Thursday, February 5, 2015

30 Things About ME

                       1. I have a dream to become the world leading figure in Bio-medical Engineering. There is a bit of a special reason how I have come to the my decision to become a Bio-medical engineer. As I have been interested in biology, especially medical field, since I was young I have always presumed that my only option was to become a doctor and help others in a medical way, but one day a question suddenly struck me. "Are doctors really the ones that cure people?" After some amount of pondering it became clear that doctors are not the ones who actually invent the ways to cure people,but are merely the ones that follow the standard protocols. Then who creates such cures? Researching further, I came across the field of bio-engineering and realized that this was it, the thing that I have always wanted to pursue. And this have been my dream ever since.

                  2.I was born in March 14th, 1997 or typically known as pi day. I'm not sure for overseas, but in Korea we call this day "White Day" which exists because Koreans cannot bear being unfair. They say White Day is the opposite of Valentine Day, a day where a girl gives the boy a chocolate, not the vice versa, odd.

                  3.I have a older brother who have graduated from KMLA(16th Wave). He acted and still acts like a pulling rope, a guide for me. Probably the very reason I got to know this isolated school in the first place. Interestingly, I never really had a big fight with my brother, contradictory to the stories that I heard from my friends. Although many say that our personalities are completely different, I really get along well with my brother and really count on him very much.

                  4.I absolutely love listening music, though I'm not good at both singing and playing them. I really don't have a particular taste for the genre of music, I love basically everything from Babymetal to EDM. My taste in music kind of rotates periodically, I kind of get really into one particular genre of music, dig it for several weeks, get bored and move on. Right now I'm really into one indie band called "The 1975", especially songs; The city, chocolate. Great songs.



               5. My all time favorite book is still the Harry Potter series. When I was in middle school I think that I read the whole series six times? In the end I became even tired to flipped the pages that I bought a CD that is basically the recorded version of the book and listened to it endlessly through my Walkman, to the verge of actually memorizing chunks of the books at a time. It was later the I learned that the different voices for each characters in the CD was actually made by one person.

                 6. Extending upon the entertainment part, my favorite movie is the Matrix series. I've watched the whole series again just a few days ago and I found out that I have totally missed the bigger picture previously. It really explores deeply into the concept of what is real and the difference between human and machine. One quote that I like from the movie is " To deny our own impulses is to deny the very thing that makes us human." Who knows, we might be living in a "Zion" of our own, destined to be destroyed and rebuilt every hundred years.

                 7. They say that biologists really needs to live old. The reason for this is because looking at it from the empirical perspective it is usually 30~40 years after the biologists' claims that these claims are accepted by the science society and able to receive the Nobel Prize. Apparently the Nobel Prize only cares about people who are alive. Well that's one more reason to live longer.

                 
                 8. Out of all the variety of sports that I have experience the one that really have impacted me is Ice Hockey. Because Ice Hockey is kind of a minor sports category in Korea, I was actually given the opportunity to make my living through Ice Hockey in elementary and middle school. It was the only sport that I went into some kind of special training camp with my other teammates for three weeks at a time and trained until the every drop of water seemed to seep out of my body. It really was a great experience for me and certainly going to start it again after graduating.

                 9. My own way to ignore when others are nagging to me is to imagine that I throw a really elastic ball into the wall and imagine where the ball would bounce to. Through my experience, the nagging was usually over before my 10th lap around the room.

                  10.One of the great hobby that I was able to find in KMLA was going off to camping. All through my life the concept or the actual idea of going camping in Korea never occurred to me, even though it is said that the 70% of South Korea is filled with mountains. Anyway, it was the most remedying experience I went through last year.

                  11.Talking about camping, when I was living in New Zealand I participated in a two week camp program managed by the YMCA. In that program there was a project to build out own house in the forest with minimum materials. Me along with my friends miserably failed and ended up sleeping on the forest's bare ground. It was okay, before I woke up in the middle of the night and found a sheep looking down on me.  

                 12. It was only when I came to KMLA that people said that I look like a bear. Especially the one that comes out of Jungle Book. Hearing that statement for three years now, I'm beginning to believe in myself that I look like one.

