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Gulag horrors and showstoppers

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By Christian Oliver
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7b613b4c-2ae6-11de-8415-00144feabdc0.html
Published: April 17 2009 03:00 | Last updated: April 17 2009 03:00

On entering North Korea’s brutal gulags, inmates have to sign a declaration that they will never tell anyone what goes on there.

Jung Sung-san is one of the few men ever to get the chance to break that vow of silence and broadcast the hidden horrors of the reclusive communist dictatorship. He has chosen to do so through the surprising medium of stage musicals, delivering his message through toe-tapping tunes and exuberant dancing troupes.

Jung escaped to Seoul in 1994 and his first musical, Yoduk Story , opened in 2006. The power ballads were interspersed with unnervingly graphic depictions of rape, floggings and shootings inside an infamous penal camp. The lead characters all came to a sticky end.

“I wanted to shock South Koreans by letting them know that this is the truth,” he says at the rehearsals for this year’s extravaganza, Great Show , as the glamorous cast bursts into another feisty song-and-dance routine in front of the mirrors of the rehearsal room.

Great Show makes for jollier family viewing during an economic downturn that has pole-axed South Korea. Jung has branched out into romance and comedy to give a more human picture of ordinary North Koreans, who are often casually dismissed as brainwashed automata.

“South Koreans are totally indifferent towards North Korea and I want to change this sentiment,” says Jung. He craves a reunification of the peninsula but feels he might get more sympathy for his work abroad than in Seoul; he is in exploratory talks about taking the show to London.

This year’s musical tells the tale of a young man on national service arrested for watching a contraband video of a South Korean pop singer, with whom he falls in love. He avoids the death penalty by accepting a mission to abduct her for the delectation of Kim Jong-il, North Korea’s leader.

The plot is not as crazy as it sounds. Kim, a film buff and former official propagandist, did indeed kidnap one of South Korea’s top directors and his wife, a film star, in 1978. Jung says the plot was more directly inspired by a story he had heard of party officials who were jailed for getting hold of a South Korean pornographic movie. The South Korean videos and DVDs that are smuggled over the Chinese border into the North have had a profound effect on the country’s political mindset, forcing the North Korean government to redraft its catalogue of propaganda about its rich democratic neighbour. Pyongyang can no longer tell its people that the South is as poor as the North – it must now resort to accusing it of being a morally bankrupt Babylon.

Great Show ‘s plot also overlaps with Jung’s own story, as he was arrested for listening to a South Korean shortwave broadcast – officially, North Koreans can only buy radios set to the one approved state frequency. For more than two months, he was in a penal camp dubbed “Station of the Wolves” because all that could be heard was the howling of inmates. He escaped across the Chinese border after a van carrying him to another camp crashed on a road made slippery by heavy rains. “There were two men who were killed helping me escape,” he says, “and I am dedicating this show to them.”

On arriving in Seoul, he went back to furthering his knowledge of cinema, which he had studied in Pyongyang. There he had been trained in the Soviet tradition, making a graduation film on coal miners trapped in a collapsed shaft who keep their spirits up by singing patriotic songs in honour of the country’s leaders.

Although North Korean black-market favourites now include Desperate Housewives and Mr Bean , Jung had seen no films from outside the socialist sphere before fleeing except for a few of Sean Connery’s outings as James Bond.

“Arriving in Seoul was a huge culture shock. It was like the difference between heaven and earth. Instead of just revolutionary songs, I could listen to pop, jazz and dance,” Jung says. However, his big problem was – and still is – money. Directing musicals initially appealed because they cost only a tenth of the price of a film to produce. Even so, the money needed was enormous for a refugee. When raising finance for Yoduk Story , he used one of his kidneys as collateral on a loan.

The musical was first performed during the presidency of Roh Moo-hyun, who was trying to pursue a “sunshine policy” of rapprochement with the North. This conciliatory stance from the government made it very difficult to find backers for a musical that was so critical of the North’s human rights record.

Nevertheless, the show had a successful run in South Korea, staging 100 performances in Seoul before going on tour to the US. There the Korean-language musical failed to fill the theatres, in spite of considerable media and political support.

But Jung resented the way Yoduk Story became a political football in Seoul. Members of the conservative Grand National Party, opposed to Roh’s détente with Pyongyang, made sure the media knew they were attending performances of the musical. Jung makes it clear that his shows receive no financial backing from any political group and that he depends exclusively on ticket sales.

In spite of his ordeals in the North, Jung expresses simmering frustration with the South – paradoxically, he fears that the unification he yearns for will destroy a certain innocence in his homeland: “There will be a flow of low-quality, capitalist culture pouring in.”

In one of the scenes in Great Show , the North Korean national serviceman arrives in the heart of Seoul on his kidnapping mission. He is dazed by the racing tides of preoccupied people, clutching their Starbucks coffees, texting and barking into their mobile phones. He cannot get anyone’s attention and loses his temper among the tetchy, hurried pedestrians.

“I really miss North Korea and I want to go back there one day. In South Korea you always have to be street-wise, a fox. You lose your purity – but whenever I meet defectors from the North, they still have that innocence to them.” Additional reporting by Song Jung-a . Performances of ‘Great Show’ continue until May 3 at the Goyang Aramnuri Theatre in Seoul, tel +82 2 1577 7766, www.artgy.or.kr

Korean actress’s suicide letter sparks sex-for-favours anger

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http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6851b7d2-1d8c-11de-9eb3-00144feabdc0.html

South Koreans who watched Jang Ja-yeon playing an alluring villain twice a week in the nation’s favourite soap opera assumed the 26-year-old star had it all.

But since she hanged herself from banisters this month, the country has had to look hard at the seedy underbelly of an entertainment industry whose films and soap operas have won legions of fans across Asia.

A week before her suicide, she wrote a seven-page letter chronicling the sexual favours needed to achieve stardom in dramas of the Hallyu, or Korean Wave.

Police have opened an inquiry into 12 people, including producers, agents and studio executives. The fair trade commission is promising a rigorous examination of slave contracts in the entertainment business.

The case has become the focus of a national scandal and women’s groups view it as a broader test of accountability for a country where, they argue, an unchecked cabal of middle-aged men calls the shots, sealing deals in bordellos and hostess bars.

Lee Eun-sang, deputy director of Korea’s sexual violence relief centre, hoped the police inquiry would prove a landmark case in cracking down on abuse.

“The practice of powerful figures using their status for getting sex in return for favours is rampant in Korean society at large,” she said. “Miss Jang’s case can be the starting place for setting up a real institutional framework. In the past, the rumours never got as far as a proper investigation.”

The story Jang tells in her letter and the details the police have released smack of a soap opera. Orphaned since her school days when her parents were killed in a car crash, she says she was at the mercy of studio bosses who pimped her off and used her to serve drinks on a golf trip to Thailand.

In a trial by the public, the men she named have already been identified on websites, sparking an outpouring of vitriol.

