop was aggressively promoted all across the Asia, especially East and Southeast Asia.

H.O.T, along with other first generation k-pop idols were the first ones who spread the kpop awareness among East Asian countries such as Japan and China. The next generations idols such as Super Junior and Girls' Generation were the ones who made Korean pop music the new Asian craze.

The Korean Wave is more than just a cultural idea. As K-pop becomes more globalized, the income also increases, at a rapid pace. As the table below shows, from 2008 to 2012 the exports of K-pop had increased by more than 14 times. Although compared to other industries' export it might not be much, this is not a small amount of money. Also, the number of YouTube views had increased from 800 million to 7.0 billion just in two years! Of course Psy is responsible for about one-third of that number, but it is still a huge improvement.

source: en.wikipedia.org

So, by listening to K-pop and attending your favorite oppas' concert, you are indirectly supporting Korea's economy? Maybe, maybe not, but hey, keep listening to K-pop!

References:

1. The Journey of Cultural Globalization in Korean Pop Music, Tom Dixton, 2011

2. cynicalkpop.wordpress.com

3. English Wikipedia - K-pop

Irfan Rulianto