Blue is Me

Tag: south korea

  • Is feminism needed in South Korea?

    Yes.

    South Korea is one of the most gender unequal developed societies right now, and part of the reason is the deep pervasive influence of Confucianism which is inherently gender unequal.

    The women are traditionally tasked with more responsibilities such as taking care of the baby, cooking, taking care of her husband, her husband’s parents, preparing all the food for Chuseok etc

    In modern Korean society puts even more pressure and burden on them, women are also expected to dress up everyday, look pretty all the time, and also work.

    Korean men on the other hand, just have to work. That’s it. they don’t have these auxiliary responsibilities.

    In addition, there’s other problems in Korean society working against women. Women are discriminated for their appearance, women can be fired if they become pregnant, women are mostly the victims of sex crimes, which the male perpetrators are often given lenient sentences for, women often receive 3x-4x the punishment for crimes than males do because the law is uneven, abortion was only legalized in 2019 (for comparison China legalized it in the 1980s), which goes to show how behind Korea is for women’s rights.

    This results, unsurprisingly, in a society with the highest young female suicide rates and many young women who don’t want to marry (with a very different reason from young Chinese women FYI – young Chinese women want to stay single because they value career over marriage, young Korean women stay single because they have too many responsibilities when they marry)

    Korea could be considered a misogynist society sometimes. Here are some examples.

    Edit: recently a Twitch online streamer took her own life as a result of bullying by misogynists. RIP

    https://www.koreaboo.com/news/korean-twitch-streamer-jammi-suicide-death-radical-feminist-cyber-bullied-male-extremists/

    https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2021/09/251_315140.html

    https://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.asp?newsIdx=314858&fbclid=IwAR3TX6Iu4r1bcdiCqplyanEjpA789zhCHRZ5Sibq7OBHq8XeV5NwMzI7kXc

    https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2021/09/251_315470.html?fbclid=IwAR1mz0dvcX168qe4piSWGIO31834H6o8V6zKy3ojj_0OrLVOc8H6rnz_qgI

    Man cleared of attempted house break-in charge because he ‘did not turn doorknob’

    https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2021/08/251_314783.html?fa&fbclid=IwAR0wn5I3cb1xDxsRE_qtjuRvTHBcYwY3d9Ml1hFAQljdugXBmVzJQJ5c1zM

    https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2021/09/356_315101.html?fa&fbclid=IwAR3sRziUG42aFihJ-v0kndE_DvcYKisLhLarneHxVp2FKbpND8vhJQYETq0

    https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3147119/south-koreas-dating-violence-problem-exposed-young

    https://koreaexpose.com/domestic-violence-south-korea-ignored/

    http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/968554.html?fbclid=IwAR2EYr-bn17kYT6R8EM1n2vWPevs7G8cOyDnbalSPbaURYx4tTSb5jdrWEQ

    ^ imagine being prosecuted for defending yourself from sexual assault!

    https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2021/03/113_305193.html?fa&fbclid=IwAR2rAwlu23vm-s_gS28F6hAPElLadeZTmrPFkwMNciR-zxdo-DhzSnERoyI

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-57493020

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molka

    https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2021/11/25/national/socialAffairs/stalker-stalking-police/20211125184801589.html

    https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2020/08/251_269930.html

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miryang_gang_rape

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cho_Doo-soon_case

    ^ lenient penalties for sex crimes and rape have been an issue in Korea for its entire history.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seocho-dong_public_toilet_murder_case

    ^ “The police later refuted his claims and said the incident was not a hate crime against women, as claimed, but one driven by mental illness”

    This is complete BS. This is literally misogynism. Not the fake misogynism that Western women like to tweet about everywhere about playboys and stuff, but real actual hatred towards women and he gets a pass for it?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nth_Room_case

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WKE8xQkOv4

    https://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.asp?newsIdx=314858&fbclid=IwAR3TX6Iu4r1bcdiCqplyanEjpA789zhCHRZ5Sibq7OBHq8XeV5NwMzI7kXc

