Eunie Quotes

If Korea were a person, it would be diagnosed as a neurotic, with both an inferiority and a superiority complex.

Irony is that special privilege of wealthy nations;

You may have an iPhone, for example, but its microchips are made by Apple’s biggest competitor—the Korean electronics company Samsung.

Basically, Koreans are the Marlboro Men of Asia.

K-pop export model: the star-making process is so unpleasant that there are not many countries whose aspiring stars would put up with it. Korean youth, meanwhile, are used to intense sadomasochistic academic pressure, extreme discipline, constant criticism, and zero sleep. Of

The teachers never explained what this debt was all about, but we knew it was an embarrassment on the level of a national bedwetting.

First-worlders have the luxury of not having to think about waste elimination very much. But for a third-worlder, poop is a big preoccupation.

Please write your name on the envelope before you put your poop in, because you’ll find it difficult to write on it afterward.

Buatlah pernyataan bila Anda suka, tentu saja, tetapi sadarilah konteks seblum Anda membuat konteks tanpa sengaja.

These kinds of mini-enterprises...prolonged the precious, Elysian period of childhood in a way I did not see in the US, where kids started hanging out at the mall and acted like teeny boppers from age 9 or 10.

When I asked why StarCraft 2 in particular was so popular in Korea, he said, “The game ends quickly, so you can start a new one,” echoing one of the traits for which Koreans are best known—impatience. “Koreans like games that are fast and they like to compete.

Samsung, “They did market research and came up with good news: nobody had heard of Samsung.” So the name stayed, even as they reinvented themselves, in what has become a textbook case of successful rebranding strategy. Samsung (which means “three stars”) began in 1938 as a Korean-owned fruit and fish company, during the period of Japanese rule.

Hallyu,

Samsung still needed to refashion its brand image. There was a worrisome phrase floating around the business world in the 1990s, the “Korea discount.” This term, more politely called the “emerging market discount,” meant either that Korean companies were undervalued on the stock exchange or that Korean commercial goods had to be sold at a cut rate in order to be competitive on the global market.

Korea has five television channels devoted to gaming twenty-four hours a day; the United States only has one well-known gaming channel, G4.

Lee Kun-hee, the third son of Samsung founder Lee Byung-chull, took over as chairman of Samsung in 1987. In 1993, he held a conference for hundreds of Samsung executives at a hotel in Frankfurt, Germany, where he delivered a three-day speech, which became known as the Frankfurt Declaration of 1993. There he famously told his staff, “Change everything but your wife and kids.

2002, three years ahead of schedule and just one year after Forbes called the idea “off the wall,” Samsung’s market capitalization exceeded Sony’s. By 2005, its market cap of $75 billion was twice that of Sony’s.

Samsung digital TVs depended on countries making the switch from analog to digital television, which is why Samsung TVs did not take over world market share until this century.

culture critic Lee Moon-won opined, “Hallyu started with Samsung.” In other words, the popularity of Korean music and movies is hard to separate from the confidence that Samsung created in Korea the Brand.

July 1998, CEO Yun and nine other Samsung executives locked themselves up in a hotel and wrote their resignation letters. They made a pact that they would put the letters away for five months, at the end of which they would actually resign if they didn’t cut company costs by 30 percent.

Say what you will about the quality of K-pop music, but Lee Moon-won, Korea’s most influential pop culture critic, made a shockingly frank pronouncement in describing K-pop: “Koreans are not good at creativity.” If

Lee, like most South Korean officials, approaches the issue coolly. “The North Korean regime is not crazy. They are very calculating. They don’t observe any rules; they use extortion. Basically, they’re a criminal organization, but not crazy.” Lee

Being Korean in America when I was a child was like being a smoker now. We were pariahs with filthy smelly habits that made our friends not want to come over to play. Bobby

I asked him about what it was like growing up as a Korean American in northern New Jersey in the 1970s and 1980s. “It was embarrassing,” he said, shielding his face with his hands. He recalls that a large part of the shame came from the food. “One time when I was in third grade, my mom packed jja jang myun”—noodles with black bean sauce—“and kkakdugi”—pickled radish—“and put it in a thermos. My teacher made me dump it because the kids were all like, “‘Who farted?’” So I had to tie it up in a plastic bag and take it outside. I was the only Asian American in my school at the time.” I

