V olume 41

December 2012

The Race to the Blue House The Women Speak 180 Turn Opinion: Silent Screams The Nakseongdae Market Winter Movie Guide

Examining Sexual Harassment

The Seoul National University English-Language Journal

Farewell Letter Feature The End of the Ahn Phenomenon The Race to the Blue House The Flaws of Democracy Campus News SNU Society Sexual Harassment Laws Behind the Bars The Women Speak To the ladies 180 Turn Silent Screams Plagiarism in SNU Society New Fusion Art Meets Engineering Opinion: Austen or Bronte? Sports at SNU A&C The Nakseongdae Market Winter Movie Guide 4 Cafes, 4 Themes The Eternal Nature of Van Goghs Paintings Winter Events Strindberg Celebrates a 100 Years in Korea

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CONTENTS
December 2012

Volume 41

The End of the Ahn Phenomenon

SEXUAL HARASSMENT

THE NAKSEONGDAE MARKET

4 CAFES, 4 THEMES CAFES AT SEOL-IP

Cover Story

November 2012. Vol. 41

THE CHIEF MANAGING DIRECTORS FAREWELL

Similar to all the other days that I have spent at the Late Spring Publishing Company, the reporters and editors are burning up our burdened bodies to finish editing and designing the articles. Engrossed in squeezing out the rawest words we know, we do not stop until we have satisfied our craving souls of perfection. We are nomads of the Gwanak Mountain; deficient of a Dongbang, we meet at a different place every week to discuss about campus issues. We are pole dancing journalists, turning in weekly drafts igniting the night in frenzied passion to make the deadline on time. We are professional hobos, jutting down Nokdu, Seol-Ip, administration building hallways begging for support. The fundamental question is, why do we work so hard to publish The Quill? Because we believe in the necessity of an English press that is solely managed and written by the students of SNU. We distinguish ourselves from any other universitys English press through our autonomy, independence, and freedom. It is for these values that our reporters, editors, and I have laboriously agonized over to publish The Quill. The content and the quality may not yet reach professional standards, but simply the fact that an independent student press in English exists is enough of a reason for us to keep fighting. The Quill is not a promotion material nor an advertisement of SNU; The Quill for the past seven years has written about sensitive issues in our school and will continue to take the side of those who need a voice and bring light to issues that people should know. Although my two years of time working for The Quill may seem as futile efforts of a meager human, I am proud and braver than before for having stood for virtues that should be justly honored. May The Quill live on forever, bury its name with immortality, and instigate a fighting spirit in dry souls -!

THE SEOUL NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

uill Staff
Chief Managing Director Su Hyen Bae Editor-in-Chief Yun Hwan Chae Vice Managing Director Jung Hyun Jung Feature Section Seo Kyoung Lee SNU Society Section Editor Johannes Hwang So Hyun Park Haesol Kim Diana Cho Eun Hur Regina Lee Young Min Son Jane Park Arts and Culture Section Editor Abhas Maskey Inhwa Kwon Tselmeg Chuluunbaatar Hee Kyung Lee Creative Director Suzanne Park E-Mail snuquill@gmail.com Website club.cyworld.com/thesnuquill Advisor Professor Eli Sorensen Professor Eui Hang Shin Sponsor SNU College English Program Office of International Affairs Printing Late Spring (0222698030) Design Sun Hee Kim

THE WONDERFUL ADVENTURES OF JOHANNES

My career as a bookworm began with me reading The Wonderful Adventures of Nils as an eight-year old. This exceptional piece of literature is the most famous work by the Swedish author and Nobel Prize winner Selma Lagerlof. The book is about a young boy, living in southern Sweden, who is lazy and whose main delight is to make mischief. One day he is shrunk by a tomte, a Swedish mythical creature. Together with a farm goose, he joins a flock of wild geese as they are about to migrate to the most northern part of the country. During Nils trip throughout Sweden he encounters many situations and characters which eventually transform him from a boy to a man. The reason why I decided to name my letter of farewell in honor of this book is not only due to sentimentality, but also for the reason that I experienced a similar journey to that of Nils. However, the major impact on my transformation has been The SNU Quill. I have been able to meet wonderful and fascinating people from all over the world. Together we have created eighteen captivating issues of our magazine. I admire the people of The Quill as they always work hard to uphold journalistic tradition despite all the obstacles. It is the only independent and uncensored university press at Seoul National University and I hope that it will remain so. It is bittersweet to say goodbye and move on to new adventures. To leave The Quill will be one of the biggest difficulties with leaving SNU. For the past three and a half years, I am very thankful. For the coming generations I hope that you continue to improve The SNU Quill, I am confident that you will be more than capable to do so. Just remember to never give in to those who want to silence you, and always represent the voice of every individual at our university.

Feature

December 2012. Vol. 41

The End of the Ahn Phenomenon

: Who will SNU vote for?
BY YUN HWAN CHAE
2012 has been the year of elections and regime changes. From the parliamentary elections in Egypt to Barack Obamas reelection in the United States, there has been a significant exercise of democracy throughout the world and South Korea is no exception. On December 19th, the country will hold its 18th presidential elections. For many students in Seoul National University, it will be the first time voting for a presidential candidate and so this years elections present to be more meaningful for the young student voters. The past five years under the current president Lee Myung-bak have been marred by plenty of controversy and discontent with the administration. The president failed in his promises of bringing about economic prosperity and the administration has been particularly unpopular with students with rising university tuition fees and the youth unemployment rate. For students, the new elections present an opportunity for their relatively subdued concerns to be addressed. Unlike the previous election in 2007 that had garnered an all-time low voter turnout rate, this years election so far had been galvanized by the independent candidate Ahn Cheolsoo. The former CEO of AhnLab, an anti-virus software company, led a remarkable transition into politics with his vision of a conscientious society and political system. Ahn campaigned for a new generation of Korean politics and criticized the traditional partisan divide between the conservatives and the liberals that failed to address the citizens needs. Ahns approval ratings had received majority of the support from the younger generation with 46.6% of university students in Seoul in a recent survey1. Seoul National University students in particular had noteworthy approval ratings of 62% for Ahn, who also is an alumnus of the university. Meanwhile, the conservative candidate of the ruling party, Park Geun-hye, received support from 14.3% of the surveyed students and 13.9% supported the liberal candidate, Moon Jae-in . However, despite his popularity with the youth, the independent candidate Ahns attempt at a political upheaval in the traditional partisan politics as an independent ended in failure with his withdrawal of the presidential candidacy to garner more support for his liberal counterpart Moon who received more overall approval ratings from all age levels. Expressing a need for a change in the

The conservative Saenuri Partys Geun-hye Park

The liberal Democratic United Partys Jae-in Moon

The former independent candidate Cheol-soo Ahn

regime, Ahn quit the race, paving the way for Moon. With the Ahn phenomenon drawing up to a conclusion, student supporters of the former CEO in SNU are given the choice between Moon or Park. Looking at the past two presidential elections, the youth voter turnout rate has had a noteworthy impact in the results. Left-wing politicians have fared well against right-wing politicians according to the voter turnout rate. The 2002 presidential election voter rate exceeded 70% with a high turnout from the under 30 population, which led to the presidency of Moo-hyun Roh, a liberal candidate.2 Whereas the 2007 election saw the historically lowest voter turnout rate of only 63% with less than half the under 30 population casting a vote. The conservative candidate Myung-bak Lee won the overwhelming majority of the votes with 48.7% compared to the 26.1% of the liberal candidate.3 The two past elections depict the correlation between the youth voter rate and candidate presidency and thus, a general liberal tendency of the youth. This was again confirmed in the current election race in a survey that concluded a staggering 72.4% of university students in Seoul giving support for the two liberal candidates Ahn and Moonz. However, the approval ratings will likely fluctuate with the SNU voters as according to a survey conducted by SNU News, the paper concluded that the conservative Parks proposed set of policies are more popular compared to that of Moons to SNU students. With SNUs most popular candidate Ahn endorsing Moon, students of SNU are placed in a dilemma of whether bringing about change through the less popular Moon or voting for the candidate of the ruling party that has failed in its promises in the previous