But the case is far from clear-cut. Kim Sung-hoon, the artist’s agent, was cast initially as the villain of the piece and efforts are under way to secure his extradition from Japan, but he protests his innocence.

In late February, Jang visited Yoo Jang-ho, her former manager, in whose office she wrote the accusatory letter. Mr Yoo then gave copies of this letter to Jang’s family and leading media. The state-run Korean Broadcasting System, which shows Jang’s soap opera Boys over Flowers , aired extracts from the letter.

Mr Kim told Korean media the letter was an attempt by Mr Yoo, his rival, to bring him down. Although the police first assumed that Jang killed herself because of public humiliation, the star’s family contests that she felt hounded after Mr Yoo leaked the document.

Park Mun-yeong, a former KBS producer, said the suicide was also a tragic side-effect of a lack of genuine competition in Korean media that was stifling the arts.

“The current system of three [non-cable] broadcasters was established when the economy was a 10th of its current size. Therefore, a TV appearance has become synonymous with success and people are eager to perform at all costs,” he wrote in the Joong-Ang daily. “Actors and actresses who do not make frequent appearances are treated as losers. To avoid this, they often have to go too far.”

Korea’s government is trying to pass a media reform bill to increase competition but the measure is being resisted by leftwing politicians and unions.

Additional reporting by Kang Buseong

Unsuk Chin: Hear my $200,000 concerto

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http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/unsuk-chin-hear-my-200000-concerto-570182.html
Monday, 16 February 2004


At 42, the composer Unsuk Chin has won one of the world’s most prestigious music awards. But, as she tells Martin Anderson, the path from South Korea to lyrical modernism wasn’t smooth

The annual Grawemeyer award is one of the most prestigious in classical music. It is given to a contemporary composer for a specific work, bringing a colossal $200,000 in prize money and an equivalent amount of kudos. The first winner, in 1985, was Witold Lutoslawski, for his Third Symphony; subsequent winners have included some of the biggest names in new music, Ligeti, Penderecki, Takemitsu and Boulez among them.

The annual Grawemeyer award is one of the most prestigious in classical music. It is given to a contemporary composer for a specific work, bringing a colossal $200,000 in prize money and an equivalent amount of kudos. The first winner, in 1985, was Witold Lutoslawski, for his Third Symphony; subsequent winners have included some of the biggest names in new music, Ligeti, Penderecki, Takemitsu and Boulez among them.

The 2004 winner is the Korean composer Unsuk Chin – the third woman to take the Grawemeyer. Like the rest of us, composers come in all shapes and sizes, but Chin isn’t quite what you’d expect a modern composer to look like: she’s petite, delicate, almost weightlessly graceful, with the kind of sultry, heavy-lidded eyes that you see on James Bond’s sexier villains. The award is for her Violin Concerto, which receives its first UK performance at the Barbican on Friday, when the soloist, Viviane Hagner, will join the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the conductor Martyn Brabbins.

Chin first made her mark with a piece called Acrostic-Wordplay, for soprano and ensemble, written in 1991. Three years later, she was signed up by the publisher Boosey & Hawkes, whose efficient machinery has since made sure of widespread international performances for her meticulously crafted works, among them a Fantaisie mécanique for chamber ensemble (1994); Miroirs des temps (1999), which was a BBC commission for the Hilliard Ensemble and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; and a piano concerto in 1997. A Double Concerto for the unusual combination of piano, percussion and ensemble appeared last year.

Born in Seoul in 1961, Chin is only the second Korean composer to make the running in contemporary classical music, her sole predecessor being Isang Yun (1917-95). When she was in London recently, I asked her how this had come about. “When I was 11 or 12, I decided to become a composer; before that I wanted to be a pianist.” But under what impulse? It’s hardly a conventional teenage career plan, even in the West. “My father was a minister in the Presbyterian Church, and my mother – a Christian, too – was a teacher. They couldn’t afford to pay for piano lessons. At that time in Korea, in the Sixties and the beginning of the Seventies, we were very poor. My music teacher at school was a composer, and one day she advised me to become one, too; she said it was much better to be a composer than a pianist.”

So how, without support, did she make her way forward in music, in composition in particular? “I learnt everything by myself. I listened to music every day, Western classical music; I played piano; I studied a lot of scores. It wasn’t normal to buy recordings or scores: they were all rarities and very expensive. I borrowed scores from other people, too, and copied them out – the Tchaikovsky Sixth Symphony, in its entirety.”

Which other composers was she listening to at this stage? “Brahms, Beethoven, Mozart…” Not Ligeti, Lutoslawski, and the other composers we might call “lyrical modernists”, among whom she is now counted? “No, at that time we didn’t know these people at all. Stravinsky we did know: I was 13 when I heard the Stravinsky Violin Concerto. I found it very beautiful but, for my ear, at that time, there was too much brass!”

Could the attraction to Western music be ascribed, at least in part, to the fact that her father was active in an Occidental spiritual tradition? “When I was a child, I used to accompany the hymns in the church. For me, it was like an exercise in harmony. They would say hymn number so-and-so, and I would have to play. I was only eight or nine years old, very young, and it was quite stressful, but it was also very good practice. Sometimes, when people got a bit excited and went higher, I would have to play a half-tone higher, transposing up, sometimes down… I did that for years. It was my first encounter with the Western tradition.”

Chin ascribes her first brush with musical modernism to Sukhi Kang, her principal teacher of composition and piano at Seoul National University. When she began studying with him in 1982, Kang “had just returned from Europe, bringing a lot of information with him. I learnt a lot from him, even aspects of craftsmanship, of how one sets notes. I heard Ligeti first, then Penderecki, Stockhausen, Boulez.”

Was her own music already advancing along similar lines? “No. In fact, I had written very little up to that point – only little things, sonatinas, variations, that were rather tied to tradition. But I was open to all possibilities. Stockhausen and Boulez were really difficult to understand, but I was very inquisitive none the less, and I was prepared to take this music into myself.”

When did she write the first work that pointed to her current style? “That was after my studies. I did compose a piece during my studies, in 1983, which was chosen for the World Music Days of the International Society for Contemporary Music in Canada, and that was my first international success. Nothing like that had happened in Korea before. And, at 22, I was still very young.

“After that, I composed a piece for my final exam at the university, and that was selected as a finalist for the Gaudeamus competition in Holland, and I was lucky enough to win first prize. All of that happened within the three years that I was studying with my teacher, incredibly quickly – too quickly!” Chin’s rise continued to be rapid. In 1985, a German government scholarship took her to Hamburg to study with Ligeti, no less. Three years later, she moved to Berlin, where she has lived independently ever since. “Life hasn’t been easy so far, since I’m a freelance composer, and I have a family – one son who is three years old – and I have to compose to provide all the necessities of life: rent, mineral water, cigarettes. When you think about it, it’s a bit crazy that you can, or must, live like that.

