Contemporary Issues

North Korean Refugee

http://koreajoongangdaily.joinsmsn.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2949003

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/23/world/asia/seoul-urges-china-to-not-return-north-korean-refugees.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=north%20korea%20refugee&st=cse

Recently, the problem of North Korean Refugee had been highly issued. Many of the North Koreans who had escaped to China are sent back to North Korea, where they would receive severe torture, if caught by Chinese officials. Many of the human rights supporters are asking China to admit North Koreans as refugees, not intruders, and to protect them. South Korean Governments are recently making some steps to negotiate too. China, however, still maintains their first position: sending the trespassers to their home.
What do you think about the China's attitude toward North Korean issues?

Russia Election

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/06/world/europe/observers-detail-flaws-in-russian-election.html?ref=russia

After the recent presidential election in Russia, and the commanding winning of Putin, a group of opposition had posed that Mr. Putin had "unfairly benefited" from many of the situation factors.
Some of the people criticizes that it was rather a procedure than an election, for it was quiet obvious that Mr. Putin will win the election.
What do you think about Vladimir Putin's victory in Russian election?

Highrise Outline

Questions to consider:

The person I have chosen to go through is John from Johannesburg in South Africa. Johannesburg is the largest city in South Africa. It is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, which tells that the city is in advanced state than other African cities. However, according to what he had said in one of his three videos, Johannesburg is an unstable city. There are many ‘hijacked buildings,’ the buildings which are occupied by violent robbers. These hijackers kill the real owner of the building and steal the ownership from him. Then, they collect money from residents. Hijackers often refuse to pay basic fees to government to receive water or electrical service, which leads service to stop. However, residents cannot move out or refuse to pay the rent because it they do so, hijackers will shot them one night (they don’t hesitate).

           Also, people in Johannesburg have a bad habit. That is, throwing their old furniture and garbage out of their window. This is becoming a serious problem because this not only makes the street dirty and unorganized, but also treats people who are walking by.

What do I see when I look out my window?

           Right out at my window, I see many buildings full of institutions. Almost in every city of Korea, one can notice this scene. However, there is one special scene out in my window. Near my apartment area, there is so to speak ‘nightlife district.’ What do I mean by this? I mean there are literally hundreds of karaoke, bars, and nightclubs. Although this cannot be called ‘the only place’ in Korea, this sure is very unique scene, to see more than 300 karaoke concentrated in a city. Furthermore, because some of institutions are placed near this area and I had attended one of those institutions, the scene is very familiar to me now. The time I felt that I am more used to these than other students was when I stayed in Seoul last winter. The apartment I stayed with my friends was placed in the middle of this ‘nightlife district.’ So there were millions of little advertisement about clubs, bars, and even prostitution. Other students freaked out while I was just a little amazed to find out how many people works in such industry.

           Moreover, the food alley is also in this area. One can find every kind of food they want to eat: sushi, steaks, Han Jeong Sik- a full course Korean meal-, tunas, raw fish, ramen, Vietnamese restaurant, Chinese restaurant, curry house, all the kinds of roast meats and of course Baskin Robbins! Unlike Seoul, one can eat delicious foods in much cheaper price because the rent is cheaper. Especially if the cuisine is related to sea food, the quality is much higher (because the sea less than an hour away).

           In one sentence, what I see out my window are educational and entertaining venues. However, Changwon’s street is much safer than that of Johannesburg because there is no violence involving serious danger (death) because gun is not allowed in Korea.

           One more interesting thing, there is a Southern type of dolmen in the middle of our city. It’s quite cool.

How does that compare to the view out my chosen participant's window?

           Changwon is much safer because there’s no one who will shoot other. One can safely wonder around the city even in the midnight.

What are the items/features of my home that define culture, family, and well being?

How do Korea's economy, politics, and cultural issues compare to that of (other country)?

What are your impressions after experiencing HIGHRISE?

