On My Way To Korea

UPDATE: Their translated schedule is available here and their blog post about the event is here.  GI Korea also written a post on ROK Drop with some commentary.

Yesterday was the big day for the 독도레이서스 (Dokdo Racers) to do their presentation for us in Salt Lake City.  I’ve had some chances to meet with them over the past few days (more here and here).  We’re the second city they’ve visited (the first being Stanford at San Fransisco), so they’re still hammering out their presentation.  I can’t remember their exact schedule, but I know they’ll be visiting New York, Toronto, LA, Iowa, and Boston (in North America).  One of their big locations will be the world cup in South Africa next year.

There were about 60 people total, which was more than what I and they had expected.  We each got a pamphlet and some other papers about 독도 (Dokdo) along with a plate of assorted 떡 (rice cake) and a drink called 식혜 (Sikhye).  I always appreciate the opportunity to eat and drink some good Korean snacks and drinks.

First off, all of the members played four types of instruments together which sounded really nice.

Next, 이한나 (Hannah Lee) sang 판소리 (Pansori, traditional Korean singing) while 정지원 (Jiwon Chung) played the barrel drum.

Next off, 배성환 (SungHwan Bae) showed off some 태권도 (Taekwondo).

After warming up the crowd, they went into the main part of their presentation about Dokdo.  I didn’t take any pics or video during it, but I will post my commentary.

They started off by explaining who they were and how they created the project.  They’re originally from a club at 서울대학교 (Seoul National University) which focuses on finding and facing challenges.  The president of the club, 정지원 (Jiwon Chung), slept at my apartment after I helped edit their script, so I got to get to know him pretty well.  We talked for about three hours about our life goals and other things.  He said that one of his personal goals in doing this project is to meet people around the world to see how they tick, what values they have, what they want to accomplish, etc.  He believes that through taking on this project as a challenge that he’ll learn and grow a lot.  I was glad to hear another dimension other than just caring about the Dokdo issue.  They weren’t originally over-zelous about Dokdo before doing this project, but they simply chose it as a challenge to face.

I told him that I represent America wherever I go and with whoever I talk with (specifically Koreans in my situation) and that both him and I have a great responsibility to represent our countries.  That’s something I personally feel strongly about.  When I go to Korea, I have a goal that when people meet me, they will see someone who they can respect.  I don’t care if I’m in school, at a bar, with friends, with strangers, etc.  I hope that the racers realize that although they are promoting Dokdo, the most important thing they will be doing is representing Korea.  Although I may be forgotten after I return back to America (assuming I get to Korea…), people may forget my name and things I’ve said, but I hope they remember that they met a nice American.  If I can do that, I will be successful.

After they introduced the project, they talked about the race they put on in Korea.  There were over 1,000 racers who ran and gave their footprints to be added to Dokdo.  They are going to hold races and give presentations around the globe and in the end they’ll take all the footprints back to Dokdo.

After all the introductions and background, they showed a video introducing the issue of Dokdo.  After I saw that video on Wednesday, they actually edited it since it seemed a little too aggressive to Japan (I highly suggested that they change it).  The first version introduced a extreme scenario where Japan claims that Megan Fox is Japanese and other things like that.  I told them that it really seemed that people seeing this would not get it and that it would hurt the presentation.  They came back with a new version on Thursday to show me with that section changed.  I was really happy to see that they had made it much better.  Instead of showing extreme examples of Japan claiming things as Japans, they made examples of Korea claiming things that weren’t theirs (using simple examples instead of people).  To me, it just seemed a lot more classy to to that.  Saying that Korea doesn’t claim things that aren’t theirs was way better than saying that Japan claims things that are completely and obviously not theirs.  Although they had changed the video, they accidentally showed the original one during the presentation.  They said that they were sorry for showing that version and showed the new version after the presentation was finished.

After the video they talked about the issue some more and showed some proof about Dokdo referencing Japanese maps and a statement by the government before 1905.  Their tone was generally positive, explaining that normal Japanese citizens don’t even know about Dokdo and are innocent (I suggested that they really push that point).  They gave an example that although France was occupied by Germany, they currently consider Germany their most intimate neighbor.  They said that they hope Korea and Japan can follow that example, noting that many Koreans hate Japanese people because of Dokdo even though the Japanese people have nothing to do with it.  They did say that it can’t happen until Dokdo is recognized as Korea’s island.  Will it ever happen?  Who knows, it’s been 50 years since the issue was raised so I wouldn’t hold my breath.  I personally hope that Dokdo officially becomes recognized as Korea’s territory in the international community sooner rather than later.

At the end, they got a couple of questions.  One was about how they got their funding.  They received money and support from the government, some businesses, and had to pay the rest of the bill on their own (it was actually a pretty big chunk they had to pay for).

Finally, we all went to the back where we added our footprint to two flags (one which we kept and one they’ll take back to Dokdo).

Here’s me with mine:

After everything was finished, I was invited back to their apartment to eat with them to celebrate before they headed off.  We had some Korean food (삼겹살, 닭도리탕) and some drinks.  That was the first time I ever had 소주 (Soju) , which was fairly strong (although not as strong as I had imagined), and wine.  I still prefer a nice, cold Dr. Pepper though.  After we finished eating and drinking, the guys went to another apartment where we continued to drink and talk a little more before calling it quits around 2 AM.

Anyways, I’ve had a great time meeting and helping them for the past few days.  It was definitely an opportunity I’m glad I had.  They really seemed like great individuals and I wish them the best of luck in their journey around the world~

You can find them at:

• Official Dokdo Racers Website
• Blog
• Me2DAY

I subscribed to the Korea Society’s podcase which produces some absolutely wonderful talks.  If you are interested in Korean society, history, modern topics, economics, etc., you HAVE to sign up for it.  In the past I have been interested in the history of Korea, but I couldn’t really find any way to learn it well.  Until I found this, that is.  In iTunes just search for “Korea Society” in the podcasts and subscribe.  Here are just a couple of my favorite talks:

• Two Koreas, Past and Present
• The Origins of Koreans and Their Culture – Part 1
• The Origins of Koreans and Their Culture – Part 2

There are so many others I would like to list here, just jump over to http://www.koreasociety.org/external/podcast.html and check out the ones that sounds interesting to you!

원스 어폰 어 타임 is an adventure story set in the Japan-occupied Korea. There’s a diamond which the Japanese army is trying to take out of Korea while the Korean Independence Army struggles to keep it in their country, preserving the precious part of Korean history.

I really enjoyed the movie; it shows the dedication of the Koreans to keep their culture alive. It has some great humor thrown in between the many action sequences. The ending is awesome; the main bad guy gets some ironic justice. I would highly recommend this movie to anyone wanting to see an adventure flick along the lines of Indiana Jones.

Trailer

Culture Notes

1. Japan treated Koreans pretty bad (all countries are guilty of this though, even Korea). Japan tried to eradicate the Korean history, language and culture. You can see this theme throughout the movie (one sign says ‘Koreans and dogs not allowed’, multiple times people talk about Koreans who work for Japan being lower than the Japanese, etc.). Because of that, you do see some hostility towards Japan from Koreans that has passed on to the younger generation. In the end of the movie, the same sign from the beginning says ‘Japanese and dogs not allowed’. Once they actually meet each other the prejudice goes away fairly fast.

2. Yes, like 20% of Koreans have the last name, 이. So how can they tell who is close to their family? In addition to their last name, they usually know the town which their family originated from. That way they can tell who is really part of their family and who is not. If two people meet who have the same last name they will often ask what city their name is from.