Onerously, Korea still has not managed to wean itself off its reliance on the chaebols—the mega conglomerates like Samsung and Hyundai. True, these companies have clothed and fed the nation since the 1960s, but they are far too powerful, now more than ever: in 2012, the top ten companies in Korea generated over 75 percent of the nation’s GDP.2 If one of these companies fails, the whole nation

Psy is the paradigm shift within the paradigm shift. And his life and bewildering rise to fame are an embodiment of the changes in Korea and Korean society over the last few decades. Psy

Han reminds me of Carl Jung’s concept of racial memory—the idea that the collective experiences of a race are hereditary. Thus, the memories of our ancestors are encoded in our DNA, or at least in our unconscious. The neuroses the current generation endures is because of the suffering of their ancestors. Han

Confucianism made its way into every aspect of life—even food. Food is based on the theory of the yin and yang, and the five elements. Every meal has to have five tastes: sour, bitter, sweet, spicy, and salty. There are also supposed to be five colors and five textures. Every housewife, without thinking of it, follows these rules. That’s why Korean food is so healthy. It’s based on the philosophy of the cosmic energy.” Many

Cinema is yet another area in which government intervention in culture paid off in spades. Korea once again demonstrated its unique magic trick: by passing a few new laws and fertilizing the right areas with money, it was able to spur explosive creativity and an entire film renaissance. In

Korean dramas also have huge audiences in Latin America—perhaps because of their emotional similarity to telenovelas. In South America, Korean dramas have become hits in Brazil, Chile, and Argentina. In Paraguay, some Korean dramas were dubbed not only in Spanish but also in the indigenous local dialect of Guarani. In

the Japanese nonetheless viewed kimchi as a sign of Korean peasant primitiveness. We were cabbage eaters, like the Irish. We delighted in the cheapest vegetable. The

Many people outside Korea subscribe to the belief that Korean food contains mystic healing properties. The SARS bird flu epidemic of 2003 made kimchi ubiquitous throughout Asia. SARs raged throughout China, Southeast Asia, and even Canada and parts of Europe, with about 8,000 reported cases and about 750 deaths. Meanwhile, South Korea experienced zero bird flu–related deaths (there were two cases, both nonfatal). Many theories as to South Korea’s immunity have been postulated; none were conclusive. One study suggested that the enzymes contained in kimchi strengthened immunity in birds; some people made the mental leap to assume that this also protected them from bird flu. Through

dramas are now beloved by Asia as a whole. In Taiwan, the airtime devoted to Korean dramas was getting so out of control that in 2012, Taiwan’s National Communications Commission called upon a Taiwanese network to reduce its primetime showings of Korean programs and increase the number of hours devoted to non-Korean shows.3 Korean

Koreans know from experience that everyone must rise together, or not at all. Another important lesson from Korea’s success is this apparent paradox: Being number one matters, but being first does not. Almost every area in which Korea achieved dominance occurred in territory that was well covered by other nations.

In essence, shamanism is the belief that all happiness stems from harmony with nature.

Koreans are better at packaging and marketing. Look at Samsung, for example. With K-pop, the songwriters are not Korean. They’re European. The people who do the editing studied in the United States; they’re multinational. The dance choreographers are from everywhere. It’s really a factory.” Many

Lee believes, as do the vast majority of South Koreans, that North Koreans are not so stupid that they fail to see the likelihood of mutually assured destruction if war breaks out. “They know if they start conflict, they will be eliminated right away. That would mean the end of their regime. But they also know the world is very weak in the face of someone who doesn’t play by the rules. They know they can get a good deal no matter what.” By

Kim Jong-il also invented the hamburger. Almost touchingly, North Koreans have a lot of pride in their heritage, though it’s for absurd reasons. The few foreigners who have been permitted to tour North Korea report bizarre trivia passed on to them by some pretty unironic local tour guides: Koreans are such a glorious race that they created not only the world’s great technological innovations but also the spoon. Though