           The world is full of diverse civilizations and cultures. Even in one country, there are hundreds of distinct cultures that mingles together.

Everybody has a "here and now," resulting from seemingly insignificant life choices and conditions.  What are mine?  Have I thought much about them?

Moving into Changwon from Masan. (although Masan became a part of Changwon now.)

Can a mouse click change history?

Satire Brainstorming

Satire: literary genre

-       Ridicule: vices, follies, abuses, shortcomings

Why?

-       To shame

-       Then intend to be led to improvement

Devices

-       Use: wit

Ø  Mostly funny

-       Main purpose: social criticism

Topic: Diet

Diet. Diet. Diet. Nowadays, “diet” is a big concern for many people. There are motley ways suggested, and tons of what to dos and what not to dos. In this appearance-oriented world, people diet not only to satisfy themselves, but also to live more comfortably. It is true that those who are in good shape tend to get jobs better. This might sound silly but almost every female, at least once in their life time, tried diet. (Of course there are some people who never gain weight, but that’s only a “few.”)

As a result, literally “tons” of businesses targeting diet came out, including chicken breast, herbal life, detox, and variable fruit diets (banana, apple, etc.). Why should people give up eating all those palatable foods instead of going against the vogue?

Although I myself am stuck in today’s fashion of diet, I’d like to try some satire on diet, in a way like Miner’s “Body Rituals among the Nacerima”

I add some videos and pictures below.

Click this to watch Onion’s

Another one~ click

And a YouTube

Chain Writing

What Kind of Book Is This?

“Wake Up!”

My mother woke me up. She just cannot stand me sleeping over 10 even on weekends. Since she would keep yelling at me until I wake up, I gave up sleeping and went down. On the way down the stairs, smell of pancakes captivated me.

“I love you mom! How did you know I wanted pancake!” said I.

“Silly! Come on down and eat your pancakes. Oh, by the way, don’t you have to hurry up? Doesn’t the bookstore start at 8? You said you need to buy a book yesterday.” said my mother.

“Right! I was completely forgetting about it! Thanks mom! I think I have to run!” said I.

“What about the pancake?” said my mother.

“I’ll take care of them later!” said I.

As soon as I came out of the room, I started to run. I needed to go as fast as I could to “el Libros”, the secondhand bookstore in our town. Jack, the owner of the bookstore, had told me that new books will come out yesterday. No, it’s tomorrow now. Since the master in the bookstore always censored all the books before he sells any of them, he exhibited new books once in a month. And today it the day!

“Hello? Jack, are you there?” said I.

I looked around. Although the door of the store was opened, I couldn’t sense anyone’s presence. It was weird. Jack usually doesn’t leave his store emptied. So I started to look around the shop. There was a pile of books for sale and also, for disposal.

I used to not give any attention to those pile of books for disposal, because I believe Jack’s eye. However, it was different this time. There was one book that caught my sight. It was an old book. I walked slowly toward the book and grabbed it, and started reading.

In the future, the boy will be a “successful” playboy. He is the most talkative person ever known. Especially he loves to talk with girls.

“What are you doing?” said Jack.

“Oh, you were there! Nothing! I was just looking around.” said I.

“I see, you were checking the new books! Well, then throw away the one you grabbed. That’s a trash. The story is not even half finished.” said Jack.

“Is it? That’s pathetic. I thought it would be fun. You know, I have this innate ability to find the books that are entertaining, and this book touched my sensor.” said I.

“Stop that foolish joke. However, if you want that one, you can just have it. No one will buy that piece of junk anyways.” said Jack.

“Really? Thanks Jack! I really appreciate it!” said I.

“Just take it as a present for regulars.” said Jack.

I quickly returned to home after. Being too excited about getting the book, I couldn’t shop any more. I lied on my bed and started reading the book.

