Living All My Life Through Kazakhstan And Being A Third Generation Of Ethnic Korean Living Outside The Korea Essay

Cultures around the world are divide by their distinctive characteristic of people, and how people interact within their society. Most cultures are driven by the way their environment has been set for them. Many of cultures have to adapt to the way their environment are due to the conditions that are set for them and the amount of resources that they are provided. The biggest drive for culture are the historical custom. Most countries continue to carry their ancestor custom so that the tradition may stay with them throughout their years, in which making other countries distinctive from one another. One of the particular country that will be discuss in this report is North Korea. In this report, I will be discussing the North Korean culture, with describing their living condition in the country, common issues that they face with on a daily bases, and common threat that they pose on other countries.

Growing up as an East Asian in America meant expectations and stereotypes. Facing the judging looks on the faces of the people around me was torture. I turned away and tried to run from them. I built an invisible wall, a barrier of sorts. In front of the wall was what I wanted people to see and what people expected to see; yet, behind the wall comprised of things I wanted to do and how I truly felt.

“I am Korean. South Korean to be exact.” These were the words I would always use to describe myself during new encounters. My race seemed to be what people noticed about me first. Whether I was at a leadership conference, church, or cross country event, there was always someone asking where I was from. For this reason, being an immigrant from Korea has been a big part of my identity as an individual and student.

As a result of the regimes isolationist policy the people of North Korea suffered greatly in both mental and physical health. The hold the state had over the beliefs of the citizens presented in “Nothing to Envy”, varied from absolute belief to uncomfortable awareness. The reader is presented often with Mrs. Song’s dedication to the regime, and Kim Il-sung himself. A mother of four she was often gone from home, working and attending ideological training sessions. “Fridays she stayed especially late for self-criticism. In these sessions members of her work unit- the department to which she was assigned- would reveal to the group anything they had done wrong—Mrs. Song would usually say, in all sincerity, that she feared she wasn’t working hard enough” (Pg. 43).When Kim Il-sung died, she

In this work, Kang’s family is living in North Korea when he and his family are sent to Yodok prison camp for the supposed crimes of his grandfather. It is important to note that Kang was only nine years of age at the time. He, his young sister, his grandmother, his father, and his uncle were sent to Yodok where they were placed in a cold hut and immediately forced to learn how to survive without the amenities they were accustomed to in

Family traditions are passed on from generation to generation, however they are not always static rules. Tradition is like a living organism that adapts to change over time. In order to understand modern North Korea’s family customs, it is important to consider the tradition of the past. Before North Korea’s liberation from Japan in 1945, North Korean families operated differently than they do today. Their ideology was founded on Confucius’s principles of family, including “only a country where family life was harmonious could be peaceful and prosperous” (Asia Society). The family is an integral part of society the same way a cell is important to a body (Suzy, 264). The government is even considered “one family” that everyone is a part of (Monday). Every individual in a family has a role and every family has a role in society. The ideal family is modeled from Kim Il Sung’s nuclear family (Suzy, 268). It is clear that family is a fundamental priority in North Korean society.

I am a girl with two heads. At home, I wear my Chinese head, in school I wear my English head. Being an Asian, or Chinese, as it is commonly referred to, my culture plays a key role in the development of who I am and what I do, my personal identity. An identity is the distinguishing character or personality of an individual. Parents are often one of the key factors of this culturally developed personal identity.

When the Koreans are forced to change their family names to Japanese ones, their Korean identity is weakened. Going through this traumatizing experience is

how about we make it about a Korean-American? A fourth generation Korean-American relocates to his families home city Busan in Korea. Where ends up learning about more about his roots, the Korean language,and Korean culture. Follow his hilarious journey in Korea as he tries to solves trials and tribulations due to culture shock.

