Fantastic Philosophical Hub

Night life in Korea: work dinner, norae-bang, age denial

I’ve decided to start sharing more about my cultural experiences in Korea.  I figure, this also makes for a more “colorful” and interesting blog.

After work dinners are quite the norm here.  There is no happy hour because it appears Koreans feel that any hour (any day) is a good hour for drinking.

Work dinners typically comprise of a lot of meat, garlic, onions, spicy paste, a few leafs of lettuce (to wrap around the garlic/onion/meat goodness) and a whole lot of soju and beer.  Basically, I can’t eat anything. I’m not a fan of stocking up on onions and garlic because not only does that do a number on the breath, it also does a number on the way a person smells.

I decided to venture to the Korean dominated table and had a conversation with my branch manager, the head honcho, of our academy:

Me: “How are things?”

Him: “ohh like crap!”  said with a Korean accent and a smiling face

Me: not really sure how to respond, “oh really?”

Him: laughing, “Yeah, everyday always smashed! I’ve been so stressed out.  Always the same thing, work all day, drink every night.”

This is an odd conversation for multiple reasons.  First of all, in America, your boss would never tell you if he’s having a truly bad day, nor would he admit that he gets wasted every night.  However, we’re in Korea here and it is anything but unusual.

The past two weekends, I’ve felt the urge to experience the night life  and have been a bit more adventurous.  I still have no desire to intermingle much with the expat drinking scene and pretty much avoid those areas altogether.  You know, gotta go where the locals go for real culture.

My closest girlfriend leaves Korea in a month and I’m trying to maximize our moments.  Saturday night, commenced with Japanese ramen, a huge thing of sake and then my Korean girlfriend convincing me to go to a singing room. Yes, I’m talking the norae-bang, busting out karaoke style.

We walk down stairs, into what appears to be a seedy underground club where you could rent rooms and do inappropriate things to hookers.  However, each room was really clean and set up with a huge flat screen, a nice trendy couch, a table, a light up floor (for dancing), two microphones and books in Japanese, Korean and English to choose your songs.

One hour later, two really bad renditions of “Hotel California” and “Can You Feel the Love Tonight,” I realized a) I have no businesses singing and b)neither does anyone else in the bulding.

On my way out of the bathroom, I ran into a cute (yes, the asian’s are growing on me) Korean guy.  He, of course, spoke no English, but I knew was asking for my number and if I could speak Korean.  I also knew he was younger than me.  The one thing I’ve noticed, other than the brutal honesty, they ask you for your phone number even before getting your name.  His friends spoke some bad English and next thing I knew, we were in their singing room having a choppy conversation.

The whole honesty thing is really getting to me here.  As I’ve mentioned before, they will tell you that you look old, fat, ugly, tired, etc quite often.  My students, as young as 9, are aware of their too largely, rounded face, short legs, fat body, large forehead, small lips, not white enough skin, and so on, so forth.  In my semi-inebriated state, I decided to lie about my age and said I was 25 (I know, I know, I’m still 26), but the point is, this whole age nonsense is getting to me.

I realized later, I’m too young to be lying about my age already.

Reason #20 why I can’t live in east Asia forever.

Iraqi Kurdistan eager for Korean investment

Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan region (Iraq), -- Erbil, The capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, is known to us only as the base of the Zaytun Unit, a contingent of Korean troops. In fact, Erbil is a growing market in the Middle East. With reconstruction underway, the Kurdistan autonomous region of Iraq has become a new economic battleground for multinational corporations. The Korean government banned Koreans from traveling to Iraq after the beheading of Kim Sun-il in 2004, but since February it has been issuing limited permits for travel to Erbil. 

Some 3,700 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq since 2003, but American businessmen are still rushing into the country. It's common to see young men in sunglasses speeding through the streets in Toyotas or Land Cruisers with the Stars and Stripes emblazoned on their doors.

Some 400 multinationals from the U.S., Britain, Turkey, Dubai, and even Norway have arrived in Erbil. The hotel occupancy rate downtown exceeds 90 percent. A Lebanese enterprise is building a giant shopping mall in the center of town with an investment of some W1 trillion (US$1=W944). 