“My dream was always to do what I wanted, to live my own life, and so, even without this prize, I can’t complain about anything. Even when I don’t have much money, and don’t have a car, I do have a fulfilled life. I’ve lived in much worse conditions than this, and it didn’t do me any harm. I’ve never wanted to join an institution or take up a position somewhere that might have nothing to do with me. I just want to be myself and get on with my work.”

Chin’s Violin Concerto had its first performance in Berlin in January 2002 by the then 26-year-old Viviane Hagner, who has been drawing critical superlatives since her emergence on the international stage. The two women worked intensively together on the piece – Hagner, Chin says, “gave me a lot of advice on why something might be difficult, what isn’t possible, how something could be easier to play”. The result is a staggeringly difficult, though still violinistic, solo part that Hagner somehow takes in her stride.

Chin’s listeners, though, have an easier time of it. Her concerto is relatively traditional in form: not quite half an hour in length, with the soloist swirling above a carpet of instrumental colour – the use of the orchestra is reserved and refined. The Grawemeyer committee described the work as “a synthesis of glittering orchestration, rarefied sonorities, volatility of expression, musical puzzles and unexpected turns”. It is also, for all its modernist musical language, remarkably lyrical. The composer nods. “Yes, you could say that. The most important thing for me in my music is that there should be a big palette of expressive possibilities. If it’s only lyrical, or only aggressive, then, for me, it is flat and one-sided. So, within a piece I try to communicate diverse, differing states of feeling and modes of expression.”

So, Unsuk Chin’s work is thus relatively accessible, even to the listener who thinks that he or she ought to be afraid of modern music. “That’s my philosophy when I compose: I never write pieces for my composer-colleagues – I write pieces for many different types of listeners. There are the normal classical-music lovers. There are the professional new-music lovers. And there are the people who have never had anything to do with music. For me, a good piece of music is one in which people from all of these different groups maybe don’t understand everything but can at least get something out of it. It is very important to me that my music speaks to all of these people on a certain level.”

The UK premiere of Unsuk Chin’s Violin Concerto is on Friday at 7.30pm, Barbican, London EC2 (0845 120 7596) and broadcast live on BBC Radio 3

Dispatch from New Malden

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ftkidshttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/5e3f800e-e050-11dd-9ee9-000077b07658.html
Matthew Engel

Huge flocks of ring-necked parakeets have made their home in Surrey over the past few years. These are exotic Asian birds which have either charmed the locals by adding colour and diversity to the landscape, or irritated the hell out of them, bringing forth complaints about their noise, diet and toilet habits. This is the traditional split of opinion on immigrants.

Just up the A3 in New Malden, the exact reverse phenomenon has taken place. Thousands of migrants have arrived, but so quietly that it took years for people to notice. They are Asian, but their plumage is drab and conformist. They make no noise and create no waves.

This bland and discreet commuter suburb has received the blandest and most discreet influx imaginable. Yet, as you walk down the high street now, the phenomenon is obvious. New Malden has turned into Koreatown.

It would be no surprise to see a Korean restaurant anywhere in London these days. But in New Malden there are at least 20, backed up by Korean travel agents, estate agents, beauty salons, supermarkets and herbal remedy shops. And in places, it’s impossible not to notice the distinct whiff of pickled cabbage. No one knows exactly how many Koreans live here, though it is thought there must be at least 15,000 in New Malden and nearby. The Land of the Morning Calm has merged with the Land of the Morning Rush.

Yet the locals only really cottoned on in 2002, when the South Korean soccer team reached the semi-finals of the World Cup. As the tournament went on, the community descended on The Fountain pub, which erected a big screen in the garden. Then a strange thing happened.

“Afterwards, you wouldn’t even have known there had been a major event,” said Derek Osborne, the local Lib Dem councillor and now leader of Kingston upon Thames council. “They even picked up every cigarette end in the garden, and the Koreans are heavy smokers.”

The resentment created when poor migrants take over traditional working-class areas is well documented right across western Europe. This is a bourgeois invasion. Korea and Britain could hardly be more remote and different from each other. Yet these two groups, the Home Counties British and the Korean newcomers, are astonishingly similar: self-contained, reticent, desperate to avoid offence and very bad at making connections, partly because they are both hopeless at foreign languages.

The newcomers started to accrete here from the 1980s because the South Korean embassy was in nearby Wimbledon, but New Malden was cheaper. Then the Korean conglomerates – LG, Samsung, Hyundai – emerged and set up London offices, where managers would be posted on three- to five-year contracts. Naturally, they wanted a ready-made expat community and welcoming landlords. “The Koreans are the most popular tenants in the area,” says Chris Lee of Jin’s Letting agency. “They look after the houses and the companies pay the rent.”

But the isolation in the early days was total. The first Korean restaurant-owner in New Malden put up a notice saying “No English”, meaning that no one there spoke any; he soon had a visit from the council dealing with a potential racial discrimination charge.

Integration was pitifully slow. Korean families work on traditional hierarchical lines: the men took the train to the office, leaving their wives to draw whatever support they could from their compatriots. And that’s still how it works. Local officials have only the vaguest idea what might be happening within the Korean community. “If there is something negative to report, we don’t tend to hear of it,” said Brigitte Pfender of Kingston council. “Any social services or child welfare issues are not necessarily known. To take council help would be considered shameful.”

But what evidence there is suggests the children are fine, although – by local standards – somewhat overworked. They need intensive language tuition when they come into the schools but often emerge as high-flyers. The teachers get annoyed solely because they put in the hard slog only to see the children take wing academically and then return to Korea before they can bump up the school’s SATs results and league table placing.

The British find the Korean work ethic terrifying. The children take extra classes every afternoon and go to Korean school on Saturday. And church on Sunday is also the norm.

Ken Myung, a shipping agent who has been in the area since 1997, and his wife Rachel are among the growing minority who have settled here and started to anglicise themselves (they’re still Kyung and Seoung to old friends). Their son Joshua/Yu Meen is only four, has just started at Malden Manor primary school and is already taking extra Korean and taekwondo lessons.

Malden Manor has 60 Koreans out of 430 pupils, but reports minimal problems and many playground friendships. It is clearly harder for older arrivals, who turn up at secondary school with no English. But that can lead to an intriguing sub-phenomenon, whereby the women – who often find it hard to settle initially – stay behind when their husbands go home to allow the kids to pass UK exams.

There may be another consideration.“One thing I can tell you about Korean women,” says Ken Myung, “is that after two or three years, they don’t want to go back. They get a lot of family pressure back in Korea.”

Behind the leaded windows and net curtains of New Malden’s mock-Tudor semis, the lives led by neighbouring families are always mysterious. That is doubly truer when those neighbours are Korean. The community’s politics are also fairly impenetrable. The Korean Residents’ Society, which once played the leading role in sorting out problems, appears moribund following a disputed election so vituperative that even local councillors now shrug their shoulders rather than try to understand the issues involved.

And as the Koreans embed themselves, there are the beginnings of an underclass working in the shops and restaurants – some of them North Korean refugees who have extra-strong reasons to keep their heads down and their noses clean.

