Some Koreans have attributed the recent successful conquest of Korean pop culture (T.V., movies, online games, music, etc.) in East Asia (China, Japan, Southeast Asia, and even Uzbekistan!!!) to the Korean "national culture" which is similar to that of Italy:

"Koreans have long described themselves as the "Italians of Asia" - both groups, they say, are peninsula dwellers who thrive on food, family, song and romance. Koreans now feel they are finally getting their due and they are glorying in the chance to edge out their neighbors on the global stage."

For the whole article, go to: http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/world/13493220.htm - http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/world/13493220.h tm

This so-called "Korean wave" is indeed quite unprecedented both in nature and in scope, unrivalled even by the previous "Japanese wave" (70's and 80's) or "Hongkong wave" (80's and 90's). It is particularly remarkable in that Korea, sandwiched between two Asian giants China and Japan, had long been regarded as a country of minor importance in the international arena. But things started to change when South Korea started to successfully transform itself from a backward Third-World economy to a country with a near First-World standard of living. The hosting of the Olympics and co-hosting of the World Cup with Japan have further boosted the country's national pride, confidence, and international prestige.

While some critics (Chinese and Japanese) predict that this "Korean wave" won't last, it is still nothing short of remarkable that this former colonical outpost of Japan can make a dent on the cultural landscape of two culturally chauvinistic countries.

Good point, Gubook Janggoon. Eurocentrism is so ingrained in our understanding and interpretation of history and current affairs that it does take some effort to overcome it.

Yes, Maju, Korea is definitely not a small country either in terms of population and the size of its economy. But the "Korean Miracle" only took place relatively recently. The South Korea of four decades ago had a GDP per capita even lower than that of the Philippines. It's indeed remarkable how just a few decades of wise economic policies could change a nation completely.

Just for curiosity's sake, why are the Koreans called "Irish of the East"?

That and they both tend to get raped by their neighbors and divided between conquering powers.

I think the rise of Korean culture can only be a good thing.  Not those sappy overlong romance movies that are terrible (my grandmother wants to be buried with a picture of that one actor guy) but overall Korean film is exquisite and fun.  Recently I saw Oldboy, which must be one of the most twisted yet greatest films of all time.

I do not think each Asian nation can be compared to European nation.

Asia and Europe's historical story  too much diffrent from each other.

But If I have to pick one country in Europe that can be compared to Korea -I consider Koreans as the 'Irish of Asia.' 

Actually, "Han Liu," Korean wave in Chinese, can also mean "cold wave," since "Han" (Korean) sounds identical to "han" (cold).  Just an example of absurdities and occassion for puns and plays on words the result from the many same-sounding words in Chinese.

I think its also due to S Korea's fast growth from a sickly poor country to a well to do country in a short period of time. Ireland suffered from very poor economy and emigration problems until recently. But since its admission to the EU and use of Euro as the currency, the economy grew in an astronomical rate.

But IMO, Ireland especially should be called Korea of the West, since Korea was already a pretty good country when Ireland was starting to be considered as a country with a decent economy, and Korea outdoes Ireland in many economical factors

Oldboy = Oldnews

Lady Vengence now!

i really appreciate(?) your choice of this word 'rape'. i could guess you are from Japan due to your ID name. so let me ask you something!

Are you very happy or proud of being son of a rapist?

So, Is that why you are still commemorating the spirit of the rape by visiting the Yaskuni temple, in which there are the greatest rapists' grave?

Sorry i didn't know that your people admire a rapist, which i guess could be cultural defference(?). Indeed, you don't mind f**king with your siblings and the funniest thing is that you can sell officially those kinds of porno, which contents sex with mother,father,son,doughter.

i don't know exactly but if i were son of the rapist, i'd be very ashamed of the fact unlike you  

I do not think there're any Japanese forumers here ,

And I do not think Korean history needs to be described as the regional weaker and sandbag of bigger neighbours.

In fact,after reading severals of history records,I found out that Korea never was easy target to invade and make battle against before Imjin war happend.  