Why is Erbil, a city with no serviceable factories, so popular? Oil. Iraqi Kurdistan sits on a huge oil field, estimated to hold six percent of the entire world's oil deposits and 40 percent of Iraq's oil reserves. In addition, security here is relatively better than it is in other regions of Iraq. Thus Erbil is functioning as an outpost for companies looking to advance into the other Iraqi regions in the future. 

Local residents are very interested in Korean companies. Not long ago senior officials of the Kurdistan Regional Government invited a group of Koreans to dinner. During the dinner, the Korean soap "Stairway to Heaven" was playing on the TV. 

The tablecloth featured the logo of the Red Devils, supporters of the Korean national soccer squad, along with the word "Corea." "The Koreans are our friends," the Kurdish government officials stressed. 

The successes of the Zaytun Unit have left a favorable impression on the Kurds, but the Korean business presence in the area is still negligible. 

The most Korean companies have done in the region is small-scale construction projects, including a government hospital being built by the Korea International Cooperation Agency. "Within the Kurdistan Regional Government, the atmosphere is much more favorable to Korea than to Turkey, the U.S., Britain or China," said Sinjari, the chairman of KoriKurdi, a Korean-Iraqi joint venture. 

"The government is very regretful that Korean businesses have so little presence here." 

chosun com 

Since 1991, the Kurds of Iraq achieved self-rule in part of the country. Today's teenagers are the first generation to grow up under Kurdish rule. In the new Iraqi Constitution, it is referred to as Kurdistan region. Kurdistan region has all the trappings of an independent state -- its own constitution, its own parliament, its own flag, its own army, its own border, its own border patrol, its own national anthem, its own education system, its own International airports, even its own stamp inked into the passports of visitors.

Another KAIST student takes his own life

By Kim Rahn

A sophomore from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) committed suicide at his home in Incheon, Thursday ― the fourth suicide related to the school this year.

A yogurt delivery woman found the body of the student, 19-year-old Park, at the entrance of his apartment building at 1:20 p.m. and reported it to police.

Park obtained a leave of absence from the school Wednesday. 

Police suspect Park killed himself by jumping from the apartment building, given that he submitted a diagnosis of depression to the school when applying for the leave. His sweater and wallet were found on the 21st floor of the building.

Park’s death came after three students also took their own lives earlier this year. KAIST students blamed the school’s scholarship and credit system which they claim drives them to severe competition.

School President Suh Nam-pyo said he would abolish the controversial scholarship system, which imposes tuition to students whose grades are poor, starting next semester. KAIST students are exempted from tuition in principle, but 12.9 percent of them paid tuition last year due to poor

performancesrahnita@koreatimes.co.kr

Delayed Marriage and its Problems

By Paul H. Landis; McGraw-Hill

It is commonly stated that the age of marriage in the United States has been delayed because of the development of industrial culture. This statement is nonetheless untrue. This is probably due to the fact that frontier conditions were not conducive to early marriage. On the other hand, there is little question that urban-industrial civilization has in the industrialized part of the world delayed the age of marriage beyond that which characterized most primitive peoples.

Youth problems involving sex delinquency, too great intimacy in dating, and to some extent problems of social diseases and prostitution, are frequently excused or explained on the ground that the age of marriage has been greatly delayed for American youth in this generation. If one takes youth as a whole, this view is in error, since as we have seen there has been little change in the age at which young people marry; and such change as there has been has been in the direction of younger marriage.

However, it is probable that the reasons for delaying marriage today are somewhat different from what they were a generation ago. This may have some significance. It is also likely that the general social situation which the unmarried youth faces today is so much different as to make the person who delays marriage face a different series of problems from those faced by the single person a generation or two ago. The delayed marriages of earlier generations in our agrarian society were probably in the major percentage of cases due to the fact that the young man had gone out to the frontier and would not consider placing a wife in a frontier situation until he had knocked the rough edge off the hardships that the environment required. After he had broken the land, built a home, and perhaps acquired a degree of economic security on the land, he went farther east and found himself a wife or asked the girl he had previously known to come and marry him. This was true also of the European immigrant; usually not until he had established himself did he bring his fiancee.