On January 13, 1903, the first Korean Immigrants set foot in Hawaii. There were eighty six people on that first voyage, and since then there have been over 550,000 Koreans who have made the journey to the United States over the past 100 years. The original immigrants and their descendants now total over 1.6 million. Korean Americans make up one of the most prominent Asian communities in the United States. Many elements of Korean Culture, ranging from Kim Chee to Tae Kwon Do, have made their way into the American Lifestyle. There have been many events that have shaped the Korean American community and there are many current issues that affect Korean Americans.

Roza is not the first of her family to immigrate to another country. Her parents are Korean, and her “grandmother, grandfather and their parents lived in North Korea.” Similar to Linda Green’s findings in Notes on Mayan Youth and Rural Industrialization in Guatemala in which Guatemalan “villagers fled the escalating counter-insurgency war . . . resulting in the displacement of over 1 million people during the 1980s” (Green, 57) Roza’s grandparents were forced to flee from North Korea due to the Korean-Japanese War that was occurring during that time. To escape the war, her grandparents “rode a big train with no food, no water, with many other people, for one month to Kazakhstan. Many people died on this trip. My grandmother had 14 siblings and only two survived, along with my grandfather and his brother.” Once they arrived in Kazakhstan, Roza’s grandparents struggled to survive in the cold fall and winter months. While Linda Green argues that many Mayan youths’ powerlessness comes from the type of factory work they are forced to do and rural industrialization, powerlessness can also come from lack of resources and experience. Upon arrival, Roza’s grandparents “dug holes in the land like rats and lived in them. My grandmother was 16 and my grandfather was 18.” Without any place to live, her grandparents had to make do with what they could during the Russian winter, contributing to their overall powerlessness at the time. War, not just factory work, can cause people who once lived comfortably to become

Just as Malcolm X who had shed his personal attire for traditional white towels in an environment where “you could be a king or a peasant and no one would know”, I had temporarily stripped myself of my external Western context by entering a setting that would see superficially not as an adopted girl with white parents, but as an indistinguishable Korean. (Malcolm X 371) At first, when I was guarded by the cover provided by peers, I embraced this sense of unity from a distance, indulging in the fact that nobody notably labeled me as different based on my physical appearance. However, as Malcolm X’s travels show, no matter how hard you try, it is impossible to completely discard of your primary context when venturing into previously unexplored territories. For me, this revelation became clearly evident when I was forcibly removed from my veil of collective solidarity when physically separated from my friend group. While Malcolm X wrestled with standing out as a foreigner despite his role as Muslim minister back home, I struggled heavily with establishing an identity due to my inability to speak the Korean language. In this way, I faced the same sort of grappling with a double consciousness that can often be seen manifested in the complex struggle of African-American in their quest for

Understanding how North Korea as a country defines itself in a changing world. Where do they derive their customs and practices, political standings and military power? Define North Korea’s history leading into the modern age and define its culture and characteristics and how they interact with the world today. Understanding a subject as broad as the term culture begins where the culture began with the birth of civilization and the people that influenced it. There are many factors that play a role in the shaping of a nation none so much as turmoil and conflict and the Korean peninsula saw its fair share for the better part of a millennia. A complete statistical breakdown of North Korea shows a struggling nation that strongly depends on

When I was my 15 years, I watched my first Korean dorama. Then I did not know how it would exert an impact on my fate and view of life. This was the world-famous “Boys over flowers”, which became an occasion of my acquaintance with the country of morning freshness. I strongly believe that my life transformed for better and blossomed after watching this Korean dorama was watched by everyone, from the youngest to the oldest. It drew me in this world – the world of Korean drama, Korean pop and Korean cinema. Knowledge about Korea was increasing more and more gradually and new sides of Korea were opened. I found out the country is famous not only of the Korean wave, Hallyu, but also of kimchi, various traditional food, colorful nature and combination of tradition and modernity. And some pieces of the Korean culture and language are quite similar

South Korea is one of the most homogeneous countries in the world, in which it has its own culture, language, and customs that are different from other Asian countries. In South Korea, the citizens greatly value hard work, filial piety, and humility in their daily lives. South Koreans are very proud people in which they pride themselves in their traditional culture and their financial success.