UK Minister of State Jeremy Browne at KU DIS

Submitted by cuz on Thu, 05/17/2012 - 10:25

Last evening, the Minister of State for the UK in charge of Asia and Latin America Jeremy Browne gave a talk in our department here at Korea University entitled something like "Korea: Miracle of Our Times". The bulk of the talk focused unsurprisingly on encouraging the strengthening of relations between Korea and the UK accompanied by a clear advertisement enticing Korean students to study in the UK. But a few interesting emerged for me. First, it became clear that Korea's historic alliance with the US ties it in to the historic alliance between the US and UK. Second, though it was unclear to me how Japan fits into the picture, this triangular neoliberal alliance was clearly poised in opposition to China. Though Browne never used the word "China", it was clear that his praise of Korea's progress into democracy, human rights, and free markets was situated as a model for China to emulate.

Curiously, in the human rights context, he called on Korea to formalize its de facto, fifteen year ban on the death penalty. I missed some of his talk because this prompted me to formulate a question about his opinion of the US use of drones to execute Americans overseas who are perceived as threats to the state. I abandoned this however.

Playgrounds, Parents, and Politics

Submitted by cuz on Sat, 05/12/2012 - 12:15

[The following is a draft of a piece on "Korean culture" for the Dongguk Post. Since tomorrow is Mother's Day in the US, I thought I'd post it here today.]

My family is fortunate to live in an apartment complex with underground parking that has allowed for a variety of playgrounds and play spaces to be built at ground level. Though these spaces are barren during the cold winter months, with spring the playgrounds have blossomed with squeals of swing set delight, tussles over bicycles, and the general ruckus of play. And along with the children come the parents.

Due to the perpetuation of gender roles and the long working hours demanded of working fathers, most of the parents one encounters on the playground are the children's mothers. There is, of course, a smattering of grandmothers and grandfathers adn on Sundays a number of fathers, most of whom spend their time watching sports or dramas on their phones while their children run around and occasionally try to get their attention.

Better Life Index

Submitted by cuz on Thu, 04/26/2012 - 17:22

The OECD has launched a website that allows you to select your own weights for various development indicators and see how rankings (within the OECD) change.

Make Poverty History...Again

Submitted by cuz on Mon, 04/23/2012 - 07:45

The Guardian reports that leading aid groups in Britain are coordinating for a public action campaign in 2013, when Prime Minister Cameron takes the helm of the G8. Unfortunately, the name they are choosing strikes me as ultimately self-defeating. In aiming to recreate the success of the Make Poverty History campaign in 2005, they have also decided to reuse the name. The 2013 campaign is currently called "Make Poverty History 2". By giving the movement a movie sequel title, they imply not only that they did not succeed in making poverty history in the first campaign/movie but also that they will not be successful this time either. Where there's a "2", there will be a "3".

I'm not so naive as to think that they will be successful this time or that they should have been last time, but I strongly believe that admitting defeat in advance will make it too easy to cave in on demands along the way.

Phone libraries

Submitted by cuz on Thu, 02/23/2012 - 08:51

Atlantic Cities has an article on Columbia GSAPP grad's phone libraries. Phone libraries are essentially free, pop-up mini-libraries installed in effectively useless NYC phone booths. Definitely a good reuse of public space.

Ten solar cooker proposals

Submitted by cuz on Sat, 02/18/2012 - 12:59

Engineering for Change has announced the ten finalists in a contest to design a solar cooker that would actually meet the needs of rural Indian villagers. Early designs were rejected because they couldn't be used in the early morning to cook breakfast or in the evening to cook dinner.

Hull House closed

Submitted by cuz on Sun, 01/29/2012 - 08:55

There are a few icons of early urban planning. Jane Addam's Hull House in Chicago is one of them. It's founding in the late 1800s marked not only a significant step forward for women but also the beginning of social work in the US. Current government budget cuts of support for community outreach and services combined with an increase in demand for those services due to the ongoing economic crisis has made operations financially unsustainable. Hull House has just closed.

Metacognition and the classroom

Submitted by cuz on Fri, 01/20/2012 - 07:38

In his Chronicle of Higher Education column today, James Lang writes about Stephen Chew's application of metacognition concepts to the process of learning. Metacognition could be called the "American Idol theory" or (more locally) the "Superstar K theory", in which some truly lousy singers sincerely enter the competition in the belief that they are truly great. Basically, the idea is that incompetent people's very incompetence often blinds them to that incompetence. In the educational setting, weak students often believe they have mastered a subject even if their understanding is fragmented and superficial. Dr. Chew has a series of videos for students and teachers explaining the concept and identifying strategies for tackling the problem.

National Security Law

Submitted by cuz on Tue, 01/10/2012 - 10:22

The NYT published an article the other day on the probably overzealous application of Korea's National Security Law under the current president. Apparently a gentleman was arrested and is being prosecuted for creating and posting (on Twitter?) this parody of a DPRK poster. In it, the soldier's face has been replaced by the creator's own and his gun with a bottle of expensive whiskey. The original caption reads: "For our nation, which is like no other!"

I'm not sure if by reposting this image, I am also guilty! According to the article, the law has been applied unevenly.

“What once were called exchanges and cooperation with North Korea are now acts of ‘aiding the enemy,’ ” Mr. Lee said. He cited cases in which people were convicted based on conversations with North Korean officials during trips authorized under previous, more liberal governments.

Additionally,

Court records show that, depending on the prosecutor or judge, “The Communist Manifesto” was either a political pamphlet of historical interest or “subversive material” whose possession was punishable by as much as seven years in prison.

Kim Jong-Il dead

Submitted by cuz on Mon, 12/19/2011 - 13:17

Well, what interesting times! It has just been announced that Kim Jong-Il, the leader of North Korea, has died "on a train trip to give field guidance to workers". This immediately raises tensions on the Peninsula, but is unlikely to result in any real harm to South Korea (or at least I hope not!). It does, however, introduce an enormous element of uncertainty about the future of the two Koreas. As the power struggle behind the scenes in Pyongyang play out (almost surely invisibly to us), we are likely to see a shift in the North's approach, especially if Kim Jong-Un retains power and is as cosmopolitan as a recent interview has made him out to be.

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