As society has become more urban, the delay in marriage among most classes is caused by such factors as economic necessity or a desire to complete one's education, but during this period there is free association with members of the opposite sex. Dating and more or less intimate contact with members of the opposite sex rather than isolation characterize the unmarried person's experience. This situation probably is responsible in a considerable part for such problems of delayed marriage as we now have among youth in the United States. There is the constant stimulus of a desire to marry, or at least to perform all the physical functions of marriage, and at the same time an overruling necessity to continue unmarried. The educated group, especially, find it necessary to delay marriage until the late twenties when they have completed college and have made a start in their chosen professions.

In spite of the fact that youth, on the average, are marrying earlier than a generation ago, the fact remains that modern economic industrial life puts serious handicaps in the way of marriage. Periodic economic crises, deter thousands of marriages simply because many young people dare not face the responsibilities of establishing families without assured incomes.

Top 10 Healthiest Foods

Saying I have put together a list of the top 10 healthiest foods may seem like I am telling you there are magic foods. We all know there are no real magic foods.

The road to total health is not in a pill or any one magical food.

Still, there are foods whose nutritional content is so powerful and the benefits of eating them so amazing, that they are often referred to as "super foods".

This healthy food list consists of foods that are exceptionally nutrient dense. That is, they have more nutrients per calorie than most other foods.

They have also been proven to contain vitamins, minerals and other nutrients that prevent disease: from cancer and heart disease to arthritis, eye diseases and many more.

These super foods are perfect for low fat heart healthy cooking and most make excellent low carb cooking choices as well, if you are going the low carb route.

Below you will find CookingNook.com's list of the top 10 healthiest foods, arranged alphabetically, with a brief note about the health benefits of each.

The 10 healthiest foods are foods that are so amazingly good for us that we really should include them in our diets on a regular basis for optimal health. I have included tips on how to add more of these wonderful foods to your every day menus on each food's health benefits page. Have a look and see if there are ways to add these healthy food choices to your table more often.

Just click on the first link for each food listed to read why each of these "super" foods is so good for us and how they help to create health.

The delicious recipes that are listed in the second link after each super food description feature our top 10 healthiest foods and show you how easy it can be to make healthy food choices while enjoying the great flavor these super foods bring to the table.

Cherry Blossoms in Korea

One of the most famous cherry blossom festivals in Korea every year is located on an island in the middle of Seoul called Yeoido. Although the island is only 8.4 square kilometers in area, and the area where the cherry blossom trees are located is a mere fraction of that, the island boasts more than 1400 cherry trees which line a 6km boulevard, and which are visited by over 2.5 million people a day during the festival. As you might imagine, it is very crowded, although crowds will be smaller in the early morning, or in the evening. Night is a very special treat when the cherry blossoms are illuminated, and young lovers stroll beneath the branches.

If you are planning to visit Seoul during the cherry blossom festivals, the festival on Yeoido is quite simple to find. To get to the boulevard you should take the subway to Yeoinaru station which is on line 5, or the purple line. Once you arrive there, take exit one. You can call Seoul's tourism promotion division at (02) 670-3410 for more detailed information.

The cherry blossom festival in Yeoido doesn't only involve flowering trees, but also all of the wonderful things that you might associate with any kind of Korean festival. There is any type of food you could possibly desire, from cotton candy to silk worm pupae. There are crowds (of course!), musicians, performers, evangelists, bicycles built for two and lots of traditional Korean tourist knick-knacks. There is also some really neat art, much of which incorporates flowers, such as the jeans to the right. There were give-aways and face painting, and even classic rock -- like The Drifters Under the Boardwalk -- being played over loudspeakers as you walked along.

In spite of the festive atmosphere however, the cherry blossom festival is not quite all fun and games for all the people of South Korea. The watching of cherry blossoms and the cherry blossom festivals that surround them were started in South Korea during the Japanese occupation during World War II, and thus is bittersweet for many Koreans, especially those in the older generations. Some older survivors of the Japanese occupation, which lasted 35 years and which was not kind to the Korean people, still remember a time when the cherry trees were symbols of Japanese oppression, and cannot forget. Most Korean people however, have looked past crimes committed during WW II and have embraced the cherry blossoms as their own. It doesn't hurt either that in the 1930s some Korean and Japanese botanists discovered that the trees -- although planted and cultivated by the Japanese during the occupation -- were actually native to Jeju-do, an island off the south coast of Korea, and cannot actually be found anywhere in Japan.