Overall, New Malden feels like a success story, as is South Korea. But we should never forget the people’s pain – imagine life in Britain if there had been almost no communication for decades with anyone north of the Trent. And it is easy to forget the drawbacks of any exile, however comfortable.

To an Englishman, the supermarkets on the High Street look and smell like Korea. Not to a Korean. “It’s different,” says Ken Myung. “The taste is different. At home everything would be fresh. English vegetables don’t taste the same.”

And it is easy to forget the low-level irritation felt by the locals every time a long-established shop closes and gets replaced by yet another Korean business. That does seem to be as bad as it gets, though. As one woman put it to me, “If you’re going to have an ethnic group in your community, I recommend the Koreans.”

Yang Haegue to represent Korea in Venice

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http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/NEWKHSITE/data/html_dir/2008/12/31/200812310026.asp

A series of vulnerable arrangementsInstallation artist Yang Haegue has been chosen to hold a solo presentation in the Korean Pavilion at the 53rd Venice Biennale in Italy next year.

“Yang is one of the most significant Korean artists performing now,” said Joo Eungie, the pavilion commissioner, at the press conference last week at Arts Council Korea. “This is her moment. Through this Venice Biennale, she can get attention and so can Korean contemporary art.”

A new commissioner is designated every year for the Korean Pavilion by Arts Council Korea, and the commissioner selects an artist or a group of artists to present in the Biennale.

Graduating from Seoul National University Fine Arts College, Yang has been showcasing her work more internationally — sharing her time between here and Germany. Critically acclaimed around the world, German newspaper Capital included her as one of the top 100 international installation artists, along with compatriot Lee Bul.

Yang uses sculpture, video and installation to express her sentiments about humanity, history and her private memories.

“I think the similarity between an artist and a philosopher is that they both try to realize something that already exists,” said Yang. “I simply try to express them with my artistic words.”

She has not decided what to exhibit at the Biennale yet, but her former work gives us a few hints.

Electric machines frequently appear in her work. “Asymmetric Equality” which was exhibited in Gallery at REDCAT in Los Angeles last summer, featured theatrical lights connected to sensors on a drum set. If one drummed on the set, different blazing lights moved as an echo of the sound.

An infrared heater warmed the air in her exhibition room from one corner and an air conditioner cooled it from another side. Humidifiers made the space moist.

“It made viewers confront their opposite senses,” explained Joo.

Yang HaegueSimilar substances filled the room in “A Series of Vulnerable Arrangements,” which Yang displayed in Sao Paulo Biennale in 2006.

For those who have followed Yang’s career, “vulnerable” is the word that pops into their head at the mention of her. Yang has used the word very often since 2004 to express sadness, loneliness and melancholy.

“The stronger and more impressive I found my surroundings, the weaker my heart became,” said Yang. “Then this melancholic vulnerability seemed to open small passages where different beings and elements can newly be connected through.”

Yang defines her works as “sentimental communities mobilized by senses.” Sounds complicated? Yang herself admits that her works are indescribable.

“My works are hard to imagine if you don’t actually experience it. You need to breathe it, feel it, and see it using all your senses. You have to be covered from top to toe by the shades and lights of my work to really get it,” said Yang.

Unfortunately, viewers will not be able to see Yang’s usual use of dramatic lights at Venice because the pavilion there is very bright.

“We are eagerly discussing what to do. Everything I do from now will be melded in it. I can dare say that I am enough to take this big responsibility. I really want to do my best,” said Yang.

Venice Biennale will run from June 22 to Nov. 22 next year.

By Park Min-young

(claire@heraldm.com)

2008.12.31

Art industry suffers serious downfall

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http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/NEWKHSITE/data/html_dir/2008/12/29/200812290041.asp

Dreadful flames swallowed Namdaemun, Korea’s 600-year-old National Treasure No. 1, on Feb. 10, breaking the hearts of Koreans. As if in mourning over the loss of Korea’s most artistic cultural asset, the Korean art industry itself was at a loss all year long.

Already strained by various scandals, the industry suffered from the global economic crisis and nearly hit rock bottom. It never managed to bounce back, but instead fell deeper into a slump, weighed down by an unhelpful government.

The year began with a wobbly start as Shin Jeong-ah, the former art professor and curator who forged her academic credentials and embezzled gallery money, was sentenced to a year and six months in prison in April.

A number of art forgery scandals followed, including the one over Park Soo-keun’s painting “A Wash Place.” It was sold for a record 4.52 billion won ($3.4 million) last May but was soon entangled in forgery controversies.

It went through numerous evaluations, but it is still not certain whether it is authentic or not. It is currently being reinspected by the Seoul National University and it is apparent that the controversy will continue, since the person in charge at the university was recently disciplined.

Other pieces by famous artists such as Kwon Ok-yeon and Do Sang-bok were put up at auction but were exposed as fake by the artists themselves or their surviving family. The auctions were canceled at the last minute.

Making it harder for the art industry to find tranquility after these scandals quieted down were vacancies of the top of the major art galleries and art councils.

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Hong Ra-hee, the former head of the Samsung Museum of Art, Leeum and who was selected as the most powerful figure in Korean art industry, announced that she would no longer participate in any of Leeum’s business when she resigned earlier this year.

Her resignation was the result of the accusation that she used some of Samsung’s slush funds to supplement her collection of paintings. Roy Lichtenstein’s painting, “Happy Tears,” was at the center of the controversy.

Since her resignation, art fans have been unable to see the museum’s high-quality special exhibitions. With Korea’s top private gallery silent, the art industry is busy searching for another target buyer.

Kim Yun-su, the former director of the National Museum of Contemporary Arts, was dismissed in November, accused of buying Marcel Duchamp’s installation art “La Boite en Valise” for an inappropriately high 600 million won without going through proper purchasing procedures.

Kim Jeong-heon, former chairman of the Arts Council Korea, was also released from the office in December for a similar reason, the misuse of the council’s budget. He was blamed for an investment loss of 5.4 billion won, which allegedly came in the form of regulations violations.

However, the culture minister Yu In-chon had announced earlier this year that it was only natural for both Kims to step down, mentioning that all officials appointed under the left-leaning Roh Moo-hyun administration should quit their posts.

The art industry seems to be one of the industries most affected by the world economic crisis, especially compared to last year, the industry’s heyday. Gallery insiders say with a big sigh that this year was the worst in sales ever.

The art auction market, which was worth over 192.6 billion won last year, dropped over 40 percent, to 114.9 billion won. More than 80 percent of the bid was successful last year but this year, only 50 percent managed to sell. New auction companies such as D auction and Open auction are delaying the opening of their businesses.

It is the same situation with biennales and art fairs. Many opened this year, including Gwangju Biennale, Busan Biennale, Daegu Photo Biennale and Korea International Art Fair.

In size and quality, they left nothing to be desired. Most of them succeeded in attracting their most visitors ever, as 360 thousand visited Gwangju and 160 visited Busan during the period.

