韓牛

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It’s a Thursday night and the light is dusty, dusky here in Sinchon as my second week at Sogang wraps up. Across the way, nervous looking students are gulping down banchan (반찬) faster than usual as they ready themselves for the last of their exams, and the air is filled with light from the noraebangs (노래방) and with an unshirkable restlessness.

I feel back at home. So in one sense, I don’t quite have the place-packed report to send back that I did last summer, but in another sense, I feel like I’ve been here for months. Or like I’ve never left. So in keeping with the epistolary excuse-making that defined my first entry last summer, I submit this source from my first email for first impressions:

I got here last night and took the bus over to Sinchon. On the way I sat next to a lady from Japan who was on the phone making arrangements to have her feet and hands massaged for about 45 minutes, and I watched a television show with young guys trying to sail across the Han on a boat made of balloons that they had forced some ajusshi into blowing up with his nose. My bags were too many to plod around Sinchon without knowing the exact location of the hasukjip, so I tried to take a taxi from Sinchon Station. But the taxi driver was too nice to charge me and instead called the ajumoni, who came out to meet me.

My hasuk is near Yonsei, in that maze of bars and gogijips. It’s a nice enough place, and already I can tell that hasuk living is much better than goshitel living. She had me sit down for dinner and talk with her for awhile before I headed off to arrange a one-night stay at my goshiwon from last year. She would have had to sleep with her son that night otherwise, and I did not want for us to start off that way.

I bargained down the goshiwon owner last night, and this morning, I used what I saved to go to jjimjilbang. It was nice to be up and out on the street so early — the young couples walking arm in arm with their grins and their mussed hair out of the love hotels, the streets freshly cleaned and nearly empty. I alternated tubs (including a hot green tea bath) for awhile until my whole body tingled, and then went to sleep and read a bit in the main room (where men and women hang out together, sleeping, eating, watching tv — and wearing clothes; it’s all marble with mosaic walls and little stone huts (bulgama 불가마) to dry sauna, or ice down). It was the first time I had been there early on a weekend morning.

It was as if someone had knocked out an entire college. Young couples and groups of boys were splayed out and snoring as far as the eye could see. I stepped carefully through the bodies and the cell phones buzzing “엄마!!!” (Mom) until I found a corner to sit down with my iced nokcha (녹차) and read for a bit. Then I went to a little general store close to E Dae and bought a converter and extension cord so that I could charge my computer. I was hungry, so I went for sollongtang (a boiled oxtail soup) at a good place nearby (exit 3 from Sinchon Station — walk to The Face Shop and turn right) that serves with both noodles and rice.

But it’s been awhile, and so when I was salting my soup, I forgot that the rock salt takes a little longer to dissolve. Suddenly, I ended up with a grog of a soup, and I had to ask for another bowl of rice to make it through. Feeling like I was going to explode, I walked back to the goshiwon, where I saw Nate Becker and Adam Young standing around a huge pile of luggage. I talked to them for a bit.

The next day, I moved out of the goshiwon and got set up in my room in the hasuk, which is big and spacious and on the fifth floor. The ajumoni is kind and the food is good. And since its such a beautiful day, I went to bike along the river in Yeouido.

On the way over, I met these Nepali and Indian tour agency owners on the train and helped them find their way. They gave me their cards and told me they would show me around if I were ever in India.

School has been a lot of fun. My teachers are kind and funny, my peers are smart and friendly, and the work is plentiful. And when I went to talk to Mr. Woo this year, I was much more proficient in excuse-making and postponements than I had been when I mumbled the unintelligible nonsense about skipping level two last year. Woo Seonsaengnim, who spends all day managing a huge international program, is likely one of the most patient people in the world. Each day, scores of students sit in front of him arguing, requesting, complaining, or throwing up smoke screens — all in terrible Korean. And he helps us form our phrases. Last year, he nodded along with me, gently replacing nearly every one of my words with the correct ones in order to form the sentences, “I’ll pay you later,” or “Please move me up a level.”

And I was shocked and glad to see Sung Ho, my old friend from last summer, who took a term of leave and is back to graduate. Sung Ho is magnetic, so in no time he had me lunching on grilled fish with a great group of people. My friend Hyeonjeong invited Masato and I on a trip with her history class. Korea University’s History Department offers a field research (답사) class, and it’s one of the coolest classes that I’ve ever encountered. So on Friday, Memorial Day (현충일), we gathered at Deoksugung to see the palace and Jungmyeongjeon, the site of the Eulsa Treaty (을사조약), secret envoys, secret passages, a parking garage, and a prolonged property-rights battle between citizens and the metropolitan government. The building is completely gutted for renovation and was opened only to us. From there, we climbed the hill to the former Russian Legation, which had occupied the highest point in the city at the time of its construction. Not anymore. Shrubs snake uphill along the stairs in the quiet park, and two young policemen holding staffs waited below, bored.