 Besides the Yeoido Cherry Blossom Festival there are also a number of other cherry blossom festivals in Korea and throughout the world in the early spring. There are a large number of cherry blossom festivals in Japan and China, but they are also found in the United States and in Canada.

A list of cherry blossom festivals in Japan can be found here at about.com.  

The Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival is the largest cherry blossom festival in Canada, while the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C. is the largest cherry blossom festival in the United States.

Korean Style

Korea is..
With top industries in IT, semiconductors and mobile phones, Korea is thought of by foreigners as a nation of cutting-edge technology.
But most foreigners are missing out on a larger part of Korea.
According to a survey conducted last year by Anholt-GMI of 25,000 people worldwide, out of 38 countries, Korea ranked 32nd in brand value. The people of the world rate Korea similarly to countries such as Egypt and South Africa.

We must raise international awareness of Korean culture
Korean culture is the way to raise Korea's national brand value and status.
Korea must become a cultural superpower through products that are based on tradition. Koreanstyle is an attempt to make Korean traditional culture into a recognized brand. In order to raise international awareness of Korea, we have introduced a broad spectrum of traditional culture.
Now, more steps must be taken in order to promote Korea.

What comes to mind when people think of Korea?
Chinese opera is the international image of Chinese culture and kabuki is the international image of Japanese culture. So, what is Korea's international image?
We must find cultural traditions that can symbolize Korea, which people will bring to mind when they think of Korea.
We are trying to use those traditions in order to create Korea's image and explore the potential of developing those traditions into industries.

Happy Newroz

kurdish newyear akre.mov

Korean Shipbuilding Industry in 2011, waiting for warm spring day ...

MKE(Ministry of Knowledge Economy, Korea) forecasted the shipbuilding industry in 2011 is highly likely to regain No. 1 status for new orders which China has had for 2 consecutive years. It¡¯s because optimistic outlook of container ships and marine plants in the demands in 2011, which our country has seen the strength of and positive elements such as marine fuel regulatory or so. 

In addition, it is judged that China's shipbuilding industry is in the face of the bad news such as inactivity of bulker market that is China flagship species, industry restructuring pressures due to sudden enlargement of institution, rise of labor costs and weak price competitiveness due to appreciation of the renminbi. 

Of course, it should not be overlooked that on the basis of China's huge foreign exchange reserves, providing ship financing to strengthen relations with European countries and ship owners, and being increased for the orders of value¡©added products such as LNG vessels could become a variable. 

MKE announced that vessels and equipment exports in Korea on 2010 reached up to 49.8 billion U.S. dollars to achieve the biggest performance, but the world shipbuilding capacity in 2011, would stay in 4,540 CGT having more decreased 9.5 % than in 2010, and domestic shipping and shipbuilding exports would be amount to $ 4.7 billon U.S. dollars with falling 5.6%.

Iraqi Fulbrighter

Written & Posted by:

Bashdar H. Jalal

KDI School for Public Policy & Management

Seoul-Korea

     Goran S. Ghafour is a Kurdish Fulbright student in the United States of America has published his book titled “Iraqi Fulbrighter” successfully. The book deals with smashing fear and wrong understanding between US-Middle East relations by people.

      The writer wants to indicate the negative impacts of the wrong understanding and its reflections between both sides. However, such kind of understanding has made influenced the westerners to have unhealthy point of view to Middle-East countries. In addition to, the book has shed a light on the western media channels in which they have a great impact to show a negative image of the states in the Middle-East, because they do not indicate a true face of the Middle-Eastern people.

However, the writer has two major aims in which want to encourage and influence the western journalists to change their behavior about this sensitive issue and attempt to smash fear by westerners. He would like to show up the westerners have became a victim of media about the reality of Middle-East.

      Finally, I wish the western people would not become a victim of wrong rolling media
about this sensitive and I encourage them to open their eyes for better understanding
between each other.

