Monster Island (actually a peninsula)*

Pearls of witticism from 'Bo the Blogger: Kushibo's Korea blog... Kushibo-e Kibun... Now with Less kimchi, more nunchi. Random thoughts and commentary (and indiscernibly opaque humor) about selected social, political, economic, and health-related issues of the day affecting "foreans," Koreans, Korea and East Asia, along with the US, especially Hawaii, Orange County and the rest of California, plus anything else that is deemed worthy of discussion. Forza Corea!

Monday, October 6, 2008

Korea Times gets an F (visa)

The Korea Times has another red-meat article about how foreigners are being treated unfairly because of the F-series visa issue. And true to form, the Marmot's Hole peanut gallery is going after it as another example of Korean racism. It's funny how so many people complain (rightfully so) about inaccuracies in the Korean media when it seems to be against them, but if it's a story that seems to bolster their opinion (right or wrong), they embrace it. (The Korean media, both in English and in Korea, has quite a few incompetents among its ranks who fail to bring the facts because they are too lazy or too ill-prepared to properly report a story or because they are trying to foment public opinion for or against something. I've been railing about this kind of agenda-driven reporting for years!)

Let me make this clear: The Korea Times story gets it wrong because it inaccurately paints the picture as one of kyopo versus non-kyopo, when in fact it's a case of F-series visa holders versus holders of other visas (most of them E-series visa holders). If it's simply reporting that foreigners are complaining about what they see as unfair discrimination in favor of kyopo, then the reporter has a professional responsibility to provide the facts that would support or refute that.

The numbers make that point clear: F-2 visa holders (spouses of Korean nationals, who might be White, Black, Hispanic, or non-Korean Asians) outnumber F-4 holders (former ROK citizens or the direct offspring of former ROK citizens) by a margin of 3 to 1.

Let's make that clear, too: F-series visa holders are not just kyopo and not all kyopo are F-series visa holders. If your Korean parents or grandparents went overseas and never gave up their ROK citizenship, no F-4 for you.

Except for the issue of non-Korean F-2 visa holders being asked to provide a background check when their ethnic Korean colleagues with foreign citizenship don't have to, this is not about Korean versus non-Korean. It's about F-visas versus E-visas.

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Ask Kushibo.

My Google/Blogspot data shows that a lot of the 2 million people who have landed on my site (yes, that's the real number) are looking for cultural information on Korea (e.g., “When did Syngman Rhee die?” “What did the Indians bring to the first Chusŏk?’ etc., etc.), as well as practical or historical stuff.

That got me thinking that, hey, I have a master’s degree in Korean studies and a minor in Japanese studies, I’ve lived in Seoul far longer than most foreans my age (whether they're kyopo or non-kyopo), I teach introductory courses on Korea and its cultural trappings and history, so why not offer a free service where I attempt to answer people’s questions, point them in the direction of where they can get them answered, and/or offer my regulars (that’s you!) a chance to take a stab at some of this stuff, too.

So if there’s something you’d like to know from a “contrarian scourge,” click on ASK KUSHIBO and just ask a succinct question in the comments section below.

Oh, and play nice. Please don’t make me regret this.

九十五大怪獣란? 쿠시보의 몬스터 아일랜드란?

Pearls of witticism from 'Bo the Blogger: Kushibo's Korea blog... Kushibo-e Kibun...
Now with Less kimchi, more nunchi. Random thoughts and commentary (and indiscernibly opaque humor) about selected social, political, economic, and health-related issues of the day affecting "foreans" ("foreigners" in Korea be they kyopo or non-kyopo), Koreans, Korea and East Asia, along with the US, especially Hawaii, Orange County, and the rest of California, plus anything else that is deemed worthy of discussion. Forza Corea!

* Monster Island (actually a peninsula)

The name of this blog comes from a line in "Lisa on Ice," a beloved episode of The Simpsons, perhaps my all-time favorite television show (even though for several seasons there, it really did suck). Lisa is imagining being sworn in as president, but at the last minute, it is discovered that she failed P.E. (physical education) and she is thus "sentenced to a lifetime of horror" on Monster Island. "Don't worry," the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court confides in her, "It's just a name."

Fast forward to Lisa and other prisoners running in panic through a tropical jungle, chased by Godzilla-like creatures, including a monster turtle and a monster firefly.

"He said it was just a name!" Lisa screams to the man next to her. While he, too, runs for his life, the unidentified man calmly says, "What he meant is that Monster Island is actually a peninsula."

Anyway, I thought in some ways that punchline summed up modern-day Korea in a nutshell. For many people—foreigners and Koreans—the ups and downs and everyday travails of the Republic of Korea make it as precarious as a Monster Island would be (and with the DMZ being the only land border, it really is like an island). But it actually is a peninsula. Okay, it made sense in my head.

So as you can see, despite the hits I get from people looking for Japanese tentacle porn, it has nothing to do with anything salacious as that.

Monster Island (actually a peninsula)*

Monday, October 6, 2008

Korea Times gets an F (visa)

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