Korea Discussion Group
Thursday 12 June 2008
1.15-2.30
Lunch – 12.45 (£10)

Prospects for Korea’s Energy Diplomacy

SPEAKER: DR Jae-Seung LEE, Associate Dean and Associate Professor at Korea University

CHAIR: DR JIM HOARE, Chargé d’Affaires, British Embassy in Pyongyang, DPRK (2001-2003)

Dr Lee is currently an Associate Dean and Associate Professor in the division of International Studies at Korea University. Before joining the University, he served as professor at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security (IFANS), Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He received Ph.D. in Political Science from Yale University. As a scholar of international political economy, Dr Lee has published a number of books and articles regarding Korea, East Asia and Europe. His current research covers energy security and Korea’s energy diplomacy. He is currently a member of the Policy Advisory Board of the Presidential Secretariat and is a Managing Director of the Korea Energy Forum.

The speaker will talk on the record, the discussion will be held under the Chatham House Rule.

The Korea Discussion Group is made possible thanks to the generous support provided by The Korea Foundation

Reflecting the more formal nature of this meeting, Dr Jun spoke from a prepared text, though there was also a generous amount of time afterwards for Dr Jun to take questions from the floor.

It was a whistle-stop tour for Dr Jun. Earlier in the week he had been at the IOSCO meeting in Paris, where he was appointed Chair of IOSCO’s regional committee for Asia. He was only in London for the day and was heading back to Seoul immediately after the Chatham House session. He will be back at his desk at the FSC on Sunday. It’s a 24/7 administration.

Usefully, Dr Jun began his talk by explaining what his Commission is called. If you go to the website (www.fsc.co.kr) you will variously see “Financial Services Commission”, “Financial Supervisory Commission” and “Financial Supervisory Service”. Like other ministries, the Commission has been through one of President Lee’s reorganisations. The new Financial Services Commission is the result of merging the Financial Policy Bureau of the Finance Ministry and the (old) Financial Supervisory Commission - thus bringing together under one roof both policy-making and supervision. The Financial Supervisory Service remains as the arm of the Financial Services Commission which conducts on-the-ground supervision of financial institutions.

Having got that out of the way, Dr Jun gave a regional perspective on some of the recent financial turmoil, and highlighted ASEAN Plus 3 ^[1] and the Chiang Mai Initiative as regional efforts to coordinate financial stability.

Dr Jun then moved on to setting out his domestic agenda:

1. A “Big Bang” to reorganise Korea’s financial sector, with the Capital Markets Consolidation Act coming in to force next year. An English translation of this is currently being prepared. Dr Jun considered the UK’s Big Bang in 1987 to be a good model, and preferred it to the more gradual approach adopted in Japan
2. The establishment of Financial Clusters, where resources and financial expertise are concentrated, with an aim to assisting in the formation of new business ventures
3. Strengthening international cooperation between regulators. Dr Jun stressed the importance of information exchange between national supervisors when dealing with international banking groups. Korea currently has formal memoranda of understanding with 19 regulators in 13 countries (including the UK, but excluding the US - that’s work in progress at the moment). Dr Jun also stressed the importance of risk-based supervision, and also expressed a strong desire to move towards principles-based regulation. Earlier in the day he’d had a chance to compare notes with Calum McCarthy at the FSA.
4. Enhancing the competitiveness of the financial sector through privatisation and introduction of new investment. In this context he noted the upcoming privatisation of Korea Development Bank.

A lot of these changes require a gradualist approach. In respect of the introduction of new capital into the financial services industry - particularly capital from the chaebol - Dr Jun envisaged a step-by-step raising of the maximum shareholdings permitted, and he recognised that the move to a more principles-based framework could not happen overnight. But he viewed the arguments for both as compelling: complex rule-based frameworks inhibit innovation, increase compliance costs and prevent effective enforcement, while when industrial groups such as POSCO have more cash flow than they can reinvest internally there was a strong argument for allowing some of this surplus to be directed towards investment in the financial services industry.