    In addition foreign women often come to Korea brainwashed by Kpop and Kdramas and looking for their dream ‘oppa’ and stuff like this happens:

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/south-korea-the-country-where-rape-of-foreign-women-is-ignored/J2RLKC5ST4DJ6FZCNPXUCON7NQ/

    https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2022/01/251_322161.html

    http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20130423001036

    Along with this comes a backlash against the feminism that has arose in response to the gender inequality in Korea

    https://www.quora.com/What-do-you-think-about-South-Korean-feminism

    https://www.quora.com/Would-South-Korea-become-more-dangerous-and-chaotic-due-to-its-radical-feminism

    https://www.quora.com/Why-is-feminism-so-hated-in-South-Korea

    That’s most of the answers you see here ^ condemn extreme feminism in Korea, and the only reason why it exists is because of the extreme misogynism in Korea, which makes people hate the feminism in Korea and sets back women even more:

    https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/2021/07/129_312817.html?fa&fbclid=IwAR2VdnmhzekfDMHp54g36DbZTeD1rrMZ5_tAD6EKk6lmGaNu9pmKkzIzEfI

    https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2022/01/113_322110.html?fa&fbclid=IwAR0_LR-SJxrABN3USZSdzNvnXAW01q44fqY74lx9bq0JOXIWB0i7BWtBSDI

    https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2021/11/281_319301.html?fa&fbclid=IwAR0vdUUsxB5yI0iEL_KBh7R5p6Up0HQ1OKwbPiI5b2nOWOJFvyjsge8cqCs

    I hope that Korea feminism can be less extreme so that it can be taken more seriously, because Korea is sorely in need of actual feminism.

     
    https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2022/01/251_322868.html
     

    ^ the man and the woman commit the exact same crime. The woman gets 30 years in jail and the man gets 12. How is that fair?

     
    http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20211116000430
     

    ^ Korea has the highest gender pay gap in the OECD.

    I hope that Korea feminism can be less extreme so that it can be taken more seriously, because Korea is sorely in need of actual feminism.

    Edit: for an example of what I’m talking about it’s obvious that Korean men have very little sympathy for the women and actually say its the men that are discriminated against which is laughable.

    ^ This guy is clearly one of those men who believe women are inferior and should be subservient to men, they don’t deserve to have CEO jobs, they don’t believe in gender pay gap etc these are the types of guys who are common in Korea and a symptom of that patriarchal society. “Women tend to value their social life than men do” – what does this mean? Is there any formal study done on how much women enjoy their social life compared to men? Saying men are rejected from traditional female dominated occupations like teaching, or nursing or being airline attendant is hardly proof that men are being discriminated in Korea. It’s actually furthering my point that occupations in Korea are very gender divided. I can say the same thing for women who apply to STEM fields in Korea or try to manage or start up their own companies right?

    Korean men ignore that they make more money than Korean women on average by far and go with the ‘but we have to serve in the military!’ route. Jesus. And let’s not forget the vast majority of the victims in crimes are women, that women get way harsher sentences by the court and that the vast majority of perpetrators of crimes are men.

    https://youtu.be/y9umeM4_HuM

  • Even though South Korea has more soft power than China, why is Chinese history much more popular and well-known than Korean history?

    First I have to correct the ridiculous answer that this person posted.

    https://qr.ae/pGzeuO

    First of all, yes South Korea has a history of copying things. A lot of their food, companies and culture is based off of Japan. This should not be surprising however, because Korea used to be a colony of Japan.

    Also, yes Korea took a lot of things from Chinese culture too, including the biggest one which is Confucianism which they are indeed more Confucianist than modern China is. This is because Korea was heavily influenced by Ancient China and in particular, Ming China.

    Korea also took a lot of its kpop and kdrama culture from Japanese pop and Western pop (like Backstreet Boys and Nsync and Spice Girls). This is well known.