KIAF was bigger than last year, with about 1,500 artists from 20 countries presenting approximately 6,000 works. Gwangju Biennale succeeded in overcoming the void left by Shin Jeong-ah’s removal with a unique theme of “no theme at all,” under the name “Annual Report,” led by Okwui Enwezor, the art director.

The fairs, however, did not result in good sales. More than 61 thousand visitors entered the KIAF this year, but the sales dropped from 17.5 billion won last year to 14 billion won.

To make matters worse for the art industry, the bill of imposing capital gains tax on art pieces passed the plenary session of the National Assembly on Dec. 13. Starting from 2011, art pieces that cost more than 60 million won will be taxable. Works of Korean artists are excluded.

But some experts say that this is the right time to make the art market transparent and sort out its dealing system, which had regularly seen giant bubbles of overpriced artworks.

But the controversy over the bill is likely to continue next year, as art galleries and organizations, which closed down for days in November to protest the government’s movement, are still against the bill.

They worry that the real-name dealings system will make the art market shrink even more, considering how art collectors usually do not open to the public the specifics of the dealings. They also question how exactly the government will be able to estimate the prices of each art piece.

A light of hope does shine on the troubled art industry, though. Some auction companies and art galleries are paving their way into the world market, trying to survive through the depression.

Seoul Auction and K auction, the top two auction companies in Korea advanced into Hong Kong and Macao this year and are putting up a good fight. Seoul Auction sold Lichtenstein’s “Still Life with Stretcher, Mirror, Bowl of Fruit” at 9.3 billion won in Hong Kong.

Arario Gallery, Gallery Hyundai, and PKM gallery opened in China, Arario Gallery and Gana Art Gallery in New York, and Pyo Gallery in Los Angeles in the United States.

By Park Min-young

 

(claire@heraldm.com)

 

2008.12.29

Drama market gets globalized, theme-driven

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http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/NEWKHSITE/data/html_dir/2008/12/26/200812260042.asp

With the new year less than a week away, the drama market merits a moment of reflection. The year 2008 proved to be a trying time for Korean dramas.

Pummeled by an economic crisis and competition from hit American and Japanese series, the domestic market cut down on the number of miniseries it aired in November. Yet despite cutbacks, a few stellar pieces stood out this year that, along with a dramatic increase in theme-driven dramas, softened the blow.

Here is a recap of the highs and lows of 2008, along with a glimpse into 2009.

Drama recession

Around November, KBS, MBC and SBS responded to the economic downturn by slashing their drama budget. KBS discontinued their 7:40 p.m. daily KBS 2 TV dramas, MBC their special weekend dramas and SBS their Friday premium dramas as part of their autumn program reforms.

Various factors contributed to the reduction, including an increase in wages for celebrities and screenwriters, which upped production costs, along with a decrease in advertising.

All three major broadcasting networks are also tightening their 2009 drama budgets and looking for ways to bring down production costs. This includes employing rookie actors and cutting back on overseas filming.

Production companies were also hit hard by the crisis, posting deficits for 2008. JS Pictures, the production company behind SBS’ popular series “Sikgaek,” was in the red, according to a representative of the company.

“Actors’ wages may have been one of the causes for the deficit,” a JS Pictures representative explained. “There are a lot of plans for dramas right now, but everyone is hesitant to start production. Everyone is in a bit of a slump.”

photo5

Chorokbaem Media, the production company behind SBS’ hit drama “Iljimae,” also posted a deficit, stated a representative.

“Accounting-wise we were in the red this year,” explained the Chorokbaem Media representative.

“But that was because of last year’s ‘Lobbyist.’ Dramas that aired this year like ‘Iljimae’ and KBS’ ‘The Land of the Wind’ have been profitable thus far,” he added, maintaining a positive outlook for 2009.

For state-run broadcaster KBS, however, a change in chiefs may make 2009 a rocky year. On Aug. 26, President Lee Myung-bak appointed Lee Byung-soon the new chief of KBS, following the dismissal of former KBS chief Jung Yun-joo.

The best and the chic

Despite the economic crisis, 2008 proved to be an exciting year for the drama market. A movement towards theme-driven miniseries steered the herd away from the classic melodramatic formula. Broadcaster SBS led the trend with “On Air,” “Sikgaek,” “Tazza,” “The Painter of Wind” and their brand new “Terroir.”

The gamble proved to be a success for the drama-about-a-drama “On Air” and the gourmet series “Sikgaek.” MBC’s medical series “New Heart” and its musically-inclined “Beethoven Virus” also struck gold, serving as testimony to the newfound popularity of themed dramas.

MBC’s sweeping 50-episode epic “East of Eden” and their historical “Isan,” however, highlighted the continuing power of the tried-and-tested. And SBS’ hit “Iljimae” walked the middle road with its modern take on historical romance.

Yet, one stellar drama served as a beacon of hope for the future of Korean dramas. Though it failed to garner high viewer ratings, KBS’ “Worlds Within” sported all the trappings of a top notch work: a supremely talented cast, director and scriptwriter.

Like “On Air,” “Worlds Within” was a miniseries that explored the drama-making process and employed the star power of a high profile cast, but the chemistry between celebrities Song Hye-kyo and Hyun Bin turned the series into a poignant and riveting tale, while skilled supporting actors – Uhm Ki-joon, Bae Jong-ok and Kim Yeo-jin – added depth and color.

But it was the collaborative fireworks produced by directing and writing duo Pyo Min-soo and Noh Hee-kyung that took “Worlds Within” to the next level. “Full House” director Pyo utilized savvy collaged cuts of various scenes on a black background to show characters in different locations from various points-of-view simultaneously, while “Goodbye Solo” screenwriter Noh Hee-kyung spiced up her dialogue with the harsh and pulpy talk of the gritty drama production room, while exercising just the right amount of control in the area of romance and friendship.

Dramas of 2009

Female warriors and old romances will be lighting up the small screen in 2009. KBS’ “Iron Empress” and SBS’ “Ja Myung Go” will be turning the spotlight on the female fighter, while MBC’s “I Love You” and KBS’ “Again My Love” will explore relationships between the elderly and the middle-aged.

Production company Group Eight looks set to mix things up with their upcoming “Tamna is the Island.” Set on 17th century Jeju Island, the plot revolves around a girl diver, a British native and an aristocrat. Add to that four writers and the use of a French actor for an entirely new take on historical romance.

Media entertainment group On-Media will be upping the ante by starting a channel devoted to American dramas. On-Media’s new channel, OCN Series, will bring in hit shows like CSI, Desperate Housewives and Sex and the City. The channel goes on air on Jan. 1.