President Lee’s aim is growth, and a vibrant financial sector is seen as crucial to long-term economic expansion. Dr Jun’s job is to help to deliver that.

1. the extra 3 being China, Japan and Korea

He will also be speaking to the Korea Discussion Group at Chatham House on Friday afternoon at 4pm. His subject is Korea’s responses to challenges from the global financial markets. The gathering will be chaired by Dr John Llewellyn, Senior Economic Policy Advisor at Lehman Brothers. Interested parties can join the discussion group by pre-registering (details at the bottom of this article). Further background on Dr Jun’s talk:

Developments in international financial markets have brought opportunities for faster growth and expansion. At the same time, developments also mean that the knock-on effects of financial crises spread faster. In this regard, Dr Jun will share his views on changes and challenges facing global financial markets today and elaborate on Korea’s plans to meet these challenges effectively under the new administration.

Dr Jun was appointed Chairman of Korea’s Financial Services Commission, a cabinet-level position, by President Lee in February this year. Previously he was head of Deloitte Korea and served as Korea’s ambassador for international finance (source: JoongAng Ilbo)

No doubt HSBC’s bid for Korea Exchange Bank will loom large in one or more of Dr Jun’s meetings this week: the front-page article in yesterday’s FT that HSBC is getting cold feet about the deal was likely politically timed to coincide with Dr Jun’s visit, but given past pronouncements from Seoul that Lone Star’s involvement with KEB needs to be sorted out first there doesn’t seem to be much wiggle-room without there being a volte-face. However, Dr Jun reportedly made some encouraging noises at a press conference at the Seoul Foreign Correspondents’ Club on 29 April.

Other items on the agenda? Given the new “CEO President” administration, expect a message that Korea is open for business and open for investment. Expect some discussion of the Capital Markets Consolidation Act, effective in 2009. The Act was pushed at the KRX / Daewoo Securities investors conference in London two weeks ago (12 May) as a major step forward in the development of the Korean financial services industry ^[1].

Dr Jun can also expect to be asked questions about precisely how foreigner-friendly is the system of Korean financial regulation.

Observations made in the past have concerned:

1. Demanding requirements in relation to the number of local directors to be appointed
2. Thorough (over-thorough?) supervision of local operations of foreign banks
3. A punctilious application of data security standards, possibly stricter than those applying in other markets.

None of these factors, however, seem to stop foreign banks from wanting to do business in Korea, and certainly in respect of the first two, these charges are equally applicable to other jurisdictions past or present. Korean bank supervisors would not be alone in wanting to maintain a close watch on foreign-owned banks which have a significant local market share.

Those wishing to attend the discussion at Chatham House (4:00 – 5:00pm, Friday 30th May) need to pre-register by emailing the Asia programme coordinator, asia [at] chathamhouse [dot] org [dot] uk, giving their name, details of their affiliation and their phone number. Alternatively you can register at the Chatham House website here.

Links:

• What Dr Jun had to say: The Financial Sector as engine of growth, LKL 31 May 2008

1. If anyone can lay their hands on a decent summary in English of what the Act does, please let me know. I can’t find anything via the normal internet searches

Dr. Park is currently associate professor at the Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS) at Seoul National University (SNU), Korea. Before moving to SNU, he was an assistant professor at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security (IFANS) under the Korean Foreign Ministry. Between 1999 and 2002, he taught Japanese politics at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) in Tokyo, Japan, as an associate professor. Professor Park graduated from Seoul National University, where he got BA and MA and obtained his Ph.D. at Columbia University. Dr. Park’s major field of study is Japanese politics and diplomacy. His dissertation was on electoral strategies in urban Japan after the electoral reform, which was published in Japanese with the title of Daigishi no Tsukurare Kata (How Japanese Dietman Is Made). He has written many articles on Japanese politics, Korea-Japan relations and international relations in East Asia. Dr. Park frequently comments on Korea-Japan relations and international relations in East Asia at major newspapers, including Chosun Ilbo, Joongang Ilbo, Yomiuri Shimbun, Asahi Shimbun and NHK. In recognition of his academic achievement and practical contribution to improving Korea-Japan relations, Dr. Park was awarded the First Nakasone Yasuhiro Award in June, 2005.

The Korea Discussion Group is made possible thanks to the generous support provided by the The Korea Overseas Information Service (KOIS)

As usual, pre-registration is required.

I thought I ought to show my face in the office, so missed some of the key talks, opting to show up at the beginning and the end of the day, which was probably an error of judgement. While it is always encouraging that these events have august and generous sponsors (enabling the whole thought-provoking day to be totally free of charge to freeloaders such as myself) it does mean that there are rather too many bland “keynote” addresses before you got to the actual meat of the proceedings. The conference was well-provided with simultaneous translation facilities, enabling the monolingual to get some benefit when faced with panellists not speaking their language – though inevitably one suspects that nuances were lost in the translation.

While the theme of the day was billed as human rights, the agenda flowed freely off-topic. A senior Pyongyangologist gave a fascinating talk about differences between North Korea under the two Kims, highlighting:

1. the move to Military First (songung) politics under Kim Jong-il, under whom power is exercised primarily through the National Defence Commission rather than the Workers Party of Korea:
• the National Supreme People’s Assembly meets only once every 5 years, leaving civilian matters to be governed by its Standing Committee
• Civilian ministers / cabinet (members of the Standing Committee) have limited importance
• the Defence Minister doesn’t report to the “Prime Minister” – instead reporting directly into the National Defence Commission
2. the move from the doctrine of “Juche” to that of the “socio-political organism”, a holy trinity of the Supreme Revolutionary Leader, the Military and the People. One strand of this doctrine is that while human life is 80 years, political life is eternal – thus subordinating the individual to society as a whole.

Note: this is a stub article. If I find my notes and have the time, I might write up some more in due course.

1. The Chatham House Rule was invoked, and a strict reading of that implies that I can’t say who was in the audience, but at least the speakers are a matter of public record

North Korea: NEW APPROACHES
The 8th International Conference on North Korean Human Rights & Refugees
January 22, 2008 - London, UK

Venue: Chatham House — The Royal Institute of International Affairs
10 St James’s Square, London SW1Y4LE

AGENDA
Language of proceedings: Korean/English

Tuesday, 22 January, 2008

09:00 Registration (Chatham House, 10 St James’s Square, London SW1Y 4LE)

09:15 Opening Session (Conference Room — Chatham House)

Welcoming Remarks
Dr Robin Niblett, Director, Chatham House
Jan Ramstad, Chairman, The Rafto Foundation for Human Rights, Norway

Keynote Speech
Kjell Magne Bondevik, Former Prime Minister, President, Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights, Norway

Opening Speech
Stephen Lillie, Head of Far Eastern Group, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, UK

10:15-12:30 Discussion 1
A. Changing Perceptions in North Korea

Moderator:
Jim Hoare, Former UK Ambassador to Pyongyang,UK
Panelists:
Political Leadership of North Korea, Professor Dae-Sook Suh, USA

Culture and Music in the DPRK, Cheol Woong Kim, North Korean Pianist, ROK

Scientific and Technical Cooperation with the DPRK, Maurizio Martellini, Professor, Secretary General, Landau Network-Centro Volta, Italy

Discussion:
Aidan Foster-Carter, Honorary Senior Research Fellow in Sociology & Modern Korea, Leeds University, UK

12:30- 14:00 Luncheon (Chatham House)
Welcoming Speech: Carl Gershman, President, NED

14:00 — 16:30 Discussion 2
B. North Korea’s Path to Development. Socio-Economic Rights. Investments

Moderator:
Dr. Rüdiger Frank, Professor of East Asian Economy & Society,
University of Vienna, Austria
Panelists:
Atypical transitions from Communist Central Planning: in Search of Clues, Jan Winiecki, Professor of Economics, Expert on Centrally Planned Economies and Economic Transition, University of Information Technology and Management Rzeszow, Poland

Investments and their Socio-Economic Impact, Paul French, Access Asia, China

Humanitarian Assistance Experiences in the DPRK, Hwan-Cheol Youn, Director, Korea Peace Institute, ROK

Discussion: Geir Helgesen, Senior Researcher, NIAS, Denmark
Myeong-ho Park, Captain, North Korean Air Force, ROK

16:30 Break (Tea/Coffee)

16:45 — 19:30 Discussion 3
C. Helsinki Process in Northeast Asia?