    However, I have to correct a few things this poster said (he disabled comments so I cannot reply to him there)

    China did indeed invade Korea in 1950 when they helped North Korea invade South Korea. In addition, Ancient China has invaded Ancient Korea many times.

    See:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silla%E2%80%93Tang_War

    and

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qing_invasion_of_Joseon

    and

    This poster does not represent all Koreans. Most Koreans actually do not have an opinion on Rape of Nanking as it is not part of their history.

    South Koreans generally dislike Japan and Japanese out of ALL nations. Japan colonized South Korea in its history and massacred many Koreans while they were occupied. A majority of the ‘comfort women’ in the Japanese army came from Korea. Koreans regularly boycott Japanese goods. He’s literally cherry picking strange things that Koreans have said online that most other Koreans would not agree with.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-49330531

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_boycott_of_Japanese_products_in_South_Korea

    https://thediplomat.com/2020/07/japanese-firms-exit-south-korea-amid-prolonged-anti-japan-movement/

    However recently, China has overtaken Japan

    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/20/world/asia/korea-china-election-young-voters.html

    and the main reason is because China and Chinese like this poster above often twist and distort the truth, or spread rumors such as ‘all Koreans think Confucius is Korean’ or leave comments such as this:

    All these comments about calling Korea a ‘US puppet state’ or claiming a Korean thing is theirs or saying ‘Koreans claim that Chinese thing is theirs’ without ever meeting or talking to a Korean, or pointing out something that one or two Koreans did 20 years ago to Chinese and generalizing it to all Koreans etc well is it any wonder Koreans start to dislike China?

    So I have to clear that up first.

    Also I have to note that Korea is not a ‘US lapdog’ as much as Chinese think here are some examples of Korea breaking with the US:

    https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2021/12/113_320979.html

    https://news.yahoo.com/china-signs-defense-agreement-south-005403276.html

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-13/south-korea-breaks-with-u-s-on-boycott-of-beijing-olympics

    For the second part, Why is Korean history not as well known as Chinese history despite having more soft power?

    First of all yes Korea does have more soft power globally than Chinese as K-pop and K-dramas are massively more popular than Chinese pop and Chinese dramas worldwide. This is a fact that Chinese cannot dispute. Even many Chinese themselves got addicted to Korea dramas and Korea pop which is why China had to ban Korean entertainment (THAAD is just a pretense that China used because they knew Korean entertainment was a threat to Chinese entertainment domestically)

    https://qz.com/1149663/china-south-korea-relations-in-2017-thaad-backlash-and-the-effect-on-tourism/

    https://www.vox.com/latest-news/2017/3/3/14795636/china-south-korea-pop-culture-kpop-attacks-thaad

    https://www.bbc.com/news/business-40565119

    However I have to say that neither Chinese or Korean history are particularly well known globally.

    The most well known Chinese are Genghis Khan (a Mongolian not a Han Chinese) and Confucius and maybe Sun Tzu (Art of War). There are great Chinese warlords and emperors like Qin Shi Huang, Emperor Wu of Han, Kangxi, Qianlong, Emperor Wen of Sui, etc that deserve to be more well known globally but are not because Westerners are not aware of them. However China has many domestic movies about them.

    There are also Koreans such as Sejong the Great and Yeon Gaesomun and Admiral Yi who Westerners also do not know about very well but are very well known in Korea.

    So the the second part of the question isn’t actually true. Korea has more soft power than China but neither Korea or Chinese history are very well known globally.

  • An issue with Korea and misogynism

    I think so..

    https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2021/09/356_315101.html

    It’s disturbing to me how many violent crimes are committed against women in Korea.

    https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2021/09/251_314783.html
     
     
     
    https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2021/09/251_315470.html

    Maybe even more disturbing than the news is the comments by Korean men on these articles.. surprise, surprise, they have very little sympathy at all for the plight of women here. And their excuse is “it happens in other countries too” which to me is a lame excuse not to improve on their own society.

