(Part 4) Top products from r/korea

I did get a design-related degree, so I do consider myself an artsy person, but I never learned about textiles formally. I'm Korean-American and I've always loved traditional clothing, so it's just a hobby for me, haha. And wow, I'll be honest, I wasn't sure anybody would be willing to drop that kind of money on my recommendation XD ! I'm sure you'll love it.

Yes, that book is VERY expensive, and I have yet to get it myself, but it's high on my wishlist. I actually bought one of the author's first books on East Asian embroidery to get a taste of what her other books might offer, and I thought it was really good information for the price. It's from 1980 though, so the age does show.

http://www.amazon.com/Oriental-Embroidery-Young-Yang-Chung/dp/0684162482/ref=la_B001JXS6HQ_1_3s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419142855&sr=1-3

It's mostly black and white, and the unhappy reviewer in right in saying that many of the black and white photographs can be difficult to make out details. But the color pages in the middle are good, and the text had enough detailed information on the history, symbolism, and context of embroidery that it was easily worth the less than $10 with shipping. I loved that it had a visual appendix in the back of common groups of motifs used in embroidery and their meanings. The book uses specific famous examples from each culture to give the reader an idea of the culture's unique embroidery: Chinese dragon robe, the Japanese kimono, and the Korean bridal dress. They also have chapters on home accessories, clothing accessories, and screens and banners. The book does a lot of walking you through how the things were made and the techniques used, almost like step-by-step tutorials. It's not an exhaustive book, but it's a great start if you don't mind the unflattering black-and-white photographs and heavy reliance on the text.

http://www.amazon.com/Painting-Needle-Learning-Embroidery-Young/dp/0810945703/ref=asap_B001JXS6HQ?ie=UTF8

This is another, much more modern book from her (2003) that's also very affordable, but I believe this book is also more focused on the actual crafting of embroidery for embroiderers who wish to try it themselves. I have yet to get this book, but it's also on my list.

I'm glad to see other people who are interested in these topics like me =) . I'm hoping to go to Korea very soon with the EPIK program, and I'm looking forward to being able to see all these things in person at their museums and market. Good luck!

Nice post! It's great you've found several vegetarian places you like :)

There were two vegan places I wanted to try while I was visiting Korea over the winter holidays: Baru #2 and Loving Hut Honest Vegan in 이태원. I found out that they had both closed down for good.. Then I went to the biggest bookstore in Seoul to get a Korean edition of the novel The Vegetarian, written by a Korean author, and the employees said it's been out of print for years.. eck.

I did get a vegetarian cookbook, and it has some really amazing recipes! If you like to cook and know Korean, I highly recommend it: 하루 한 끼, 채식 한 그릇.

Books like The Book of Questions and If... might have some questions you can use to spark a conversation. There's a good chance you'll be able to get them from your local library, so check that out. Otherwise, browse some of the stuff that gets posted to r/askreddit and use what seems appropriate. You could do a search for 'best icebreakers' or 'get to know someone' type posts to narrow the subject matter down a bit, too.

Depending on how favorably she takes to it, maybe ask some questions about her childhood. "Did you have/want any pets when you were younger?", "What did you like the most about your elementary school best friend?", "What class did you enjoy the most?", "Who was your favorite singer/group in middle school?" etc.

Ha-Joon Chang, The East Asian Development Experience: The Miracle, the Crisis and the Future (2007)

This title isn't entirely about South Korea, but it is written by a well-know Korean-born Cambridge economist and offers a non-Marxist heterodox perspective on East Asia in general and has a lot about South Korea. Might be worth checking out for you. But you may already know about this one, since Chang is fairly famous. He has more works that specifically focus on South Korea, but I'm not sure if they're translated into English.

Bruce Cumings, Korea's Place in the Sun: A Modern History (2005)

This one is more about general history of the Korean peninsula, but it still has a fairly extensive section devoted to the post-war economic development of the Korean peninsula, especially the similar yet ultimately divergent economic paths of the two Koreas. For all its detractors, it is definitely a classic in Korean historiography written in the English language, so if you haven't heard of it yet, it is definitely worth checking out.

Atul Kohli, State-Directed Development: Political Power and Industrialization in the Global Periphery (2004)

This one is also a comparative historical study, but it devotes almost a third of its length on South Korea, and provides a very good overview of the link between colonization and economic development in South Korea, in addition to covering the latter years of modern Korean history. It is written by a Princeton political scientist that has extensive knowledge of comparative economic development, so it would be worth a look as well.

One note of caution though is that, if you really want to understand the post-war South Korean economic history, you also have to have some background on the economic impact of Japanese colonization (and this topic is a very, very, very, very contentious one in modern Korean history). The last one may be of help on this count.

Krys Lee's Drifting House is highly regarded -- although is more about Koreans in America and North Koreans. Also, it is a bit depressing (good, but rather serious).

Giacomo Lee apparently has a new book coming out about modern Korea, called Funereal. Naomi Foyle's Seoul Survivors is a science-fiction novel set in Korea that I've seen some good reviews for (but haven't read myself).