University entrance anxiety is regarded as one of the reasons that Korea has the highest suicide rate of any nation in the industrialized world. In fact, the most common cause of death for Koreans under the age of forty is suicide; for most other OECD nations, the leading cause is auto accidents or heart attack. Hanging is the most popular method, constituting 44.9 percent of all suicides; poison comes in at a close second.6 I

Gulliver arrives in new land and discovers acrid smell; finds whole country massaging cabbages; concludes they are doing it in service to the Wicker Man. Surely there must be a human sacrifice involved because such a society could not be sane. I simply did not see the payoff. Especially since I developed an anchovy allergy later in life, which meant I couldn’t eat kimchi even if I wanted to. Japan

Very few countries have ever attempted to sell their pop culture to the United States. Even Japan didn’t try.” Korea

South Korea knew that it was a poor country not long ago, and they had learned that defeating poverty was a national effort. Paying

Koreans are good at engaging in crisis,” he said, pointing to all the times the country had been invaded—by Britain, Russia, China, Japan, and the United States. “Only two countries are still alive after hundreds of invasions: Scotland and Korea.” Thus,

Korea has no natural resources and very little arable land. Compounding the problem is that labor costs have risen so dramatically in the last twenty years that the country cannot rely solely on manufacturing as a source of wealth. Korea

In recent decades, the biggest enemies of shamanism have been Korea’s many fervent Christians. Which, said Mason, is highly ironic, since Korean Christianity is rather shamanistic. If you’ve ever been to some of these churches in Korea, you know exactly what he’s talking about. Even at some churches of “mainstream” denominations, like Presbyterianism, people can be seen going into a trance and speaking in tongues. An

Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables was required reading in Korean schools, as was Alphonse Daudet’s short story, “La Dernière Classe,” for both my parents’ and my generation. Set in the Alsace in 1870 or 1871, around the time of the Franco-Prussian war, Daudet’s story features a schoolteacher, Monsieur Hamel, who announces that it is to be his last day teaching, because all the French staff are to be replaced by Germans. His last lesson of the class is to impress on them the beauty of the French language. He tells the class, at great personal risk, that as long as you keep your language, you will never be a slave.

Whenever kids asked me, “Are you Chinese?”—which was often—I would invariably respond yes. My mother heard me doing this once and gave me hell for it. “Why didn’t you say you were Korean?” she asked. I was not doing that again, not after an incident in first grade in which a boy told me: “You’re lying. There is no such place.” I remember briefly wondering whether my parents had been bullshitting me about where they came from.

Korea was my Zion. I had read too many British novels about wretched children finding out they were actually of noble birth and I was expecting to be salaamed upon arriving at the Seoul airport.

The Korean wave of popular culture is called “Hallyu.” You should learn the word, since you’ll be seeing a lot of it. U.S. President Barack Obama referred to it during a March 2012 visit to South Korea, in the context of discussing the nation’s technical and pop culture innovations. He said: “It’s no wonder so many people around the world have caught the Korean Wave—Hallyu.

The South Korean economy is a paradox: it is utterly capitalist, yet at the same time it is in some ways still a command economy.

The Chosun Dynasty adopted Confucianism in all walks of civil and personal life at the beginning of the fifteenth century. The nation’s kings were worried about losing power and sought a drastic solution to obliterate the two biggest threats: chaotic class warfare and the increasingly influential Buddhist clerics. Since the system favored those already in power, it was a no-lose proposition for the monarchs. Several

Hallyu started with Samsung.” In other words, the popularity of Korean music and movies is hard to separate from the confidence that Samsung created in Korea the Brand.

By “good deal,” Lee is referring to the world’s worst-kept secret: North Korea makes these threats to extort money from the rest of the world, in the form of “humanitarian aid.” South

Dissatisfied with North Korea’s propaganda films, which he apparently admitted were artistically substandard, this François Truffaut of northern Asia did what any self-respecting film producer would do in that situation: in 1978, he arranged for the abduction of South Korea’s top film director, Shin Sang-ok, and his actress ex-wife, Choi Eun-hee. He had them brought to Pyongyang and forced them to make Cannes-caliber propaganda films for him. In Kim’s own mind, this howling human rights abuse was just the logical extension of his enthusiasm for his hobbies. When

K-dramas are soft power in action; they subtly and overtly promote Korean values, images, and tastes to their international audience.