He talks a lot. Yes, he even talks much more than most girls at his age. His dream since he was young was to become the most “successful” playboy in the world. The call log of his phone was always full of girls or he hoped so. He never thought that he would become a man who only looks up to one person like people in television series. He thought that was the stupidest thing to do until one day, when met this girl. This girl he met was tall and talkative. She was very, very talkative, more than a person could imagine.

Suddenly, I recalled someone’s face. There was a boy named Nicolas Black who recently transferred to our school. Since he was not only handsome, but also good at sports, music, math and everything, he became popular among our high school within a week. Yeah.. Nick’s very talkative, and his call log must be filled with many girls, seeing that many girls were dying to get his phone number. Nevertheless, I didn’t really like him. He acted weird in front of me. Unlike usual, he froze and never really talked to me. Weird guy.

Oops! Oh my god. I was totally forgetting about my homework! Ha, thanks to him that he reminded me of chemistry homework that I have to do with him, though he didn’t intended. It would take years to finish it. Poor me.

Next day, a weird thing happened. As I stepped into the chemistry class, Nick said Hello to me. He never really talked to me before. I was a little hesitated, but I answered “Hello?” Then, so suddenly Nick started to talk. Yes, he talked for an hour long during chemistry class. How can a person be so noisy and irritating? I could not concentrate on the class at all! One odd thing was, however, that he asked my phone number. He’s probably making a collection with the names of girls. He even told me to call him Nick. Oh, that makes two odd things.

During the lunchtime, I took the book out of the back and read it. I thought the story was silly yesterday; but as I read it, now it scared me.

That’s when the boy realized, with great fancy in his mind, that he is going to fall for this girl. Encountering a figure that he had never dared to imagine was a turning point and a serious one too. So one day, he said “Hello?” to the girl. Then, answered a high-pitched voice “Hello?” The boy froze, for he had not expected the girl to answer him so brightly. But for the boy, there was no such thing as a ‘frozen moment.’ He began to talk soon enough, spitting out words like a stream without even knowing what he was saying.

Wow. Some of the story seemed to fit my situation now, although one thing, that the boy liked the girl, did not seemed to be true for me. Rather than love, he would hate me at best judging from the fact that he ignores me most of the time. Damn, the ring rang, I have to go now.

(After the school ended)

I was working on my art project. Suddenly, my cell phone rang.

“Hey, what’s up? It’s Nick. Are you busy right now?” said Nick.

“I was doing my art project, but yes, I do have some spare time. What’s up?”

“Nothing special, it’s just……………………”

“What? I can’t hear you. Hey! Nick! Is he off the phone?”

I just hung up and continued my drawing. Later in the night, I began reading the book again. Usually, if I start reading a book, I finish it or at least almost finish the book at once. However, there had been many interruptions on reading this one.

           Later in the day, he called the girl and talked about everything. But there was something very weird about the phone line of the girl’s house phone. It was making a weird beeping voice all along. Just then, the boy realized: the girl was teasing him.

           Would it sound lunatic if I say that I think the story seem to be so similar to what I have experienced today? Never mind, how on earth such thing could happen. It must be coincidence. Besides, the story was really attracting me now. I kept reading the book until the end.

The boy was frustrated and he thought about his love. ‘Although my love for her is really pure, she does not realize. No, she does not even see me as a friend!’ The boy was horrified. The boy wanted the girl to realize his love. Therefore, on White Day, the boy planned to give handful candy and flower to her with a poem. He heard advice from HJ, who has girlfriend, and HJ advised the boy to sing a song with guitar. The time has come, the boy called the girl to meet privately. But she answered “No.” The boy was frustrated. However, he was not the boy of weak determination. Since then, he called her four times a day for about two months. The girl finally accepted. The boy was so happy for meeting the girl. He bought a clothes, perfume, and flower for her. Then, finally, he went to the restaurant, and that was the start of the disaster.

           This was it. There was no story after this. Whoever the author is, I really want to kill this person right now. How can he finish the story at such a curious point? Although I’m dying to know the next story, there was nothing I could do. Maybe, the next story would appear if the story I had just read comes to happen.

