With so many rumours flying around about this extraordinary situation, let me throw one into the mix: Is the current situation driven by old-guard conservatives, right-wing Christians, the ChoJoongDong, and the anti-Park branch of Saenuri?

Some background which prompted this thinking.

Last year, Korean friends put me in touch with a professor who was close to a leading figure in the anti-Park faction of Saenuri. This gentleman was interested in having a group of foreign correspondents meet this figure and asked if I, as a foreign reporter, could set this up a lunch meeting with some of my colleagues. I said, “Possibly” – but let’s meet first.

We did not get along. The professor had a conspiracy theory on everything – notably the Sewol and the Cheonan sinkings (he alleged the latter was sunk by an Israeli submarine). End result: Nothing came of the meeting. As far as I know, he did not approach any of my colleagues.

But I have wondered about it since. What is striking about Choigate is that the main reporting, and the strongest allegations, come, not from the left (as you might expect) but from the right. The Dong-ah first reported the story. JTBC and the Joongnang picked up the ball and ran with it. The Chosun has followed and has come out with the strongest editorializing calling for the disempowerment of Her Parkness. (As anyone who reads my posts knows, I am no supporter of Park.)

Look at the key elements of this situation:

• Cronyism and influence peddling is common (inevitable?) in Korean political and economic organizations, including the Blue House. (As we know from the record of all ex-presidencies since Park I, who was pretty clean.)
• Widespread distrust and even hatred of late-term presidents is par for the course. (Who on earth would want to be president of Korea? You end up in exile (Rhee), assassinated (Park), sentenced to death (Chun and Roh I), dead (Roh II) or with family members jailed or in trouble (Chun, Kim I, Kim II, Roh II, Lee.) )
• Rumor-mongering and excitability among a “passionate” public, often driven by dubious media reports, is yet another commonality. (Let us not forget some of the downright false reporting that helped spark the “mad cow” protests in 2008).
• The “Court of Public Opinion” is very, very strong in Korea – one might argue stronger than actual institutions. (As witness the public furies which periodically rise, and which the bureaucracy then reacts to – we have seen this with everything from USFK to foreign PEFs.)
• Choigate is different in one sense: A charismatic/cultish, semi-Shaman is the central figure. She is not just a mentor to the president – but, it is alleged, influences and controls her with semi-hypnotic or even supernatural power.

Those familiar with Korean Christianity will be aware of how many offbeat strands of them have Shamanistic influences. But equally, many “orthodox” Christians despise such cultish outgrowths – and particularly despise mudangs/shamans.

Those familiar with Korea will also be aware of the power of the conservative newspapers (“ChoJoongDong”), who were outrageously partisan against Roh II – and arguably were a factor in driving the right-wing party to ill-advisedly impeach him.

So I posit: Could the current situation be driven by the anti-Park faction and by conservative Christians – backed by the ChoJoongDong – all of whom are irked by Choi’s apparent power and influence in the Blue House?

Before the clamour grows too loud: Please note that this is mere theory.

I.SEOUL.U:
KONGLISH GOES GLOBAL AND THE CASE FOR THIS SLOGAN

I need you. I want you. I seoul you….

Yep, this here is the new branded slogan to be used locally and also globally in Seoul’s promotional efforts – tourism promotion, investment promotion, export promotion.

Does it deliver a key message? Does it spark emotion? Does it compress data? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

I was offered the opportunity to play a (very small) part in this process and declined – having been disillusioned and frankly hugely pissed off when I was on the sidelines of the shambolic “Hi Seoul” campaign (if you can call it that) back in the MB mayoral days.

But seeing as everyone, his cousin and his dog is seizing the low hanging fruit; lambasting the new slogan for our fair cityl and suggesting their own (supposedly) brilliant alternatives, let me present a different perspective. Three points:

(1) With a touch of irony and with a nod to humour in usage, this could work: it is offbeat and funky enough. (Though yes, I know: The campaigns which actually use this slogan will be crass, trite, cutesy and crap, and no Seoul bureaucrat worth his salt would dare include those characteristics. But even so…there is potential).

(2) English is a world language, flexible enough to accommodate non-native usage. And the audience for this is not necessarily native speakers; For example, in tourism promotion, the main audience is Chinese and Japanese. Something this simple (subject-verb-object) might just speak to them when something cleverer and more sophisticated might not.

(3) Frankly: Who gives a flying fuck? Seoul has enough assets in place – a huge variety of assets, from taekwondo to high technology – to not need a silly, unprofessional and bureaucratic slogan. Organically, the city has already becoming one of the world’s great metropolises: IOW, the substance beats the branding.

For more on the latter thought, a previous column:
(Incidentally, my original title was “Damn These Korean Branders!” but the sub-ed toned it down. Also, the self-described “PR expert” Seo Kyung-duk, referenced below for his nationalist Times Squares “ads,” was on the latest Seoul branding committee….)

http://m.koreatimes.co.kr/phone/news/view.jsp?req_newsidx=123415