"Comfort Women"

This past week our group has been learning about a tragedy from Korean history. During World War II, Japanese kidnapped young Korean women (aged 13~) and forced them into sexual slavery for the Japanese soldiers, as a means of "motivating" the Japanese soldiers to continue fighting. This happened on a large scale, and over the course of the war, many women were taken and abused. After the war, some of the girls were able to come back to Korea. However, they were not received with open arms; because they had been raped, society disapproved of them and shunned them, forcing them to come together to live. In today's world however, the halmoni's (the women who had suffered) are seen as very courageous and receive the support of the Korean community. Every Wednesday from noon until 1 PM, the halmoni's protest by sitting in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul, still waiting for an official apology.

We went to the protest this past Wednesday, and it was very interesting to observe it. There were many people there - adults, students (perhaps on school field trips?), and other groups. The halmoni's sat on chairs, not speaking aloud, while different people performed songs in front of the group or spoke to the audience. The atmosphere felt strong in support of the halmoni's.

This individual level of action enacted by the halmoni's is the stepping stone to creating international change. The Japanese government no doubt hears of the halmoni protests, and tries to downplay the entire comfort women situation (the US put up a statue about comfort women, and the Japanese asked the US to take it down). By individuals taking action, we can see the amount of pressure they put on a large group such as the Japanese government and the difference they can make.

Overall, the justice the women seek is: an official apology issued by the Japanese government and a more peaceful future. Every week they protest, rain or shine, waiting for the Japanese to recognize the halmoni's suffering and apologize. Government's seek the same sort of justice for the halmoni's, maybe with an additional goal of the halmoni's receiving money compensation. The Japanese government still refuses to provide this justice to the halmoni's, perhaps waiting until the last of the halmoni's age out.

Meeting People Internationally

Meeting new people in Korea has actually been pretty easy. People, especially students, are much more eager to interact than I had expected before coming to Korea. Although there is a language barrier, preventing me from communicating with non-English speakers, much of the student population here knows a good amount of English (enough to hold at least a conversation). From my understanding, it is difficult for Koreans to meet one another, however Koreans are more open to making exceptions when talking to foreigners because societal norms don't apply. As a result, as international students we may have not experienced the typical Korean social structure, however instead we experienced an easier exchange in which people here are actively wanting to meet us.

On the other hand, for international students visiting the United States it may be more difficult. While Americans tend to be very outgoing and willing to meet new people, the international students may be the ones holding themselves back from meeting people. For example, a Korean student going to study in the US may feel overwhelmed by the social structure; it is completely different from the one they are used to and may have trouble adapting. Without knowing people, the student may feel that they have no one to introduce them to new potential friends; instead, it is assumed they must put themselves out there to meet new people. Being bold and outgoing is a different concept for these students, which may take some getting used to. However, once students get over the initial hurdle of becoming outgoing, I believe that it is not difficult for them to meet new people in the US.

Overall, I feel the two exchanges share similarities and differences. In each situation, a person enters a different social structure from the one they are accustomed to and must adapt. The ability to adapt is determined by the students own perseverance along with the openness of the society they are entering (which varies country by country).

"Buddy Topic" - Inherent Privileges and Challenges

On the way to the school in rural Korea, Ayesha and I talked about the buddy topic regarding what privileges and challenges we have. We both talked about how we felt privileged to be fluent in the English language, as it allows us the most international access of any language. Being brought up learning English was very fortunate, rather than having to learn it later in life as a second language in which it is tougher. We also talked about education and the large emphasis on higher education in the United States. While schools in the US cost much more money than other countries, at least compared to Korea and Taiwan, they also are more technologically-equipped and provide strong curriculums. Many of the top-ranked schools in the world are within the US, showing the educational advantage of having these schools readily available to us.

Another undeniable privilege of mine is being Caucasian and male. Unfortunately society has allowed for there to be a discontinuity in various aspects of life between Caucasian males and other races/genders; for example, Caucasian males tend to earn more money in their jobs compared to others. While I am able to benefit from this privilege, others do not have the same luck, and their race or gender could be seen as a challenge to them. To deal with this challenge, people advocate for social justice and equality amongst races and genders, hoping for a change to come.

English Internationally

Throughout my trips abroad, I've noticed that English is becoming more and more prevalent as a second language. Especially in Korea, the government has recently begun to require students to begin studying English around 3rd or 4th grade until they go to university. As a result, talking to many young people here is easy because they know at least some conversational English, whereas speaking with the older generations can prove to be more difficult. I believe English has become so important because it has transformed into the "international language;" it serves as the one language that different societies can share and speak with one another. For example, one person we met with commented on how he saw two people from different East Asian countries communicate to one another through English. Although English was neither of the two peoples native language, because English is becoming more international, it can serve as the single communication link between two varying cultures.