On the night I arrived, police clashed with protesters during an ongoing protest in Seoul that had started to bring together various groups in society dissatisfied with President Lee Myung Bak’s administration both in general and as manifest in issues ranging from Lee’s proposed English-language immersion education reforms to an unresponsive civil service to an unequal US-South Korean trade agreement and the perceived threat of mad-cow disease. Protesters were sprayed with a water cannon and detained by the hundreds, and the news carried clips of a young cameraman being carried away pale and barely conscious, bleeding from the head, and of police kicking Yi Na-rae, a 21 year-old Seoul University Music major, on the head as she tried to crawl to safety under a bus. These clips, combined with the 100th day of Lee’s tenure and a string of remembrance days including Hyeonchungil (현충일) and the 21st anniversary of the death of Yonsei University student Lee Han-yeol and the student demonstrations of June 1987, fueled a rapidly-growing nightly candle-light vigil (촛불집회) that turned violent on the night of the eighth when a group of pipe-wielding protesters attacked police and destroyed buses and public spaces in central Seoul, and that peaked on the night of the tenth, with hundreds of thousands pouring into the city center. On Wednesday, President Lee promised a cabinet reshuffle and a “new beginning.” For days, newspapers have been running photos of his brunches and lunches with luminaries ranging from Buddhist monks to former rival for the presidency and current Jayu seonjindang (자유선진당) leader, Lee Hoi-chang (이회창) with whom he will meet on Sunday afternoon.

Candlelight and no buses

"ㅅ ㅂ"

The News

Police in the crevices

Seoul Plaza

Creepy bear

6.10 at Sogang

6.10 near Jonggak

촛불

At Deoksugung with Hyeonjeong and Masato

At Jungmyeongjeon

At Ewha Girls' High School

Hoffing goodbye

At Deoksugung with Professor Choi

View from the Old Russian Legation

This endless stream of orange juice may be more than just symbolic, as protesters seem to be out for any number of reasons. I’m including below my translation of an article from last Saturday’s Jungang ilbo (June 7, 2008) that interviewed different generations of demonstrators as to why they were out on the streets. I’m just a language student myself, so please be patient.

Beef on the Mind…Prodding at the Hearts of Citizens

Why participants in the ‘72 Hour Relay Assembly’ are holding up their candles

The candles continue to blaze. As the 72 hour candlelight rally to oppose the import of American beef opened in the heart of Seoul on the 6th, the protest assembly and street marches continued. At the rallies, which have lasted over a month, groups affiliated with such bodies as political parties like the New Progressive Party (진보신당), with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (민주노총), or with university student unions, have been flying their banners. Teenage students, workers in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, as well as families pushing along baby carriages, are holding up candles, insisting “the backing for this movement is me.” Slogans such as “Lee Myung Bak, Resign!” were ringing out into the air and we were there, listening to the voices of the participants, which we now bring to you classified by age group. These four explain why they cannot but be out in the heart of Taepyeong-ro, holding up their candles late into the night.

Teens: Eum Hyeon-uk (음현욱), 18, Senior at Hongik University High School (홍익사대부고)

“Private education is a difficult matter…these streets are the real education”

Eum Hyeon-uk (18), a senior at Seoul’s Hongik University High School, came to the plaza in front of City Hall of the afternoon of the 5th. He is wearing his school uniform. This is his first time participating in an candlelight rally.

“I read the internet news everyday and became interested in the American beef issue. But ultimately, I was scared about deciding to come out to the rally. My teachers and parents told me that it would be dangerous and dissuaded me from coming…”

Hyeon-uk, who is at the top of his class, just took the mock national exam on the 4th. “Final exams are just under a month away,” he said. But he explained that watching footage of the police suppression of the protests prompted him to come out to the rally. The government’s educational policies are also particularly at issue in teenagers’ outpourings of dissatisfaction. “The revival of the mock national exam has made it impossible not to have to seek out private education,” he said. “In coming into contact with vast amounts of information through the internet, we have become much more mature than young people before us. The government is letting its opportunity to call upon this new era slip through its fingers,” criticized Hyeon-uk, who dreams of being a foreign-service officer. “Schools say that their purpose it to cultivate democratic citizens, but the reality is that they are tied up in preparation for entrance exams. The real education is out here on the street,” he asserted, and joined the ranks of protesters.

Twenties: Jo Hyeon-jong (조현종), 29, Newly hired at a photocell development firm

“If the president came out and apologized, half of these protesters would go home”

At 1.30 on the morning of the 6th Jo Hyeon-jong (29) is sitting out on a flower bed in the Gwanghwamun intersection. With his knees trembling in the chilly night air, he was continuously adjusting the paper cup sheltering his candle.

“I come out about twice a week. I’ve stayed out all night a few times, and if the officials responsible do not apologize then even though it’s difficult I’ll keep coming out. If Lee Myung Bak came out to the rally and apologized, half of these people would go home.”

Jo has just been hired by his top-choice firm. “I never demonstrated in my college years,” said the 29 year-old, who will report for work in a month. “But I’ve come out to oppose this government’s indolence,” he said.

Jo criticized President Lee’s government administration style as dictatorial. “Lee is looking in only one direction. Especially when it comes to the United States. That’s why America is disregarding us.”