By Jean Oh

(oh_jean@heraldm.com)

2008.12.26

Ten Culture Trends of 2008

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The late actress Choi Jin-silhttp://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/art/2008/12/201_36567.html
By Han Sang-hee
Staff Reporter

1. The Death of Celebrities in 2008

The late actor Ahn Jae-hwanThe suicide death of actor Ahn Jae-hwan because his debt shocked the nation. Then, the suicide death of Korea’s commercial queen and sweetheart, Choi Jin-sil, friend to Ahn and his wife/comedian Jung Seon-hee, jolted the nation. Choi’s death hit the nation hard, with fellow celebrities following suit, including transsexual actress Jang Chae-won, model Kim Ji-hoo, and vocal group M Street’s leader Lee Seo-hyun.

Many stars passed away, leaving the entertainment industry and its fans grieving.

The first celebrity to leave fans was Kim Chang-ik, youngest member of the group Sanulrim. He was followed by famed composer Lee Young-hun, who died in February after suffering from colon cancer. In April, Turtleman from the pop group “Turtles” died from a heart attack, while Kim Min-soo, member of the pop group Monday Kiz, passed away after being involved in a motorcycle accident.

Model Ion also died in a motorcycle accident. Most recently, actor Park Gwang-jeong passed away after suffering from lung cancer.

2. The Popularity in “Real” Reality Shows

Infinity Challenge

This year welcomed various reality shows, some new and some simply upgraded. The key factor of this year’s reality programs is that the shows represent raw realism. MBC’s “Infinity Challenge” showed its group practicing for a Latin dance competition and also a nationwide aerobic competition. KBS’ “One Day Two Nights” presented a celebrity group visiting villages and carrying out tasks and games along the way. MBC’s “We’ve Got Married” put popular celebrity couples in “marriages” and showed them living in the same house, and spending time together like other married couples. SBS joined in the fun with “The Family is Out”, which brought a number of celebrities to the country picking fruits and vegetables, working in the fields and cooking things for themselves.

Family is Out

3. The Comeback of Big Stars and Rise of Idol Groups

Seo Tai-jiThe pop scene this year was busy with the return of big stars as well as the rise of hip pop idol groups. Singer Kim Gun-mo appeared with his new album, which was made with composer Kim Chang-wan for the first time since their split 13 years ago. Ballad singer Shin Seung-hun also returned after holding concerts in Japan. Singers Kim Jong-kook and Jo Sung-mo returned after finishing their military service, while “JYP” Park Jin-young, Rain and even Seo Tai-ji returned to their loyal fans. Female singers were also strong, with Baek Ji-young and Lee Soo-young gracing the stage with new tunes.

Big BangThe rise of the idol groups — Big Bang, Wonder Girls, Girls’ Generation and newcomer SHINee — wowed fans with distinctive styles and catchy songs. Individual activities that group members pursued were also interesting. Tae-yang from Big Bang released his own album, while Yu-na from Girls’ Generation was tapped for the main role in a KBS drama.

4. Big Classical Artists Visit Seoul

Simon RattleNumerous classical stars visited Korea to the delight of fans.

The Vienna Boys Choir started 2008 with their angelic voices, followed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra as led by conductor Vladmir Jurowski, cellist Pieter Wispelwey and pianist Peter Jablonski.

Crossover tenor Andrea Bocelli visited Korea the first time in eight years last April, wowing fans with his charms and charisma. Pianist Martha Argerich and maestro conductor Chung Myung-whun dazzled fans with their joint performance. Young maestro Yannick Nezet-Seguin and pianist Li Yundi graced fans with their tunes. Finnish conductor Esa Pekka Salonen performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle with the Berlin Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel with the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela.

5. Stars Moving Out to Hollywood

RainSeveral celebrities knocked on the U.S. market with their albums and films.

Singers BoA and Se7en are currently stationed in the U.S., appearing on television, Web sites and newspapers. They are striving to captivate American fans. BoA is planning to release her official album next year, while Se7en performed at a concert in Seattle and will release his album early next year.

BoARain has been one of the busiest stars both here and in the U.S. After his small role in the Wachowski brothers’ “Speed Racer,” he was tapped for the main role in the upcoming movie “Ninja Assassin”, slated for release next year. Jang Dong-gun and Lee Byung-hun will separately appear in the U.S. movies “Laundry Warrior” and “G.I.Joe: Rise of Cobra”.

Female actors have also jumped into the Hollywood stream. Jun Ji-hyun appeared in “Blood: The Last Vampire” and Bae Seul-gi joined the cast of a global project film called “Finale.” Han Chae-yong will fly to New Zealand next year to shoot the movie “Soul Mates,” a joint Korean-New Zealand movie.

6. Various Plots in Local Dramas

Dramas of 2008 saw many experiments.

Many drama-makers looked for storylines within their own territory, touching on the lives of people in the broadcast business. “On-air” became popular for dealing with the life of a stubborn celebrity and her manager. Kim Ha-neul played a cocky actress, bringing herself once again to the spotlight for her trendy fashion style and good acting skills.

Worlds Within“Worlds Within” also made headlines with its catchy plot, about the struggling lives of actors and drama producers. Its two main characters were played by Song Hye-kyo and Hyun Bin. “Spotlight” delved into the lives of news reporters, yet failed to gain popularity despite famous actors like Son Ye-jin and Ji Jin-hee. Classical and culinary plots were also popular this year. The hit drama “Beethoven Virus” touched on the orchestral journeys of musicians as well as a stubborn maestro conductor. “Sikgaek” offered simple culinary dishes and recipes around the nation.

Last but not least, art fans had the chance to enjoy “The Painter of Wind,” which told the story of two of Korea’s most famous artists back in the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910).

7. Forgery Scandals Hit Local Art Scene

The art scene in 2008 was smeared with forgery scandals regarding works by some of the nation’s most famous artists.

The late Park Soo-keun’s painting “A Wash Place” made headlines when it was sold at an auction for the highest price ever, 4.52 billion won. But its authenticity was soon questioned as a local art magazine pointed out its differences from the original as seen in Park’s Collection book.

The Korean Art Appraisal Association carried out an appraisal due to Seoul Auction’s request, clarifying that the work was the original. Despite the clarification, Park’s famous painting continued to spark controversy. It was sent once again for appraisal by other appraisal organizations here and in Tokyo, only to bring yet again the same result.

8. Idol Groups Leading the Local Fashion Scene

Fashion advice in 2008 was smart and simple: follow your favorite stars. Soaring idol groups did not only affect the pop music industry, but also the fashion scene. Young fans wearing clothes similar to those of their favorite singers were nothing new. But this year fans and stars alike brought trend after trend all through the year.

Male groups dominated the fashion scene with their tight skinny jeans and high-top shoes. Big Bang was one of the most popular groups this year, and the members successfully brought out their personalities with distinctive hairstyles, both baggy and skinny pants, and even makeup. SHINee was new to the pop scene, but their simple and easy-to-follow looks captivated fans, complete with colorful shirts, jackets, high-top sneakers, and tightly fitted jeans.

The Wonder Girls and Lee Hyo-ri were the center of attention wherever they went, with their chic and glamorous styles. The five-girl group brought retro back to the fashion scene, with colorful stockings and simply dresses. Lee expressed her style with sexy, tight fitted leather pants, hats and leggings.

