[KS] The Unmarried Foreigners

[J.Scott Burgeson]

As often tends to happen with immigrants, I find that Mr. Park of Ask a Korean fame (his surname is a matter of public record) has a somewhat dated view of his "home country" and thus is not always a reliable source (according to his own bio, he left Korea was he was 16). Of course, because of the Internet today he is better able to stay connected with developments in Korean society, but then again one must consider the sources he relies on for his information, which in my estimation skew heavily to the left. In any case, what one often winds up with is representations of other representations, mixed in with his personal recollections of a bygone Korea that no longer exists in many cases: An "imagined community," one might even say.

Mr. Neff, on the other hand, I know has been living in Korea for a very long time and is a published historian, not an amateur blogger, so I personally would consider him to be a far more rigorous authority on Korean culture and society. Certainly one should exercise caution when recommending Ask a Korean to others seeking to learn more about Korea; it's a good starting point for those unfamiliar with Korean culture and society, perhaps, and often entertaining, but hardly a legitimate academic source in my opinion.

Hope this helps,
                         Scott Bug



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On Tue, 10/15/13, Yung Hee Kim <foundinseoul at gmail.com> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [KS] The Unmarried Foreigners
 To: "Korean Studies Discussion List" <koreanstudies at koreanstudies.com>
 Date: Tuesday, October 15, 2013, 1:13 PM
 
 If you don't get any
 academic-based replies, you could try the following
 website:
 http://askakorean.blogspot.com/
 
 ~Yung Hee