Korean Job Discussion Forums

[dbee]

So this topic of conversation came up in an advanced class the other day.
We were talking about Korean history and I was asking where the first Koreans came from. I was expecting the obvious answer ... that the first settlers in Korea came across china and settled on the penninsula.

This was greeted with a chorus of disagreement. Nobody was sure really where they came from - but everyone agreed that the first Koreans definitely did NOT come from the chinese continent.

When pushed a little harder ... the explanations ranged from 'we came from the heavens' to 'we are descendents of a great bear'.

They weren't joking

It made me think of something I read about the Japanese as well. They refused to believe a genetic study which characterized their bloodlines as having come from the Korean penninsula at some stage in history. The Japanese countered with the argument that they really are all descendents of the Sun.

It's kinda weird having a conversation with an educated adult where they continue to describe their ancestors as literally descendents from the sun.

[itaewonguy]

japanese are decendants of Hawaii as are the maori of new zealand
but as the maori were filterd through the islands the japanese were filtered through south east asia until settling on japan.

koreans are decendants of mongolia/russia and of course today looks on the map as part of china also.. the china, mongolia, russia rim..
koreans dont wont to admit it.. they think they are gods gift to earth!

but koreans are mongol/chinese I mean just look at them you can see!
but becareful in your class. you will hit a nerve with some of the koreans
they will not want to talk to about it.. and will just say we are KOREAN
from KOREA!! then you say ok.. and move on!

[SuperFly]

Koreans come from somewhere....OUT THERE --> *Points to the night sky*

[manlyboy]

I don't find the answers they gave surprising at all.

Being Korean means never letting logic get in the way of saving face.

[joe_doufu]

I'd love to see their faces if I pointed out (correctly) that we're all descended from Africans.

[BigBlackEquus]

They do call it a Mongolian birthmark on their butts, after all, right?

Yeah, my students and another teacher said I was very wrong in saying that Koreans decended from Mongolia. Whatever.

[Son Deureo!]

No, no, no, you guys have it all wrong.

Koreans came from their mommies and daddies.

[uberscheisse]

with the most childish logic, i've been trying to attack one superkorean assertion in my classes.

here's the problem. the east sea/sea of japan has two geopolitically dominant coastlines, the japanese and korean coasts.

the japanese coastline on the east sea/sea of japan is about 3200 km. the korean coastline is about 700 km. (this is just from eyeballing it on the map, don't quote my figures).



look at japan - its coastline all but dominates this body of water, when viewed from a strictly japan vs. korea perspective.

so i ask the kids "so, put out of your mind that japan is bad. we all know that. since japan's coastline is so much bigger than korea's, why should korea be allowed to name the east sea? shouldn't japan be the one to do it, simply because its coastline covers more of the actual sea?

and the kids just can't get their heads around it. "is east sea, is korea!" is about as far as they can get.

i try to give them a few ideas... like maybe it's "east sea" because it's also east of china and russia... but they just don't take the fucking bait.

but i also say "it's east of korea, but it's west of pretty much everything else... why should korea get to tell the whole world where this body of water is?!?" and they just don't get it.

one kid did come out and say "well, dokdo is in the middle of the east sea, so we have more (territorial) claim". which is a pretty logical argument but the rest of them were pretty stunned by the idea of taking the propaganda beat into them in school and examining it.

keep in mind i don't know who's right and who really has a legal/historical claim over the sea, nor do i care. i was just having fun picking a bunch of kids' brains...

i've relabeled my map anyways. the east sea, yellow sea and south sea are now the "right sea", "left sea" and "bottom sea".

[kermo]

I've heard the story of the Great Bear, but only in very broken English. It sounded fairly romantic though.

[peppermint]

There's a creation myth and a national holiday to celebrate it here- that's what the holiday on October 3 is about.

for more info on the myth:
http://www.lifeinkorea.com/Information/tangun.cfm

In short- the next time they make some crack about monkeys, reply with
"yeah and your gramma was a garlic eating bear!"

[ChimpumCallao]

[mourningclam]

From what I understand, a lot of Japan was populated by the Baekjae Kingdom, one of the 3 around 600AD. The Silla Kingdom overran them.

[dbee]

itaewon guy said:

[coolsage]

The Neanderthals didn't become extinct; they were driven back into this peninsular redoubt. Now they're using cellphones and driving Hyundais. A 'pure race' indeed.

[VanIslander]

Where are the history majors when we need them?

Whatever the locals think, my university education informed me that the Koreans came from Western asia, just east of the Urals, where the Hungarians, Finns and Estonians also came from. There are still local peoples in the westernmost area of Siberia which speak the "originator" language of the Finno-Ugric peoples, and Koreans share some unique grammatical structures with them, as do the Turkish people who came down from the north.

Of course, centuries of intermarriage change physical characteristics (Mongolians, Chinese and Japanese occupation), much quicker than languages change grammatically.

I could provide links when I have more time. Tomorrow.

G'day.