Korean Job Discussion Forums

[philipjames]

So, which one of you won the Korea Times Doko essay contest 'for foreigners'? Please do pos.? (Pleeeaaasssee.) Any of you spend weeks writing your essay only to be denieed recognition? Feeling hurt? Your love for Doko unrequited? Post here. We're all here for you. But there can be only one winner.

For whomever won the contest. Rock on dude. You the man.

[Tommy]

Bundangbear FTW with his video essay.

[Kimchi Cha Cha]

Whoever won, I bet it didn't convey half the emotion, this work of beauty conveyed. This one on the East Sea was a beautiful piece as well.

[PRagic]

For PR purposes, the winner was Japanese.

[philipjames]

I bet there wasn't a single serious entry. The Korea Times will, I bet, just let the whole matter die quietly.

[Bingo]

[The Great Toad]

[philipjames]

What annoyed me most about that contest was its pretense to be affiliated with an Asian 'historical institute' or some such thing. Then it, shamelessly, stated that the winner would be someone who contributed new primary evidence showing Korea's historical ownership of Dokdo. This clearly implied that if, in the rounds of ones research, a potential contributer found a document strengthening Japan's claim to Dokdo they could simply shove it up their arse. The Korea Times and its affiliated 'history institute' wanted to know nothing about it. For someone with an MA in history I found that approach infuriating.

But that's Korea. History here is nothing but propaganda. Facts are only important if they help bolster Korean nationalism.

A recent thread querieed why Koreans had swuch a high drop out rate in Western universities. Part of the reason is their complete and utter ignorance of objective, empirical enquiry.

[Bingo]

Ugh. That was a painful read. Aren't poems supposed to rhyme. Something like.

There once was a man from the rocks.
Who wore dirty clothes and smelly socks.
Said 'Dokdo was Korea. Korea welly good."
'Japan peepuhs is welly rude.

etc.

I simply refuse to read poems that don't rhyme. And I certainly have no time for any Westerner who plays into the arms of the Korea Times propaganda machine by writing such a stupid poem.

[Smee]

As I said before the winner will either be:

a) a gyopo high school student, or
b) a foreign national from a country that doesn't speak English natively.

Look at the VANK website (prkorea.com). They have tons and tons and tons of testimonials about the greatness of Korea, the ownership of the Liancourt Rocks, the name of the Sea of Japan, and historical figures, all from overseas Koreans and wackos from France or other shitty countries. The KT had tons of submissions I'm sure, and I'll eat my hat if there's one that cooly and calmly presents the evidence without simply assuming the reader agrees with the default Korean position. Pretty much any essay on the matter you read that acknowledges Japanese claims at all follows the line "Japan claims _______ but that's wrong." End of discussion. And practically everyone follows the "DOkdo is ours because Japan was bad" line of reasoning.

[ED209]

I think they passed my song I sent them on to immigration

"I'm turning Takeshima
I think I'm turning Takeshima
I really think so
Turning Takeshima
I think I'm turning Takeshima
I really think so
I'm turning Takeshima
I think I'm turning Takeshima
I really think so
Turning Takeshima
I think I'm turning Takeshima
I really think so"

[wylies99]

There are PLENTY of tools who probably entered the contest. Who won? I don't know who, but let me describe him.

Let's see, it'll probably be someone who wants to make head teacher at their hogwan branch so they can enthusiastically rat on the other foreigners and go to saunas with their bossman and give him an extra special rubdown each night. He's ALWAYS laughing at the bossman's jokes and pouring soju for him, plus he's willing to work extra hours with no pay. He always complains about foreign teachers and wants to stay in Korea forever.

[wylies99]

[KHerald]

[Smee]

Yeah, with the Herald if you want to read crap older than two weeks you have to pay for it! And so much for linking on blogs or forums since the webpage won't allow it. The KT has some good stuff, but also a lot of crap. Par for the course, I guess. What kills me is none of the big papers---Chosun, Joongang, KT, KH---know about paragraphs or punctuation. Makes it really painiful to sit through lengthy articles that either paragraph every sentence or that don't put spaces between them.

Anyway, there's more kick-ass poetry where that came from: