Ged Carroll

Category: korea | 韓國 | 한국 | 韓国

Annyeonghaseyo – welcome to the Korean category of this blog. This is where I share anything that relates to the Republic of Korea, business issues relating to Korea, the Korean people, Korean culture and the Korean language.

At the time of writing this category descriptor its been about 10 years since I have last been able to visit Korea. In that time the country has risen on the world stage.

There have been continual disputes with Japan and more recently continual bitter disputes with China. The Japanese disputes are related to history and territory. Korea had been occupied as part of the Imperial Japanese empire. Independence came with the end of the second world war.

The Chinese disputes are more complex. Chinese investors are buying up Korean property particularly in Seoul, Busan and Jeju island, while many Koreans can no longer get on the property ladder. Chinese tourists blitz Korean shops in a similar way to what they’ve previously done in Hong Kong.

Chinese nationalism has seen claims made on Korean cultural assets from the national dress to kimchi. Finally China has interfered in Korea’s efforts to defend itself from the threat in the north.

Often posts that appear in this category will appear in other categories as well. So if Samsung launched a new smartphone that I thought was particularly notable that might appear in wireless as well as Korea. If there is Korean subjects that you think would fit with this blog, feel free to let me know by leaving a comment in the ‘Get in touch’ section of this blog here.

  • Mr Pizza in Korea

    Pizza in Korea is a unique experience compared to other countries. Pizzas in Hong Kong were generally more premium and had more of a focus on sea food. Pizza in Korea was remarkably different:

    • Packaging – unlike the UK or most other countries I have been to for that matter, pizza can come in a four-colour patterned box. Part of the reason for this is cultural, Korea like Japan puts a lot of emphasis on presentation of products from product packaging design to the fit and finish of clothing. A second reason for the quality of the packaging is intense domestic competition: in addition to food mega-corporations Dominos Korea and similar brands also has its own giant brand: Mr Pizza with 350 branches in South Korea
    Mr. Pizza
    • Product – whilst UK pizzas follow US influences at the low end of the market and faux foodie Italian accents for ‘posh’ pizzas, Korean pizza options incorporate local foods including kimchi and bulgogi on the menu. This is especially true for this brand, though foreign brands like Pizza Hut try to adapt to local tastes too.

    About the company

    Mr. Pizza was founded in 1990. They have one branch in the US, one in Vietnam, 15 in China and some 350 branches in South Korea.

    They created a mockumentary  video The true origins of pizza as a satirical viral campaign to promote their brand, (presumably internationally). It considers the dish to be a Korean national treasure. However it did touch a nerve amongst other Asian countries as it’s similarity to Korean nationalist fringes meant that some of the film’s satire was lost to the audience.

    The company looked to further differentiate itself to eat-in diners by developing a new store format and sub-brand called MIPIHAUS. The concept of MIPIHAUS is to mix an art gallery environment with their restaurant. MIPI is a contraction of Mr. Pizza and the HAUS is a reference to the Bauhaus art movement.

  • London conference on cyberspace

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the British Government has always had the best online presence of all the different government departments, but I still find it interesting that it is they rather than the department of media and culture who are looking to lead a discussion on the future of the web and associated technologies. The FCO are hosting a conference on cyberspace in London on November 1-2, 2011 and are extending it online through social media platforms. I can’t help but feel the dialogue is aimed as much within the UK as internationally.

    Of course, the ironic thing is that the UK isn’t at all progressive in terms of all things internet related compared to the likes of South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, Iceland or Finland to name but a few countries. The Digital Economy Bill and actions done by the likes of Ed Vaizey have shown resistance rather than working out how it can benefit from the change. The music industry tried to fight the change and has torn itself apart so it will be interesting to see how that stance will work out. I look forward to following the conference on cyberspace; in cyberspace.

    Find out more here. More online related topics here.

  • Last For One vs Los Angeles Times

    The Los Angeles Times did a short film of Last For One who were made famous in the the documentary Planet B-Boy. The split screen style apes 1960s action film titles.

    The crew are impressive in their skills. In their dedication to the sport in spite of everything that Korea does to them. Top performing Korean athletes are exempted from national service. But the B-Boy crews have to do it, and aren’t allowed to train during their spare time in military service. Yet the government uses them to promote Korea to the world.

    Case in point is this short film from the Korean government’s ‘Dynamic Korea‘ campaign.

    The crew are poor kids from a poor part of Korea. Breakdancing is their release from societal pressure and Korea’s highly competitive job economy. Like breakers from other countries, it is a way of life from them

    B-boying is something that I cannot separate myself from. Because I exist, there is b-boy. Being a b-boy is an important existence to me.

    Last for One, World Champion b-boy crew

    It’s hard to describe in words but if I have to make a comparison its like the engine in a car. I cannot move without dancing

    Last for One, World Champion b-boy crew

    Once one feels the rhythm that’s when they start dancing. And when they start to follow the simple b-boying moves one-by-one then that’s when someone becomes a b-boy.

    Last for One, World Champion b-boy crew

    The video is on the YouTube service so may not be able to be watched everywhere. More Last For One footage here.

