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Today's world informed by history

For those few who don't think history is important, and for those who do as well, I thought today I would recap some of the historical issues that I've been looking at in this column to see how they inform our lives and decisions in present-day Korea.

2022-05-22 17:20

Paradigm shifts in jokbo understanding

Last month, after writing a “call to arms” for all Koreans, especially the female half of Korea, to redo their jokbo (genealogies) and start to think of jokbo as the pre-18th-century Korean “pal-gojodo” chart, which is the same as the Western “five-generation pedigree chart.” I started thinking more about what it will take to bring about such a paradigm shift. And it appears it would be difficult. But maybe not.

2022-04-24 15:49

Jokbo: new approach for men and women

Korea is in a new age, one that has discarded the old hierarchies and the old male dominance. True, much of male dominance still remains, but much is changing. There is still a predominance of men in elected offices, but I recently had dinner with the consul general of the San Francisco consulate, with his political consul, and found out that women now comprise 70 percent of the incoming class of diplomats each year.

2022-03-27 12:28

Non-massacre of Wang clan

That's an odd title! The point I want to address is the mistaken idea common in Korean society that the establishment of the Joseon Kingdom was a revolutionary action accompanied by wholesale social change and the emergence of a radical new elite. Baloney. Nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, the transition of dynastic houses from Goryeo to Joseon could not have been any less revolutionary!

2022-02-27 17:00

Korean names and the slave question

I am going to return to a familiar story for me, the remarkable story of Korean family names. I am returning to this issue because I still get questions and comments based on popular misinformation and mistaken ideas that still circulate in Korea.

2022-02-02 16:50

The Year of the Tiger

Goodbye, Ox. Hello, Tiger. Sounds formidable, no? If the Year of the Ox was bad, and it was, what will the Year of the Tiger bring? On the one hand, who wants to see a tiger come in? But maybe the tiger is a good symbol - to scare all our other demons away?

2022-01-02 14:49

What has happened to Korean family?

I had a chance to reflect on what it was that drew me to Korean studies when I was interviewed for an EBS (Educational Broadcasting Service) program about four years ago. The interviewer, Jeong Gwan-yong, asked me how I came to study Korea. I told him there were two factors primarily, at the outset: the Korean emphasis on the family and the striving for excellence in education. But now it appears the “love of family” is out the window in many homes.

2021-12-05 15:05

Phenomenon of learning Korean

Korean language programs are booming all over the world. The K-pop craze, the music, the movies, the dramatic series, are all fueling an interest in learning the Korean language.

2021-11-07 15:21

Adoption and 'real' families

Recently I have discovered a case of Korean adoptees in America finding each other through DNA testing. We hear of such cases - often twins are not adopted by the same family and then they find each other years later. But the case I am referring to has four siblings finding each other. Four. This has to be one of the most astounding cases in the history, short as it is, of DNA science.

2021-10-10 15:50

The Chinese comeback

The news recently that a Chinese-made movie has been blocked from being shown in Korean theaters tells us a lot about what is going on in Asia currently. China seems to be doing everything wrong, and the glorification of the Chinese role in the Korean War, a war that didn't go well for China at all, seems an obtuse move at best. For example, the Chinese were defeated soundly in Gapyeong twice - in April and again in May of 1951. The first battle of Gapyeong was fought between the British Commonwealth nations of Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and the Chinese. The second battle of Gapyeong...

2021-09-12 16:04

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