Personal Essay 2nd Draft

Starry Night in Sierra Leone

A “moron”. That’s how a student described Vincent Van Gogh.

           Last winter vocation, I went to Sierra Leone, the poorest country on the Earth. Sierra Leone is located in West Africa, near the Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire). Unlike African countries on the Ivory Coast, who are comparatively rich due to abundant natural resources and tourist attractions, Sierra Leone has nothing but the blood diamond. What motivated me to go to Sierra Leone first was not humanitarian affection; rather, it was curiosity. My travel experience was limited to North America, and I had never expected myself visiting Africa. Thus, for me, Africa was the land of adventure. Illusions of Safaris and infinite land horizons attracted me like an invitation to enter Wonderland. Still, numerous television shows and news articles about its despair, brutality, and famish alerted me. Yet, going to Africa, especially Sierra Leone, for volunteering was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that would not present itself again. Therefore, I decided to journey to a gigantic land filled with hope and misery, with 7 other people (6 KMLA students and one parent as a guardian).

           On the first day of arrival, after more than 24 hours of flying, I saw the television screen. I saw what those television shows were broadcasting: unpaved roads occupied by black people of all ages in worn clothes, selling basic needs amidst crude buildings made of mud and scraps of woods. Those were the first things that I saw. Soon after, I found out that the country had neither proper waterworks nor power plants. Growing up in a country with optic LAN cables installed everywhere, this country seemed to live a world 50 in the past.

           The next morning, we headed to the Korean Protestant Missionary (KPM) secondary school to do our volunteering. Before we came to Sierra Leone, the principal of the school had asked us to teach them art and music classes, because students of this school do not have those classes in their regular schedule. Thus, we had prepared an introduction to famous artists and musicians, a drawing class, a recorder lesson, and a lecture about Korea’s development from the 1960s until now.

           A funny thing about the classes was that in a class of grade 8, there are students from fifteen years of age to nearly twenty. This was due to the test students have to take every year to move up to the next grade. Students in this country are really busy. They have to help with housework and commerce. The schools even close after 1 p.m. because students have to go. As a result, they have no time to study, which causes them to fail the grade tests.

           We had originally planned to visit middle-school students only; however, because high school students had asked us to give a lesson to them too, we changed our plan and went to high school classes on the last day. Unlike secondary school students, their sight was sharp and the atmosphere was studious. I was to give the introduction to artist. It was in the first class that the “situation” happened.

I was introducing Vincent Van Gogh. I told them that Van Gogh killed himself after long despair of being an unknown artist. This was not a problem. However, as I told them that his younger brother had supported him economically, so that Van Gogh could continue his career, one of the students showed a little grievance.

           He said “I have brothers and sisters. I work hard and study hard to support and to be able to support them. I never thought my life is pathetic though. Nor had I ever considered committing suicide. That person, Mr. Van Gogh, he’s a moron. He was just too weak to endure his own agony.”

           At the moment, I was paralyzed. Vincent Van Gogh was my favorite artist, whom I had liked from very young age. Whenever I create art work, the first thing I consider is emulating his work. Trying to capture the essence of “The Starry Night” or “Cafe Terrace at Night”, I sympathized with his feelings. I understand his agony.

Nevertheless, after hearing the student’s words, my world abruptly stopped turning. What I had believed all suddenly seemed fake. I did not understand Van Gogh; rather, it was pretense full of arrogance. I was just a copy-cat imitating what other prominent people said, never voicing my own opinion.

          Then, there came the second thought: there is a hope in this country. Youngsters here are working hard. Before, I could only see poor people that we should help; but after the snobbish shell of prejudice peeled off, I saw equally hard-working people who are trying to develop their country, like our grandparents have done. At that moment, I took a glimpse of the students in the class. Their eyes were all shining like diamonds.