administration. The prevailing immediate concerns for Seoul National University students will likely focus on tuition fees and government plans for the university. The left and the right present considerably different policies regarding both issues with the liberal agenda stepping into drastic measures, while the conservatives present a more moderate plan. The issue of bangapdeungrokgeum or half-tuition drifted throughout the previous year. University students and families protested calling for lower tuition fees. Despite the heavy protesting,, tuition cuts hovered only over the single digits rate. Amongst the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries, South Korea places an incredible amount of financial burden on the citizen with the government subsidizing for higher education fees of only 22.3%, while the OECD average is 68.9%. The issue is an immediate concern for not only students but also their families that support them. The high tuition has brought up the heated topic of government subsidized university tuition. Moon has addressed this problem by the government actually subsidizing half the tuition, while Park has criticized this proposoal, labeling it as placing further pressure on citizens through taxes. Park has instead pledged to allocate more funds for financial aid so that there will be an evenly distributed tuition fee rates according to the students financial status. Another point of controversy that will surely be considered by SNU students is the plans for restructuring of the university. Moon Jae-ins Democratic United Party has campaigned for the abolishment of SNU, citing it as a symbol of disparity

in education in South Korea. The party has called for an overhaul in the national university system to level out the quality of education between SNU and other regional national universities. The liberals have campaigned for this even in late President Rohs administration and thus, Moons presidency presents a possibility, albeit minor, of a restructuring in SNU. Meanwhile, Parks Saenuri Party has called for SNUs College of Engineering to be relocated to the new Saejong city. These controversial plans for SNU are definite points of consideration for students of SNU when voting for the presidential candidate. With Ahn no longer a candidate, SNU students are in a predicament in choosing South Koreas next president. While Ahns independent status prevented any party influence in his policies, candidates Moon and Park seem to be influenced by the power politics of their respective parties. Moons liberal agendas regarding the issues of importance to SNU students seem to be too drastic and idealistic, while Parks ability to deliver on her promises remains skeptical considering the previous administrations failures.

1 Seoul University Press Association (November 2012) 2 Yonhap News (2002) 3 Yonhap News (2007) 4 Seoul University Press Association (November 2012)

Feature

December 2012. Vol. 41

The Race to the Blue House:

Moon Jae-in and Park Geun-hye
BY YUN HWAN CHAE, SU HYEN BAE AND SEO KYOUNG LEE

With the 18th presidential election coming up, the two most popular candidates of the election, Park Geun-hye of the Saenuri Party and Moon Jae-in from the Democratic United Party are in a race to secure more youth voters. For students, the most immediate concerns likely lie on education, so the Quill has profiled the two candidates education policies.

Park Geun-hye

Born: February 2, 1952 (age 60), Daegu Education: Sogang University Park Geun-hye is the Grand National Partys candidate for the 18th presidential elections. Her former experience as a politician and leader of the Saenuri Party make her a traditional conservative choice. She has been elected five times consecutively and is credited for the GNPs success in earning 121 seats in the National Assembly. Even though she lost her partys presidential candidacy to President Lee Myung-bak in 2007, she made a comeback as the Head of Emergency Measure Committee. Despite her successful political career, her elitist background as the daughter of dictator Park Jung-hee and inability to perform well during debates leave some voters doubting her competency as the next leader of Korea. 1974 1974~1979 1998~2000 1998~2002 2007 2011.12~2012.5 2012~ Graduated from Sogang University (Majored in Electronic Engineering) Assumed role as the First Lady of South Korea after her mothers death (Lady Yuk Young-soo) Elected as a Member of the 15th National Assembly Vice-President of The Grand National Party (Hannara) Candidate for the Presidential Candidate of The Grand National Party (Saenuri) Head of Emergency Measure Committee of The Grand National Party Elected as the Presidential Candidate of The Grand National Party

Moon Jae-in

Born: January 25, 1953 (age 59), Geoje Moon Jae-in is the Democratic United Partys (DUP) candidate for the 2012 presidential elections. His background as a human rights lawyer and experience as the former chief of staff to the liberal President Roh Mu-hyunbrand him as a left-wing politician. The DUPs failure to secure the majority of the seats in the parliamentary elections this year places pressure on Moon to deliver as the partys candidate. Although the current president Lee Myung-baks administration has lost popularity and his ratings plummeted to 24% in the first quarter of this year, his party, Saenuri Party succeeded in the parliamentary elections. Moon faces a stiff challenge against the ruling partys Park Geun-hye and presents a drastically different set of policies in order to bring about change in South Korea. 1972 1975 1980 1982 1988 2007 2012 Admitted to Kyunghee University, College of Law Arrested for participation in student protests for democratization Graduated from university; Passed the bar exam Started a legal office with Roh Mu-hyun Founding member of The Hankyoreh (one of the leading liberal newspapers of South Korea) Chief of Staff to President Roh Mu-hyun Elected as Member of National Assembly; Elected as the presidential candidate of the Democratic United Party

Education
Park Geun-hye promises to open up a new future by her education policies that are geared toward pursuing happiness. South Koreas educational environment is notorious for being excessively competitive and university
>>

Welfare Support Law

Education
Moon focuses on establishing a fair education system that everyone can benefit from.
>>

Implement a Free Semester policy in middle schools to provide opportunities of Career exploration
future paths by participating in activities outside of schoolwork

>>

Higher Education
on education quality in universities

admission oriented. Candidate Park hopes to provide equal educational opportunities to all. The five main strategies for implementation include the following:
>>

Enhance students creativity and give chance to explore

Establish the national education committee to check Simplify University admission system: find a balance

Emphasis on public education

elementary school education from 6 to 5 years; elementary school reform to hyeokshinschool (smaller scale school with a higher degree of independence to the teaching staff)

between the administration process in College Scholastic Ability Test and school grades - Bangapdeungrokgeum(half-tuition) - The government pays half the tuition through taxes. - The half-tuition policy will be applied in the next year (2013) on national universities and in 2014 on private universities.

Reduce financial burdens for private education

>>

Activate Half Tuition for university students

scholarships by 2014

Mandatory kindergarten education of 1 year; reduce

Establish a Textbook Oriented Study System Create textbooks that enable students to study independently without help from private institutions. Pass a special law for public education normalization that prohibits tests that induce prerequisite learning Give disadvantages or penalties to admission tests that set exam questions outside the range of the public school curriculum
>>

Enact Half Tuition prices by expanding national

>>

Revitalize physical education in school

Equip schools with gym facilities Support sports programs

Ban on private education after sunset; adequate resting periods for each age level Revert special types of high schools to regular high schools; higher degree of government administration on foreigner schools Banstudent ranking systems; reassess high school scoring system

The Democratic United Party has also campaigned to abolish Seoul National University and set up a new system of national universities to provide an equal quality of education. This campaign has happened before during President Rohs time, although evidently has failed. Thus, it is skeptical whether the plan credits any merit or is a political initiative to galvanize support in areas outside of Seoul.

Operate day schools at elementary schools.

Provide free after-school programs until 5pm Create diverse programs Provide free late-after school programs for working parents Enact an After-School Program and Educational

Park realizes that it is not an easy task to change Koreas education system, but she believes by setting goals and pursuing consistent policies, a happier education environment is achievable. While Parks policies and strategies seem ambitious, Park expresses her determination to carry out the promises in the election race.