On the one hand, Korea has become quite a welcoming place for foreigners; many westerners visiting Korea share glowing reports about Korean hospitality and how modern the country seems. On the other hand, Koreans raised abroad have a very hard time smoothly transitioning into Korean society. I am no exception. I

The no-foreign-school-supplies rule was enforced by way of surprise inspections, heralded by the teacher suddenly yelling midlecture: “Everyone, put your hands on the top of your head!” This would send all the students into full-on freakout mode, trying in vain to hide their Japanese mechanical pencils in the gaps between the floorboards, like a drug dealer flushing his stash down the toilet. In eighth grade, my teacher picked up a plastic Tupperware-type container from a student’s bag, looked at the bottom, and shrieked, “Made in Thailand? Thailand?! If you’re going to buy non-Korean goods, why would you pick a beggarly country like Thailand?” She then hit the offending student on the head with the contraband plastic container. Even

According to Kim, 1998 was the turning point for Korean films entering the international arena. “In the fifty years up to 1997,” said Kim, “only four Korean films were screened at the Cannes Film Festival,” and even those were screened out of competition. “But in 1998, four Korean films were invited to Cannes.” What

Korean-made video games now constitute a quarter of the world market. Even most Koreans have no idea how big Korea’s gaming industry.

For the first time in Korea history—perhaps in any nation’s history—the Korean government is putting huge financial and political resources behind something as intangible as “discovery.” No guidelines, no maps; just money and faith.

I was teased constantly by children calling me “Yankee,” which was slightly amusing, and mimicking my Korean, which was less amusing. I wouldn’t say that the kids were openly cruel, but I have never felt more culturally segregated before or since. Mostly, they just looked at me with incomprehension. For a child, that feeling of being dumb and mute is utterly alienating. Language aside, I was simply a misfit. My facial expressions and mannerisms were all wrong; I made intent, direct eye contact with my betters when I should have been sheepishly looking down at my shoes. When

Kim Jong-il had real cultural ambitions. He was a known cinephile who fancied himself a rare blend of canny Hollywood producer and serious film auteur—even authoring a film theory book called The Art of Cinema in 1973, followed by The Cinema and the Art of Directing in 1987. He offers such insights as “Language is extremely important in literature” and “Compose the plot correctly.” Dissatisfied

manners exist to make everyone feel comfortable, rather than to make yourself feel superior because you know best.

Perhaps the person who best expressed Korea's fearlessness, ambition, and never-ending gall was Korean music mogul Jin-young Park (head of the record label JYP). When asked by western music executives, "Where are you from?" he would reply cryptically, "I am from the future.

My memorization skills were so well honed at Korean school that it's now become an involuntary and automatic reflex. I have almost perfect recall of conversations I've had going back about twenty years or so. If required, I can recite an entire thirty-minute exchange verbatim. Sometimes this is useful, as when I'm arguing with a male companion about whether one of us did or did not break some previously made promise. However, my gift of recall is very annoying to other people. They forgot to tell us at Korean school that memory does not lead to a happy life.

[Hooni Kim] is pleased at the global Hallyu phenomenon, but he doesn't think that food has a place in Hallyu. "For me food is so much more real than a pop song or a video," he said. As with all great chefs I've met, he talks about food as a man would talk about a woman he's in love with. Once more adopting his lyric speech rhythms, he said, "Looking, hearing is one thing. Tasting, touching is another. Smelling and tasting is the heart and soul of what Korea is. As much as pop culture wants to globalize, food is the best way for Koreans to share their soul and culture." Turning the expression "you are who you eat" on its head, Kim said, "No. You eat who you are. No one describes who you are like your food.