You've just been here for a few days and you already started writing offensive comments. You don't know nothing about Tobodai and you're making assumptions about him just because you saw his "Japanese-sounding" name. This really shows us why we shouldn't make sweeping judgments about other people. If you want to know more about his views, why don't you follow some of the older threads to which he contributed instead of jumping into some conclusions about him? After reading them, you might regret having written this cynical and insulting post.

Tobodai is one of the most outspoken critics of the war crimes and the many atrocities that Japan committed in the past EVEN THOUGH HE HAS JAPANESE BLOOD IN HIM. I hope more people can share his sense of justice and have the same guts to speak out against whatever their countries have done wrong in the past. Most of us are so blinded by our narrow nationalism and misguided patriotism that we are either in constant denial about the wrongs that our own country has done or we have this dangerous "my country is better than your country" mentality.

If there's anything that you should say about Tobodai, you should commend him for being such an open-minded and courageous person. He cannot respond to your post now because he is on an extended trip visiting various countries in the world to expand his horizon. I think you should probably do the same. It will do you good.  

Historically, Korean dynasties were overall stronger than Japan till 15th though.

Stronger here means the comparison of Military, Economy, and political stability

You've just been here for a few days and you already started writing offensive comments. You don't know nothing about Tobodai and you're making assumptions about him just because you saw his "Japanese-sounding" name. This really shows us why we shouldn't make sweeping judgments about other people. If you want to know more about his views, why don't you follow some of the older threads to which he contributed instead of jumping into some conclusions about him? After reading them, you might regret having written this cynical and insulting post.

hey dude.

As you said, i don't know anything about him and how he has been here. ok let me suppose that he is a great man and has stunning reputation for showing  unbiased historical view point.  does that mean he could word anything, which is clearly offensive ?  Even though he didn't intend to do that , he've gotta fomulate his assertion more carefully.   

Tobodai is one of the most outspoken critics of the war crimes and the many atrocities that Japan committed in the past EVEN THOUGH HE HAS JAPANESE BLOOD IN HIM. I hope more people can share his sense of justice and have the same guts to speak out against whatever their countries have done wrong in the past. Most of us are so blinded by our narrow nationalism and misguided patriotism that we are either in constant denial about the wrongs that our own country has done or we have this  dangerous "my country is better than your country" mentality.

In spite of your advice that i am better off reading all his threads, i think i won't do that.  The reason is simply i got offended by his wording. that's it . By the way, Let me ask somthing. what if  i conceded that Korea has been raped(?) a lot, would it mean that i am not one who has been contaminated by the narrow nationalism?

And hey buddy you condemned me for making assumptions, didn't you? Get this, you made serious assumption that most of people excluding someone like you have very biased and narrow nationalistic mind, which clearly shows how hypocritical you are.   

The other funny thing is that you advised me to read his older thread before saying something. had you read my threads before you wrote something like above? i have never said that r country is better than other countries. The only thing i did was whining rather than say we are the best.

If there's anything that you should say about Tobodai, you should commend him for being such an open-minded and courageous person. He cannot respond to your post now because he is on an extended trip visiting various countries in the world to expand his horizon. I think you should probably do the same. It will do you good.

the assumption again. do you know what i am or what i've done? how do you daringly say that i have narrow mind by presuming that most probably i haven't had experience about going abroad. In this case, i have two things i'd like to say. The first thing is i don't think we can cite not experiencing about studying abroad or trip abroad as the reason for person's ignorance.  in addition, that could perpetuate very dangerous stereotype that people who have lived in one country for all his or her life without going abroad have a tendency to be narrower minded  therefore the others are superior to them.

The second thing is that i am now living at UBC dormitory in Canada as an Exchange student and fortunately I have been to some other countries. Mind your own business.        &nb sp;         &nb sp;         &nb sp; 

Interap: You should really learn to tone down yourself a little. The very fact that you have already received a warning from our moderator after just a few days of being here means that you clearly don't understand the etiquettes here.