Moderator:
Peter M. Beck, Executive Director, U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea

Panelists:
Why we need a Helsinki process with a Korean face, Lord David Alton, Chair, British-North Korea All-Party Parliamentary Group, House of Lords, UK

The Emerging Architecture of Security and Cooperation in Northeast Asia, James E. Goodby, Former U.S. Ambassador, Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, USA

North Korean Human Rights in Reform Policy: Search for Multilateral Approach Referring to “Human Dimension” of Helsinki Process, Man-ho Heo, Professor, Kyungpook National University, Director of Research, Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, ROK

19:30 Closing Remarks
Benjamin H. Yoon, Representative, Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, ROK

19:45 Reception hosted by Organizers (Chatham House)
Reception Opening: Changrok Soh, Dean, Korea University GSIS, ROK

Contact with Coordinator of the Conference:
Joanna Hosaniak
Head of International Cooperation Team
Coordinator of the 8th International Conference North Korea New Approaches
Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights
Room 301, Shimji Bldg. 10-22 Gyobuk-dong,
Chongno-gu, Seoul 110-090, South Korea
Tel 82-2-723-1672 // Fax 82-2-723-1671
www.nkhumanrights.or.kr
nkhuman@nkhumanrights.or.kr; citizens.nkhr@gmail.com

Speaker: Leonid Petrov

Lunch: 12.30-1.00 (£10.00 charge)
Meeting: 1.00-2.00pm
Film Screening: 2.15 — 4.15pm
Chair: Jim Hoare

The talk will draw heavily on the findings of a recent visit to the DPRK by Dr. Petrov. In detail, the substance of the presentation will be as follows:

The current socio-economic situation in the DPRK (North Korea) is dominated by two conflicting policies: “The Army-First Politics” and “The 1 July Economic Measures”. Both policies serve as supreme guidelines for domestic governance, industry management, and even foreign relations and trade, placing all other political motions and economic campaigns firmly inside their original frameworks. Implementation of these two policies has brought many changes to every side of life in the DPRK. However, these changes are so frustratingly slow that at times Pyongyang-watchers overseas raise a legitimate question: “Is anything really changing in North Korea?”

In this presentation the officially adopted DPRK domestic policies will be examined and projected onto the realities of everyday life in North Korea. The ambitions of Pyongyang policymakers will be juxtaposed with the tough realities of life, where the growing social inequality and chronic economic dislocations continue besetting the cities and countryside. The motivations for different social groups in North Korea to support (or otherwise) this “slow-motion reform” will be examined along with the prospects for success in creating the second “Korean miracle”, this time north of the 38th parallel.

The talk will also be followed by a screening of Pak Sang-Bok’s 1991 film ‘Girls in My Hometown” (subtitled in English).

A Brief introduction and discussion on the film will be offered by Dr. Petrov. The film is dedicated to the disabled soldiers and their wives, and addresses the issue of growing individualism and selfishness in North Korea. Filmed in the northern side of Kangwon province, this work depicts the daily life of a North Korean village with its scenic beauty, melodic songs, and passionate dances.

Speaker Details:

Leonid Petrov graduated from St. Petersburg State University (1994) in Russia, where he majored in History of Korea. He obtained a PhD in History at the Australian National University (2003) in Canberra.

Professor Petrov has considerable experience of practical and academic work in Korea. In 2003-2005 he conducted post-doctoral research at the Academy of Korean Studies in Seongnam, and lectured on the history of North-South Korean relations at the Intercultural Institute of California in San Francisco. Professor Petrov taught Korean Economy at the International Summer Academy for Korean Studies at Keimyung University in Daegu (2006).

