Dongseongaeja- LGBTQ Korea

A friend and I got to talking the other night about all the reasons he thought I shouldn't go to Korea. Which finally came down to him saying, "Well, I want to visit. What is the gay scene like?" An interesting question which I had never stopped to consider, so color me inspired to write this post!

Korea does have loads of gay bars spread around different areas, the gay heart of Itaewon, lovingly nicknamed "Homo-Hill" is full of upscale bars and clubs frequented by locals and ex-pats alike.Seoul happens to host one of the most unique LGBTQ festivals in Asia, called The Korean Queer Culture Festival. I asked a few friends who said LGBTQ rights are acknowledged, but still considered taboo in many places. So just like the U.S, I would say it leaves something to be desired.  In many ways, gay culture in Korea has flourished, but this doesn't eliminate the stigma in a country based very much on pride and traditions.

There is very little mention on LGBT folks in Korean history or myth, but one can always count on good old Wikipedia (never ever use this in a college paper) for some historical information:

The earliest such recorded example might be that of King Hyegong, the 36th ruler of the Silla Dynasty who was killed at the age of 22 by his noblemen who revolted in protest of his "femininity".

King Mokjong (980-1009) and King Gongmin (1325–1374) of Goryeo are both on record as having kept several wonchung ("male lovers") in their courts as “little-brother attendants” (chajewhi) who served as sexual partners. After the death of his wife, King Gongmin even went so far as to create a ministry whose sole purpose was to seek out and recruit young men from all over the country to serve in his court.Evidence of homosexual activities among the common people are harder to find as there are fewer records pertaining to them.

During the Joseon Era before the Japanese annexation there were travelling theater groups known as namsandang which included underaged males called midong (beautiful boys). The troupes provided "various types of entertainment, including band music, song, masked dance, circus, and puppet plays," sometimes with graphic representations of same-sex intercourse.

These types of stories aren't exclusive to Korea and oft times are used to paint a portrait of sexual perversion, as opposed to the reality that same-sex partnership is the same as any other form of partnership. Love is universal and really, minus of few technicalities, sex is sex and  regardless of who is having it!

This got me thinking of the issue of gay rights in general. Up until the 90's Korea had no history of specifically established discriminatory laws against gays and lesbians, and homosexuality hadn't been written about in any government documents or brought up in a court setting. Here is a bit of an LGBT timeline for Korea.

November 27, 1995- First lesbian commitment ceremony in Korea.

1998- South Korea's first LGBT themed magazine launched.

February 12, 2000-  Hong Seok-Cheon- male model and actor came out as gay, he was fired and removed from this position as a host on a children's show.

November 1, 2001-the Ministry of Information and Communications formally enacted an internet content rating system classifying gay and lesbian websites as "harmful media" and mandating their blockage. 

January 10, 2002- The Korean LGBT community filed the first lawsuit against Korean government for unconstitutionally blocking access.

 

August 14, 2002 - A court ruled that freedom of speech didn't apply to issues regarding sexuality and called for penalties that included prison time. When local activists and world Human Rights activists caught wind of this, a movement started. This decision invigorated local and international human rights efforts to have the law changed.

 

November 29, 2002- Harisu, one of Korea's most famous transgender entertainers, becomes the second person in the history of Korea to legally change gender.

April 2, 2003-Korean National Human Rights Protection Committee, officially advised Korea's Youth Protection Committee, to remove anti-gay language from the 1997 Youth Protection Act. This is often recognized as a huge turning point in the LGBT movement in Korea. 

2004- The Korean Democratic Labour Party,on its campaign bid for the Parliamentary Elections, promised the abolition of all inequalities against sexual minorities and won a record 10 seats in the Kukhoe\ National Assembly.

June 22, 2006 - the Supreme Court ruled that transgender individuals who had undergone successful gender reassignment surgery have the right to declare themselves in their new gender in all legal documents. This includes the right to request a correction of their gender-on-file in all public and government records such as the census registry.

2007- The Anti-Discrimination Act was introduced by  The National Human Rights Commission of the Republic of Korea, the section prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation has been withdrawn, following outrages from conservative Christian organizations.

December 19, 2007, Lee Myuang Bak of the Conservative Grand National Party won the presidential election. In a 2007 newspaper interview, the president-elect stated that homosexuality is "abnormal", and that he opposed legal recognition of same-sex marriages.

April 9,2008-  Choi Hyun-sook (최현숙) became South Korea's first openly-gay candidate for national public office when she ran for a seat in the National Assembly of South Korea. Her bid was unsuccessful.

October 8, 2008- Popular openly actor Kim Ji Hoo hanged himself, it was attributed to the stigma and pressure he faced from the media. Days before taking his life, Kim wrote on his web site: "Life is like the wind. What's there to agonize over? Meetings are happy, partings are sad, everything is just a moment."

