All posts filed under: Personal

Things I find interesting unrelated to Korea

Finding Fletcher—Or Losing Her Audience? From Sapphic Icon to the Queerbaiting/Biphobia Divide

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For longtime subscribers to Real Koreans, hello! It’s Emily—it’s been a while. As you may know, I started this blog to write about things I was passionate about, which was mainly feminism, youth rights, and LGBT community updates in South Korea. I’ve stopped writing for a while, because I was unsure what I had to say about Korea, having moved away in 2014.In my 11th year abroad, I finally know what I have to say, which is the same as back then: writing about things I care about, which will include Korea, but also many other topics, like analysing my favourite arts & culture scenes (like today), how to deal with anti-Asian racism in Europe, and my experiences working in global nonprofits. The sapphic Internet has been up in flames the past three days over a new release from FLETCHER, in which the lesbian icon confesses to being in love with a man. While she last alluded to seeing someone in an interview June last year, there was no build-up to this major pivot in …

My first racist ‘attack’ in Europe and what I learned from it

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Image source: Daum Blog Caption: Choose the wrong option. (the artist is mocking the idea of racism by using a multiple-choice question format popular in Korean education) Last Friday, I was leaving a supermarket when a group of young, white, mostly male, Dutch people ran up to me, took a photo of me, then ran away laughing. I froze, ran into MediaMarkt, the electronics store next door, which I was headed to originally, and stayed there for a good fifteen minutes before I went outside, looked around and made sure they were gone, got on my bike and pedaled back home. I asked myself if what had happened had really just happened. Yes. I saw the flash. I heard them laugh. I was sure. Back home, I sat down and wrote an angry and descriptive post along the lines of: “To the white, male, Dutch youth who just took a picture of me in front of the supermarket on this street, go fuck yourselves, go get cancer, go crash into a train. Same to the people who have …

From Joseon to Today: Koreans Women’s sexuality, repressed

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Cruise-themed party at a club in Gangnam Image source: Club Octagon Thought there’d be no slut culture in Korea because of the Neo-Confucianism and the Protestants? Think again! See the clubs at Itaewon, Hongdae and Gangnam lined up with girls wearing dresses barely covering their crotch area! See the couples make out in dark alleys shamelessly! See my neighbour dry-hump by the security gate on the first floor! (No, actually, don’t, it’s painful enough for the other residents as is) I live in a university area. Most students live in “one-rooms”, studios as they are called here. Since the students who live alone mostly do so because their home is far away, it means that for the first time in their lives, they are free to run their lives as they see fit. And this is when people sometimes go crazy, especially women who are sexually suppressed and taught to “be discreet” for the first 19 years of their lives. Story 1: A girl in my building (we took some courses together at university) lives with her …

Why Korean Soldiers Are Banned From Reading Noam Chomsky and Ha-joon Chang

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    Left: Guerrillas of the Samsung Empire, Pressian Books, 2008 Right: Bad Samaritans, Ha-Joon Chang, 2007 In 2008, the National Ministry of Defence was found to have produced a list of 23 “Anti-governmental” books and officially banned them from  the military. An investigation found that under this regulation, all Korean soldiers are banned from reading and/or possessing them, and are subject to having their belongings searched when returning from a holiday (Pressian) (Reminder: All Korean men above the age of 18 must serve in the military for 2 years). The Seoul Central District Court ruled against the first lawsuit filed by 11 publishers and 11 authors in 2012, and they lost their appeal at the Seoul High Court the following year (News1). In both cases, the publishers and authors claimed 200 million KRW (200,000 USD) in damages caused by this censorship. The Seoul High Court’s reasoning is that this action could not be classified as an act of censorship nor as a violation of the freedom of press, since (a) the books were not banned …

Law School Reforms: Oh-oh, Here Comes Trouble!