Currently, he works on the Australian Research Council project “Historical Conflict and Reconciliation in East Asia” and cooperates with the French CNRS-EHESS project “North-South Interfaces on the Korean Peninsula”. A list of publications by Prof. Petrov is available on www.north-korea.narod.ru.

Should you wish to attend please register with Tamara Lynch.

The Korea Discussion Group is made possible thanks to the generous support provided by the The Korea Overseas Information Service (KOIS)

Firstly:

The Six-Party Talks & the Future of the Korean Peninsula
Yuri Kim
Monday 15th October 2007
Meeting: 2.00-4.00pm
Chair: Jim Hoare

Yuri Kim is chief of the DPRK (North Korea) Affairs Division at the U.S. Department of State. Her portfolio covers the broad range of U.S. policy toward North Korea, including the Six-Party Talks, non-proliferation, and human rights in the DPRK. She works directly with Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill as a member of the U.S. delegation to the Six-Party Talks. Previous diplomatic assignments include Seoul (2003-06), the Executive Office of Secretary of State Colin Powell (2002-03), Tokyo (2000-2002), and Beijing (1998-2000). Yuri Kim holds a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.Phil. from Cambridge University. She entered the U.S. Department of State as a Foreign Service Officer in 1996, and speaks Korean, Chinese (Mandarin), and Japanese.

Secondly:

South Korean Politics: Right Turn in 2008?
Aidan Foster-Carter
Friday 19th October 2007 ^[1]
Meeting: 1.15-2.15pm
Lunch: 12.45-1.15 (£10.00 charge)
Chair: Jim Hoare

Aidan Foster-Carter has followed Korean affairs since 1968, starting (embarrassingly) as a juvenile fan of Kim Il-sung. Educated at Eton, Oxford and Hull, he taught sociology at universities in Hull, Dar es Salaam and Leeds from 1971-93. An early general interest in developing nations developed into a particular obsession with Korea. Since 1993 he has been a full-time Korea analyst and consultant: writing, lecturing and broadcasting for academic, business and policy audiences in the UK and worldwide. He writes regularly on Korea for, among others: the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), Oxford Analytica, Asia Intelligence, IDEAglobal, NewNations and Comparative Connections. From 1993-97 he wrote a monthly North Korea Report for business, published in Seoul; and from 2000-05 a ‘Pyongyang Watch’ column for Asia Times Online (still available there). Books include Korea’s Coming Reunification (1992) and North Korea after Kim Il-sung (1994; both EIU). He has made over 20 visits to the peninsula, including two to North Korea. His ambitions are to read more Korean lyric poetry, and travel by train from Pusan to Paris.

As usual, pre-registration is required with Tamara Lynch.

The Korea Discussion Group is made possible thanks to the generous support provided by the The Korea Overseas Information Service (KOIS)

1. After a bit of toing and froing, this 19th October date is now confirmed

“The North viewed from the North: A Swedish diplomat’s take on North Korea since 2001″

Ambassador Paul Beijer

Wednesday 5th September 2007

Meeting: 1.15-2.15pm

Lunch: 12.45-1.15 (£10.00 charge)

Chair: Jim Hoare

The talk will be on the topic of The North viewed from the North: A Swedish diplomat’s take on North Korea since 2001. The speaker will be Ambassador Paul Beijer.

Ambassador Paul Beijer is currently Special Advisor to the Swedish Government on Korean Peninsular issues. Before his current role, he served as the Minister and Charge d’Affaires at the Embassy of Sweden in Pyongyang, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and later as the Ambassador. Prior to this he was the Chair of the EU Common Foreign & Security Policy (CFSP) and has occupied many positions within the Swedish Foreign Ministry, where he started his career in 1983.