    Now I’m hardly an SJW, but I just find in my experience Korea has a misogynistic culture and the men here rarely have any sympathy for women here – sure it happens in Western countries too but the penalty for sex and violent crimes in Western countries are a lot more harsh than in Korea – and Western men also tend to have more sympathy for women than Korean men do. Hell, even China has a harsher penalty for sex and violent crimes than Korea does.

    Add onto that that Korean society sexualizes women a lot and virtually all their laws are structured in a way that is disadvantageous to them, that they are the victim for the majority of crimes in Korea and the high suicide rate amongst young women, then I have to say I’m baffled that most Korean women I know still end up staying in this country and marrying a Korean man instead of finding a ‘better’ life aboard. In addition to that the fact that a lot of foreigner women seem to be attracted here by the fantasies of dating and marrying a Korean man.

    But this is only talking about crimes…

    -in Korea, abortion was only legalized in 2019 (China for example legalized it in the 80s)

    -98% of CEOs in Korea are male,

    -very few Korean women do things like cut their hair short lest they be made fun of by Korean men for being a tomboy,

    -any Korean women promoting feminism (like the late Sulli RIP) are ostracized and bullied,

    -up until recently Korean wives could be punished for adultery but not the men,

    -the laws and fines for Korean women committing crimes are often far more severe than for Korean men,

    -the punishment for rape and sexual crimes in Korea are very lenient compared to other developed societies

    -Korean women are required to wear makeup and dress up nearly all the time,

    -Korean women are often fired from their companies if they get pregnant,

    -Korean women have a harder time finding a job or partner if they are divorced,

    -Korean women are often forced to endure cold weather wearing skirts in certain occupations (and also the school uniform),

    -Korean women’s suicide rate is higher than the men, Korean women have to traditionally prepare the foods during events such as Chuseok or Seollal,

    -Korean women traditionally have to cook and take care of the babies

    But it’s often Korean males who complain about inequality because of the military conscription, which is ironic considering all the inequalities that Korean women face.

    It’s actually quite obvious and clear that Korean society is patriarchal and even though some progress has been made in the last decade, it’s still very much more patriarchal than most other developed countries.

  • Is South Korea a free country?

    Yes. In fact one could argue they are more free than even the USA is. There is a much upvoted answer here saying that Korea is not a free country because all their presidents ran into issues. First of all, not all their presidents ran into corruption issues.

    Korea only became a true democracy in 1987, prior to that it was a military dictatorship.

    Kim Young-Sam was never arrested or charged with anything. He was just unpopular; alot of world leaders leave office unpopular.

    Kim Dae-Jung was never arrested or charged with anything either.

    Roh Moo-hyun was never arrested or charged with anything. Yes he committed suicide, but Korea has the highest suicide rate in the world – not like it was due to anything nefarious.

    And Moon Jae-In so far has not committed any crimes or been charged with anything.

    Second of all, the premise is faulty. it assumes that because so many Korean leaders had issues, that it means their country isn’t free. That doesn’t make any sense. What does that have anything to do with how free the people are? On the contrary – one of the great things about a free country is the ability to jail or incapacitate a leader should the people not like that leader. It shows how much power the people have. In this sense, Korea is the most successful democracy in the world.

    Even the US has not been able to do this – Trump was impeached twice and never removed. Koreans were able to remove all their presidents who were corrupt and that’s key to a successful democracy.

    In China guess what, Xi can do whatever he wants, he can hide the evidence, he can purge people he doesn’t like, and the people will never be able to remove him.

    Which country is more free? The one who arrested numerous past Presidents who committed crimes or the one who has a laughing stock of a democratic process (USA) or the one who is essentially a dictatorship (China, Russia)?

  • Which country has the most beautiful women?