9. Sluggish Movie Market Ever

For movie fans, this year was not fruitful. The market share in local movies was the lowest since 2001, a staggering 42 percent as compared to the 52.3 percent last year. 113 films were released nationwide, but only seven exceeded an audience of two million.

Foreign movie studios like Warner Brother and Sony Pictures also shut down their operations, citing sluggish sales and the downloading that prevented viewers from buying DVDs at full price.

Despite stagnation, there were still catchy movies that brought fans to theaters, such as “The Chaser” starring Ha Jung-woo and Kim Yun-seok, and “The Good, the Bad, the Weird” starring top male stars Jung Woo-sung, Lee Byeng-hun and Song Kang-ho.

10. Stars Rush to Stage

The local theater industry is enjoying a boom of popularity despite the economic recession. This is mainly due to its star-studded marketing strategy.

Star power apparently led to the success of musicals and plays this year. Top singers such as Choi Sung-hee, better known as Bada, Ock Ju-hyun, Park Ji-yoon, Dae-sung from the boy band Big Bang, and King-in and Hee-chul from Super Junior, rushed to musicals, pushing up ticket sales.

Also, celebrity movie stars such as Ko Soo, Hwang Jung-min, Choi Hwa-jung and Han Chae-young returned to the stage in various big-name plays as part of “Yeongeuk Yeoljeon 2” as programmed by veteran actor Cho Jae-hyun.

The strategy of casting celebrities worked to attract young audience members. But some critics said that it was only a temporary measure, which merely pursued commercial success without theatrical artistry.

sanghee@koreatimes.co.kr

Korea’s Promotion Overseas Mismanaged

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http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/special/2008/10/260_32613.html
david-kilburn1By David Kilburn
Korea Times, 13 October 2008

The attraction of transforming a country into a brand is easy to understand. Brands add value, both for their owners and their consumers.

According to U.S. brand expert John Gerzema, author of The Brand Bubble, brand value now accounts for about 30 percent of the market capitalization of companies on the S&P 500 index, up from 5 percent 30 years ago.

Today, the 250 most valuable global brands are worth $2.2 trillion, more than the GDP of Italy.

Google’s brand value makes up 50 percent of its market capitalization. PepsiCo shows a tangible book value of $9.8 billion against a market value of $108 billion, showing how much investors bank on the value of brands rather than the company’s more tangible assets.

Taking the S&P ratio as a guide, a government might assume that transforming their country into a brand might add 50 percent to the value of their economy.

However, this goal is more difficult to achieve for countries than for consumer products. The differences are fundamental. Product brand managers can choose the name, packaging, pricing, decide exactly what to pour into the package, how and where to distribute it. They also change any or all of these variables and take their brand to consumers around the world.

Governments lack this degree of control. Geography, climate, language, population, history and many other factors are unchangeable. While a consumer brand might appeal just to one group of people, a country involves everyone.

Countries are multi-dimensional and far more complex than products. Copying an approach developed for consumer goods is no guarantee of success.

The complexity of country branding is revealed in studies by the U.S. consultancy FutureBrand which publishes an annual report (http://www.countrybrandindex.com) covering the top country brands, based on quantitative research among 2,500 frequent international travellers, plus data from other sources.

FutureBrand’s 2007 report ranked countries across a wide range of criteria: Authenticity, History, Art & Culture, Resort/Lodging Options, Families, Outdoor Activities/Sports, Beach, Natural Beauty, Environmental, Rest & Relaxation, Safety, Rising Star, Value for Money, Fine Dining, Shopping, Nightlife, Friendly Locals, Nice to Live In, Ideal for Business, Easiest To Do Business In, Easiest to Extend A Business Trip In, Conferences.

Based on scores across these wide ranging criteria, the top country brands in 2007 were, in rank order: Australia, USA, UK, France, Italy, Canada, Spain, New Zealand, Greece, and Japan.

Across all FutureBrand’s categories, Korea only appeared once among the top 10. It ranked 10th for shopping. This is disappointing considering that Korea is home to eleven of UNESCO’s world heritage sites, and has three intangible cultural treasures cited as “Masterpieces of the Heritage of Humanity,” also by UNESCO.

Korea also possesses vast expanses of beautiful unspoilt scenery, and a very distinctive cuisine ? all examples of factors that other countries have successfully exploited. Yet Korea only ranked 21st for history, 31st for Art & Culture and 39th for Authenticity. For natural beauty it ranked 58th, for Fine Dining 45th, and for Resort/Lodging options 53rd. There is only one conclusion: Other countries are more successful in competitively pitching their own benefits to travellers.

However, the news about Brand Korea is not completely bleak. Young & Rubicam’s Brand Asset Valuator has been tracking brands for over a decade.

A recent analysis of trends from 1997-2007, found that Brand Korea has started becoming more approachable to Japanese consumers. It has achieved greater momentum among Thai adults, in such terms as “Prestige,” `Cutting Edge” and “Fashionable.”

Over this same period Brand Korea’s personality for Chinese adults has improved, especially as “Fashionable.” This suggests, unsurprisingly, that different opportunities and problems pose themselves for each country.

Though Singapore was not ranked the first in any of FutureBrand’s categories, it was still ranked among the top 10 on 10 different criteria. Only the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada did better.

Singapore is one of the most successful countries at marketing itself. The rise from a swampy island to iconic brand status began when Singapore Airlines introduced their “Singapore Girl” advertising campaign in 1972.

In those distant days, flights from the Far West to the Far East stopped in Singapore to refuel, with a stopover opportunity for passengers. The Singapore Girl became a metaphor for “Asian values and hospitality” which conveniently projected Singapore itself and helped tourism.

Brand Singapore gradually came into being. By the early 1980’s tourism had become the third most productive sector of Singapore’s economy and contributed 5 percent to GNP. But by 1986, hotel occupancy was falling and the tourism growth rate was also in decline. With typical thoroughness, the Singapore government researched the views of visitors. They found that about 70 percent of tourists came from Asia to see Singapore’s economic miracle, and were not disappointed.

However the 30 percent of tourists from outside Asia were hoping to experience something of the island’s romantic historical image and were disappointed. Why travel half way round the world to see a modern city just like back home?

Since visitors from outside Asia had been tourism’s growth sector, their disappointment discouraged friends from visiting. In a report, the Singapore government’s Tourism Task Force concluded, “In our efforts to build up a modern metropolis, we have removed aspects of our Oriental mystique and charm best symbolized in old buildings.”

Teams studied how other countries preserved historical legacy, especially their old buildings. Demolitions were stopped. Money was poured into the repair and preservation of what little remained of old Singapore.

Care was taken to ensure the historical authenticity of old buildings was retained. Within about six years, the remnants of Old China Town, Little India had been rescued. By 1993, revenues from Tourism had grown to 10.3 percent of Singapore’s GNP.