For more information to reach this book, please visit to the following address.

http://www.publishamerica.net/product38669.html

Iraqi Fulbrighter: Removing Fear & Hatred Between American & Middle Eastern People

www.publishamerica.net

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Welcome to Korea : Fantasy Korea

Dynamic Korea (English)

The Value of Korean Family

Written & Posted by: Bashdar H. Jalal

Seoul-Korea

      Family is the most important and valuable part in Korean life, in which father is the head of each family, who is responsible to provide shelter, clothe and daily bread for his  members in the frame of family based on the Confucian tradition. Each man should take the above-said responsibility to approve his marriage process and bless his family. In addition to, the eldest brother has a particular responsibility in the family such as keeping eye on his youngest brothers and sisters in their everyday life, and then he is responsible to his family, such as his sons, wife as well as daughters. However, father has another duty in which protecting the financial welfares and provide a bright future for his family. There are five basic factors to build relationship in Korean society, for example ruler and subject, husband and wife, parents and children, brothers and sisters as well as friends and friends. On the other hand, Korean culture is established based on the Confucianism in which rooted in Korea and other eastern Asian states. So, its complex principles have a great impact on each Korean individual in his/her everyday life.

      Korean family was great in the previous time, in which each family was consisted into more than eight members, and they lived under same shelter. However, most of the families lived in the villages and countryside and took their ancestors name in their hometown, but the Korean family becomes smaller in which contains into four members, because of the industrial wave that has impacts on every aspects of life. Despite the industrial issues have pushed most of the Korean families to the giant provinces such as the capital of Seoul and Pusan, but the Korean families still insist to protect their basic principles in the Korean society. The most meaningful evidence for this issue is Korean Chusok and the New Year Day that the Korean people gather around one table to renew their ancestor’s ancient tradition.

     Finally, Korean society still remains in touch with their traditional and moral aspects which are received from ancestors, and also they try hard to protect their basic principles by teaching the new generations. However, the Korean families struggle to remain in peace and comfortable in the frame of marriage lock as well as with others, including foreigners.

Kurds

Kurds are people living in Kurdistan. About half of the world’s 25 to 30 million Kurds live in Turkey. Six million live in Iran; 3.5 million live in Iraq; and 1.5 million live in Syria. Others are distributed through the countries of Armenia, Germany, Sweden, France, and the United States. A few Kurdish settlements remain in the countries of the former Soviet Union. Kurds speak Kurdish, a language of the western Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. Kurds who live in Kurdistan often live in rural districts; a few keep up a nomadic or semi-nomadic life style. These Kurds still retain the traditional tribal organization under chiefs. They traditionally herded sheep and goats in the mountains where some still take their livestock to pastures in summer and return to valley villages in the winter. Other Kurds are settled farmers. Agriculture and animal holding are central for their economy. The mountainous area in which they live has allowed traditional tribes to flourish.

The mountains have helped mold Kurdish history and culture. The rain and snow run down the rugged mountainsides and spill into the lowlands. This fills the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Because of such a high level of precipitation the soil is rich. This land in Kurdistan (28%) is suitable for farming wheat (1).

The land is unfit for farming higher in the mountains. This is where herders pasture their animals. The herders use animals for their meat and milk (1). There are many natural resources in Kurdistan. There are vast oil reserves and copper, chromium, and iron are still mined (1). Long ago, the mountains were known as great sources for many of the mentioned metal ores but the amount is significantly lower now.

Kurds love music, poetry and dancing. Many Kurdish villages have their own dances. Romance and heroism are usually the theme of dances or folk legends. Kurdish musicians play a type of flute (zornah) and drum (dohol) (1). Most Kurds follow the teachings of Islam. The Kurds have a long history of being in a tension-filled region. The Kurdish culture has survived even though they have never had a country to call their own.

The Kurd’s fight for independence has been continuously blocked. Since World War 1, Turkey, Iran, and Iraq have all stopped Kurdish uprisings. The Persian Gulf War offered hope, but even after defeat Iraq’s leaders maintained control. This is an ongoing struggle, a struggle that will probably not be won the next few years. One hope for the independence struggle is that Iran and Iraq are not favored nations among the world powers. If these nations become weaker, the fight for independence might gain more momentum.