2010- South Korean mainstream television began to feature gay characters in their shows. the soap opera "Life is Beautiful" premiered on SBS broadcast TV, becoming the first prime-time drama to explore a gay male couple's relationship as their unwitting families set them up on dates with women.

Thanks for all the lovely information from:
Utopia Asia
Ask A Korean!
ILGA Asia
Queer Korea

Monks Just Wanna Have Fun

Samuel L. Jackson's got nothing on these BAMFS! Check out this BBC article and Footage: 

Jinje, the highest spiritual leader of the Jogye order made a public apology vowing "self-repentance"

The leader of South Korea's biggest Buddhist order has apologized after monks were filmed apparently gambling Illegally. 

Six leaders of the Jogye order offered to resign on Thursday after the secretly-filmed footage emerged.

Film apparently showing monks playing poker at a luxury hotel, some smoking and drinking, was aired on television.

Gambling is illegal in South Korea, apart from in designated places such as casinos catering mostly to tourists.

Gambling is also a violation of the code of conduct for monks of the Jogye order.

The six members of the order's executive committee offered to resign on Thursday to take responsibility for the incident.

Leader Master Jinje also said he would "self-repent" on behalf of the monks concerned.

The order says it has more than 10 million followers - about 20% of the population of South Korea.

But it has reportedly been hit by feuds and factional infighting.

Local media reports said that the footage was thought to have been shot by a monk from the same order described as an opponent of the current administration.

"http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18030813"

From Madison to Seoul: A Fed-Ex Love Story

Woo Hoo! Woke up to a message from my awesome coordinator, saying my documents arrived and were in perfect order! Haha, that must mean the new photos I included of my ugly mug weren't too bad. Some of the stress is off, but now I have to send my passport to be renewed, as I don't have many pages left..due to my ridiculous undergrad study abroad shenanigans- booking flights to countries that cost less than 10 pounds on RyanAir. If I send it off by the 15th, I should have it back by June 26th (in theory). Which should leave me enough time to get crackin' on the South Korean Visa process in Chicago. Might even make it a day long event...get a greyhound down to Chicago, get myself some Churches Chicken and chase the pigeons in the park. The only thing I hate more than Pigeons....is sending my passport off, I get so nervous that I won't get it back or that it will randomly disappear! So here goes nothing. Fingers crossed. I can smell the Kimchi already!

Oh Snap, Son: Mailing My Documents!

Woo hoo! After an extremely ridiculous day that started with me leaving some of my docs at home, the woman at USPS telling me I had purchased the wrong envelope and not being able to fit my documents inside, I headed to fed ex. It took everything in me to restrain myself from going Bon Qui Qui on this lady, but I did! $38 down the drain on USPS I hoped for greater success with fed ex. As I put everything in the package my hands were shaking, it was pretty embarrassing. I just kept thinking, these are all the documents I have been working on and collecting for months! What if somethings wrong? What if I forgot something? I checked and double checked...I think I even smudged my application photos a bit! Yikes! It felt amazing to finally mail everything off and know that it's out of my hands...my stomach is still turning a bit and my head is kind of reeling, but I'm really hoping for a placement in an awesome location and a smooth process from here on out! So now I wait for my official contract and start my visa process! Sorry for all the exclamation points, but it seems pretty necessary at this point. I decided to try to work out the total cost:

2 sets of American transcripts $10.00

2 sets of UK transcripts seal   $15.00

Bachelors Degree/Apostille-In house (Ohio)    $75.00

Masters Degree/Apostille and expedited from the UK $120

FBI Check 18.00

FBI Check Rush Apostilled $43.00

Postage wasted on USPS $38.00

Mailing to Korea $93.00

For a whopping total of: $412.00

This is by no means indicative of what everyone pays, in fact many people get away paying far less. I had a few crazy circumstances. For Example: getting my degree out of state and having to pay for in house apostilling, getting a masters out of country and paying for expedited shipping and rushing my already late FBI check! I have to say a big thanks to my mom for helping me with some of the cost, but man this process got pricey! Thank God this part is over!

And this is how I feel about having my documents turned in! :)

And for those of you who didn't get the Bon Qui Qui reference, you don't know what you're missing! Check it out!

South Korea seizes capsules containing powdered flesh of dead babies

It isn't often that I feel compelled to share news articles/horror stories...but I found this one on yahoo news. 

"The South Korean government revealed Monday that it recently seized thousands of capsules filled with the powdered flesh of dead babies. Reportedly, some people believe the powder has medicinal purposes and was created in northeastern China.

South Korea has reportedly been reluctant to criticize China directly over the incident, out of fears of creating diplomatic friction with the country. But the process by which the powder is allegedly created is one of the most disturbing stories imaginable.