From a tourist destination, Singapore successfully developed as a logistics hub, an international conference and trade show venue, and a financial centre. This year Formula 1 Sing Tel Singapore Grand Prix became the first floodlit night time race in F1 history. Night time, so that viewers in Europe could watch daytime.

About 30 million TV viewers watched the race in Singapore’s main European markets. A sell-out crowd of over 100,000 watched the race track-side in Singapore. There was a time when a slogan, logo, advertising campaign, and a promotional film were enough to promote a country, but that is history.

Branding is not simply a logo or slogan that changes with each advertising campaign. While many follow this approach, it does not maximize what a country can achieve.

Traditional marketing tools are useful but, according to researchers at Media Edge/CIA, 76 percent of people now rely on what others say versus 15 percent on advertising. 92 percent of consumers now cite word of mouth as the best source for product and brand information, up from 67 percent in 1977.

The direct experience of others carries more weight than advertising campaigns or government pronouncements. In this new world, every visitor to Korea is a potential advocate. Every businessman, journalist, tourist, English teacher, overseas student, and migrant worker will have tales of experience to tell, whether in gatherings such as the World Economic Forum, via the Blogosphere, or simply talking to friends.

The internet facilitates the free flow of information, anecdotes, experience, opinion, and recommendation on a tremendous and growing scale. Review sites such as Digg (http://digg.com) and Reddit (http://www.reddit.com), are now the third-most-common use of the Internet after e-mail and search. Social Networks are increasingly important: if Facebook were a country, it would be the 10th largest, bigger than Japan.

Even consumer brands have been slow to recognize the significance of these changes, but now they are rapidly embracing the internet. One example of what internet strategies can deliver is the story of how the Mexican Tourist Board successfully promoted the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza to become one of the new Seven Wonders of the World (http://www.new7wonders.com).

The project was devised by their long term PR agency, Burson-Marsteller, which re-created the site in the virtual 3-D world Second Life (http://secondlife.com), giving visitors a chance to experience this ancient civilization. The site drew more than 33,000 visitors on launch day, gained extensive media coverage, and many top PR awards. Chichen-Itza was voted one of seven new wonders in July 2007. The economic benefits were almost immediate and far outweighed the $17,000 spent on Second Life. “Since being named a wonder of the world, the number of visitors to Chichen Itza has increased 75 percent,” said Juan Jose Marti Pacheco, secretary of Tourist Promotion of Yucatan, this February.

The sad conclusion is that Korea’s promotion overseas has been consistently mismanaged and has therefore achieved fewer results than countries that have accurately understood their opportunities and problems, and followed a strategic path to get results.

Who Is David Kilburn?

David Kilburn is from the U.K. He worked in the advertising industry for 20 years and has been a professional journalist in Asia for 25 years.

He has lived in Seoul for 20 years. He is also founder of kahoidong.com, an organization formed to protect the remaining original hanok of Gahoi-dong, and Chairman of 3c World, a social networking project.

Slower pace would help Seoul to grow faster

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Anna.Fifield
Financial Times
August 6 2008
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1b22cb0a-63d2-11dd-844f-0000779fd18c.html

In South Korea, there is only one speed: full throttle.

Buildings go up almost overnight, trends pass no sooner than they have arrived and presidents’ approval ratings drop from 70 to 20 per cent in the blink of an eye. One of the first local sayings that foreigners learn is bballi bballi — fast, fast.

When I moved to Seoul four years ago, I was immediately impressed by Koreans’ determination and energy, the two biggest factors behind the country?s transformation from rural backwater to technological powerhouse. As I prepare to leave, I still marvel at this country’s verve. But I cannot help wondering whether South Korea can avoid falling into the kind of economic malaise that has afflicted Japan. The country remains overwhelmingly dependent on goods exports and the service sector is woefully underdeveloped and inefficient. But of all the challenges facing South Korea, there is one, often overlooked, area where reform would bring unparalleled benefits: education.

Devoid of natural resources, Korea?s recourse has been to its human capital. People propelled Korea to where it is today, thanks largely to Park Chung-hee, the former president and a military strongman who directed Koreans to study engineering in particular. One senior Samsung executive this week explained to me that two significant components of the conglomerate’s ‘success DNA’ were its ability to move quickly and the calibre of its engineers. Now, more than ever, human capital will be the deciding factor in how South Korea fares in the future and whether it makes its next transformation, into a knowledge economy.

Koreans perform exceptionally well in international performance rankings for subjects including reading comprehension, maths, science and problem solving, and the proportion of 25-34-year-olds with an upper secondary school education is the highest in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Koreans now represent the largest group of international students in American universities.

But they have got there through the most arduous process, driven by the intense social pressure to get into the right school, then the right university, find the right job and meet the right spouse. One friend recounted how when her three-year-old?s kindergarten conducted psychometric testing, the other mothers earnestly jotted down the results, noting whether to push their tots towards law, medicine or finance.

Koreans spend more time at school than students in any other developed country and spend the most money on education (8 per cent of gross domestic product), with private education expenditure double that of the US, the second biggest spender. Bank of Korea data show that families spent more than $12bn (EUR7.7, £6bn) on after-school education last year.

The system rests largely on rote learning and places almost no value on analysis, creative thinking or practical application. High school students who can score 99 per cent in an English test are often unable to hold even a simple conversation, while university students who express a contrary view to their professor simply fail. So intense is the pressure to get good grades that 12-year-olds, after spending all day at school, routinely attend cram school, or hagwon, until midnight.

This obsession with education has contributed to a number of social and economic problems ? from the low fertility rate, partly the result of the cost of putting children through private tuition, to the real estate bubble in southern Seoul, where the best schools and hagwons are located.

It also augurs ill for the future, when South Korea will not need so many workers who can build ships and assemble cars, but will need more and more people who can be innovative, who can develop and apply knowledge. Indeed, despite Korea?s impressive headline performance in test scores, the World Economic Forum ranks the quality of the country?s education system at 60th in the world ? shockingly low for one of the world?s top dozen economies.

Creating a knowledge-based economy will be critical if South Korea is to maintain decent levels of growth — the potential rate is now 5 per cent — and to reach income levels of the world?s most developed countries. One of President Lee Myung-bak’s big pledges is to see Korea’s per capita income double to $40,000 within a decade.

Koreans have already performed remarkably in IT — particularly on the hardware side — but improving the education system would produce workers better equipped to meet the needs of the country?s fast-moving technology industries.

Further growth can be achieved through productivity gains — Korea’s productivity is 60 per cent below the US level. Service sector productivity is only half that of manufacturing, and has been stagnant for almost 15 years. Given the nature of the education system, this can be no coincidence.

Overhauling this system will be incredibly difficult. After all, another of my friends, an enlightened mother who would prefer her 14-year-old to play basketball after school and go to bed before 1am each night, can not even dissuade her son from going to hagwon.

However, for its future prosperity and to retain its economic prowess, Korea would do well to take its foot off the accelerator slightly, take stock and think about using its impressive drive and human capital in more efficient ways. The economy will benefit and the kids will love it.