On Wednesday afternoon there’s a rare opportunity to hear two of the most senior figures from the foreign ministry of the DPRK speak on the subject of the DPRK’s foreign relations, while on Thursday lunchtime the Korea Discussion Group welcomes a minister from the Japanese embassy in London to talk about Korea-Japan relations. As always, prior registration is required with Tamara Lynch at Chatham House. Further details follow. First, the DPRK foreign relations event:

Asia Programme Meeting
North Korean Foreign Relations
Speakers: Ambassador Song Ryol Han,
Ambassador Song Nam Ja
2.30-5.00 pm
Wednesday 4th July 2007

Ambassador Han, former representative of the DPRK to the UN Mission and Ambassador Ja, the current DPRK ambassador to the UK will talk about North and South Korean relations and the question of unification, the six-party talks and the nuclear issue. This will be a rare opportunity to gain insights into North Korean foreign policy. The meeting will start at 2.30pm, with tea and coffee served from 3.30-4.00pm.

Ambassador Han has served in Cuba, has been a minister to the UN Mission and Deputy Director General in the US Department in the foreign ministry. He has served as deputy ambassador to the UN mission and is currently Acting President at the Institute for Disarmament & Peace in Pyongyang.

Ambassador Ja is the current ambassador to the UK. Previously he has served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Pyongyang, and in the UN Mission in New York. He has also served in the DPRK army, and has worked at the University of International Relations in the DPRK.

Please note that a £10 registration fee is payable on arrival.

Next - the discussion on Korea-Japan relations:

Korea Discussion Group
Japan-Korea Relations: new tension?
Minister Koji Tomita
Thursday 5th July 2007
Meeting: 1.15-2.15pm
Lunch: 12.45-1.15 (£10.00 charge)
Chair: Jim Hoare

Minister Koji Tomita is the Head of the Political Section of the Japanese Embassy in London. His diplomatic career has spanned over two decades and has included postings to the OECD in Paris as well as Director of the Policy Coordination Division of the Foreign Policy Bureau in Japan. Prior to joining the London Embassy, Minister Tomita served as Head of the Embassy’s Political Section in Seoul.

Links:

• Chatham House website
• Chatham House Korea Discussion Group page

Dr. Kongdan (Katy) Oh is a Research Staff Member at the Institute for Defense Analyses and a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. She is a member of the Korea Task Force of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Korea Working Group of the United States Institute of Peace, International Institute for Strategic Studies, United States Committee of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific (Board of Directors), the Council on US-Korea Security Studies, and she is the co-founder and co-director of The Korea Club of Washington, D.C. She received her B.A. at Sogang University and her M.A. at Seoul National University. She subsequently earned an M.A. and Ph.D. in Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Her selected publications include “The Failure of Engagement and Limitations of Sanctions” in The North Korean Nuclear Test and the Future of Northeast Asia (Seoul: Korea Institute for National Unification, 2006), “The Twin Peaks of Pyongyang” ORBIS, Winter 2006, Kim Jong-il’s North Korea: Divide and Rule (Institute for Defense Analyses, 2006), Inside North Korea (Institute for Defense Analyses, 2005), North Korean Policy Elites (editor and project leader, Institute for Defense Analyses, 2004), Confronting North Korea’s Nuclear Ambitions: US Policy Options and Regional Implications (Institute for Defense Analyses, 2003), Korea Briefing 2000-2001: First Steps Toward Reconciliation and Reunification (co-editor, M. E. Sharpe and Asia Society, 2002), Terrorism Eclipses the Sunshine Policy: Inter-Korean Relations and the United States (Asia Society, 2002), and North Korea through the Looking Glass (Brookings, 2000).

Links:

• Chatham House Korea Discussion Group page
• Dr Oh’s site, shared with her husband Dr Ralph Hassig

I was reminded about the story of a drunk who was found grovelling on the pavement underneath a streetlamp at 3am. A concerned passer-by asked him what he was doing. “Looking for my wallet. I dropped it in that dark alleyway over there.” “So why aren’t you looking for it in the alley?” was the obvious question. “Because I can see better over here, where the light is”.