Feature

December 2012. Vol. 41

The Flaws of Democracy

BY JOHANNES HWANG
In 1987, after a long period of military dictators and colonialism, South Korea became a democracy and citizens have since been able to freely elect their representatives to the government once every few years. Democracy is the governing system that claims to give power to the people, but is it really an optimal system without flaws? In many ways democracy violates individual freedom and is also a poor mechanism for making decisions on how to run a society. The first main problem of the current democratic system is that the most important task for politicians is to attract as many voters as possible rather than ruling the nation. In theory, free elections are supposed to find the representatives that are most suitable for the job of taking care of the state affairs. However, there are several flaws that keep the system from functioning effectively. First of all politicians are only elected for a limited time period. This is necessary in a democratic system in order to ensure that the existing government always exercises the will of the people; unfortunately, this also the politicians governing of the nation. Success in the upcoming election will be the target goal of the politicians and the policies are made thereafter. Thus, there will always be an emphasis on policies that produce positive outcomes in the short-run, so that the voters can see concrete results between elections. Tragically, in certain cases these policies might have negative effects in the long-run. A good example is the current economic crisis in Greece; the nation was enjoying a strong economy in the late 90s and early 2000s. Due to the strong economy, the ruling government decided that they could afford to run a budget deficit in order to provide additional benefits to the people. For example, they increased public wages by 50% between 1997 and 2007. Thanks to these policies, the politicians were temporarily seen in a very positive light by the voters. But in the end, this had devastating consequences on Greeces finances as it became impossible to rely on borrowed money. When the economy took a turn, they went bankrupt as nobody would lend them money. As a result, Greece faced undesired outcomes due to the short-term policies that were put in effect by its leading party. A second flaw with the relative importance of winning votes is that since voters are highly uninformed about many political issues, the policies chosen will not be the most optimal but rather the most demanded by ill-informed voters. For example, presidential candidate Moon needs the votes of the lower middle-class so his policies must appeal to the lower-middle class voter. One of his policies is designed to protect minor businesses from competition. Yet, this policy may ultimately create an undesirable outcome for the consumer, and consequently will make the lower middleclass worse off. Instead he could have adapted a policy that would lower taxes to produce a similar benefit for minor businesses; but as tax cuts are generally viewed negatively by the lower middle-class it would be unwise for Moon to promote such policies. situation where the majority group makes decisions which might persecute the minority. The worst case scenario of oppression by the majority is referred to as tyranny of the masses; a situation where the majority group makes decisions that oppress minorities to such an extent that it can be compared to being ruled by a tyrant. This happened in South Africa with the Apartheid legislation, which led to severe racial discrimination. While democracies rarely go so far that it becomes similar to autocracy it still has negative outcomes in many cases. A contemporary example is gay marriage. Although it is a decision that has little effect on other people except the couple involved, it is still controlled by the government in many countries. The problem of majority rule concerns everyone as most people feel that they have at least a few policies that they would be better off without. However, the majority group is content with their limitations in exchange for the benefits they receive and thus continue to support the current political system. The same cannot be said for minorities and individuals as their freedom is restricted and yet have to abide to the policies dictated by the majority group. The third main problem with democracy is that in fact, only a minor percentage of the people actually affect the outcome of elections: they can be labeled as the ruling 5%. Former U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney mentioned this during his campaign as he stated that There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president [Obama] no matter what. His statement implies that roughly 95% of the population supports either candidate nonetheless and only the remaining 5% has actual decisionpower. This phenomenon can be explained through the medium voter theorem which states that a majority rule voting system will select the outcome most preferred by the median voter. According to the medium voter theorem, political ideas can be placed along a line representing the political spectrum. Voters are represented by points at the line which are closest to their opinions regarding policies. Thus, if politicians want to secure as many votes as possible, they should choose a point as close to the middle, since voters far from the middle are already secured. For example, looking at the model to above we can see that candidate A and candidate B already have the support of the people that favor policies that are in the blue and red-colored areas. In order to attract more voters the obvious choice for candidate B is to move further to the middle, or else candidate A will definitely win the upcoming election. The already captured voters will become discontent with the move but have no power under this system. As a result the democracy will only please those with views closest to the middle; the ruling 5%.

The smallest minority on earth is the individual.

The current democratic system does not give you the power as a person and does not give you freedom as an individual. In many ways it is an inefficient and flawed system where the majority rules the minority; and as perceptively stated by the iconic philosopher Ayn Rand: The smallest minority on earth is the individual. It is difficult for any individual to make a rational decision for the entire nation but in most cases people are capable of making rational decisions in their own life. Even though the political system currently in effect in the democratic world might be preferred to autocracy or oligarchy it is far from being the blessing to the people as romanticized by many. Perhaps it would be desirable to give more freedom to the individual rather than aspire to follow the policies of the majority?

If a political party manages to acquire 50% or more of the votes they will technically have absolute power.
The second main problem with democracy is that a majority group makes the decisions. If a political party manages to acquire 50% or more of the votes they will technically have absolute power. This would lead to a

Feature

October 2012. Vol. 40

CAMPUS NEWS
Student Elections
The student presidential elections in Colleges of Social Sciences, Humanities, Engineering, Agriculture and Life Sciences and the Department of Liberal Studies all failed to materialize due to low voter turnout rate. The Student Election Governing Body of the College of Humanities, meanwhile, has been criticized for coercing students to vote through the use of portable voting stands. The 55th General Student Body Elections has also failed to garner enough votes with the voter turnout rate lower than the year before. There will be no extended voting period as the elections recorded a historically low voter rate of 27.78%, failing to reach the required 32% voter rate for the extension. The re-election for the 55th elections will take place in March of next year.

Physical Education Classes

The SNU Physical Education Instructors Association has submitted a proposal to change some of the Physical Education courses into non-credit classes. The proposal states that some of the courses are difficult to administer within the campus and others are not qualified to be merited as credit-courses. The proposal suggests changing some of the courses into non-credit activities.

Exhibition at Kyujanggak
A special exhibition titled A Journey for Korea Studies is being held at Kyujanggak. The exhibition will last until December 15th and will display works that cover topics ranging from philosophy, history to literature on Korean studies. The exhibition is open from Monday to Saturday at Kyujanggak.

Global CEO Lecture

Ji Ae Sohn, President and CEO of Arirang Television and Radio will conduct a lecture titled The Road to Becoming a Global Leader. For those interested, the lecture took place at room 204 of building 83 on December 7th.

College of Engineering
Prof Ahn Sung-Hoon from the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering will be leading a team to construct a Hybrid Grid System in Makwanpur, Nepal. The project aims at electrifying rural areas through wind and hydropower. Experts from Kathmandu University will be accompanying the Korean team which will he heading to Kathmandu on January 28, 2012. The week long project is going to be the third of its kind that Prof Ahn and his fellow students have implemented in rural parts of this Himalayan nation. The project has already been commenced through Mr. Binayak Bhandari (Phd candidate of Prof Ahns lab) who is now currently in Nepal.

International Students Human Rights Forum

On November 27th, the SNU Human Rights Center hosted the first international students human rights forum. The meeting discussed about racism and discrimination in SNU against international students. Around 24 international students participated in the forum and the discussion and student representatives from international student organizations gave presentations on the issues they faced as an international student in SNU. The forum is the first of many and will continue on in the next year.

BY YUN HWAN CHAE

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SNU Society
was successful in winning the case and consequently, the senior was sentenced to three and a half years in prison. However, after being condemned to such a sentence, he appealed to the court, claiming that he had genital malformations and therefore could not have been in a position to sexually harass her. On producing substantial evidence (such as photographic proof) of this malformation, the court then reconsidered their decision and removed his sentence. This led to the graduate student making an appearance on tvN, a cable channel, whereby she stated her opinion against the courts decision, claiming that the documents produced by the dissertation tutor proving his malformation, could be false (we cannot check whose body the photos were taken of). She also stated that if he really did have this malformation, shouldnt he have admitted so in the first court hearing, rather than later. Evidently, the case is a complicated one and not one where a simple outcome can be found. The second controversy involves resignations of both the College of Humanities and College of Social Sciences Student Presidents. Since the issue has caused a considerable amount of debate and consequentially led to a widespread circulation of rumours, it remains hard to decipher what exactly is true and what, under such scrutiny, has been fabricated. However, the general facts of the story remain veritable thus far; the College of Humanities Student President, who was with his girlfriend of the time, chain smoked as he revealed his intentions to break up with her. The girl, offended by his actions and quoted to have felt undermined by his ostentatious display of masculinity which she deemed as psychologically destructive, then reported the case to the College of Social Sciences Student President.

December 2012. Vol. 41

College of Social Sciences Student President wrong, in deeming the case unsuitable under the terms of sexual harassment? One particular event that shouldnt go amiss is the apology that was issued immediately following the resignation of the College of Social Sciences Student President by the Sexual Harassment Response Committee within Seoul National University. They released a statement confessing that having only listened to the victim and wrongly centred our opinions based on her account, we feel a responsibility for the resignation of the Social Sciences Student President and on behalf of the Committee would like to express our apologies to the students of Seoul National University for not dealing with the issue appropriately. They went on to say that their intentions had been to protect the girl as much as possible, in the hope that she would not get hurt further, but in doing so, ended up hurting a lot more people. Quite clearly, both cases are not simple. It is hard to tell who to believe, as there is undoubtedly a very fine line between what some may consider as sexual harassment and what others may not. One undeniable truth remains though, and that is the realisation that we will never know exactly what happened, and until then, it seems unfair to judge either party involved. In this issue The Quill has looked further into sexual harassment as a whole and attempted to uncover the unknown as much as is possible so that you may construct your own definition as to what sexual harassment really is.