                  13.I really have a very easily distracted mind. My friends in middle school even said that I look like a person with ADHD. Although, I think I am able to concentrate intensely and quickly, but only shortly. After that I lose focus and drifts away to look for something else to do. Even when playing computer games I easily get bored with the particular types of games and move on to another.

                 15. My favorite color is brown. There is really no particular reasons that I could put into words in my liking for brown, but I think it is probably because it is appropriately dark but not too dark and somewhat the color gives me peace when looking at it.

                 16. I once learned and knew how to place three different instruments. Two of them violin and piano are long gone and forgotten from my mind. The last one, which is the most recent, clarinet is stilling cling in the back of my head.

                  17,As much as my dream to become a bio-medical engineer is important, traveling is one of the most important factor to me. My dream is to accumulate enough wealth as soon as I can and spend the rest of my life traveling, virtually everywhere around the globe.

                  18, My favorite dish is Fish n' Chips. I basically used to eat at least three times a week when I was living in New Zealand. But I never got to see one in Korea.

                 19. I used to live in New Zealand for 19months. I went to a public school called St. Paul's, Christchurch. If anyone can remember, there was a huge earthquake in New Zealand several years ago and I hear that the school collapsed by that impact(they say they rebuilt the collapsed buildings again).

                 20. I had two best friends in New Zealand. Their name was Alex and Harrison. It was through them that I was introduce to the world of sleepover. I used to contact them for a long time, but now it's kind of stopped.

                 21. I sleep with my eyes half open. Some say it is kind of freaky. I have no idea why I sleep with my eyes open, maybe it is just the way it is. Due to this my eyes are always a bit dry and easily get tired and red.

                 22. Another peculiar thing about my eyes it that I have a huge dot(?) in my eye. Everyone has a small dots on their eyes, they are just not noticeably big. My dot is just bigger and has some kind of reddish color. It has become some kind of a routine to explain this fact to every new person I meet.

                  23.My grandmother is a daughter of separatist would fought against the Japanese imperialism. So that makes my grand grandfather a separatist. My grandmother receives supplement from the government annually for this very fact.

                  24.I have been in the Civilian Control Zone, near 5km from North Korea. I was surprised to know that quite a lot of people live in this zone. It really does have a spectacular view.

                 25. I really do have absurd thought and things to say in my mind, but I think I am just afraid or conscious of my surroundings to really express and take about them aloud. Or maybe this is normal for everybody.

                 26. My best choice for club activity in KMLA is going into Rhyme Factory. I never learned how to dance in my life and never really had any confidence in it. Going into this club and participating actively in it, although it was frustrating to keep up with practices that ignores lunch and dinner time, was valuable not only in expressing myself and resolving stresses but also sharing a close bond between seniors(16, 17th wave) and the juniors(19th wave).

                 27. I definitely love human company. I feel that it is always better to spend time with other people rather than spending it by myself. However, as I am growing older I do kind of feel that people really do need some time for themselves.

                  28.My favorite chocolate bar is Twix. I find Sneakers to stuffy and Hersey to milky. Not to mention the other Korean crappy chocolates. Twix I find has the perfect balance between sweetness, creamy and crunchiness just the way I want it.

                  29.I have actually fainted once. How I came to faint is really hilarious. I was playing in a science lab and found a whole gas tank of helium in the corner. I filled the balloon with the helium and drank the gas to make the high pitched voice. I was disappointed to find that the high pitch didn't last long. So in my greediness I drank so much gas that I lost the oxygen supply and passed out. In that split second I could see my life flashing by in my head.

                 30. I have no religion. It's not that I don't believe in any sort of god, but it is that I just don't have a fixed religion to pursue.

                  31.I have always wanted to learn how to glass blow. It really is fascinating seeing the masters create works of arts from the hot dump of glass. I hope to attain the opportunity to learn it in the future.


                 32. I sometimes ponder how my life would be like if I was not born in South Korea. Born somewhere in France, Germany, US, etc..

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Metafiction : Severing the String

Used some parts of "Write a daily diary in the voice of the following character Thomas Mortenson."