    What I find most interesting about crews like Last For One is that they have taken b-boying out of its original context. It originally came out of the urban decay of 1970s and 1980s New York and elevated it. They have reinterpreted it into something of their own. Yet much of the music they dance to would still sound right at home in a 1970s Bronx block party.

    More Korean related posts here.

  • Beyond The Crash by Gordon Brown

    On leaving office, Gordon Brown immediately spent a lot of time hammering out a book Beyond The Crash. Unlike Peter Mandelson this wasn’t the Westminster equivalent of a sordid kiss-and-tell exposé or a Tony Blair-esque sales brochure to secure speaking engagements. Instead Brown set out to do what he does best, putting on page deep thought and analysis about the knotty problem of global finances. He did an excellent job of marshaling ideas and sources in the book. His grasp on Asian economics and China in particular is very good. There is a whole section on the Asian crisis of 1998 which is well worth reading on its own.

    In this respect, the Beyond The Crash is a solid piece of work, Brown isn’t as compelling a writer as other economic thinkers that the Labour party has looked to like Will Hutton; but he does a good job at making his ideas and concepts understandable to the average reader.

    Where things go wrong with the book is where Brown tries to humanise his writing. His comments of praise for colleagues and other politicians feels wooden, as if it was written into his book as a postscript. And it is because of this that we see a glimpse of Brown the politician; the polar opposite of his predecessor Tony Blair. Someone who thought at great depth and knew what to do but didn’t have the surface finish.

    If you are prepared to persevere with the book, it is a good read, and is currently for sale in Amazon Marketplace at a massive discount to the cover price. More book reviews here.

  • Funds of funds + more news

    Funds of Funds

    Funds of Funds May Actually Increase Risk, Study Finds – NYTimes.com – this feels counter-intuitive at first, until you realise that funds of funds are a synthetic financial instrument from the prospective of the end investor. Synthetic financial instruments led to problems like the 2008 financial crisis and the Savings and Loans crisis of the 1990s. The reason for the problem of funds of funds for the end investor is that there lots of known unknowns under the hood. It is conceivable that several funds make a similar wrong headed bet and get stung by it. Without directing the funds, how do you maintain continued diversity of investment and strategies to ensure the bet hedging. Lastly funds are less liquid assets in the grand scheme of things with limitations on when and how much you can withdraw. I wonder if a similar study has been done around thematic ETFs as well?

    Beauty

    At Makeup Alley, Advice From Online Peers – NYTimes.com – how user reviews are demolishing beauty treatment company claims and promoting other products that previously didn’t claim benefits

    Economics

    Wealthy Investors Grow Pessimistic About Economy – WSJ – US economy, due to government debt and economic growth

    Japan records surprise trade surplus – FT.com – rescheduling manufacturing work around power fluctuations

    Ethics

    danah boyd | apophenia » “Real Names” Policies Are an Abuse of Power

    A Billion Dollars Isn’t Cool. You Know What’s Cool? Basic Human Decency | TechCrunch – social norming around the social web

    Ideas

    Could Quantum Computing Kill Copyright? | TorrentFreak

    Korea

    Five Lessons From Samsung’s Second Quarter Results – WSJ – interesting that Samsung is husbanding its cash by reducing shareholder returns

    Luxury

    Second-Tier Spotlight: “Rich Second Generation” Fueling Ningbo Luxury Market « Jing Daily : The Business of Luxury and Culture in China – interesting divergence in consumer preferences

    Media

    To Spread Your Brand On Facebook, Don’t Target Your Fans–Target Their Friends | Fast Company – propagation planning

    More British papers dragged into hacking row ‹ Japan Today – not surprising, the practice may have started at the News of The World but could have been taken around the papers as journalists and editors move on to new roles

    Murdoch Selects Advisers Carefully – WSJ.com – it makes sense he needs a ‘clean’ team that can stay together through this

    Online

    danah boyd | apophenia » Designing for Social Norms (or How Not to Create Angry Mobs)

    With the Bing Search Engine, Microsoft Plays the Underdog – NYTimes.com – I am not seeing a cohesive vision to change search from Microsoft; this looks like the ‘we are innovative’ foot-stamping PR wrapped in a storytelling methodology that comes out of Microsoft corporate PR. I think that the social search stuff at Google and Facebook is of more interest. Bing needs to come out of the box with something 10 times better to get people to move in significant numbers. Qi Lu didn’t manage it at Yahoo!, what makes them think he can manage it at Microsoft?

    A Bomb in Oslo? What Google Lost by Ending Real-Time Search – The Atlantic – Google News just wasn’t as fast, it needs Realtime

    Official Google Blog: More wood behind fewer arrows – interesting change, more focus on fully formed products?

    Security

    Majority of South Koreans’ data exposed | FT.com – the interesting bit is the data wipe of PCs used in the attack to hide fingerprints

    Technology

    Data Centers Using Less Power Than Forecast, Report Says – NYTimes.com – green technology and virtualisation kicks in

    The Key Subtle Notes From Apple’s Earnings Call | TechCrunch – exclusives are doled out on the conference call without hype

    Wireless

    Apple Passes Nokia and Holds Off Samsung to Become World’s Top Smartphone Vendor [Updated] – Mac Rumors – Android is Toyota and Apple is Mercedes & Porsche