On My Way To Korea

This is a continuation of the North Korean propaganda series.  For more information regarding the series or the North Korean dialect, please refer back to the first page, featuring women.

Pages in this series

North Korean

1. Women
2. Children
3. Anti-USA 1
4. Anti-USA 2
5. Army
6. Juche and Seon-gun
7. Great Leader
8. Other 1
9. Other 2
10. Anti-USA 3
11. Great Leader 2
12. Juche and Seon-gun 2
13. Other 3
14. Other 4
15. Other 5
16. Other 6
17. Other 7

South Korean

1. Extreme
2. Other 1
3. Other 2
4. Original

Here’s the second set of posters which target children:

Let’s hand over a unified Korea to the next generation!
후대들에게
통일된조국을 물려주자!

Playing war by strangling the American pigs is exciting
미국놈 때려 잡는 군사놀이 신나요

Our General is the best! (우리 장군님 제일이야)

Top: Let’s become youth with the never-ending faithfulness to the Great Leader Kim Jung-Il
위대한 령도자 김정일 장군님께 끝없이 충실한 청년전위기 되자!
Flag Top: Let’s always prepare for the loving Great Leader Kim Jung-Il
경애하는 김정일 장군님을 위하여 항상 준비하자!
Flag Middle: Always prepared! (항상준비)
Flag Bottom: Youth League (소년단)
Book Left: Kim Jung-Il (김정일)
Book Right: Youth League song (조선소년단 국악)

Top: Let’s follow the campaign to do good deeds with all our hearts!
좋은일하기운동을 더욱 힘있게 벌리자!
Note: Raise rabbits together as youth.
청소년들속에서 토끼기르기.
Follow far and wide the campaign to do good deeds like planting trees and
나무심기를 비릇한 여러가지 좋은일하기 운동을 널리 벌리며
publicly supporting the things which have important meaning to
the people’s economic progress and your unit  with your heart  and
전반적 인민경제발전에서 중요한 의의를 가지는
부분과 란위들을 대중적으로 힘있게 지원하며
the youth need to do all they can to do the “youth plan” well
소년완원들이 《꼬마계획》 활동을 더
잘해나가도록 하여야 하겠습니다.
Kim Jung-Il (감정일)
Mountain: Youth woods (청년림)

Hurray for “the idea of social education”
《사회주의교육에 관한 테제》 만세!

Next, we’ll be looking at the first half of the Anti-USA posters.

I’m just going to make some notes and observations that I find interesting as I read each chapter of Mastering Business in Korean, so don’t expect an exhaustive review.

The first chapter is a brief history of Korea that the author says Koreans might expect people to know about and would help with their relations.

I had always assumed 한글 was adopted right from the get go. I guess 한글 was loathed for a while. It says the educated people disregarded 한글 because “even the women could learn it.” I remember seeing how women couldn’t go to school in the drama, 대장금, so I guess that was an accurate portrayal. The author states that 한글 became widely adopted once the bible was translated by Christian missionaries in the late 19th century.

Another interesting fact was that Pyongyang (current capital of North Korea) was seen as the Christian capital of Korea and Seoul (current capital of South Korea) was the hot spot for debate between the left and the right, so the U.S. and Soviet Russia seemed to have the wrong halves of Korea after World War II.

One thing that seems a little backwards in retrospect is that the U.S. forces tried to keep South Korea’s army very small prior to the Korean war. They felt their job was to stop South Korea from trying to invade the north. This is similar to their policy in Japan, though South Korea was in more danger of being invaded. Of course, Soviet Russia helped North Korea build up invasion forces during this time. Wow, smart move on our part . I have to wonder how much intelligence we compiled together at the time and if we knew that Soviet Russia was building up the North Korean forces.

North Korea’s history doesn’t have much to say about the 500,000 Chinese that died to push the U.S. forces back down to Seoul (which later retreated to the 38th parallel). I’d say that’s in line with their policy of trying to show how independent they are from other nations and how much Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il are gods on Earth.

Go to the next chapter, Korean Hearts and Minds: Traditional Yet Changing or select a chapter.

Korean Essential Vocabulary 6000 (buy from hanbooks) (‘A’ list, ‘ㅇ’):
안다 = to hug (also see Free Hugs in Korea)
여권 = passport
여든 = 80 (Korean rooted)
예순 = 60 (Korean rooted)
일흔 = 70 (Korean rooted)

KoreanClass101.com:
결석 = absence (from school)
무조건 = unconditional

Miracle of Giving Fool is a heart-felt story about a village idiot who dedicates his whole life to helping those closest to him. Although he does the same thing every day, wake up and sell toast, you can’t help but be amazed at the unconditional love and happiness he has. The acting is first class, providing the characters the depth needed to feel connected to them.

This is truly a drama in all senses of the word; make sure to keep some tissues nearby. I highly recommend this movie to anyone wanting to see an unexpected example we all could work towards to.

Trailer

Cultural Notes / Language

1. < 정 >

This is one of those words that just doesn’t translate well into English. Imagine the closest relationships in your life. Maybe your brother/sister or friend who you would do anything for. It’s taken years to develop. Well, 정 is one word that describes everything about that relationship (trust, loyalty, etc.).

2. It seems like there are a lot more girl-only schools in Korea than in America. At least, they are shown in movies a lot more.

Image taken from “The Korea Times”

Koreans place a HUGE level of importance on tests. Once a year Koreans prepare to take the College Scholastic Ability Test which is like a super-SAT. How good you do on the test has huge implications on your future.

If you want to try to take a test the Korean way, you will have to:

1. Don’t eat seaweed soup (you’ll slip up on the test)
2. Not wash your hair (it’ll wash out your memory)
3. Ask everyone to go to work one hour later to clear the streets so you can calmly arrive at your test taking facility.
4. Ask drivers not to honk near schools
5. Stop all (commercial and military) takeoffs and landings during any listening exam
6. Ask underclassmen to basically be cheerleaders for the seniors (see picture above).
7. Send all the mothers to their churches to pray