           I let out a deep breath. Feeling my lips tremble as I saw the white puff that have come out of my mouth vanishing into the crisp night air. I could feel my pulse against my neck, quick and powerful, as if it knew that it had limited amount of time left. Some powder fell onto my shoulder. I looked up and saw a roughly made hole. And from that hole, a thick rope protruded. Stretching down until it wrapped tightly around my neck. Again I took a deep breath, feeling the tension on my neck sharply increasing.
           
           It all happened several days ago, from the very moment my symptom of narcolepsy worsened. December 12th, 4 days from today another sleep attack happened during the geology class. However, that day's event was different from the other days. Unlike the normal, previous times when I looked back at my own past, today I found myself in another person's body. "Crack!," I opened my eyes and found myself lying in a hospital all dressed up in white clothes. Words of shock and disbelief erupted around me. It was some time before I realized I wasn't the six year old Thomas, but a middle-aged man called Fred. It was that I had been in coma for 6 years, but today I suddenly regained consciousness. I was listening to the astonished babbles of my supposed family when I suddenly woke up, sprawling in my geology class.
           
            The school has ended for the day and I was standing in from of the main gate, waiting for something. The moment my watch beeped, telling me that it was 5'o clock, a black car showed up from the corner, gliding smoothly towards me. It was always like that, 5'o clock. Not a second late, not a second less. The door opened and I climbed in. As usual the tanned window between the front and the back seat only able me to notice that there were two people in the front. Since I was about 3 years old, I have been under heavy surveillance from some kind of government agency. Whether, it was due to my somewhat exceptional intelligence or some other factors in me, I did not know. All I knew was that I was supposed to be under surveillance till I come of age and therefore, be able to decide my future actions. I don't know what happened to the rest of my family, some say that they were all lost due to some tragic accident, while some say that I have no such thing in the first place. Anyhow, there were nobody to greet me when I arrived home from school, I had a whole flat to myself. Thinking about this, the memory of me lying in bed surrounded by my own family showing relief at my awake bloomed in front of me. I felt a twinge of jealousy towards that man.
            
           The car slowly slowed down and the familiar surroundings began to pass around us. Soon, the car reached a stop and I opened the door and climbed out. The two guys in the front nodded, it was the best they could do to show their affection. I shrugged and slammed the door. I fumbled for my keys and finally managed to fish it out from my pocket. As I unlock and opened my door, something felt different. Something seems to swoop down on me and seemed to pass right through me. It gave shivers down my spine. I cried for the first time that night.

           The next day I found a white clean paper on my desk in the first class and a pen in my hand, now there is one thing to do. As I draw for two hours, the teacher came next to me and said "Tom, participate in class don't do other things." I don't have the memory after that. I guess I slept as I heard it. It was during the 7th class when I regained my consciousness. I found the paper with an unfinished dessin, a picture of a boy, a boy with his heart torn out. I shrieked when I saw the picture and freaked out. The next moment, I opened my eyes and looked up into a familiar wallpaper, it was some time before I realized that it was dark outside and I was in my room, in my house. It was dead silent in the house. I was just about to get up from my bed when my head spun and I was swept into the pool of narcolepsy again.
           "Crack" I opened my eyes and once again found myself lying in the hospital bed. Another round of shock and buzz ran through the hospital again. This time I was able to hang around in "Fred's" body for some time. I learned that I was 34 years old and had a family with two kids. My supposed wife's name was Christina and two kids Hank and Sue, 10 and 8 respectively. I found that I was staying Liverpool, England. I was able to stay in this body until my family rushed in, hearing the new that I have again gained consciousness. The relief they all showed at my awake, my wife and mother crying for my safety, were all new for me. It gave me the feeling inside me that I have never felt before in my life. A feeling that I have only read in books. A feeling may call 'love,'
           
            For the following days, I have tried my best to fall into narcolepsy as much as possible. Through this process I was able to find out that I was able to fall into narcolepsy when I wanted to get out of the situation my original body was in. One example was my class. The fixed and hardy feeling the classroom gave me, along with the boring lectures that I had to listen to was one of the main factors that I was going into narcolepsy at classes. Another fact that was able to learn was that I was able to hold the consciousness in Fred's body until I fall asleep in that body. Through this experiences I was able to stay more in Fred's body than I was in my own body. I heard that my coma symptoms were getting remarkably better as time went on and I was a really lucky case, waking out of the comma.
            