The girls high school student sitting next to Jo turned around and began to sing. “The candlelight rally has taken on a festive atmosphere, but the police water cannon incident on the 1st was serious. I hope that we are not returning to the past,” worried Jo. Bitterly, he mused, “it looks like President Lee is going to wait until jangma (장마).”

Thirties: Jo Eun-ae (조은애), 31, Professional

“Why are they not listening to the voice of the people…I’m sick of obstinate government”

At 9 o’clock on the night of the 5th, Jo Eun-ae (31) is out with her husband and their 17

month-old baby on Taepyeong-ro. “I’m usually busy at work until 11 pm so I could not make it out…tonight is my first time,” said Jo, an employee at a foreign firm.

Jo explained her discomfort with American beef. “Our family likes eating beef — even the baby eats it — so if I think about eating the American beef which is said to be unsafe, I’m appalled. I think that this rally is desperately needed, so I hurried up to come out tonight.”

But Jo says that the scandal is not just about American beef. “I’ve become disgusted with the Lee government’s recalcitrant attitude,” she said.

“With the citizens doing all this, shouldn’t President Lee come out himself and show some humility…[instead of cutting lower officials?]“

Mad Cow Disease has become a topic of conversation at dinners with her colleagues, Jo reported. And she criticized the media for not covering the candlelight rally comprehensively. ["Housewives sharing tips on economizing in the household have long been talking about how the beef has taken on a shabby appearance," she explained. Thanks Sejin for making sense of this sentence. ]

“It seems like the rally will continue until the government renegotiates the deal with America and President Lee apologizes sincerely, and whenever my family gets the time, we will participate, too,” said Jo.

Forties: Jeong Seok-ju (정석주), 45, ‘Max (Maekseu) Trade’ Representative

“The riot police love their country too…should this get resolved well…”

At about 10.30 pm on the night of the 5th, Jeong Seok-ju is eating a cup of ramen at a

convenience store next to Cheonggye Plaza. The 45 year-old manager of a trade company is wearing a cowboy hat.

“Because the American beef issue is about food, its psychological aspects are serious. No matter how scientifically safe they try to say it is, I will not eat it. This government is prodding at the hearts of citizens.”

“The expectations I had for President Lee have become exactly the opposite,” said Jeong, who has come out to the rally three times. “It’s because the course fees at my daughter’s Junggye-dong English and math hagwon (educational institute) used to be 400,000 won (about $400) each, but while the president pushes English language-immersion education policies, prices have more than doubled to 1,000,000 won ($1000) for English and 800,000 won ($800) for math lessons. And the fact that they are serving her bad food there just pushes me over the edge.”

“I watch the president putting off a conversation with the citizens and postponing reform policies and I think to myself, ‘here he goes being stubborn again!’” said Jeong. “The president urgently needs to return to his proper role,” he stressed.

“Being is emotional and unreasonable is a mistake but the tasks that Cheongwadae (청와대) is giving to the police force that it is maintaining is another issue…The demonstrators, the riot police, the president — if all love their country in proper form then we can make sure that the proper resolution is a continuing condition,” added Jeong.

Needless to say, going into Seoul Plaza and sitting out on the green on a summer night — one of my favorite things to do last summer — now entails a much different experience. The beautiful Sungnyemun (숭례문) is long-burnt and boarded up, and the streets are packed with protesters. Sejong-ro and Taepyeong-ro, streets so large that the idea of blocking them was beyond imagination (unless one remembers the World Cups of 2002 and 2006), had become extensions of the plaza itself as I walked through central Seoul on my way home. Looking at the shipping containers stacked two high by cranes and welded, I had to wonder about the “Bulldozer” and his public works. He paved over, then restored Cheonggyecheon (청계천) in 2005. In 2004, he opened the Seoul Plaza in front of City Hall as a gathering place for the people, whose turnout in the World Cup, according to city planners, had called for a reconsideration and democratization of public space in Seoul. Both of them have been jammed recently with the people who say they want their government to respond — who want him out — while a third project of his tenure as the Mayor of Seoul — the restoration of Gwanghwamun and the construction of Gwanghwamun Plaza in the middle of Sejongno, with all its symbolic and practical promises of direct and responsive administration — waited constipated behind the containers.

One of our hanja lessons this spring was on plants and animals. Learning the character for cow (牛), I looked down at the examples to see “韓牛 (한우, Korean beef cattle)”, and I can still remember my disappointment at seeing what I thought was such a useless word. It’s kind of like how I felt about the word muyeok hoesa (무역회사) before last summer. As I was out to lunch with Sejin’s parents last Saturday, the ajummoni, while grilling, assured us that the gorgeously marbled side of beef sizzling away in front of us was 한우, and we all gave a chuckle. So in all this confusion of history — these endless ironies of dates and tenures — at least one link is clear: my language teachers still know what they are talking about, and I still do not.

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Tags: beef, Bulldozer, candlelight rally, Cheonggyecheon, Deoksugung, Eulsa Treaty, former Russian Legation, Gwanghwamun, hasukjip, Hyeonchungil, jjimjilbang, Jungmyeongjeon, Lee Han-yeol, Lee Myung Bak, Mr. Woo, Seoul Plaza, Sogang, Sollongtang, Sungnyemun, Yeouido