K-culture has the potential to be a powerful diplomatic tool. I'm convinced that the late Korean president Kim Daejung will be proven right in his prediction that Haley, not politics will bring north and south together. North Korean black marketers are literally risking their lives to smuggle in copies of South Korean videos and dramas. In 2009, a North Korean defector to the south told Time magazine that in North Korea, bootleg American movies fetched 35 cents on the black market, whereas South Korean movies cost $3.75, because the punishment for being caught with the latter is much more severe.

There is another, bleaker reason why Korea has little reason to fear that other countries will try to emulate the K-pop export model: the star-making process is so unpleasant that there are not many countries whose aspiring starts would put up with it. Korean youth, meanwhile, are used to intense masochistic academic pressure, extreme discipline, constant criticism, and zero sleep.

Psy will go down in history as the first real twenty-first-century entertainer: who else could combine Confucianism and farting?

I’ve made much worse gaffes, like the time I accidentally spilled hot soup on a Nobel laureate’s lap and then set fire to his kitchen.

In fact, the most common cause of death for Koreans under the age of forty is suicide;

Việc sở hữu nhiều bằng sáng chế và phát minh có vẻ hấp dẫn, nhưng lịch sử lại có rất nhiều phát minh thất bại vì ra mắt thị trường quá sớm.

Kenyataan, bila seorang benar-benar bodoh, mereka terlalu bodoh untuk menyadari betapa bodohnya mereka.

If you don’t like to read a poem, you haven’t found the right poetry book." " If you don’t like to read, you haven’t found the right book." – J.K. Rowling

Niestety, w ludzkiej naturze leży gromadzenie fałszywych danych, byleby tylko nie stawić czoła niewygodnej prawdzie.

Szokujące, jak wiele osób uważa, że nie musisz się tłumaczyć z tego, iż kogoś lubisz, lecz nielubienie należy uzasadnić mocnymi argumentami.

Right now the third world countries are too poor for most western nations to care about. This is where Korean has a peculiar, unreproducible advantage over ever single other national that has been a global pop culture power: it was once a third world country. Thus Korea understands the stages of other nations' development; it has carefully studied these cultures to determine what kinds of "K-culture" products would be most favored there. And Korean economists are hard at work gauging the rate at which these nations will become wealthier and have purchasing power. You can bet that once the citizens of these countries are able to afford to buy mobile phones and washing machines, they'll buy Korean brands. Why? They're already hooked on Korea the Brand. If this sounds like a national campaign, that's because it is. The South Korean government has made the Korean Wave the nation's number one priority. (p. 6)

Mendengarkan seseorang adalah cara paling cepat untuk mendapatkan kepercayaan dan afeksi seseorang. Itu karena (sebagaimana yang disampaikan orang-orang besar sebelum saya mengatakan di sini), setelah pangan dan papan, kebutuhan utama manusia adalah perasaan bahwa ia didengar. Kebanyakan orang bahkan tidak peduli apakah Anda setuju atau tidak dengan mereka, mereka hanya ingin Anda mendengarkan.

Euny Hong, in her irreverent cultural history of Korea, The Birth of Korean Cool, explains an ancient proverb, “shin to bul ee,” which means “body and soil are one.

Jangan lewatkan peluang untuk tutup mulut. Bila cukup sabar menunggu, sebagian besar pertanyaan akan terjawab tanpa harus melontarkan sepatah kata pun.

Bila Anda depresi, coba pastikah dulu apakah ada kemungkinan Anda dikelilingi oleh para bajingan.

Bagi seorang ninja nunchi, ketidakmampuan mengatasi situasi hening yang kikuk adalah suati kelemahan.

Empati tanpa nunchi bagaikan kata-kata tanpa tata bahasa atau sintaksis--bebunyian tanpa makna.

Bila komunikasi verbal seseorang bagi kita terasa samar-samar atau membingungkan, seringkali itu jadi pertanda bahwa kita perlu memberikan perhatian lebih pada petunjuk-petunjuk nonlisan yang mereka gunakan.

Jelaslah bahwa orang yang amat bebal terhadap reaksi orang lain pasti lebih banyak memikirkan diri sendiri ketimbang orang lain.

Korea is the future. Welcome to the future.