Consequently, the Korean government has taken an initiative to up the amount of English education within Korea. A main goal of the government is to provide English education to all students on at least a useable level, to make them more prepared and equipped to tackle the professional world. The Korean government has newer goals of hiring foreigners to help teach English, which may be because foreigners (say from America, Britain, etc.) are more fluent in the language and thus teach it more correctly. Also, having a foreigner as a teacher can be beneficial to the students as they can also better understand the culture behind which uses the language - the teacher has first-hand experience living in English-speaking societies.

Being fluent in English has many benefits compared to being fluent in other languages. Because it is becoming the international language, no matter where I go, I always have at least an okay chance at finding someone else who speaks a little English there. To show the opposite end of the spectrum, imagine a Korean couple wanting to visit France. If the Korean couple does not know French, then they will most likely be completely shut off language-wise once in France; from my understanding, Korean is not a popular language outside of Korea. Whereas if I visited France, I would likely run into some English speakers and be able to get by relatively well.

National Art Museum of Korea

Previous to entering the National Art Museum, I expected to see grand paintings, large sculptures and the like. Instead, I saw a range of elaborately detailed to quite simple ceramics, scrolls with various depictions of nature, carefully drawn calligraphy, and a painting and sculpture here and there. While different than I had expected, I enjoyed the museum because it represented the flow of history of Korea through it's different exhibits. I also appreciated the museum's incorporation of other cultures, such as containing an exhibition on India. I believe other visitors, and myself included, enjoyed the fact that exploring the museum is a different experience from the rest of Seoul; whereas Seoul is very technological and things happen very fast, the museum is a nice break in which one can move at their own pace and slowly explore the history and culture of Korea.

The museum is a prime example of how art and culture come together and benefit from one another. I believe art and culture are intertwined; culture guides the way art is made, and artists create art to depict the cultural aspects of the environment surrounding them. Through this mutually beneficial relationship, museums can collect and display generations of artwork to tell a visual story of the history and culture of a society.

United Service Organizations

Beforehand I did not know much about the USO or their purpose. However, after listening to their presentation I better understand and respect them for what they do to help the military. The USO's main goal is in providing entertainment to military members during times of despair. While it is not a required service for the military members, many use it to revitalize themselves.

Speaking about the relationships between the U.S. military and Korean communities, there are multiple perspectives. The older generation tends to appreciate the U.S. military presence because they understand how much help the U.S. were during previous wars. However, the younger generation dislike U.S. military presence because they feel they are infringing upon their land/home. This presents challenges in developing positive relations between U.S. and Korea, which hopefully can be alleviated in the future.

In the meantime, the USO works to keep the spirits of the military up within Korea and various other parts of the world. The USO provides areas for the military to relax and enjoy entertainment, along with welcoming them home with a big shebang. Another service the USO provides is helping U.S. soldiers learn about the culture of the area they are residing within. This can help both the U.S. and home culture groups develop better relationships with one another, rather than being two entirely separate groups. The KATUSA program is another example within which we can see Korean citizens join the U.S. army to help them; in the meantime, relationships are also being developed. In relation to myself, things I've taken away from this presentation include: learning about cultures before visiting them so that I can better understand the community I am within, and actively intermingling with the home community to develop meaningful relationships.

Poverty on an International Scale

Talking with Christal Phillips was a great experience. She works within an organization that helps to alleviate global poverty; while we did talk about her work in Korea, we mainly talked about planning for the future and finding what we want to do in life.

Specifically about her work, Christal came to Korea a couple years ago to work at Yonsei University. She joined a new program, IPAID (Institute for Poverty Alleviation and International Development) and has since been working with them to help "alleviate poverty and promote sustainable international development" in developing countries through research and the like. A question was asked whether I believe government's helping to alleviate poverty in a country when their own country suffers from poverty is hypocritical. I believe that as long as the government puts a substantial effort in helping to reduce poverty within their own nation, it is perfectly acceptable to also help support other nations simultaneously. In a similar vein, earlier in the trip our group volunteered to help pass food out to the homeless around Seoul. This was a great experience, and it can also be related to the government's goal; while we do have poverty in America, and we should be helping out with that, we can also help Korean citizens who are suffering similarly. In the end, we are all a part of a single global community that should look out for one another.