Korean Job Discussion Forums

[cdninkorea]

I've read with great interest stories from people about what Korea was like in the 80's and 90's, and I've even met a few people who've been here that long with many entertaining stories.

Because of this, I can't help but wonder what life was like here before that time: post-war, the 60's and 70's. I don't expect anyone on this board has been in Korea that long, but maybe some of you have heard stories from your Korean parents in law, casual conversations with elderly KATUSA soldiers, or something like that.

For example: I read that in the 1960s the government had to teach housewives how to use the newly-installed running water system throughout the urban areas; the faucets should be turned off when not in use, not left on all the time.

[eamo]

The Park Chung Hee era is fascinating to me. 60's and 70's. That's when the Korea we know today was formed.

My Korean friends tell me that Koreans didn't used to be Bali bali......Park Chung hee made them like that.

It was him that changed Korea from a rural society to an urban one. In fact, I'm told, his government promoted getting up at 7am. Because most Koreans didn't follow the clock then. They worked when they felt the it was the right time.

Kimchi wasn't such a big deal before Park Chung hee......it was just the main side dish in Korean food. But Koreans didn't make such a big deal of it. Park chung hee government realized that Koreans needed stuff to be proud of. Nationalism. So kimchi was promoted as a wonder food and a symbol of Korean pride.

There's lots more stuff in modern Korean society we don't realize only came to be in the 60's and 70's.

Galbi restaurants for one. They aren't traditional. They only became popular in the 60's and 70's.

[bluelake]

I came just a bit into the 80s ('84), but I often ask my wife questions about Korea before then. She talks about her life growing up in Korea in the 60s. Food is a common topic.

Teachers would check students' lunch boxes to make sure they did not have plain rice; it had to have barley mixed in.

Lunch boxes commonly had side dishes like fried grasshoppers (I tried it once, but didn't care much for it--my wife doesn't care much for it, either).

Candy bars were very uncommon. If a kid could get a sugar cube s/he was lucky. 누릉지 (the crusty rice at the bottom of a rice cooker/pan) was considered a great treat.

There are many others she talked about...

[Davew125]

Before i arrived in Korea i worked with guy who was in Korea for a year during the 60's. He was head of installing the first computer automated train system ( or something along those lines ) . He was living in an old converted railway carriage and he had some great stories about the place - a million miles from the the Korea of today. However, Kimchi a bad korean beer were just as prevalent then as they are now. and when he was in villages around the country it would require getting the youngest person to disappear off over the mountains on his bike for an hour or so to come back with a crate.

He showed me some pictures of him walking down the streets in Seoul (where the tallest buildings were no more than about 4 stories) with literally about 30 people (mostly kids) following him, he was a true celebrity and said the Koreans were nothing but hospitable to him - he even had old women offer him their seats when he got on trains and buses. The same wasn't true for the Americans though and said he even saw them being spat at.

He also still has an official letter from the president (or whoever was the highest person in land at the time) allowing him to travel on all transport for free, he was even allowed to flag down trains!

He said it was a great experience and was a real eye opener to how different the world could be. I still pester him to try and put his pics up online he still hasn't got round to it i'm afriad.

[Mr Crowley]

[Yesterday]

before the 1980's...

there was an 11:00pm CuRfEw..

you couldn't leave your house after 11pm...


"sparkling"

[Cohiba]

When I got here in 1996 there was a 12:00 midnight curfew. But we
never took much notice of it. They had "after hours" bars where bad
K-Girls would hang out and smoke and drink. Pochangmachas were
really common. There were NO foreign products whatsoever. There
was a ton of drugs to be had. Not only weed but coke, acid and smack.
I remember going to a new years eve party and being fried until about
the 2nd or 3rd of January. Books and movies were severely censored
for anything to do with sex, drugs or violence. This was done by the
army at that time. Movies that were 1h45min in the USA would be
1h30min in Korea. There were also lots of shanty towns.

The 70s and 80s? I can't even imagine. Probably really poor with very
little freedom. The reason a lot of older Koreans don't call the police today is
that the "police" would make people disappear back then.

[cruisemonkey]

Try to imagine what a Korean born in the '20s or '30s has seen... it's mind boggling!

[exit86]

Then think about all the young uni/high school kids who think that Korea has always been kimchi, bulgogi, handphones, motorbikes, miniskirts,
and cafe lattes.
Really boggles the mind.

[Davew125]

[jvalmer]

[BadBadMan]

Lots of grandmas and grandpas know some interesting Japanese vocabulary because they've been through the Japanese colonization period. funny stuff

I've also heard lots of good stuff about what some Japanese coppers were like, how strange it was to see Russian soldiers (lots of them were actually friendly, which I'd never have thought possible just from reading books and such), how parts of their homes became all wooden splinters when the first bombs started falling in 1950, which of their neighbors got hurt, how they had to climb onto train roofs during their migration toward Busan because they were so crowded in the beginning of the Korean War (there were a-holes that wanted to stay comfie and tried to stay lying down on those overcrowded roofs), what refugee life was like in Busan and Incheon, etc... These old people are goldmines of stories from back then.

[Davew125]

I found some great old pictures of Korean in the 50s and 60s. As you'd expect most of the albums have a military slant to them, but they're all pretty interesting


http://blog.naver.com/s5we/150048214812

http://blog.naver.com/s5we/150048214812

http://community.webshots.com/user/1ltken

http://www.dprkstudies.org/2007/11/20/color-photos-of-south-korea-1950s-1970s/

[andrewchon]

What do I remember fro 60's and 70's:
wore rubber/plastic shoes until '71. Sneakers/running shoes were for exports only
hardly anyone had TV. No colour TV until '79. They were for exports only. Children's favourite trivia question: what colour was Tarzan's loin-cloth.
curfew from 12pm till 4am. If you were outside then you had to go indoors. Didn't matter where. (No curfew in ChungchungBukdo)
Many unemployed uni-graduates made living by selling encyclopedia.
There was a sugar shortage in '72. Couldn't buy sugar even if you had money.
Every month children brought used paper to school for recycling.
Every year children brought their faeces to school for round-worm checks
Middle and High school students caught 'chatting' with opposite sexes were taken to 'education room' and flogged.
There was (maybe still is) anti-aircraft gun stationed behind Hongdae. Every night search light scanned the sky. One time a stray US aircraft was shot at.
Kidnapping children for ransom was common, particularly '75.
Many died of carbon-monoxide poisoning from burning wet coal.
Everyone had to contribute for 'national armourment' fund raising.

[Davew125]