           After the day ended, I could not go to sleep easily. So I went outside, to watch the sky. The sky of Africa was full of stars; the number that I have never ever seen or will see in South Korea. Was Van Gogh a moron? I laughed to myself with a mix of bemusement and sadness. Who could clearly answer this question other than the student? But there was one thing that I could guarantee: In any case, the starry sky of Africa outshone those in his paintings. At last, my thoughts adjusted. Africa was not a land of desperation. Instead, it was the land of hope.

Chain Writing- Playboy

In the future, the boy will be a “successful” playboy, I guess. He is the most talkative person I’ve ever known. Especially he loves to talk with girls. I will not tell you his name, but I’m sure you know who he is.

He talks a lot. Yes, he talks much more than most girls at his age. His dream since he was young is to become the most “successful” playboy in the world. The call log of his phone was always full of girls or he hoped so. He never thought that he would become a man who only looks up to one person like people in television series. He thought that was the stupidest thing to do until one day, when met this girl. This girl he met was tall and talkative. She was very, very talkative, more than a person could imagine.

That’s when the boy realized, with great fancy in his mind, that he is going to fall for this girl. Encountering a figure that he had never dared to imagine was a turning point and a serious one too. So one day, he called the girl. “Hello?” Then, answered a high-pitched voice “Hello?” The boy froze, for he had not expected the girl to answer his call so brightly. But for the boy, there was no such thing as a ‘frozen moment.’ He began to talk soon enough, spitting out words like a stream without even knowing what he was saying. But there was something very weird about the phone line of the girl’s house phone. It was making a weird beeping voice all along. Just then, the boy realized: the girl was teasing him.

           The boy was frustrated and he thought about his love. ‘Although my love for her is really pure, she does not realize. No, she does not even see me as a friend!’ The boy was horrified.

The boy wanted the girl to realize his love. Therefore, on White Day, the boy planned to give handful candy and flower to her with a poem. He heard advice from SHJ, who has girlfriend, and SHJ advised the boy to sing a song with guitar.

           The time has come, the boy called the girl to meet privately. But she answered “No.” The boy was frustrated. However, he was not the boy of weak determination. Since then, he called her four times a day for about two months. The girl finally accepted. The boy was so happy for meeting the girl. He bought a clothes, perfume, and flower for her. Then, finally, he went to the restaurant, and that was the start of the disaster.

The Person of the Year Essay_ 2nd Draft

           Since 1927, Time magazine has selected a person with the biggest influence as "Person of the Year." In December of 2010, Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook and the world's youngest billionaire, was selected as “the Person of the Year,” winning over the founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, who rated top place on the online survey. If one only considers "positive events" for choosing the Person of the Year, the choice may be credible. However, the award does not treat the "influence" only in this way, seeing that even Hitler and Stalin are among its recipients. Considering threatening, controversial, and urgent topics that have been more critical in 2010, Kim family of North Korea should be 2010 the Person of the Year.

           The Kim family, the royal family of North Korea, was in the midst of international issues in 2010. To begin with, there was the second secession of power, first from Kim Il-sung to Kim Jong-Il in 1994, and then now from Kim Jong-Il to Kim Jong-Un. In communist countries, leaders command great power, and those who protest against government are likely be secretly “erased” from the community. However, even in other authoritarian countries, such incidence of turning one’s authority over to one’s family member rarely occurs, and certainly not in so-called communist countries. Surprisingly, North Korea has successfully done so without civilian protest, and will do so again very soon with Kim Jong-un. Songs of praise and spectacular stories of heroism about him have already been written, and his idolization is virtually complete. Although people from other countries would consider those stories untrustworthy and even hilarious, indoctrinated North Koreans believe it.

           Media of the North Korea is extremely narrow and is highly manipulated by authority. Ordinary people cannot have access to "information." Even if they do face some information, it is filtered by the government. In addition, the education is made to brainwash the people. Consequently, ignorant North Koreans believe whatever the government tells them, including ridiculous stories for idolization.

