South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (Korean hangeul: 대한민국; Korean hanja: 大韓民國; Daehan Minguk) and unofficially known as the "Much Less Shitty Korea,"[citation NOT needed] is a country in East Asia, surprisingly enough located on the southern half of the Korean Peninsula.
“”The twin obsessions of the foreign press corps in Seoul are a) North Korea[note 1] and b) K-Pop, K-Film, K-Anything-But-Politics. |
| —Brian Reynolds Myers[1] |
South Korea suffered under a series of military dictatorships for decades — the United States wanted a strongman in place to counter communism — until protests eventually forced democratization of the government.[2] Starting in the 1970s, South Korea underwent a period of heavy industrialization, and today is a prosperous industrial nation like Japan. This period took place under the authoritarian rule of Park Chung-hee,
South Korea has one of the largest standing armies in the world (except in rare special cases, every male citizen is subject to conscription[4]). This measure is deemed necessary given relations with its northern neighbor (the two countries are still officially at war). Officially, the country maintains fairly friendly relations with Japan and the United States, despite numerous disputes with the former. They frequently exchange slaps to the face with North Korea.
South Korea sees the North’s perpetually "eventual"[5] collapse with some trepidation. Sure they would like to become a unified nation again[6]; however, they’ll be stuck with the bill and humanitarian crisis. East Germany at least had infrastructure, wasn't starving, was Eastern Europe's second largest economy, and that was expensive enough for West Germany.[7] This is not even mentioning the task of deprogramming 25 million people who still see the Kims as near-literal gods, the possible rise of pro-Kim terrorist groups, and so on.
Politics
South Korea is a presidential country similar to the U.S. The president's single term is only possible for five years. Party systems are classified into multi-party systems; however, there are two main parties in South Korean politics: the Minjoo Party of Korea[note 2], a social liberal party (by South Korean political standards), and the United Future Party, an ultra-conservative party. Other minor parties exist in its National Assembly, including the Justice Party (progressives/social democrats), the People Party (South Korea)
After the 2020 South Korean legislative election
Society
Under the influence of Confucian culture, South Korea has a conservative culture and society. Although there remains much to be desired,[8] women's rights have steadily improved since democratization, but improvement of human rights for sexual minorities, the disabled, ethnic/racial and culture minorities is far from being seen. Human rights violations against mentally disabled people are often severe, likely because violence against mentally disabled people is often not punished significantly in a legal context, unlike other violence.
South Korea's culture heavily values sociability, in relation to sudden changes in behavior. In South Korea, many people with Asperger's and other forms of autism suffer from serious discrimination and prejudice, and unlike others, they are often exposed to abuse, harassment, and sexual violence (it is much more common and severe compared to the West). Neurodiversity and the Autism rights movement have not even been discussed in South Korea, and autism is often referred to as a treatment target and no criticism of Applied behavior analysis is raised.[9][10] Furthermore, in South Korea, people with disabilities cannot file a lawsuit alone without a guardian.
Social and institutional discrimination against LGBT in South Korea is very serious. The "ILGA-Europe Rainbow Map" evaluates that the human rights level of LGBT in South Korea is lower than that of Russia (Russia is infamous for gay "propaganda" laws), and in fact, many sexual minorities in South Korea are openly exposed to much hate and violence, and suffer considerable disadvantages in socioeconomic activities.[11]
The perception of sex crimes by the same sex is also very low. A diplomat at the South Korean Embassy in New Zealand sexually harassed a local white man, but South Korea's major politicians and government officials rejected the New Zealand government's request for repatriation, thinking the same men could touch each other's butts at least once.[12]
Traditional family values is also very deep in the South Korea. For example, corporal punishment in the home is common in Korea, and children cannot be changed to surnames other than those held by mothers and fathers.[13]
South Korea's pop music (i.e. K-pop
Many people in South Korea are positive towards its own branch of Traditional Chinese medicine, which is called 한의학 (Haneuihak) in Korean.
Public security
Along with Singapore, South Korea is a country with some of the highest world-class security. In fact, Singapore has good security because of very-very strict laws rather than civil awareness.