With the absence of a central government, many Kurd’s considered their clan leaders to be their highest source of authority (1). This has proven to be an obstacle to Kurdish independence since many have been loyal to local leaders instead of national leaders.

Korean Language

Spoken by nearly 70 million people, Korean ranks among the major languages of the world. Although most speakers of Korean live on the Korean Peninsula and its adjacent islands, more than three million are scattered throughout the world on every continent.

The origin of the Korean language is as obscure as the origin of the Korean people. In the 19th century when Western scholars "discovered" the Korean language, this was the first question they raised. These scholars proposed various theories linking the Korean language with Ural-Altaic, Japanese, Chinese, Tibetan, Dravidian Ainu, Indo-European and other languages. Among these, only the relationship between Korean and Altaic (which groups the Turkic, Mongolian and Manchu-Tungus languages) on the one hand and between Korean and Japanese on the other have continuously attracted the attention of comparative linguists in the 20th century.

Altaic, Korean and Japanese exhibit similarities not only in their general structure, but also share common features such as vowel harmony and lack of conjunctions, although the vowel harmony in old Japanese has been the object of dispute among specialists in the field. Moreover, it has been found that these languages have various common elements in their grammar and vocabulary. Although much work remains to be done, research seems to show that Korean is probably related to both Altaic and Japanese.

According to early historical records, two groups of languages were spoken in Manchuria and on the Korean Peninsula at the dawn of the Christian era: the Northern or Buyo group and the southern or Han group. Around the middle of the seventh century the kingdom of Silla conquered the kingdoms of Baekje in the southwest and Goguryo in the north, and its language became dominant on the peninsula. As a result, the linguistic unification of the peninsula was achieved on the basis of the Silla language.

After the peninsula was unified, the Goryo Dynasty was founded in the 10th century, and the capital was moved to Gaesong in the center of the Korean Peninsula. The dialect of Gaesong became the standard for the national language. When the Choson Dynasty was founded at the end of the 14th century, the capital was moved to Seoul. However, since Seoul is geographically close to Gaesong, this had no significant effect on the development of the language.

Korean Script

The Korean script which is now generally called Hangul was invented in 1443 under Sejong (r.1418 - 50), the fourth king of the Joseon Dynasty, who called it Hunminjeongum (proper sounds to instruct the people). However, the script was not promulgated until the appearance in a document which was also called Hunminjeongum in 1446

The motivation behind the invention of Korean script, according to Sejong's preface to the above book, was to enable the Korean people to write their own language in their own way. Until the introduction of Hunminjeongum, only Chinese characters were used to write, by the upper classes. There also seems to have been a secondary motivation behind the development of Korean script, that of representing the "correct" sounds of Chinese characters.

In producing the Korean script, Sejong and the scholars who assisted him probably referred to several writing systems such as Chinese old seal characters, the Uighur script and the Mongolian scripts, but the system of the Korean script is based upon their phonological studies. Above all, they developed a theory of tripartite division of the syllable into initial, medial and final, as opposed to the bipartite division of traditional Chinese phonology.

The initial sounds (consonants) are represented by 16 letters of which there are five basic forms. According to the explanations of the original Hunminjeongum text,

(k) depicts the root of the tongue blocking the throat;

(n) depicts the outline of the tongue touching the upper palate;

(m) depicts the outline of the mouth;

(s) depicts the outline of the incisor; and

(g) depicts the outline of the throat.

The other initial letters were derived by adding strokes to the basic letters. No letters were invented for the final sounds, the initial letters being used for that purpose. The original Hunminjeongum text also explains that the medial sounds (vowels) are represented by 11 letters of which there are three basic forms:

(a) is a depiction of Heaven;

(eu) is a depiction of Earth; and,

(i) is a depiction of man. By combining these three signs the other medial letters are formed.

After the promulgation of the Korean alphabet, its popularity gradually increased, especially in modern times, to the point where it replaced Chinese characters as the main system of writing in Korea. One of the characteristics of the Korean script is the syllabic grouping of the initial, medial and final letters. However, Korean script is essentially different from such syllabic writing systems as Japanese Kana. It is an alphabetic system which is characterized by syllabic grouping. Some examples are the following:

(na-mu) "tree."