    It’s going to depend on your preference isn’t it?
    For me I’m going to talk about from the preference of an Asian-American since that’s what I am. For me, I’m attracted to Asian girls and from my experience traveling around Asia (I’ve been to Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Phillipines, Malaysia) – I’m going to say **South Korea **has the highest proportion of beautiful women on average.

    Walking around Seoul:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkz9xNkGItI

    https://youtu.be/FwcO0v63BIU

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqFtUy2nQA0

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fP4JBPOGzk

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xzDG8NLCxI

    Waterbomb Festival:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Egomx12q9Wg

    https://youtu.be/KCqchTRPhAU

    Walkerhill Bikini Pool party:

    Ultra music festival:

    You can easily see how many beautiful girls are in plain sight just walking around. Most people think this is because Korean girls do a lot of plastic surgery, and they’d be wrong. A lot of the Chinese tourists come to Korea to do plastic surgery thinking they can be as pretty as Korean girls but they completely miss the point.
    **What makes Korean women the most beautiful imo is their attention to makeup, fashion style and their feminine personality. **Focusing on whether or not they did plastic surgery completely misses the point; most of them are beautiful on the inside and outside regardless.

  • What do people who are not a K-pop fan think about South Korea?

    South Korea is an amazing place to be as a foreigner.

    Everything is so convenient and easy to access. Convenience stores are literally everywhere, sometimes even 10 seconds walk from each other.

    Seoul is truly is a 24 hour city. If you go to Itaewon at 4 or 5am in the morning, it’s full of people, partying and clubbing etc Gigantic 2 or 3 story cafes and great Korean restaurants are everywhere, and most of them are open until 5am or 24 hours. Clubs are open until 6am and it is literally full of people until then.

    Subways are very convenient, and so are buses and taxis, which are not that expensive.

    Most Koreans eat out – because the food is not that expensive. Conversely, the supermarkets tend to be much smaller and more expensive than in the West.

    Korea is incredibly safe, I mean you see girls wearing the shortest of shorts or skirts walking on the street at 3 or 4am in the morning without a care in the world. If this was the USA…

    Attention to appearance and fashion sense – I LOVE that everyone is so well dressed and almost every girl wears makeup and dresses very feminine. So different than in the West where everyone dresses so casually all the time.

    Cosmetic stores are everywhere and often very good quality. There’s literally surgery to fix everything. Too fat? too much acne? Eyes are too small? Nose is too wide? going bald? want to never have to shave again? any kind of cosmetic issue can be easily fixed in Korea for a reasonable price.

    Service is amazing. I always wait to cut my hair in Korea’s hair salons because you get your hair cut and styled by one (or two) beautiful hair stylists, they give you a great head massage and you get escorted out to the door. No tip required or expected. And price is reasonable.

    Lots of couples on the street. (This can also be a bad thing if you are single – it makes you feel more lonely)

    You can go to Korean spas at anytime of day and they are almost everywhere. I would usually go there at around 4am or 5am and just soak in the saunas and hot and cold springs. You can even sleep there for an extra fee. I don’t believe you can do this anywhere else.

    Most Korean franchises and stores are actually using English names and their menus will be in english. the only websites that are restricted are porn websites. You can use your Visa/Mastercards everywhere. These are especially convenient to a foreigner in comparison to traveling in China.

    and just the number of people outside at all times. Coming back to Vancouver or San Francisco, it was like a night and day difference. by midnight in a Western city, the streets are completely dead and all the shops are closed. In Seoul, people are everywhere, in the shops, bars, cafes, alleys etc up until the early morning. I remember taking a midnight bus from Seoul university to Gangnam, its full of people, and seeing 4 girls on the bus that looked like they came out of a model magazine, no one else is paying attention to them, this is just a usual bus in Seoul at midnight and thinking ‘this could never happen anywhere else in the world’.

    for traveling of course, Seoul / Korea is amazing. For living – well the work and school conditions are not so great.