Sexual Harassment
BY REGINA SJH LEE

[I felt] undermined by his ostentatious display of masculinity

Upon hearing the account, the College of Social Sciences Student President classified the case as irrelevant under the term of sexual harassment which thereon pushed the girl to accuse and brand the President as a second culprit. The girl, feeling that she had been victimised twice, made allegations which may have triggered the sudden explosive and extensive interest in the case. Hence, the College of Humanities Student President stepped down, and not long after that followed the resignation of the College of Social Sciences President. It is worth noting however, that whilst the College of Humanities Student President stepped down claiming that as a culprit of the incident, I cannot fulfil the role of President and will therefore resign, the College of Social Sciences stated that although she had been branded as the second culprit, she had no intentions to apologise. Evidently, many questions still remain. Can chain smoking be classified under the term of sexual harassment? What exactly did the College of Humanities Student President do which can be described as an ostentatious display of masculinity? Did something else happen other than what we know which has not been released as of yet? Could that be the factor behind his conscious resignation? And was the

exual harassment. Two simple words, which together embody such a sensitive and complex issue. Due to the intricate nature of this social problem it is often approached and handled with care. Exactly how many people are culprits of sexual harassment and are not caught or reported? And just how many people are victims of sexual harassment and are too afraid or even embarrassed to admit so? Its certainly an interesting case to consider and inevitably we may never particularly know the whole truth. Sexual harassment as the phrase itself, (used notably since the year of 1973 but generally believed to have been in use before then) was coined in a report to the President of Massachusetts Institute of Technology at the time, who was dealing with gender issues and plans for relevant policies to be developed. Ever since, social media and the general public have taken up the use of the phrase by storm. Thus, its popularity has lead to

its many universally varying definitions and subsequent disagreements as to what exactly fits the phrase. This then leads to the question: what does indeed, fit the phrase? The EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) defines sexual harassment as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favours, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. In the guideline, it is stated that unwelcome is the critical word, going on to claim that sexual conduct is unwelcome whenever the person subjected to it considers it unwelcome. The EHRC (Equality and Human Rights Commission) divides sexual harassment into two types. The first is unwanted conduct on the ground of your sex which deals with the unfair treatment of the individual on the basis of their sex, and the second, as unwanted physical, verbal or nonverbal conduct of a sexual nature. Although the EEOC does not include in its definition the inequality felt due

to gender, it is clear that both the definitions of the EEOC and EHRC place significant emphasis on two words: unfair and unwelcome. So where does this all fit in, in regards to the life of Seoul National University students? The answer is that the term is very relevant concerning this years two main controversies. The first controversy deals with sexual harassment according to the EEOC definition of unwelcome sexual advances, whilst the second deals with sexual harassment according to the definition of the EHRC, based on unwanted conduct on the ground of gender. In dealing with the first controversy, the issue involves a 30 year old graduate student and her dissertation tutor. The graduate student (whose dream is to become a professor) was receiving help from her senior when she filed a case of sexual harassment against him. Having accused him, she

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December 2012. Vol. 41

Laws Behind the Bars

Sex Crimes and Laws in Korea
BY SO HYUN PARK

he media exhibits a show of unthinkable incidents of sex crimes happening all around us. Even in our campus, we learn about numerous cases of sexual harassments and crimes. Unfortunately, some of us are part of the stories, and the rest of us are horrified by it. But do we know or even care about the aftermath of this whole mess and what is done to solve them? Most of us would agree that the bad should be punished for the sake of the society. However, Korean society is rather lenient on punishing the culprits for what they have done,

thereby ignoring the protection for the afflicted. According to the Supreme Public Prosecutors Office, out of all of the accused sex offenders in 2005, only 41.1% was prosecuted. The numbers have been decreasing ever since, arriving at a disappointing 37% this year. Considering the fact that Korea has a very low rate of reported and accused sex crimes from the actual crime occurrences, of around 10%, this data is rather disturbing. There are various laws that have had an influence on the outcomes of these statistics.

To start with, by law, suspected rapists in Korea are only investigated only if victims file complaints with the authorities. If the crime is not reported by the victim her or himself, it is not regarded as serious and the offender is punished much lightly. In Korean society, the sexually afflicted victims find it extremely difficult to speak out their problem in public as they are viewed with scorn disapproval. Many seek assistance by speaking through others and this law is a major obstacle for offenders from being properly punished. In Korea, rape is a term that covers a much narrower range of sex crimes than those of many other countries and the verdicts are made according to Extreme Consultation Theory. For a a seuxal intercourse to be considered as rape, there must have been some kind of a physical assault or threat preceding the sexual intercourse. The extent of physical assault or threat must be

strong enough that the victim is unable to fight back. This law or theory has been adopted by the Supreme Court to prevent the innocent from being unfairly prosecuted. However, it has been a tricky barrier and a great burden for the victims as they have to provide evidence of physical assault or blackmailing before the actual act of rape. In reality, there could be many other reasons that could have made victims difficult to resist sexual assaults. Until 1970, the United States of America considered a case to be rape only if the victim showed utmost resistance. But after numerous Rape Law Reform Movements the utmost resistance law was abolished. Most states have concluded that whether the intercourse have happened against the victims free will or not is the most important factor to consider in determining the occurrence of rape. In Germany, the fear of the assailant due to his physical superiority or any other psychological factors are valid reasons for the lack of resistance during rape. Furthermore, in the United Kingdom, any sexual afflictions, without ones consent is considered rape. Seeing this, many have voiced out that it is time for the Korean definition of rape to be revised. Furthermore, even if a case filed by the victim is considered to be rape, there are many cases where the criminals are punished inadequately. Although the laws for punishing sex criminals in Korea are quite heavy compared to those of other countries like the United States, Singapore and Europe, the actual application of it is must lighter. Even the very worst offenders spend no more than 10 years in prison. There have been many

debates and suggestions for establishing methods to punish the criminals and deter further crimes by chemical or physical castration but many oppose these measures in consideration of human rights. Ultimately, to combat and deter sex crimes however, there need to be changes in peoples perceptions and awareness on sex crimes. Reforming laws to punish and deter occurrences is important, but it is more important to provide a safe environment where the victims feel free to report the sexual assault. Many Koreans think that not only the offender but also the victims are at fault for being sexually assaulted. People become suspicious of any actions that the victim might have done to arouse or seduce the offender. So the accused use these notions to bribe or even threaten the victims to drop the charges. Even in court, many sexual assault victims are faced with many sexually biased questions, asking of their previous sexual experiences. This can cause even more psychological damage on the offended and could make their lives miserable in living as a member of society. The huge gap between laws and peoples perceptions toward sex crimes in Korea results from the countrys historical background. During the

Chosun era, dating back to the 1800s, Korea had a very unequal view toward women. They were treated as inferior to men and were deprived of the opportunity to have a proper social status in community. After the Japanese occupation and the Korean War, South Korea adopted democracy as the ruling system and Constitution was written without little consent of the citizens but rather referenced from earlier democratic countries. The rapid transition into democracy has left a huge gap between what people conceive of the world and the laws that govern the land. The laws regarding sex crimes and rights are no exceptions. It will take a long time for people to change their biased views on sex crimes but it needs to happen. In the future, the victims should be able to confidently press charges on the offender, knowing that people will acknowledge the damage they have encountered, that the offender will be punished justly and that they will be able to come back to the society after the fight to live a normal life again. This kind of improvement in the consciousness of the society will increase the of number of reports and charges against sex criminals which wil contribute to a more stable social environment.

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December 2012. Vol. 41

The Women Speak

BY DIANA CHO
Sexual harassment and gender equality is not merely a problem in todays society, but also a growing issue amongst universities. Seoul National University is not only on the A list of number one highest achieving students but also has experienced its slips with sexual harassment cases and gender inequalities. Professor Abigail Shin, SNUs very own female professor, gives you her point of view on this case. I was privileged to sit down with Professor Shin and discuss sexual harassment issues both within SNU and in Korean society. Being a Korean-American, she had much to discuss about the difference between the USA and Korea on the issue. With her teaching experience not only at SNU, but also at KAIST, she shared her thoughts on the two schools and how sexual harassment and gender equality was dealt with.

teach again.

We know that SNU has a prominent name and often tries to cover up issues regarding these cases. What do you think?
Ive heard that these sort of cases and even suicide incidents are covered up. I understand the concern as many Koreans seem to judge a university by such incidents (e.g., there was so much talk after KAIST had five suicides a couple of years ago unlike the ones in SNU). However, news is news, and students need to be aware of the dangers around them so that they could take precautions. If these issues are addressed publicly, perpetrators as well as potential victims could be warned. However, I dont believe in defaming and humiliating a person, especially victims. Names should be left anonymous.

Finally, for all the women out there, Id like to tell them to respect yourself and your bodies. No means no, and whether its a boyfriend or someone you respect like a professor, they need to respect your wishes. Also, do not be afraid to use the voice that Gods given you. If you have experienced acts of sexual harassment or rape, do not keep it to yourself. Tell the police or at least a trusted mentor or friend, so that that person cannot do it to someone else. And for the men out there, likewise, respect yourself and your bodies. Sex is not supposed to be a one-way pleasure. If it is hurting the other person, emotionally, physically, or mentally, you are committing an offense.