(sa-ram) "man," and

(son-nim) "guest".

Standard Language and Dialects

Modern Korean is divided into six dialects: Central, Northwest, Northeast, Southeast, Southwest and Jeju. Except for the Jeju dialect, these are similar enough for speakers of the various dialects to understand each other. This is due to the fact that Korea has been a centralized state for more than a thousand years with the language of the capital exercising a steady influence on the language spoken throughout the country.

The language of the capital was established as the basis for modern standard Korean in 1936, as a result of the deliberations of a committee organized by the Korean Language Research Society. The language of the political and cultural center of a nation usually becomes the standard language through a gradual process. In Korea, however, the case was somewhat different, since the guidelines for the national standard language were determined by a small but dedicated group of scholars during the Japanese occupation. They worked to preserve their own language in the face of an oppressive regime which sought the eventual extinction of the Korean language.

Geography of Korea

Korea is a small penninsula on the far East side of Asia. It is between China and Japan. It is connected to mainland Asia in the North. It is separated from China and Russia by the Yalu River and the Tuman River. Between Korea and Japan is the East Sea. To the West between Korea and China is the Yellow Sea. The size of Korea is roughly 1,000 kilometers in length.

Korea is a divided country. At the End of World War II in 1948, Korea was divided at the 38th parallel. This resulted in North Korea and South Korea. North Korea became communist, while South Korea did not. (This was based on the deal at the end of the War, dividing the country in two just as Germany had been). North Korea is also known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and South Korea is also known as the Republic of Korea. South Korea, or the Republic of North Korea is slightly larger in physical size, while South Korea's population size is about twice as large as North Korea's population size. The fact that this division occurred has left both North and South Korea on the bridge of war

Hope You A Happy Lunar New Year

Sol - Korean Lunar New Year

By Frances Kai-Hwa Wang, AAV Contributing Editor

Korean Lunar New Year, or Sol, is the first day of the first month of the new lunar year, and it marks the first day of spring.  It is celebrated with family, food, drums, and gongs. Many Korean communities celebrate both the Gregorian New Year’s Day on January 1st as well as the Lunar New Year.

Koreans try to return home to celebrate Sol with their families. They wake up early on the morning of the new year, put on their new or best traditional clothes called hanbok, and kneel and bow to their ancestors and elders (sebae). Family members exchange good wishes and gifts. Then they sit down to a breakfast of rice cake soup or ttok kuk, which is a thick beef broth with thinly sliced white rice cakes topped with green onions and bright garnishes. Some people substitute ttok mandu guk, which is ttok kuk with mandu dumplings instead. Tradition says that one cannot become a year older without eating ttok kuk on New Year’s Day.

On the fifteenth day of the new month, the day of the first full moon, the New Year is ushered in with a ritual called Jishin Balpgi, which literally means "Stepping on the Spirit of the Earth." It is a traditional folk festival that grew out of many collective village activities from over 4300 years ago that ritually cleansed the village and chased away evil spirits. The purpose of the festival is to usher in peace, health, and prosperity for the New Year, and give people a chance to renew personal and community ties.

The National Korean American Service and Education Consortium (NAKASEC) describes it: "During the Jishin Balpgi festival, a group of Poongmul (Korean drums) players called the Durepae, first travels around the village playing on the Jang-go (hourglass-shaped drum), Buk (the drum),Kwenggari (small gong) and Jing (large gong). This is followed by visits to private dwellings to wish residents peace and good fortunes for the new year through a mixture of drumming, dance and chants which everyone is encouraged to join in. In return, the hosts offer rice cakes and wine to the group and make a general donation that is used for the betterment of the entire village. In the evening, all the people gather at the Madang (the center of the village), to revel under the first full moon of the lunar New Year. As the villagers eat, drink and play games together, they reaffirm their common bond."

Another part of the Jishin Balpgi festival is the hosting of competitions with neighboring villages of traditional games like tug of war, stone fights, and mock fights with torches. Tradition says that the winning village will be blessed with a bountiful harvest. This custom may have originated when neighboring farming villages shared a water source and had to determine priority for drawing water for the fields.

In America, Korean communities in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and others will host celebrations of Jishin Balpgi.