So, because Amnesty has access to the South and no access to the North ^[1] Narayan seemed to spend much longer talking about the South than about the North. And if you check the Amnesty website, there are 72 reports on South Korea and only 15 on the North.

Or maybe it’s just my recollection of the talk. I didn’t actually time the two sections. Maybe we hear and read so much about abuses in the North that hearing about the (admittedly much less serious) human rights agenda in the South simply sticks in the mind better.

Narayan articulated the main issues which Amnesty is focusing on in relation to the South:

• Rights for the large numbers of migrant workers ^[2]
• The National Security Law
• Conscientious Objectors, with Amnesty campaigning for some form of non-military national service (currently conscientious objectors are liable to imprisonment) (See further the update at the bottom of this post)
• The death penalty. The South’s last execution was in 1997, so use of the death penalty is now rare, and there are proposals to abolish it, which if carried out would make South Korea the first country in the region to do so.

Amnesty has come a long way in South Korea. In the 1980s they were disbanded, and now they have 5,000 members.

Narayan also described Amnesty’s engagement with the North. They were allowed access in 1991 (in an attempt to persuade the North to adopt international human rights standards) and again in 1995 to discuss executions and the death penalty. No access has been permitted since. Amnesty’s concerns are well documented in the links provided below.

And I’ve fallen into the same trap: spending much more time talking about the South. So I’ll redress the balance in the links below.

Links:

• Amnesty’s annual report on South Korea | North Korea
• Index of all Amnesty reports on South Korea | North Korea
• Amnesty USA’s briefing on the current situation in North Korea (from 2005)

Update:

• Controversy erupts over conscientious objector issue, Chosun, 20 September 2007

1. and I guess the way to get access to the North is precisely NOT to go on too much about such sensitive topics as human rights
2. see N.E.P.A.L, Park Chan-wook’s contribution to If you were me, and Jongno, Winter, Kim Dong-won’s contribution to If you were me 2

If ever you get the chance to hear Rowan Pease talk on her chosen subject of the hallyu in China, drop everything and go to it. Even if you’ve heard some of her material before, there will always be something fresh and new. And even if you’ve heard all of it before, it’s still entertaining to hear her quotes from teenage Chinese chat-room frequenters.

Her opening remarks at her Chatham House talk earlier this month had the assembled company of academics, diplomats and city slickers completely embarrassed at their disconnection from popular culture. When did any of us last go to a McDonalds? Because if we had bought a Happy Meal during November anywhere in the UK we would have encountered a new piece of Korean cultural content. A funky, friendly little character called Pucca (left) would have greeted us, a little cutie who has travelled all the way to our shores from the distant East, without being invited by UK content consumers — film & TV drama fans — and without being pushed by the Koran cultural promoters. Ronald McDonald, after breaking with the Disney empire following the Super-size-me fallout, is looking for other global cultural icons to ride, and picked up on this Korean invention. She’s kinda pan-Asian, apparently. She lives in a Chinese noodle shop, she has a Japanese ninja boyfriend, but she herself is resolutely Korean. And she throws the occasional English phrase into her dialogue, to enhance her wholesome educational value. Pease’s daughter summed it up: “she’s a funny Japanesey girl. She’s a bit pointless, which is why she’s so funny.”

But she sells burgers. And Hodder & Stoughton publish books about her (right). And you can find her likeness on clothes at New Look. If you read the guff put out by the western marketing suits, she’s “the funky Korean fashion and lifestyle property.”

She’s the invention of a small Korean media company with only 24 employees. She’s a typical example of how Korea, in response their manufacturing competitive advantage being lost to lower-cost countries, are promoting creativity and content as a replacement. There is still a long way to go though, with 2004 film exports amounting to around $130m — a huge increase on previous years — and bigger than, say, the shoe industry, but way short of the export earnings of Hyundai ^[1].