Why do you think these sexual harassments occur?

I think there are many causes. It may stem from a lack of sex education or gender inequality. Sexual harassment is defined as any unwanted sexual advances or remarks, so even saying something sexual to someone can be sexual harassment. The problem is that many people dont consider this sort of act a crime. I also think that in Korean society, women are often objectified and sex is often taken too lightly. This is obvious by the number of room salons, sexy bars, red light districts, and the high rate of prostitution in this country. Women need to be valued as human beings and respected for their womanhood. (It is so difficult to see chivalry in this country - even something as simple as opening doors or having ladies go first). Also, sex needs to be seen as a sacred act - when people treat sex as just a simple pleasure for self, they will act selfishly to fulfill their needs.

Lastly, looking at the bigger picture, it is a bit of an issue in Korea where students during high school are strained to stay behind tables all day. University is a vent for these students, often being a partial cause to the sexual harassments. Do you think this is caused by an educational issue?
Well, I dont think it is fair to say that sexual harassment is a form of venting for these students. There are so many other ways to let out your angst and stress from studying such as by playing sports, hanging with friends, or chatting. To blame sexual harassment acts on Koreas schooling is a cop out. But I do think more education is necessary. Some of my Korean friends have told me that there is not proper sex education in high school, which is necessary. If sex is considered a taboo topic, students will choose their own ideology regarding sex, be afraid to talk about some of their desires or even acts committed against them, which can definitely add to the increase in sexual crime. Another problem in Korea is that women are objectified. This can be seen in the many types of places like the red light districts. Women also should respect themselves because rape not only occurs between strangers, but even in relationships quite often. Education needs to take place in schools, but also in the homes. Parents should not be afraid to talk to their teens about sex. Also, I hope that this younger generation will be able to stand up for what they believe and say no to acts they know are wrong, even when everyone is doing it. For example, once these college students go into the business realm, I hope they will say no to prostitution and room salons because these industries only fuel the objectifying of women, the destruction of families, and the unhealthy view of sex.

What is your general opinion on gender equality in Korea? Are there improvements you believe should be made?
Although Im sure equality is more evident today than in Korean history, especially with a woman running for presidency, improvement is definitely needed. Males are still considered to be superior and prioritized in many social, domestic, and business settings. I believe women need to be equally valued and respected in these environments.

What about gender equality within SNU?

Thankfully, I havent witnessed too much gender inequality in SNU. It seems that for the most part, students or professors are not partial to one gender. As a female instructor here, I havent had any experiences where I felt discriminated against because of my gender. This gives me hope that Korean society is indeed changing.

into the university or society, they should be on parole and monitored by law so that they do not repeat such crimes. As a student council president, ones job is to not only represent, but show responsibility. The details of the whole situation may not be clear, but I dont believe that after the incident he should have be pressured, humiliated and defamed. It is rather he be legally punished or academically and preferably resign quietly. Humiliation shouldnt be part of a punishment even when there are cases of rape or harassment.

Not only students, but there are cases where professors become involved in these shameful acts. As a female educator, what do you feel about these situations?
(ex. College of Music - two professors fired last year) Sexual harassment is even worse when it is done by an educator. Because they are in a dominant role to the student, and because students are vulnerable (for they worry about their grades and the way teachers view them), these educators have greater responsibility for their actions. Students need to be able to trust their teachers and feel safe in a classroom environment, but once that line is breached, it becomes more than a simple act of harassment; it is a form of manipulation, bribery, and bullying. I could imagine that the younger students may feel afraid to speak out or to object because in some aspects, they are on a lower plain. Although it may be severe, these professors should not be allowed to

Is there a way to prevent them?

First of all, education is needed. I have a friend who counsels in a prestigious university (Korea University), and in that university they are holding seminars to educate professors and students about sexual harassment and the like. Secondly, punishments need to be enforced. I was appalled when I found out about the seven-year old girl who was kidnapped and raped and left to die in the southern part of Korea. The perpetrator, I heard, received only like 12 years in prison. No wonder people do not take rape to be a serious offense. Lawmakers need to know that an act of rape is a severe crime and give just punishment.

There have been several issues with sexual harassment and rape inside SNU. What kind of penalties do you think the students involved should have?
(ex. Humanities student council president) These students should face not only expulsion from school, but legal punishments as well. Of course, rape incidents are much more severe than sexual harassment, but both are unacceptable and should be dealt with by law. Once theyve served their punishment, and they are reinstated back

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December 2012. Vol. 41

To the Ladies
BY YOUNG MIN SON

5. What obstacles do women face when it comes to reporting sexual abuse?

Often, a victims testimony is not enough, so another way to determine whether sexual abuse occurred is by judging how rigorously women resisted sexual abuse. In this case, women have to prove that they resisted to the brink of death. If the woman doesnt convince the investigator that she resisted hard enough, it may not be recognized as sexual abuse. There was one case when a woman resisted on the 6th floor of a motel, and the investigator asked her why didnt you jump out the window?. Questions like these may sound ridiculous but these kinds of questions are actually asked during the investigation.

inequality plays a role in sexual abuse?

The connection between the two (gender equality and sexual abuse) is very clear. The Korean society is still very sexist. Men is portrayed as being aggressive and skilled, they are free to expression. Meanwhile, women are expected to be passive and shy, and feel embarrassed for any issues concerning sexuality.

A telephone interview is conducted with Ms. Seo who works under sexual abuse sector in Korea Womens Hot Line. Korea Womens Hot line found in 1983, helps counsel women who has suffered domestic violence and sexual abuse, and is working for women rights.
1. Why do you think sexual abuse has suddenly become a major social issue? How is this affecting female victims of sexual assault?
It is due to child rape, like the recent incident at Naju. Children are subject to protection, they are weaklings that our society should protect. When a child raping incident is reported, the society is infuriated; and the government enforces new regulations and systems to calm the citizens. The problem is that many people find relief in these new regulations and systems even though they are not very practical. Not many people follow through and observe whether these regulations and systems actually work to help prevent future assaults. The fact that the society is entirely focused on child rape is also not very favorable for women. The society doesnt consider women to be a subject to protection because they are adults. It is assumed that adults should know how to prevent and protect themselves from sexual assault.

6. Men often say that women triggered his sexual desire, and therefore women are equally at fault. Do you feel that sexual abuse may be due to the fault of both the victim and the assailant?
This argument is commonly made by males but it is far from the truth. The victim (women) should not be held accountable for sexual assault. The assailant often complain that the victim was wearing revealing clothes, staying out drinking until late hours, or stayed in get-together until late hours. In our society, what men say to get out of trouble (like the excuses they have) is actually accepted. But do you think a woman will ever wear clothes that she thinks will give her even the slightest chance, like 0.0001%, of getting her raped? She will not do that. Yet many mens argument that women is equally at fault is being approved; which leads to secondary damage.

9. There has been numerous sexual abuse and sexual harassment issues in the universities. However, it seems like the Korean universities are hesitant to take aggressive action. What is holding the university back? And how can the victims find help?
As I mentioned before, sexual harassment often occurs between a Professor and student, where the Professor abuses his power. It is difficult for the student to speak up because it can affect their graduation and employment. Once it is reported to the university, it is difficult for the university to take the side of the victim (student). The university has a reputation to keep, and because the Professor is staff, there are cases where the school takes the side of the Professor. However, there are also cases where the university actively engages in solving problems related to sexual abuse within the university. I understand that many universities have counseling centers for sexual abuse and harassment. The victims can visit there first. However, if they find that the counseling service is not being aggressive; they can contact other counseling service outside the university. The counseling service not only helps counsel but can also follow through the process of accusation.

3. Has there been any notable change in female sexual abuse in our society?
As you know, the Korean society is an aging society, and we have been observing a sudden increase in sexual abuse of elderly women. I mean a really shocking increase in abuse towards elderly women. However, in our society elderly women are considered to have no sexuality, and the society seems to dismiss this issue. At the moment, society is focused on the child raping that they have turned a blind eye to adult victims.

4. Often times, men will say the women agreed while the women will say they did not. How can a third person make an accurate judgment?
When a sexual assault is reported, almost a 100% of all the investigation have the assailant say that the victim agreed while the victim says it happened despite their resistance. Men often ask woman lets get some rest in a motel. The problem is that when women went with the man because she trusted him but she was sexually abused; the very act of going to a motel room is seen as agreeing to sleep with him. When the victim reports sexual abuse and is able to provide a consistent, detailed encounter of the situation; the investigation assumes that sexual abuse took place. This is mainly because the victim is stigmatized in the Korean society. Our society is very silent and sensitive about these issues concerning sexual harrassment, therefore there is an underlying assumption that females will not lie about the sexual assault (due to social stigma).