           During my time as Fred, I burrowed a Ipad from Christina and Googled "Thomas Mortenson." No such name came up. It seems as if the Russian Government have erased me from the surface of the world. A deep taste of bitterness filled in my mouth. I almost cried out, furious. The more I longed to stay in Fred body forever.
           
            And here I am again, in my room with my window open, looking out at the night view of Moscow. I looked out at the endless lights that filled in front of my eyes and wondered if anyone would miss me if I was gone. And I thought about Fred. How, his families would react if Fred was to never open his eyes again. Thinking about this, some kind of a knot that seemed to be inside my chest suddenly seemed to resolve, the answer to this suddenly seemed clear and simple. As I was swept once again to narcolepsy I kicked my foot and tipped over the chair I was standing on.

"Crack!"

           I opened my eyes, into the blinding light, with the familiar strong smell of disinfectant piercing my nostrils....

 

Friday, September 19, 2014

The University of Chicago 2014-15 Essay Questions: Essay Option 3.

Essay 3.Little pigs, french hens, a family of bears. Blind mice, musketeers, the Fates. Part of an atom, laws of thought, a guideline for composition. Omne trium perfectum? Create your own group of threes, and describe why and how they fit together. 

Two Edged Sword : War, Lethal Accidents, and Radioactive Technology.


     War, lethal accidents, and radioactive technology. These collection of words construct a very ironic meaning unlike what the norm would think. While, there is some truth in that these three factors have contributed greatly in degrading the qualities of human lives, it is also these very factors that have stimulated the most dramatic development in medical studies throughout the history. In other words, every victim related to these three factors has contributed one way or another to set up the foundation that is and will continue to save myriads of human lives.

     When skimming through the heavy biology textbooks we are able to take glimpses of pictures containing human anatomy. When looking at these pictures we are taken aback at how detailed these descriptions are. While some might argue that these were possibly due to the recent development of imaging techniques, these pictures have been existing long before such imaging techniques have even been invented. So what enabled such descriptions? The real reason lies in the inhumane actions that have taken place during times of wars and colonization. The highly detailed drawing of the human anatomy is actual eye to eye, first handily drawn drawings of a dissected organs of captured hostages. A famous example of this is the "Unit 731" associated in the Imperial Japanese Army that undertook lethal human experiments during the Second Sino-Japanese War(1937-1945) and WW2. It is said that they referred the each individual person used in experiments with the term "log." Furthermore it is said that the "Unit 731" undertook bisections with these "logs" ,subjected to various diseases, without anesthesia. Although there is no doubt that these actions are outrageous, inhumane, and should not happen ever again, it is also true that because of these actions we were able to know the exact anatomy of such organs and the effects various diseases have on them. Hard to admit, but these findings have helped us greatly throughout the years.  

Unit 731

     The lethal accidents have also contributed considerable amount in finding each functions of the human body. The basic logic is that when an accident causes a particular part of the victim's body to lose its function, doctors observe and test this victim and try to find a part of him that has become abnormal. Thus conjecturing that the part of harm in the human body is the place that manages the correlates failed function. Through repeated observation doctors are able to conclude what particular function of a particular body part manages. An example of this is the accident of one man(Phineas P. Gage) that worked in a construction site. One day a dynamite was set of at the wrong time and a steel rod penetrated right through the man's skull, just where his frontal lobe was located. Miraculously the man survived from that ordeal and recovered. However, a very distinctive change occurred in his personality. Once a man famous for his kindness and benign nature, this accident changed this personality completely. The man began to demand such selfish requests, expressed his immediate instinctive feelings, and became a very grouchy. Through such observation along with other similar incidences, the researchers were able to conclude that the main function of the frontal lobe was associated with human's solution thinking and consciousness.