According to the Korea Customs Service, the bodies of dead babies are chopped into small pieces and dried on stoves before being turned into powder. The customs officials have refused to say exactly where the babies come from or who is responsible for making the capsules.

China has already been in the spotlight over activist Chen Guangcheng, whose work involves protesting the government's sterilization and forced abortion policies. It was recently reported that China is working to "soften" its one-child policy slogans, though not the actual policy itself.

Last year, Chinese officials ordered an investigation into the manufacturing of drugs made from dead fetuses or newborn babies. Nonetheless, South Korean officials said in a statement they have discovered 35 smuggling attempts since last August, during which 17,450 capsules labeled as "stamina boosters" were discovered. Rather than containing any inherent medicinal properties, the capsules are said to contain dangerous bacteria and other harmful, unspecified ingredients.

Amazingly, none of the smugglers have been arrested in the various confiscations because the South Korean customs officials said the amounts of human flesh contained in the capsules were too small and were not intended for direct sale. The smugglers claimed to have no knowledge of the human flesh content, saying they believed the capsules were ordinary stamina-boosting pills."

-http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/south-korea-seizes-capsules-containing-powdered-flesh-dead-190306280.html

Korean Mythology: And then I accidentally ate my mother

So anyone who knows me, knows that I love mythology! I live for it! Especially myths of creation. Korea has such a fantastic background in mythology and pretty amazing stories. One of my favorites being, the JeJu Island Myth of Grandmother Seulmundae.

"In days of yore, a legendary goddess named Seolmundae, who was large enough to use Mt. Halla as her pillow, was making a cauldron of soup for her 500 sons. The mythological grandmother of Jeju must have grown quite drowsy, as she somehow toppled into the broth and perished. Returning home, her sons wondered where their mother was, but tucked into their dinner nonetheless, noting its unusually delicious taste.

The youngest son, who was always the last to eat, came to the pot and discovered his mother’s bones in the dregs at the bottom. Upon realizing what had happened he became distraught and angry with his brothers. Beside themselves with grief, the sons were petrified into stone. These stones, known as the 500 Generals, are the outcropping rocks at Yeongsil on Mt. Halla; while the youngest brother stands on Chagwi-do, forever following his elder brothers.

The spirit of this myth lives on in the very structure of the Jeju Stone Park, as its director Baek Woon-cheol explained: “Visiting the park is intended to be a journey through the mythology of the island, entering through the ear of Seolmundae, progressing through the body and exiting at the feet. It represents the journey of life and death,” He said.

An aerial view of the park reveals how Seolmundae lives on in the very structure of the park. The layout is suggestive of the goddess lying on her back looking to the sky, with entrances at the ears and exits at her hands and feet. The first monument to greet visitors as they enter is a gracious pool of shimmering water- the Sky Pond, the water of which cascades over its rim. This is the bowl of soup from which the Jeju Grandmother’s returning sons ate."- http://www.jejuweekly.com/news/

 I can't wait to visit JeJu, who knows, maybe I'll even be placed there. But with views like this who is complaining?

My Butt is Too Big For Korea

Comparison Chart

The more research I do, the more I wonder...will I pass the Korean sales lady eye scan of shame? Meaning, am I entirely too big to shop in Korean stores? Don't get me wrong, I am not a large lady, but I am not small by anyone's standards, and especially not Korea. I had to do a bit of demystifying to find out about Korean clothing sizes. The standard size for women in Korea is a size "55" which would be the equivalent of  a U.S size 4-6.Anything over a "66" is rather hard to come by in "trendy stores." No problem, right? Wrong. The majority of women in the U.S fall somewhere around a size 10/12 and being from Wisconsin, that would be a very generous assumption. We have hips, we have butts...but most of all, we have thighs! Well, I know I do! I can wear anywhere between a 10-14 and sometimes 9 in stretchy pants, on a very good day, and I do mean VERY good day. The thighs always present themselves as a problem: fitting into rugby shorts, skirts and when I go jean shopping. Unfortunately I am a sucker for skinny(oh the irony) jeans and boots.

I would have to starve something stupid to fit in these...and I love cheese curds entirely too much

I love shoes that look like candy!

Shoes, it seems may be a bit easier to come by, assuming again that you wear something smaller than a size 9. Fortunately, there are plenty of custom order shoe stores and if you're willing to shell out a little bit of extra money you can find some really funky stuff!

Lastly, BRAS! Don't even get me started on bras. A word to the wise...if you are a "bustier" woman, stock up before you arrive, unless you want to fork over a fortune paying for imported, overpriced lingerie. So C-Cup or above... Stock up!

My ESL teacher told me she was going to give me the most important advice I would ever hear. And that is.. "If you can't find it anywhere else, Go to Itaewon, they like big butts"