I totally second EatYourNut's recommendation of that Korean Modern Literature series.

For something older, Katsuei Yuasa's Kannani is really excellent. It's about the March 1 Movement, in 1919, but from the eyes of a Japanese child living in Korea. The history that goes with the short story (in the book I linked to) is also fascinating.

I'm going to get downvoted for this, but there is a translation issue here. The video never mentions "Comfort Women" (위안부/慰安婦), but instead talks about Teishintai (정신대/挺身隊), or volunteer corps. These were mostly girls, mostly Japanese, who "volunteered" (and in 1944 were recruited) to help out with the war effort in factories and military support roles, in some ways similar to women in wartime in the US and the UK.

Now, I'm almost 99% percent sure there were women who were duped into prostitution via the volunteer corps, but there's a lot of confusion and debate between Korea and Japan between 정신대 and 위안부, the former being generally innocuous, although it does raise some major issues about gendered mobilization in wartime in general. You can read about it in Japanese here and C. Sarah Soh's book on the comfort women, one of the best sources on the issue in my opinion, problematizes this confusion.

My point is, yeah this JAV is in super bad taste, playing off some weird kind of historical nostalgia, but translation and subjectivity are important to consider and from the producers' viewpoint, it's probably not specifically targeting the Comfort Women.

Edit: A word

I recommend you read Camp 14 (https://www.amazon.com/Escape-Camp-14-Remarkable-Odyssey/dp/0143122916) if you haven't already. You will realize how little you actually saw, compared to harsh realities many people face.

Do you have a picture of the slaves? I'd like to see that..sounds fascinating.

Also, in South Korea, there is nothing stopping anyone from visiting the some of the poor rural areas, some of which can be viewed from public trains. I got drunk one night in Seoul and wandered into some pretty nasty areas north of the river...that was pretty eye-opening.
That is a major difference between a free country and a fascist (or whatever word you want to use) one.

Just sayin'...anyways I'm glad you got a lot out of your trip and appreciate you sharing with the reddit community.

You may already have a good understanding of 20th century Korea but if not a good place to start is Korea's Twentieth-Century Odyssey. It covers the whole of the 20th century and helps place the democratisation movement in historical context.
As for books focusing specifically on the democratisation movement there is The Politics of Democratisation in Korea and Korea's Democratisation. Those three books should give you a fairly deep understanding but after this you could look at Democracy and Authority in Korea which looks at aspects of Korean democracy such as regionalism etc. The process of democratisation is included in their analysis IIRC. Finally there is Democracy After Democratisation which after a brief overview of the democratisation process it examines the consolidation of democracy in Korea.
I hope this helps somewhat. I can suggest a few journal articles too if you want something immediately to look at.

This is awesome, you would really like the book by Charles Jenkins. He was housemates and later, neighbors with Dresnok for 30+ years in North Korea. He is the one of the 4 known defectors that actually made it out of NK, the other two died and Dresnok I believe is still there.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Reluctant-Communist-Court-Martial-Imprisonment/dp/0520259998/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335149060&sr=8-1

Great find, I appreciate it!

My paper? Its not published, but I'm assuming you might be talking about the source of the story? Well, I just checked and you're in luck, because I lost a few of my 1st year papers. Not too lucky though, because it came front an old printed book.

Ten Lost Years: 1929-1939: Memories of Canadians who Survived the Depression by Broadfoot, Barry. https://www.amazon.com/Ten-Lost-Years-1929-1939-Depression/dp/0771016522

Not sure of the specific stories within that book that made me realize old-time family dynamic, I read a lot of that book out of interest, but I was specifically writing on a communist organized strike/protest of unemployed men living in rural work camps in 1935 called the 'On-to-Ottawa-Trek'.

Read any history of the era. You might try first of all The Park Chung Hee Era, a collection of essays edited by Byung-kook Kim and Ezra Vogel. Then you might try asking a few people that were around at the time - he did significantly more than
"quell a riot".

EDIT: Also, please note that I couldn't give a monkey's toss about your opinion. It's up to you to educate yourself. I'm not trying to win any hearts and minds here.

Agreed, you brave soul. Currently reading the book below and it similarly recounts what you're saying. (Waiting for part 2 of this book though)

https://www.amazon.com/Park-Chung-Hee-Modern-Korea/dp/0674659864

Spirit of the Mountain, by David Mason. It's about the mountain spirit, Sanshin, who just has all this cool mythology around him as part of traditional Korean 무속. His website is here.

I'd also recommed Korea: A religious History, and Myths and Legends from Korea, both of which are written by James Grayson, who I promise is unparalleled by anyone when it comes to this subject.

Have you read this book?

Have you seen this video?