Phineas P. Gage

     While the development of radioactivity techniques have brought upon the creation of nuclear bombs and other weapons that have stolen millions of lives, other instruments made from such technology have made a surmountable development in the field of medical research. Such example is the use of X-rays and such machines called PET. Basically, these machines use the property of radioactivity rays that they have short wavelengths and large energy that able them to pass through the human body. On the other side of the origin of these waves there are receptors that receive these waves and through complex algorithms, computing the texture and state of the penetrated body, displays a digital picture on the computer screen. This rather simple technique has enabled the doctors to become aware of such diseases or injuries without the need of surgery, and a higher accuracy in the overall diagnosis of a patient.

X-rays

     There is a saying that with brighter light there comes a darker shadow. Such is the way of these three terms ; War, lethal accidents, and radioactive technology. It is a fact that these factors have  once brought upon undesired results to the rest of the world, however it is also a fact that they have contributed in saving millions of potential and present lives. Nothing is ever perfect. Such is true with our lives. While some aspect of an objects or experiences might be beneficial, there are bound to be some unforeseen aspect about that factors that are causing more harm than good. Therefore it all comes down to the user, us, who are capable of manipulating these subjects or objects. To diminish the harms as much as possible and at the same time amplifying the benefits.



Sunday, July 7, 2013

Last Assignment! (hopefully :)) : Minjok

Minjok ; the past and the future





The concept of ‘Minjok’ is deeply rooted in our lives as Koreans. We use this idea to describe and explain Koreans’ unity in many different circumstances from sports events to Korean literature. Yet, not so many people fully understand the concept of ‘Minjok’ or Korea’s ethnic nationalism. This lack of understanding might prove to be disastrous. Only by understanding how the concept of ‘Minjok’ came about and by scrutinizing its relevance to contemporary Korea are we able to fully understand and to successfully apply the concept to our past, present, and future. 


The best starting point of our analysis would be to consider the meaning and the history of the term ‘Minjok’. In essence, Korean ethnic nationalism (Minjok) is a sense of Korean identity based on the belief that Koreans are whole and unified through several important factors such as common bloodline and a shared, distinct culture. Simple as it seems, the background of the term is much more complex.


Identitiy

  The concept of ‘Minjok’ started to emerge among Korean intellectuals in the early 20th century. During this time, Korea was under Japanese colonial rule. Before the Korean-Japanese treaty of 1905, when Korea’s right to govern was mostly taken away, Japan went through a period of significant modernization. Under the newly established ‘Meiji’ government, Japan followed the footsteps of Germany and adopted many of its political and economic strategies. By the early 20th century, Japan became an Asian superpower and started to expand its borders through colonization.  Japan used the term ‘Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere’ to justify its actions against other countries, claiming that Japan is promoting the cultural and economic unity and progress of the East Asian race. The underlying purpose was to bring people under Japanese nationalism. Korean intellectuals rejected this notion and tried to promote Korean ethnic nationalism, making use of the newly phrased term ‘Minjok’ in their efforts to do so.

The Japanese Empire
Some of the main figures of the Korean independence movement who used the concept of ‘Minjok’ are Shin-Chae-Ho and Lee-Gwang-Soo. The reason behind their importance is not solely based on their usage of the term, but their method of utilizing the concept and the significant impact of their works, even to our present-day. The main approach they took trying to promote the notion of ‘Minjok’ was by using historical figures in Korean history.



Shin-Chae-Ho
Lee-Gwang-Soo
For example, the scholar Shin-Chae-Ho published a book, <Ul-Ji-Mun-Duk (을지문덕 乙支文德) >where he wrote about an historical event where the Chinese Sui invaded Goguryeo. Here, Shin-Chae-Ho described Ul-Ji-Mun-Duk’s heroic act that was a key factor in winning the Sal-Su-Dae-Chub, a historical battle that brought Goguryeo-Sui war to an end for Goguryeo’s victory. He particularly emphasized the general’s character such as his courage and his sacrifice to the nation from foreign invasion. Another scholar named Lee-Gwang-Soo wrote a book called <Lee-Soon-Shin-Jun>, a story of a famous general during the Korean-Japanese war (1594), also a Korean Minjok Leadership Academy figure. Lee-Gwang-Soo similarly praised Lee-Soon-Shin for his heroic acts. There are also lots of other scholars who wrote stories of historical figures, but they all have in common that by emphasizing the patriotic side of the great men in Korean history and tried to define the characteristics of the Korean people under the concept of one Minjok. By trying to emphasize and define the Korean ‘Minjok’ as hard working, patriotic, etc, they were able to make great contributions to strengthen and specify the already existent concept of Minjok in the Korean society.