Earnings could obviously be better. In China, the measure of success is not how many legitimate sales you make but how many different pirated versions are available: the illegitimate versions will be on sale before the authorised ones, and according to one estimate pirated versions amount to more than 90% of sales. So the money has to be made out of promotional activity, and merchandise related to the shows. And from a Korea Inc perspective, the popularity of her cultural products has increased the level of foreign tourism (and the new Dae Jang Geum theme park should help.) Tourist maps are available with all the prominent soap locations marked, while the official Winter Sonata tour has been joined by ones for most other popular soaps. And Rain has now been appointed “goodwill ambassador for tourism in Seoul”.

The popularity of some of Korea’s cultural products is undeniable. Dae Jang Geum (above left) achieved 49% market share in its final episode in Hong Kong, and somehow someone estimated that companies saw a 10% drop in earnings that day. The first showing of Winter Sonata in Japan achieved 20% market share despite being on at 11pm at night. BoA has been top of the charts in Japan (and number two globally) while Rain (right) is one of the world’s most influential entertainers.

But we should not get too carried away. In China, Korean cultural imports are fourth after Hong Kong, American and Japanese products. In China, people don’t seriously rate Korean music as better than American or Japanese: they tend to compare it with Chinese music.

What makes Korean content popular in China? The answer to this depends on who you ask. A shared Confucian heritage; content less “foreign” than Japanese or American. To some, Korean stars are more genuine (they cry on stage) and less commercial than Chinese stars. And undoubtedly the success of acts such as CLON in Taiwan rested on their cool dance moves — and now the academy of Lee Soo Man’s SM Entertainment have been focusing on drilling would-be stars in their dance moves for a number of years now.

Korean content also stands out in general for its lack of sex and violence. In Asia it’s been the user-friendly face of Yonsama and Dae Jang Geum which have won soap fan’s hearts; while the pop-stars are clean-living: when they appear in dramas there’s never a full-on bedroom scene.

There are elements of the audience who don’t need too much encouragement to give full rein to their fantasies. Pease referred us to the many sites devoted to the fandom of the Korean boy bands in China. One of the features of these sites is the artistry of the netizens in creating erotic — often homoerotic — images of the various stars. Here’s a couple of images of Kangta (from H.O.T) and Hyesung (from Shinhwa) from the site DeviantArt (say no more - especially the one to the right).

But maybe Pease’s daughter has another suggestion as to why Korean content is popular. Pucca is Japanesey. She’s Asian, but not from any identifiable country. She’s “culturally odourless”, in Pease’s catchy phrase. But for every theory there’s a counter-example. You can’t get more Korean than Dae Jang Geum. ^[2]

Being multilingual? BoA’s (left) ability to sing in Japanese as well as Korean certainly helps her sales across the East Sea. Having stars from different Asian countries? Film companies are trying to make that work. But again it can’t be too blatant. Pease reported the wails of protest when SM Entertainment, who run the successful TVXQ boy-band, proposed adding Chinese and Japanese singers to increase cross-border appeal. Netizens petitioned President Roh at this blatant example of commercialism. So SM had to back down. Realising that what the punters wanted was cute boys, and lots of them, SM created Super Junior (below). TVXQ contains five, Super Junior has a dozen of them. And then SM went one better still: Pease treated us to the video of the joint venture between Super Junior and TVXQ — brim-full of young male eye-candy. “Look, isn’t it sweet? They’re all sleeping together,” observed Pease. As ever with these acts, the music itself was pretty unremarkable, but the visuals made up for it. Judge for yourself below.

Chaste but mildly suggestive; funky but educational; pan-Asian as long as it’s not too obviously commercial. There’s a fine balance to be drawn and no magic formula. The cynics will say that good looks will always sell. Maybe they’re right. Chatting about it is a great way to spend a December lunchtime in London.

Links:

• Dae Jang Geum theme park official site
• A collection of Super Junior photos
• Korean makes big strides in global character industry, Chosun, 21 August 2007

1. And still not of very good quality: the 2006 numbers are way down
2. Pease reported that one commentator explained its popularity in Hong Kong thus: “of course we love it: it’s all about food and medicine.”