7. Antragsdelikt (chingojue), a criminal law where the offence cannot be prosecuted without the victims accusation has been abolished. How do you think will affect sexual abuse in our society?
I think it is important that men realize sexual abuse is a crime and it violates women rights. With the abolishment of chingojue, I feel that we can hope for a turning point in social awareness that sexual abuse is clearly a crime. By allowing other people to report sexual abuse, more victims will come speak out, there will be an increase in prosecutions, and the issue can become a public issue for open discussion. At the moment, of all the sexual abuse reports, only 50% are indicted, and 50% of the offences indicted are discharged.

10. Is there a way women can go through the prosecution protected identity?
Yes, of course. In fact, protecting the identity is the first rule of thumb at our hotline. We have a very good system for protecting the victims identity and personal information. It is possible to go through prosecution without revealing personal information. Counseling groups (like us) can also accompany the victim during the prosecution, and we can also help out in questioning sessions. It is even possible to go through trial without facing the offence, privately. If you do not wish to reveal your personal information, it will be strictly guarded. The offence will not know who you are and the lawyer on the offence is strictly forbidden to release any personal information. It is unfortunate that this information is not widely known in the public, and many victims get scared and hide away without even giving a try.

2. How does the media affect our perception of sexual abuse and harassment?
There is a trap in the media reports. The media often reports the offence as being a psychopath or mentally disturbed individual who needs treatment. Our society tends to think sexual assailant must be someone with mental issues, and believe that if we segregate these people from our society, our society will be safe. But this is far from the truth. In reality, 80% of the offence are just ordinary citizens. In fact, 80% of all sexual abuse happens between closely related people like family, friends, relatives and neighbors.

8. Recently, the World Economic Forum enlisted South Korea as 108th out of 135 countries in gender equality. How do you think gender

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December 2012. Vol. 41

A Twisted Extension of Sexual Inequality

BY EUN HUR

180 Turn:

veryone has heard of sexual discrimination- the unjust consequences and the hardships mostly the female gender has experienced. In the past, the male sex dominated critical facets of society, requiring the females to endure the disadvantages and eventually fight back for equality. In modern South Korea however, the issue of sexual equality is tending to take a 180 turn where in certain cases sexual discrimination is now in favor of the female gender. As sexual equality institutions and projects receive more public attention, women of Korea are seemingly gaining more power than ever. To look at the issue in a feminist view, society itself is molded to believe that the male population is the one exercising an unequal level of power and repressing the females. In the desire to reach equilibrium of power and values among the sexes, recent South Korean events, both in and out of the SNU society, have tended towards the extremes for the females. Specifically, men have been forced to fight back for their rights during the past year, extending the same but twisted problem of sexual discrimination. The recent Je-Cheon Library incident clearly portrays the situation of sexual discrimination in Korea that has had its tables turned. On June 13th, a group of men who call themselves the Male Solidarity struck the female-only library protesting about the injustice of its exclusive availability to women. The Je-Cheon Library is the only library in the country to restrict its admission to women and is a municipal library operated by taxes. The Je-Cheon city was warned during early February this year by the National Human Rights Commission that the operation of a public library dedicated to women is an infringement of the right to equality for men and hence should take measures to avoid ruling out the entrance of males completely. In response, women in the library management and the city library official stated that the library is women-customized through the absence of male urinals, male amenities and the addition of open nursery areas, so in order to prevent disruptions to

The interior of the female student lounge in the 2nd floor of the student union building.

The Male Solidarity protest outside the Je-Cheon Female Library earlier this summer.

these facilities, the entrance of males should be restricted. An additional interesting point of this incident has to be the fact that the library has been open since 1994, never receiving any pivotal criticisms until this summer. The sudden protests by Male Solidarity and the National Human Rights Commission are therefore evidence of a shift in society as a whole where it is possible to even develop a female-only educational facility. As a response against the protests and disapprovals, the city library officials also disputed that the library was built in accordance to the donators request- for the women of Je-Cheon city-and since the Male Solidarity is not members of the region, their sudden frustration is not appropriate. Our SNU campus has also recently exhibited an extended form of the Je-Cheon library incident with a female students report for sexual harassment accusing her boyfriend for smoking. The fierce controversy the SNU cigarette incident has sparked take its root in March when a female student of SNU sent an individual letter to the student council stating that she had been sexually harassed in the process of parting with her boyfriend. She claimed that in the course of the break-up, he consistently smoked cigarettes, which in her perspective demonstrated his masculinity and psychologically stifled her as a form of sexual harassment.

Apart from the fact that the event took place during a break-up, this kind of response and accuse of sexual harassment can be seen as deterrence that is difficult to sympathize with. Despite the very few views that believe the male may have lit his cigarettes too aggressively, this controversial event did in fact receive numerous criticisms and questions doubting if smoking should be considered a form of sexual harassment. Otherwise, this bizarre happening in our very campus surely brought out the face of an extreme attempt to relinquish sexual harassment, which ended up possibly stifling the males rights instead. In parallel to this eccentric incident, is the quite controversial issue of the female students lounge in the SNU campus. There are a total of four female student lounges in our campus, restricting the entrance of male students through an ID card scanning security system. The female student lounge in the second floor of the student union building specifically is the most widely used lounge out of the four with more than 25 students consistently enjoying the facilities during the most prominent school

hours. This seemingly harmless system discomforts a portion of the SNU student body as there are no lounges allocated for the separate use of males. The users of the female lounges are not charged separately for their entrance and neither does the female

This controversial event did in fact receive numerous criticisms and questions doubting if smoking should be considered a form of sexual harassment.
students of SNU pay an initial fee at the start of the semester. Despite this unequal availability of lounge systems, the male students of campus have surprisingly different thoughts. Young Woo Kim (Business Administration, 11) expresses his neutrality towards this issue by stating, the presence of a female student lounge does not bother me. I dont believe making a male student lounge will be an effective use of space and money for the school. So although quite rare, more and more cases of sexual equality are brought up to surface in and out of the

SNU society. The sexual equality that the females request are becoming increasingly exclusive, provoking inequality with the male gender as the new victim. Though some remain neutral and rather aloof to the issue, numerous males are expressing their discomfort, evoking a fundamental doubt that perhaps the dispute of sexual equality is one with no empirical solution that completely satisfies the two genders.

The entrance of the female student lounge is allowed only when the card sensor detects female identification.

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December 2012. Vol. 41

Silent Screams
BY YOUNG MIN SON
criticism from the men. The recent news on female victims of sexual abuse and harassment brought out a surge of emotions from the Korean society. The problems related to sexual harassment was virtually unheard of, let alone make headlines in the news. Sexual harassment is nothing new, as it has always existed in our society, so I guess the question is why all the fuss now? Why has it never been a concern of our society before? In the past, Korean women were silenced by their husbands or their sons, it was all up to the men? The fear of social stigma has silenced the women to treat their own wounds and swallow their pain. The sexually abused victims remain silent, afraid they will be branded for life, no longer able to live an ordinary life as a wife and a mother. Luckily, the gender inequality issue in Korea is in the midst of a major change. Women are refusing to sit passively behind the mens shadows. Working women are seen as a deviation from the social norm where the wifes power does not go beyond the kitchen. Today, females are receiving high degrees of education and aggressively competing with men for high wage jobs. Women are starting to ask, What is there, that a man can do but a woman cant?. The women breadwinners have learned to voice their opinions and concerns, and call for their rights. The World Economic Forum (WEF) has ranked South Korea 108th out of 135 countries in gender equality on October 2012. This ranking is self explanatory in the terms of gender inequality in Korea. If Korea wants to maintain its title as a developed country, Korea must work on giving equal rights to their citizen. Many females in Korea still remain hesitant, doubtful that their voices will be heard, doubtful of the help that is being offered by different feminist organizations. Theres no doubt the road to gender equality for females will be a long and a rough one. The current spurt of sexual assault issue in the Korean society may just be the tip of the iceberg hiding the greater underlying conflict of equal rights. Although the odds may not be in womens favor; the Korean society is taking measures to protect women from this social injustice. These measures may seem small and it may not foolproof but it will be enough to keep the Korean women moving forward.