If not, I hope it will help you out

Also recommend "A History of Korea:From Antiquity to the Present" by Michael J. Seth.

https://www.amazon.com/History-Korea-Antiquity-Present/dp/0742567168/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1474510319&sr=8-6&keywords=michael+j+seth

"Figuring Foreigners Out" by Craig Storti.
http://www.amazon.com/Figuring-Foreigners-Out-Practical-Guide/dp/1877864706

Very approachable book on culture--helps sort things into categories so it is applicable to many different cultures.

If you're more the academic type, you might consider: "Cultures and Organizations" by Geert & Gert Van Hofstede .
http://www.amazon.com/Cultures-Organizations-Software-Mind-Third/dp/0071664181

> I completely disagree with all your points other than the last one. I'm Korean, but I tried to write that from an international perspective. Honestly I didn't put a great deal of thought into the 'unpatriotic' implications because I think we should start moving past the 'OMG KOREA IS THE BEST OMG OMG' narrative that comes from most story concepts written by Koreans that take place in Korea.

Except it's not being written by Koreans.

> The main reason I began with a Japanese protagonist was because I wanted to open with the Sino-Japanese war. I also felt that opening with a Japanese character would be much more marketable to American (the biggest game market) audiences as they are much more familiar to Japan and then gradually introduce Korea as an independent country with significantly different culture. Having a foreign protagonist learning about the country is a tried and true method of doing so. I felt this would be a more appropriate way than to just ram gamers into a completely unfamiliar background leaving them confused.

This is also the same line of reasoning that led to the complete cast white washing of The Last Airbender, 21, Dragonball Evolution, and the upcoming Akira live action film.

It's also a very pathetic trope rooted deeply in racist colonialism.

> I also made the protagonist half-Japanese as I didn't want to drive home a narrative full of racial hate. I want the story to focus more on the evil Templars who (fictionally) took control of the Japanese government and call to attention the fact that evil is not racial, but societal, and that everyone has power to change it. Call that white-washing if you want. Personally I think it's a better way to stop this racial circlejerk bullshit.

I don't understand this line of thought. All it does is continually relegate the poor, beleaguered natives as sheep that can exist only to be controlled or freed upon the whim of the oppressor.

> I had also just finished reading Korea's Fight For Freedom by Fred McKenzie this very morning which is the main reason I was compelled to think of a story with this background. Among other things it outlines in some detail why the Japanese were so interested in the peninsula, and briefly goes into the Sino-Japanese war (which I see as the most significant event during that era).

Why can none of this be shown from a Korean perspective? I'd recommend another book: A People's History of the United States. Assassin's Creed is about freedom for those who live under oppression.

This is also why in Assassin's Creed: Liberation, most of the Assassins you encounter are actually former black slaves. You pretty much reverted this message by making your protagonist Japanese. The half Korean part doesn't do much because he never had a Korean identity to begin with.

> Also, you do realize how barebones that storyline was right? I skimped on describing Japanese atrocities as I've seen enough of that on this subreddit. Yes, my grandmother (who I currently live with) also speaks Japanese and has countless horror stories. She still uses Japanese terms for cooking ingredients. I even have a great aunt who apparently committed suicide in the 70s because of PTSD from being a comfort woman. I too feel the 한 when it comes to Korean history, but I think enough is enough. Every time Japan comes up in this subreddit I see a fuck ton of bashing. Does it really need to be mentioned in every gory detail every time?

What gory details did I mention? What was I bashing? I just thought it was surprising that in your barebones storyline, the most important details were about concubines and queens and not the injustices that were happening at the time when civil oppression is a hallmark of the franchise. AC3 devoted a lot of time to the ambiguous moral conflict between the colonists and the Indians.

It's strange that you didn't think the brutality of the Imperial regime was something worth mentioning in your stripped down storyline.

> For this fictional story, in my mind, 유관순 was more the product of love between two charismatic characters rather than a bastardization of history. In my mind she was the product of a father that had committed an unforgivable crime (the murder of Empress Myeongseoung) trying to redeem himself, and a mother that managed to overcome seeing that sin and loving the man instead, producing a daughter that could look past petty racial differences and focus on the issue of colonialism (From what I learned in public school about 유관순 she was different from a lot of her contemporaries because she didn't focus on hatred of the Japanese which was an easy narrative to sell, instead she tried to incite a hunger for actual independence of the Korean people).

Let me draw an analogy. Perhaps it will shed some light on why what you are suggesting is off base.

Imagine if Ubisoft made an AC game set during the British Raj and historically revised Gandhi's heritage so he's actually the bastard of a British noble and an Indian concubine. Does this sound like a touching commentary on overcoming petty racial hatreds to you?

> As for your last point, yeah, the 'going native' tool is common because it's a good tool for introducing an audience to an unfamiliar setting without a fuck ton of confusion. It might be overused, but it sure is effective.

Did Assassin's Creed need some English crusader to "go native" with the local Arab culture to portray what life was like in the Holy Land during the 1100s? Did Assassin's Creed 3 need to pull a Last of the Mohigans?

This trope exists because it panders to ethnic superiority fantasies, not because it allows a foreign audience to connect better to an exotic setting.