Lee-Soon-Shin

Up to this point, this act of Korean ethnic nationalism wasn’t so special inside the global community. Other countries such as France, Germany, and Japan also had this sense of unity in their nation. However, as time passed and WWII came to an end, the sense of nationalism weakened. This was presumably because their fundamental belief was based on a single community, not a strong bloodline like the Koreans. Furthermore, the foreign countries concept of Ultra-nationalism and Nazism crumbled through the defeat of the WWII, while our concept of Minjok remains solid for our belief as mentioned before is focused on the bloodline and culture.


Collapse of Nazism



The idea of ‘Minjok’ reaches its peak in the 1960s during president ‘Park Chung-Hee’’s term in office. President ‘Park-Chung-Hee’ emphasized the concept of ‘Minjok’ in order to legitimate his foreceful ruling. To be more specific, he stressed the loyalty of the citizens to their nation, which meant that the people of Korea had to take in sacrifices meant for development and a promising future of Korea. This was done by bringing all people under the idea of ‘Minjok’.
Statue of Lee-Soon-Shin
Still, in present day Korea, there are many traces that we can find of his dominant authority and his emphasis on the concept of ‘Minjok’. For example, the statue of Lee-Soon-Shin in Gwang-Ha square in Seoul was built during the Park-Chung-Hee era. The president emphasized Lee-Soon-Shin as he was a key symbol of Korean history concerning one’s sacrifice to Korea. He died in his last battle against the Japanese marines. Furthermore, every school that was built during this period has a statue of Lee-Soon-Shin or Dan-gun, one who is said to have established the first Korean nation. My middle school also has a statue of Dan-gun and this also stresses the loyalty and sacrifice for the country as we all gather and salute to the flag and the statue every Monday. Other examples are the Korean National Pledge that was created in 1968. The pledge says that one must sacrifice everyday for the nation and the glory of our people. So as you can see, during this period, a sense of Korean nationalism or ‘Minjok’ was enforced into the modern day Korea.
[1] 신선희(Sun-Hee Shin), <근대 초 위인전을 통해 본 한국인의 정체성 형성 방법>, 3-5
http://congress.aks.ac.kr/korean/files/2_1357707735.pdf



(Korean National Pledge)

This is where the ‘Necessary Illusion’ can be added into the context. The emphasis on sacrifice to the country could be said as a ‘Necessary Illusion’ used in order to cover up the real problem. In this case, the real problems during the Park-Chung-Hee era were labor and democracy problems. By stressing the unquestioning obedience and sacrifice of the Korean people, the urgency and importance of labor and democracy problems were covered-up. So, the ‘Necessary Illusion’ could be said as a crucial factor that blocked democratic development of the Korean society. To rephrase, the concept of ‘Minjok’ was used as a ‘Necessary Illusion’ by the government at that time to cover up the pressing matters such as democratic policy adoption and labor rights.

Jeon Tae-il 
So this is where we face a very important and difficult question. Does the end justify the means? While the forceful development of the past has ignored the human rights, there aren’t so many people who are angry with the amazing economic development we have gone through in half a century. However, we cannot say that end justifies the means. To back this argument the situation of labor in the past and present could be used. In the 70’s the working environment of the labors was in a serious state, where the sanity and the safety of the workshops were not properly protected by the government. Angry about this situation a worker called Jeon Tae-il commits a suicide by burning himself in order to notify the situation of the workers in Korea in and out of the nation. This problem between the employees and the employers is still eminent today. The labor problems happening inside companies such as 쌍용(Ssangyong), and 현대(Hyundai) is the consequence of such problems not solved in the past, specifically the excessive emphasis on the concept of ‘Minjok’ and the sacrifice required by the government. Therefore, the end does not justify the means. The Necessary Illusion is only covering up the problem for now, but not really solving the problem.