SNU Society
BY HAESOL KIM
Technology. Ahn declared his bid for presidency in September this year before withdrawing on 23rd November. At the time, local media had accused Ahn of plagiarism based on a Saenuri Party request during the National Assemblys audit on the state-run university. The conservative ruling party had asked the university to investigate the alleged plagiarism. Ahn and his aides vehemently denied the allegations, criticizing the media and the Saenuri Party for political attacks. Nevertheless, SNU began a preliminary review of plagiarism allegations against its alumnus. The universitys Committee on Research Integrity held a meeting and launched a probe into the allegations of plagiarism. Since the legislature made the request, it is our position to comply with it, the Committee said. We will review the five papers from a purely academic point of view. Fortunately for the former presidential candidate, after 10 days of review, an independent committee of the university ultimately found that Ahn had done absolutely nothing wrong. Yet the incident illustrates how seriously plagiarism is considered by the university and how allegations of plagiarism still surface in all sectors of society. Plagiarism, as defined by the British Encyclopedia, is the act of taking the writings of another person and passing them off as ones own. The fraudulence is closely related to forgery and piracy, which are practices usually in violation of copyright laws. Recently, the practice has occurred more frequently since many universities have introduced incentive systems for those who produce more research papers. This is because the research papers may be published in renowned international science magazines thereby ultimately increasing the universitys reputation. Furthermore, with the rise of publications of journals in other languages, professors simply translate their own published and copyrighted works into English or other languages and reuse them in their next publications. In particular, Seoul National University has experienced a myriad of plagiarism cases in recent years. For example, at the end of 2005, the scientific community was shocked by one of the greatest cases of misconduct in the history of science. Two research results regarding stem cell technology from a Korean laboratory headed by Professor

Plagiarism in

oday, when it comes to sexual harassment in Korea, it seems like both men and women have a lot to say. A male student once asked me, Do you not look up when you are walking up stairs? Its not fair that we get accused of looking up womens skirts when were walking up the stairs. I guess he has a point but the current issue on sexual abuse in the Korean society is a ticking time bomb. The borderline between a touch and abuse is so delicate that some doctors now ask their patients permission for physical examination, and fathers have to be careful making physical contact with their daughters. Last year, a woman even asked men to form prayer hands in the subway to prevent unncessary physical contact. This request brought on a deluge of

The Disgraced Former Professor of SNU Hwang Woo-seok

nly last month, the then independent presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-Soo was accused of plagiarism in five of his academic works, including his 1988 masters dissertation and his 1991 doctoral dissertation. The 50-year-old graduated from SNU in 1986 and completed a masters degree in physiology in 1988. He obtained his doctoral degree in medicine in 1991. He also served as the Dean of Seoul National University Graduate School of Convergence Science and

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December 2012. Vol. 41

The New Fusion. Art meets Engineering

Hwang Woo-Seok of SNU, was published in the prominent magazine Science. The work was exalted worldwide for achieving breakthroughs about stem cell technology. Yet soon, these findings were revealed to be almost completely fabricated and were therefore retracted. Professor Hwang ultimately resigned from SNU in late December 2005 and was officially dismissed the next year. In another infamous case, after Professor Oh Yeon-chun of Administration Studies was selected as the new President of SNU in 2010, he was immediately confronted with selfplagiarism accusations of reusing 11 research papers that were once published in other journals or publications, without attributing their previous use. Although Professor Oh was eventually cleared of such allegations and went on to become the president of SNU, another hopeful in the same year, Sung Nak-in of the Department of Law was also suspected of having reused 10 research papers in other publications without proper attribution. Yet plagiarism is not only an issue for the universitys professors; SNU students continue to plagiarize. A year after the notorious Hwang Woo-Seok case, the university vowed to take stern measures to root out cases of plagiarism in its campus. SNU has tried to tighten its ethical guidelines for papers of both professors and students with some professors pointing out that the university focuses only on the irregularities of professors research, not on the spread of plagiarism among students. In response, SNU decided to make ethical guidelines for students homeworks and research papers. Based on the new regulations, the school published a book on the types of research irregularities and distributed it to all students. In addition, the university started offering education programs related to research ethics during freshman orientations. However, still no specific standards exist on cases of plagiarism and no penalties are implemented other than lower scores; plagiarism is still rife in the campus. As the internet has made information more accessible, many students can easily copy others works and submit them as their own. More seriously, many students do not hesitate to take ethical shortcuts, making use of the lucrative online industry created to cater to them. Brokers match graduate students with those willing to ghostwrite. Although brokers insist that their main customers are businessmen and office workers lacking time to do academic research, those hurrying to obtain advanced degrees to give them an advantage over their peers in South Korea's highly competitive society are increasingly relying on these brokers. So, how can plagiarism be diminished, or even better, totally rooted out? Professor Lee In-Jae of Ethics Education at Seoul National University claims such practices were prominent seven or eight years ago, but the problem has mainly disappeared since then because of increased awareness and training. Yet he claims more training is needed to completely eradicate the practice. Professor Lee claims that educating students to understand it is unethical to make even seemingly minor mistakes, such as not citing references, needs to be taught in elementary schools. For example, if young students are taught that it is wrong to copy their friends homeworks, then they will be able to complete honest research papers at university. Furthermore, since students may not have a clear understanding of what constitutes to plagiarism, the term should be clearly defined to all students, distinguishing it from appropriate collaboration. Examples of how and when students should credit (cite) the work of others in their writing should also be given so that they will have concrete cases to which they can refer to whilst writing. In addition, requesting preliminary drafts to a written assignment discourages plagiarizing as it will help them spread a large writing task over a longer period of time. Last but not least, by assigning students to submit their background research material, they will also be less inclined to skip steps and rely on plagiarism.

The convergence demands attention

BY JUNG HYUN JUNG

New Media Lab

Not many are aware of The New Media Lab located at the 301 Engineering Building. In contrast to typical labs, the lab does not focus on to learning and absorbing past experiments for educational purposes. It provides a new perspective on creativity and innovation. Under the direction and supervision of Professor Hyun Woo Bang, graduate students are encouraged to work on original projects. Using an engineering approach, Professor Bang assists students in conceiving art ideas into tangible workable research areas. When it was first created in 2009, the ambition of this unique lab was to fuse art with different engineering fields. The purpose of The New Media Lab is to help students realize that the approaches to engineering are limitless. Some of the topics currently being under research are new media technologies, social networks, smartphones, flexible screens and natural user interfaces dealing with various principles such as convergence design and tangible media.

Biography and Philosophy of professor Bang

Professor HyunWoo Bang, who is an assistant professor at the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and founder of the New Media Lab, is an alumnus of Seoul National University. His undergraduate and graduate qualifications, including his PhD, were all accomplished here in SNU. In short, he was a serious engineer. However, outside the intellectual field, he worked as an industrial designer for a period of ten years before he became a new media artist and traveled around the world together with his partner and wife, artist YunSil Heo (both known as the new media artist duo couple Everyware ). His new occupation served as a catalyst for

stimulating his creativity, which earned him several opportunities to showcase his work at several exhibitions at renowned museums which include Ars Electronica Center in Austria, Tokyo National Art Museum in Japan, Disseny Hub Barcelona in Spain and Victoria&Albert Museum in England. During an interview with the Quill, Professor Bang described the core philosophy with which he carries out his profession as an artist, and with which he encourages his students to realize the wide possibilities in the fusion of art and engineering. The essence of that was, he explained, inspired by one of Ancient Greek physician Hippocratess aphorisms: ars longa, vita brevis. This quote translates to Art is long,, Life is short. What he actually meant by using the word art at that time was more to do the word technology rather than orthodox art. Professor Bang believes that there are no boundaries even between art and engineering. In the past, art and technology were considered to be the same but after the industrial revolution they were so thought to be separated. At present, the boundaries are starting to disappear again. Engineering, in

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Prof. Bangs exhibition located at College of Engineering Buiding 39

Austen or Bronte?
BY JANE PARK
Exhibit A: The tubes contain black balls which respond to an external objects motion. The pictures displays the disturbance.

Opinion:

particular, could be a tool that could be utilized in diverse fields. He clarified the point explaining how he is teaming up with the music department of SNU to organize a music concert in the near future. Smartphones,he further explained, help to exemplify another combination of art and engineering. These illustrate the fact that art is not always an aesthetic form. Finally, professor Bang believes that art represents a better form of expressing himself in a more independent way, which justifies why he changed his profession from a designer to an artist. As a designer, Professor based his work on clients preferences, however, as an artist, he had no limitations or boundaries of any kind. He was free to create any piece of art he liked on his

own preferred way. He appeared to be fascinated by the whole process.