No one is "minding one's business" here. Otherwise there would be no discussion  

When I wrote "most of us are so blinded by our narrow nationalism and misguided patriotism that we are either in constant denial about the wrongs that our own country has done or we have this dangerous 'my country is better than your country' mentality", I was obviously not specifically referring to you. I cannot think of anything that Korea has done to wrong other countries. Korea has always more been a victim of "Big Power politics" in the region rather than an aggressor herself. And I am pretty sure that's what Tobodai meant. I think your misinterpretation of his post is probably due to some prejudice you have against the Japanese people in general.

Finally, in case you didn't notice that, I started this thread. I am not even Korean but I like many things about Korea. (Check out the "Five Things I Like About Korea" thread).

Last but not least, welcome to Canada!!!!  

interap: You should really learn to tone down yourself a little. The very fact that you have already received a warning from our moderator after just a few days of being here means that you clearly don't understand the etiquettes here.

=> Is that intimidation? if i don't just listen to you, i will be banned, like that

 hey dude, yes i got the warning for what i wrote on Toba~~~~,which i admit was clearly intended to insult him and i knew there was the other way i could have contested him but~~let's move on to next.   

No one is "minding one's business" here. Otherwise there would be no discussion  

=> sorry about that, but there must have been some problem with my poor English. the reason i said "mind your business" is not about discussion, but is about your advice for me to go abroad.  

When I wrote "most of us are so blinded by our narrow nationalism and misguided patriotism that we are either in constant denial about the wrongs that our own country has done or we have this dangerous 'my country is better than your country' mentality", I was obviously not specifically referring to you. I cannot think of anything that Korea has done to wrong other countries. Korea has always more been a victim of "Big Power politics" in the region rather than an aggressor herself. And I am pretty sure that's what Tobodai meant. I think your misinterpretation of his post is probably due to some prejudice you have against the Japanese people in general.

<= hey hey!!. Even if he were not japanese or half japanese, i would have been outraged about him saying that Korea has been "RAPED". you should know that it wasn't antagonism to Japanese. please don't make  impatient judgement predicated on your own prejudice.

And. It seems clearly to me that you understand what he means even without asking him but why not me? despite that i have already said the reason why in previous post . Was that also your another prejudice against me , for him. i guess it's about time you had to think about your bias in favor of him. And there was no misinterpretation of the word'RAPE', Even though he used that in figurative way, i don't think it coud be justified by common sense. Especially, when the situation is like the rapist doesn't seem to have any sense of guilt and to be willing to apologise to person raped by him. 

Finally, in case you didn't notice that, I started this thread. I am not even Korean but I like many things about Korea. (Check out the "Five Things I Like About Korea" thread).

=>hey dude! you needn't have said the fact that you have an affection for Korea. that was seemingly out of focuse. just let me ask you what if your lovely one in your family had been raped by person A and one of person A's family said that your lovely one raped several times by other thugs in front of other families as opposed to the fact , what would you feel about this ?  Please don't say that this is irrelevant. the reason why i made up this is Family coud be good microcosm of the country. literally it is also out of focuse. get back to focuse. and you said "we have always been more victim" you've gotta study more about us. No no it doesn't mean we have invaded other countries or we are better than others. thing i'd like to point out is we have long history, therefore we have had lots of historical events but not always been victim , and current situation that Japan and china is more powerful than Korea in terms of Economy, diplomatic influence, etc. could spread that kind of illusion. However you know that the history of human being hasn't finished yet.  

A warning is not an intimidation. (It seems you really have a liking for those words with a belligerent tone  .)  If you have questions about the code of conduct here, check out "AE meeting hall" where you can find a thread on "AE code of conduct". The code exists in order to ensure that people here can express their opinions freely, but without insulting others.

Interap, I assume you are quite young. You see, AE is like a microcosm of the outside world (except I think there are a lot more guys here than gals  . The way you discuss and argue here may be a reflection of the way you carry yourself in the outside world too. So just because you are anonymous here does not mean you can do without diplomacy and tact. You can be passionate about something, but you must also remember that words are powerful and can be very offensive. And of course, there is this old saying that "if you want to be treated with respect, you should respect others too".

I look forward to seeing your continuing contribution to AE - in a respectful manner. And of course you can have fun too.