What if...

According to both English language papers in Korea: 2 of 3 Men Feel Urge to Flee From Home.

A poll by online recruiter Career said 66 percent of working men in their 30s
and older have felt the urge to flee from their homes and escape today's reality
in the past year due to suffocating economic difficulties. Forty-something men
turned out to have the strongest desire to run away with more than 72 percent of
them saying they wanted to take off, while men in their 30s followed next with
64 percent.

1) What percentage are actually leaving?
2) The survey I want to see is: what percent of their wives would like to see them leave.

* * *

What if....Jon Huer actually made a point?

Regular Korea Times contributor Jon Huer has some haters. I don't count myself among them yet. In the three weeks I have been reading his columns I find myself wondering why (1) he bothered to write (2) I bothered to read.

Writers typically write to motivate readers, to inform them, or to get them to change the way they think. Huer says a lot, but not concisely. The musings don't get to a significant point. He does address many points, but in the way a salesman may approach the door of a potential client and talk without actually knocking on the door.

Today, he writes a "what-if" column about the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates. I'm not saying an opinion writer should always avoid asking "what-if" questions, but I will say that it is the journalistic equivalent of taking a survey and then reporting on the survey as if it were major news. What-ifing when there is an actual case to be addressed is for children and intellectuals.

* * *

Kim Seong-kon of Seoul National University opines that Korea's public education system has failed.

He quotes and notes:

* public school teachers say they can't control their students.
* private institute teachers are much more responsive, even calling when a child is late or absent for class.
* Koreans are beginning do ask: "Why do we need school when hagwon [private institutes] can do a better job?"

1) This should be another bloom off the rose when it comes to those who hail the success of public education in South Korea.
2) In America, it is said to be a right-wing conspiracy or an attempt to keep people stupid by questioning if public education has failed.

Kim concludes: "Such questioning shows that our public education system has largely failed and been utterly defeated by the more competent hagwon. Our secondary schools, which have degenerated into a battlefield for the college entrance exam and ideological warzone between radical and conservative teachers, are insolvent enterprises that need radical overhauling and restructuring in order to survive.

"Although Obama recently praised Koreans' unusual zeal for education, it is undeniable that our public education system is plagued by chronic problems. Hagwon thrive because people no longer trust public education. But the fever for hagwon is not normal. Hagwon entail many serious problems as their primary purpose is monetary profit, not education. We need to resuscitate our moribund public education system that has gone in the wrong direction for far too long.

* * *

75 ways to make your life better

The papers could have done a public service by actually listing the 75 ways.

* * *

I didn't grow up on a farm so one thing it takes some time getting used to in Korea is seeing the actual bodies of the various food I eat. Here's a photo from a "Buy Korean Food" event in Seoul yesterday.

In a related story, foreign travelers have fewer opportunities to eat Korean food at luxury hotels. Of course, the next complaint would be that foreign travelers skip Korea because they must eat Korean food at luxury hotels.

I guess not every hotel can be the COEX hotel. I went there a week or two ago, they had four menu options at 50,000 won each: Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and...Indian?

CJL

Common Sense on North Korea (Korea Times, April 2, 2012)

By Casey Lartigue, Jr. As interesting as Kookmin University professor Andrei Lankov’s writings are, there is nothing quite like attending one of his lectures. He can barely restrain himself behind the podium, often pointing and waving his arms. I also enjoy his unscripted speeches, but his answers in Q&A sessions are like the difference between watching Michael Jordan shoot baskets in warm-ups and an actual game. I have finally discovered the secret behind Lankov’s consistently solid analysis about North Korea: Use common sense. At an Asan Institute conference last summer, he argued that North Korea watchers should try to understand North Korea from its perspective. Don’t most people know that you must understand the mindset of others you are dealing with? Yet, common sense in theory gets ignored politically. From the North Korean perspective, nuclear weapons are the best thing they’ve got going. They will NOT give them up easily, even if President Obama ...

Rich talking back

The rich are talked about very often in negative terms, but how often do the rich respond in kind? Australian billionaire Gina Rinehart, who inherited most of her money but apparently has also done very well with it, recently railed against class warfare and had some advice for the non-rich : "There is no monopoly on becoming a millionaire," she writes. "If you're jealous of those with more money, don't just sit there and complain. Do something to make more money yourself - spend less time drinking, or smoking and socializing and more time working." She complained about politicians raising taxes, regulations that slow investment, and other anti-business policies that harm the poor. "If you want to help the poor and our next generation, make investment, reinvenstment and businesses welcome."

To be a good volunteer, use your brain (Korea Times, December 5, 2012)

By Casey Lartigue, Jr. There is probably an unwritten rule that a celebrity offering to do volunteer work for a good cause should immediately be embraced. Well, that’s not what happened to Jeong So-dam, the glamorous Korean cable TV announcer when our paths crossed on Nov. 29. Ms. Jeong was the MC of an event about American political philosophy hosted by the Association for Economic Evolution. During my speech about American libertarianism since 1940, I discussed my volunteer work for North Korean refugees. After the speech, Jeong approached me, asking how she could help. I gave her the same tough love I give to potential volunteers by asking: “Who are you?” After all, if you are Bill Gates, then open your wallet. If you speak four languages, then help with translation work. So I first stress to potential volunteers: Use your brain. Tell us about your skills and interests so together we can figure out your initial role. Jeong was good-natured about it, rather than c...

Why I won't go to North Korea (Korea Times, December 27, 2012)

By Casey Lartigue, Jr. “Have you ever been to North Korea?” This is the question I am almost always asked here in South Korea when people learn that I have become an activist for North Korean escapees. My response is curt: “No.” “Do you plan on going?” they ask next. My answer remains the same: “No.” When they start to ask a follow-up question, I cut them off: "No." People are often just trying to make conversation, I know, but I am blunt for a reason: I am not interested in going to North Korea as long as North Koreans are held captive. I could go one day, but for now, I can do without a government-guided tour by " men-stealers and women-whippers ," to borrow a phrase from American abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. I don’t mean to criticize people who have gone to North Korea for political, educational, business, religious reasons or just plain curiosity. However, some people push me on the issue, ― and I push back. A good friend wh...

Last weekend: Suicide, Kim Young Ha, NK

Credit: Joanne Cho Event 1: Friday night I went to a talk given by Fulbright junior researcher Joanne Cho. She did a great job putting together statistics about some of the most commonly cited reasons that so many Koreans commit suicide. Probably the most provocative tidbit: Cho watched 86 dramas from the spring of 2012 to now, she says that 63 had "scenes depicting or discussing suicide" in a favorable light (as a way to solve problems, that troubled people can be forgiven for their sins and are even seen as sympathetic). Another interesting tidbit: While it is often cited that Korea is number one in the world in suicide (among countries reporting reliable statistics), what I had not realized or had forgotten is that Korean men are number 8 in the world compared to men in other countries with reliable statistics, Korean women are #1 in the world when compared to women in other countries. My questions for the speaker: 1) What was a finding in your research th...

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