           Accordingly, there were two military incidents which occurred in 2010 which further underling the Kim’s influence in Asia: the attack against the South Korean Ship, the Cheonan, on March 26^th, and the civilian bombardment of Yeonpyeong on November 23^rd.

           At first thought to be ship wrecked, the Cheonan incident, which saw 40 Korean navy perish with 6 others missing, was later revealed to be the result of an attack from a North Korean submarine. This was concluded by an independent international investigation and raised further international concern over North Korea’s constant and unpredictable provocation. The incident, nevertheless, seem to face its end, all in an effort to preserve peace on the peninsula.

           On November 23, however, another incident occurred: North Korea attacked South Korea even more directly when Yeonpyeong Island, a rural area of Inchon populated with civilians, was bombarded. North Korea shot a total of 170 shells. In response, the South Korean government proclaimed “Jindotgae one”, a top level warning, and returned fire with 80 shells. Due to North Korea’s actions, nine South Koreans, including seven soildiers and two civilians, were sacrificed as the outcome of this bombardment. Aside from China, who remained distant from taking a position, the international society was alarmed and immediately blamed North Korea’s provocation.  Ban Ki moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, said he condemned North Korea's artillery attack, calling it “One of the gravest incidents since the end of the Korean War,' and he called for immediate restraint and insisted 'any differences should be resolved by peaceful means and dialogue.”

           On top of these provocations outside of North Korea, the Kim family also enlarged the gap between the rich, high-ranking officers who show loyalty, and the poor, ordinary citizens who are kept ignorant of their plight. To a level beyond imagination, North Koreans literally die of hunger, forced to collect bark off trees, grass roots, and even clovers in order to eat at least something. Even more horrific, there is news suggesting the appearance of cannibalism. This is not a story from the 1960’s or even the 1990’s; it is news reported last year, in 2010. Continuous military spending has depleted capital and resources. Although the upper classes continue their luxurious lives by monopolizing everything, civilians struggle for basic survival.

(Wealthy Class of North Korea)

(Poor class of North Korea- a female

24 years old, answering that she grup

up clovers to eat)

           Mark Zuckerberg was chosen to be 2010 the Person of the Year due to his contributions to development of communication. He was chosen for his good deeds. However, Facebook, in reality, gets more from its users than users get from Facebook. First, there is no privacy in Facebook. Everything one puts on his page is exposed to everyone. Anyone who wants to get the information about a person simply has to search it on Google Users sometimes want to reveal their information to a limited degree, but Facebook does not offer it. The only thing it gives one as choice is to expose one’s status to everyone in the world.

(A world map that an intern in Facebook, Paul Butler

made through connecting Facebook users' mutual interchange)

           Moreover, if you have noticed, Facebook has a system that sends “invitation letters” to someone you possibly know, without asking you. People who are on your MSN list or someone that your friend knows receives the letters from “you”. As a result, a person can have someone who one does not want on his or her friend list, allowing them to see your private information. How considerate Facebook is!

           Also, after Facebook realized the power of holding private or personal information, it started using its power to earn some capital. Most notably, it joined with Yelp, Pandora, and Microsoft and exchanged personal information with money. Yet, there is one more thing, the wickedest thing: the “I Like” button. By simply clicking the button, a person is giving out all the preference information to companies. Facebook collects all those information and add it up to make the list of private information. In the end, they sell the private information. This contradicts the logic behind choosing Mark Zuckerberg as the Person of the Year. He does more harm than good.

           To sum up, the Kim family from North Korea should earn 2010 the Person of the Year over Mark Zuckerberg. They caused many incidents significant enough for them to be nominated, although the reasons may be negative. Even if it might be true that Zuckerberg had some impact, a company crazy about profit is not as significant. A doubtful choice should not be made. Only clear and coherent selections should take place.