It's extremely unlikely that someone will steal a smartphone that's been accidentally forgotten in a public environment; this event typically only occurs in exceptionally poor areas in the region, of which there are few.
Even if a woman walks around the street alone at night, she's very unlikely to be harmed unless she's in a trashy area where entertainment is concentrated. That's how safe it is!
Education
South Korea is known for having an extremely competitive educational environment, which is often credited for suicide being the leading cause of death for young people in the country. According to the Programme for International Student Assessment,
Religion
A majority of South Koreans have no official religion (56.1%). The largest religion in South Korea is Christianity, with around 27.6% of the population adhering to Christianity. The second largest religion is Buddhism, with around 23% of South Koreans being Buddhists in 2005, and 15.5% in 2015. A bit less than 20% of the population adheres to Protestantism, but the religion is heavily politicized and controversial in the country.[14]
Roughly 10% of the population is Catholic, and Pope Francis is very popular in the country.
Famous South Koreans
- It is the adoptive country of the Reverend Moon (he was born in the North)
- Footballer Ahn Jung-Hwan (안정환) scored the winning goal against Italy in the 2002 World Cup. Unfortunately, he was signed to an Italian club at the time — they fired him.
- Kim Yu-Na (김연아), a famous female ice skater.
- John Cho, a Korean-American actor. You may know him as Harold from Harold and Kumar, or as Hikaru Sulu from the 2009 Star Trek reboot.
- Rain (비), a singer, dancer, actor (in both South Korea and the US), and a well-known humanitarian. Had a dance-off with Stephen Colbert.
- BoA (권보아), a Korean singer, active in South Korea, Japan, and the US.
- Kendrick Kang-Joh "Ken" Jeong" (정강조), a Korean-American physician, comedian, and actor. He is known for his role as Ben Chang in the comedy series Community, and for his other movie roles such as Leslie Chow in The Hangover, Dr. Kuni in Knocked Up, and Ken in The Pineapple Express.
- Margaret Cho, a Korean-American comedian, fashion designer, author, recording artist, and actress. She is more widely known for her stand-up comedy where she talks about social and political problems, mostly about race and sexuality.
- Park Chan-wook (박찬욱) directed the 2003 film Oldboy.
- PSY, the guy with over 3 billion YouTube hits.
- Ban Ki Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations (2007-2016).
- BTS, internationally famous Korean band.
- Bong Joon-ho, director of Snowpiercer and Parasite.
Gallery
Notes
- I mean. Why not, when the country right next to you is derailing more and more by the day.
- However, unlike the Democratic Party of the United States, which encompasses progressives, social democrats and left-wing populists within the party, the Minjoo Party in South Korea is in a more conservative political position.
References
- Wikiquote
- South Koreans win mass campaign for democracy, 1986-87, Swarthmore College
- Flashback: The Kwangju massacre, BBC
- Information on South Korean Military Service, UC San Diego
- At this point it's basically primed to, simply a matter of when.
- Although this is increasingly seen as an unwanted outcome, especially among younger Koreans, for the reasons detailed above
- If this is the situation after two decades, just imagine a reunified Korea.
- "Almost 80% of South Korean men have abused girlfriend, study claims"
- Even the Hankyoreh, a leading progressive journalist in South Korea, publishes an article advocating ABA, or follows the view of American social conservatives that the autism rights movement is only for high-functional autistic people. In addition, there are no autistic rights movement groups in South Korea, and there are few surveys or statistics related to autistic persons.
- The Kyunghyang Shinmun, a liberal journalist, also said BULLSHIT that autism can be treated with "Haneuihak". #, # Of course, not to mention the right-wing conservative media's inappropriate perception of autism. The human rights issue of autistic people in South Korea has not been properly discussed.
- https://sogilaw.org/77
- http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/politics/assembly/958391.html
- http://easylaw.go.kr/CSP/CnpClsMain.laf?popMenu=ov&csmSeq=707&ccfNo=7&cciNo=2&cnpClsNo=1
- Official stats from Statistics Korea, 2015.