The concept of ‘minjok’ could not be said that is meaningless in the present Korean Society. There are certainly some elements of the concept that could be considered positive to our society, such as in times where our nation became one, cheering for the national team in the 2002 world cup, etc….. However, the concept of ‘Minjok’, can be said to be incompatible in many areas in today’s situation. There are two main folds to why I think this concept is incompatible; it does not fit into the trend of globalization, and it effects negatively to the problem of Korean unification.

2002 World Cup



Of course I am not saying that the globalization is always a good thing. There are certainly needs for the concept of nationalism as it can filter what to take in or not. However, a successful and a more idealistic globalization is when every other race, culture and people can coexist peacefully inside one society. The concept of ‘minjok’ in Korea is disturbing such coexistence for we emphasis to our children from a very young age that we are a single race and that we have a  unified bloodline. These factors of ‘Minjok’ is creating disharmony between the Koreans and foreign labors, which means that we are losing valuable potential human resources which could haul our economy to a more developed state. The disharmony extends to foreign cultures, foreign ideologies, etc. Another example of such disharmony is the way Koreans treat to foreigners when some accidents happen to our citizens. In 2002, two female students were killed by a tank from the US army, by accident. Outraged by this accident, the citizens of Korea began to show their anger by assaulting random foreigners whom weren’t even Americans. Looking at these past incidents, it is clear that the concept of ‘Minjok’ and unity is causing disruption for a peaceful relationship with foreign countries, cultures, and people, and it is certainly against the ideals of a successful globalization. Korea should modify their concept of ‘Minjok’ as a strong, unified, distinct group. Realizing that this stubborn concept is incompatible to our present day, we should try to open up the concept of ‘Minjok’ to other people who share the same sense of belonging to Korea.

The increase of foreigners in Korea


Secondly, the concept of ‘Minjok’ is actually preventing the unification of North and South Korea. It is true that the ‘peaceful minjok unity’ is the fundamental principle for peaceful unification. However as 60 years have passed since both Koreas got divided, there are not much factors to find in common between these two countries nowadays. Language, culture, idea is becoming different every day. Considering this fact, the ongoing efforts of unification under the theme of ‘Minjok’ could be somewhat meaningless. While the concept of ‘Minjok’ in both Koreas is focused on the fact that North and the South Korea are the same as we share the same bloodline, the reality is not. So rather than just stressing this incompatible concept of ‘Minjok’ as a key to reunification, trying to focus and develop on what little is left that can be said as common to the two Koreas, it would be more efficient to analysis the differences between the two countries and try to overcome these differences. Overall that solution would be more suitable for the present situation.

Efforts for Unification

To put it into a nutshell while the concept of ‘Minjok’ started as a mere motive to resist the treachery of Japanese – Empire, it has caused much more fundamental impacts to our history and the Korean Society. Though the concept of ‘Minjok’ might have been effective in the past, it is beginning to show signs of problem in our modern society as the necessary illusion only covers up the problems, not solving it. Such example is the problems of labor rights. Now the time has come for us Koreans to rethink about the term ‘Minjok.’ Of course I’m not saying that we should completely rebuild the meanings of the term, but to cut out the parts that is lacking today’s trend in the globalized society. In addition to add factors that could lead to a more harmonious relationship between the foreign society and Korea. Everything resembles Janus, there are always some factors that might benefits or otherwise harm the society. This logic could also be applied to the concept of ‘Minjok’, while the term ‘Minjok’ has both sides of benefit and harm it is the job of today’s people to minimize the harms and to maximize the benefits.
Janus

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Finals !!



Tired.....







Zzzzzzzzzzzz.....

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

The Golden Gate Bridge


Balancing on that red thin rope

Imagining myself as a clown

Wish I could go back

to the Past