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Public prosecutors, including the first batch of Law School graduates, are sworn into office, 2012 Image source: Joongang Daily The year I entered university (2009) was a remarkable year. It was the  first year Law Schools as 3-year postgraduate programs were introduced (same for Medical Science, but this topic really deserves another post). The goal was to “offer law (and medical) studies to a wider array of students, instead of discouraging them at the high-school level”. As a result, the Gosi System (사법고시, or ‘National Bar Exam’, but I will use the term ‘Gosi’ in order to distinguish it from the National Bar the current Law School graduates have to pass) will end in 2017. Instead, Law School graduates will have to pass the National Bar, a much simpler exam, in order to start practicing. A difference is that one does not need to hold a LLB or LLM in order to pass the Gosi, but one does need an LLM to become a lawyer with the new Law School system. In reality, prior to this, …

Seoul And Its “Tourists”

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“Madame Butterfly” (Image source: Movieposter.com) I have very little respect for Puccini, simply because of this opera.   My friend once met a marijuana-selling Frenchman in Seoul who said: I want to stay here forever. In France I would never, ever get laid, but here, girls are hitting on me just because I am French. Being a foreigner means many things in Korea. You’re “different”. This “being foreign” status entitles you to many advantages as well as prejudices. For instance, it you are a Caucasian-looking woman, men will assume you are readily available for sex. But on the other hand, if you are a Caucasian-looking man, your mother-in-law-to-be won’t grill you with “What do your parents do? “Where is your hometown?” “Do you own an apartment in your name?” “How much do you make?”, like she would a Korean son-in-law-to-be. Korea attracts a very wide array of migrants. There are the English teachers. The businesspeople. The Korean Studies students. Or, those passing by, on exchange student programs, on a Korean government (NIIED) scholarship, on an …

A petty moral dilemma: SSAT, HKAT, and LG Fit walk into a bar…

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“Samsung Aptitude Test Center for New Recruits” Image source: Etoday News Yes, you read that right. A Moral Dilemma. And no, I’m not talking about political choice or anything fancy like that. Last year, approximately 100,000 graduates applied to take the SSAT, Samsung Aptitude Test. What? There’s a standardized exam to work for a private company? Just for a managerial job? And they rent entire school buildings for it? And people pay up to 200,000 KRW (approx. 200$ for online crash courses? And universities bring in private tutors and provide weeks or months-long courses to prep graduates? Well, actually, this may not have the shock value I was hoping for, since you already know I’m writing about South Korea. But anyway. Despite the booming economy in East Asia (as compared to the US and Western Europe anyway), it’s becoming tougher and tougher to find a job in South Korea, especially if you’re leaving university with only a Bachelor’s degree. What? Isn’t that what BA graduates do, go work in companies, just precisely because they didn’t want …

My Non-Valedictorian Speech That Was Never Caught on Camera

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Me looking all grown-up and holding my $40,000 degree (no taxes!) Photo source: Un-graduating friend working as my assistant du jour Hello Citizens of the Internet! I graduated today, and since I was not one of those fancy valedictorian-summa cum laude people, I decided to write a little dedication to the wonderful people I met during my five years at university. There’s a little part dedicated to the horrible people too, but feel free to skip over that. Good vibes only amirite? TO THE HUMAN BEINGS: Dear Professors who wrote me recommendation letters for graduate school: Thank you. Because I wasn’t an excellent student and you had no reason to write them. From one of you, I took two development courses in which I got As, which was great. But from another of you, I’d only gotten Bs in history, and I kind of know that you didn’t really know who I was until I turned up at your office asking for a recommendation. But I know you were too gracious to say “Oh, you’re that …

Why I Need To Get an “English-Native-Speaker” Looking Face

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Here it is brothers and sisters, for all of us who are a little bit lost, the grey-zoners. For all of us who are drifting on the fringes of our native country and [insert country here], where our hearts really belong. This post is sort of dedicated to my friend Cecile. Every time I spark up a conversation in English with an English-native-speaking person, I get the following response: – Wow, you speak English really well. When and/or where did you learn it? By now I  know how to deal with the situation neutrally and usually provide the following, diplomatic response: – It’s a long story (If I don’t really want to talk to you anymore) – It’s a really long story, how much time have you got? (If you sound like you’re genuinely interested to know why) – I’m 1/4 Irish, 2/4 Korean, and 1/4 Alaskan (If I’m feeling particularly sarcastic) To be honest, what I really want to say is this: – [insert silent, mental sigh here] It’s because it’s possible for me …