Students projects
Mouse with Visual Field Compatibility. Several projects from The New Media Lab are at their research phase. One of them concerns improved functionalities of the computer mouse. Known as the Virtual Mouse with Visual Field Compatibility, this new type of mouse, controlled by a 3D camera, replaces the physical contact involved in handling the traditional mouse. Without any support of hardware in the users hand, it uses an IR emitter and IR camera to interpret the users hands relative motion as the cursor movement on the computer screen.

Microscopic Augmented Reality for a Long-Term Live-Cell Imaging. With great practical applications, its main purpose is to enhance the functions of a microscope using augmented reality. This study avoids the long and tedious process of monitoring cell development, one of the prime procedures involved in biology and life science researches. Using engineering methods for improved augmented reality indicators, it accomplishes the rotation of the specimen under analysis until it recognizes and focuses on its Region of Interest(ROI). Microscope Augmented Reality provides an accurate, convenient and inexpensive way to relocate the ROI from the item in analysis.

Exhibit B: A Kinect-like sensing camera mounted on the screen allows users to interact with the screen and create digital art work on the spot.

Charlotte Bronte wrote Jane Eyre under the pen name Currer Bell

It is not like men existed alone in history... Throughout history, women experienced, suffered, and felt as much as men did. And yet, their voices have been silenced for so long. Feminist literature is what gives women their chance to speak. It persuades women to share their experiences, and listens to their stories, said Professor SuhReen Han of the English Language and Literature department when asked about her opinion on feminist literature. The underlying belief in feminism is womens ability to achieve equality with men in a political, economic, and social spectrum. Feminism in literature is more noble; it does not aggressively demand womens rights or equality, but it also serves as a tool to tell people that woman can have a stance, a voice, and an opinion on anything and everything. Jane Austens Pride and Prejudice is an internationally well-known feministic novel. In fact, when I was going around asking students from different, non-literary, majors what they knew or thought about feministic literature, Austen or Pride and Prejudice were the only words that many could think of. The public indeed perceives Austens Pride and Prejudice as the greatest feministic writing, and the novel, which is extremely well-written and interesting, rightfully deserves such recognition. However, according to Professor Suh-Reens definition, I would like to

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Feminist literature is what gives women their chance to speak. It persuades women to share their experiences, and listens to their stories.
suggest that Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre is more faithful to the feministic ideals. Unlike Pride and Prejudice, where readers first meet Elizabeth as a grown-up lady, in Jane Eyre , the readers get to witness Janes childhood development. This is important because the readers see and understand Jane developing her independence and strong-will, unlike simply being introduced to as the already independent, strong-willed Elizabeth Bennet. By being acquainted to the development of Janes feministic qualities, the readers are able to readily feel sympathetic towards Jane and accept her character. Additionally, although Elizabeth acted as if she had the social equality with men, she was not independent from men economically. At first, Elizabeth depended on her father to support her economically, and later on the readers can predict that she will be dependent on Darcy to support her financially. Jane, on the other hand, works and is responsible for her own income. The act of proposal is used very differently in these two books. In Austens writing, Elizabeth at first rejects Darcys prideful proposal. This is unbelievably daring for a lady living at her time period. Going against the social norm, she stubbornly refuses to marry him despite his social standing and wealth. She waits until he lowers himself for her and proves himself as a worthy man. It is only then when she falls in love with him and finally gives her consent to marry him. Here, it was Darcy who took the action and Elizabeth who responded. Therefore, in a way, Darcy and Elizabeths equality is not achieved by her rise, but is achieved by Darcys willingness to lower his pride for her. In Jane Eyre, Jane, deeply in love with Rochester, waits for him to propose, then accepts his proposal at first. However, when things do not work out and she doubts that the marriage would work, she boldly leaves him. Unable to forget him, Jane returns, just to find Rochester as a helpless, blind man. Here then, she willfully chooses to marry him out of pure love. The readers can tell that through her, Rochester has regained energy and motivation to carry on with his life. Therefore, Jane takes an active role and is deeply influential in the male characters life. Just by looking at the titles of these two stories, the readers can comprehend where the emphasis is on. Pride and Prejudice is more of a love story. It contains not only Elizabeths love story, but also Janes and Lydias and many others. The most feministic character, Elizabeth, is not the only one of importance in the story. However in Jane Eyre, the story itself is about and around Jane. It is her life story. The readers truly get to know Jane by the end of the story.

Sports at SNU
The K-League Cup- Female College Club Football League
BY EUN HUR
SNU Womens Football Club (SNUWFC) has proudly earned the 3rd place trophy in this years annual K-League Cup- Female College Club Football League. Organized by Gapyong city and Sookmyung Womens University, the Female College Club Football League is highly acknowledged for its participants skills as well as for the school spirit that the event brings about the 12 participating universities. The league is recognized among the female football college clubs to be the biggest competition due to the significant sponsors who support the event such as Adidas. This years event became even more special with the surprise visit of Ahn Jung-hwan, former national football player and K-Leagues Honorary PR Leader. Chae-Yoon Kim (Business Administration, 11), full-time player of this years SNUWFC expressed, It was the first time we got pass the preliminaries in the K-League Cup but we were actually heading for first place since we were striving in other competitions previously at this point of the year. Luck wasnt on our side when we went against Kyung Hee University but at least we got a trophy! Hopefully next year we will be able to hold the first prize.

The winners: Team Purple

International Students Sports Festival (ISSF) by SISA

BY MASKEY ABHAS
SNU International Students Association (SISA) has been active in providing a platform for International students to intermingle and celebrate events together. With International Food Festival (IFF) now a fond memory, SISAs next project, The International Students Sports Festival, was equally exciting. Over 80 participants representing over 20 nations competed in indoor mini games in teams separated in four distinct colors. Emotions ran high as the members took on each task with much enthusiasm. The Relays, in particular, tested both patience and stamina as each participant had to go through a series of unexplored tests. The team Balloon Bursting Competition and Tug-of-war proved equally challenging as well. Teamwork and concentration adhered to effective strategy made the difference in what was a tight ordeal. Eventually, the team purple claimed the top spot while green and yellow stood second and third respectively. The lucky draw event was featured regularly in between as Samuel Park (Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, 11) took home the bumper prize. Accepting his Jeju air ticket for two, he concluded the festival in some style as he danced to the Gangnam Style.

Jane Austens Pride and Prejudice has sold around 20 million copies worldwide.

I am not necessarily criticizing Pride and Prejudices influence on feminism. I believe that Austens writing is a wonderful piece of art. It deserves its recognition and fame. However, unlike Austens biting, somewhat aggressive tone of writing, Brontes serene, detailed tone reminds me more of the feministic ideals. Going back to what professor SuhReen said, I believe that Jane Eyre does a better job in bringing out Janes inner voice and simply listening to Janes life experiences than how Pride and Prejudice merely narrates Elizabeths life. The former gives a tacit expression while the latter is simply more interesting.

SNUWFC celebrating their 3rd place trophy

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December 2012. Vol. 41

The Nakseongdae

Market
BY ABHAS MASKEY
silence and then taking her time, she nodded as well. A snap later, I was shoved aside by eager bakery enthusiasts. Typical to Korean society, things have changed rather quickly. The Inheon Market was perhaps the only place I used to feel like home. The narrow ridden streets reminded me of a familar market scenario back home with a relatively similar ambience. Shopkeepers shouting out to potential clients, dirty streets, butchers in white walking around with their massive belly slightly exposed, extended footpath shops and hissing sounds of deep oil fried goodies: these were all the elements that complimented my image of a normal marketplace. Well, some might argue

Market places are strangely enjoyable. The assorted collection of products makes it hard for anyone to hold on to their wallets. Our local Nakseongdae market- The Inheon Market- is even more so.

Could I have some of those as well? I pointed towards a freshly baked cream roll. Kim Tehyan, 54, neatly packed a dozen of them in a plastic handbag and gently placed them on my palm. The warm rolls were a welcome change to the near-freezing afternoon temperature. I pulled out my wallet to promptly pay her. Just before I turned to leave though, I asked her if I could take a picture of her modest bakery outlet. I write for a magazine, you see, I explained painstakingly putting my rusty Korean to the test. I could see her steal a glimpse at how a badly disregarded Galaxy phone was glaring at her instead of a glowing DSLR. With that? she asked. I nodded in

that these are not common in this part of the world, but it was something definately close. With additional support from the local government, the market got a total remake. Electric boards were up on every shop, the pavements were refurbished, lights glowed from every corner, the shopkeepers dressed better (got more vocal as well) while the people in charge thumped nails on an improved version of the schematics onto a nearby signboard. The shopping experience took a 180 degree turn as I was pleasantly surprised with what was ahead of me. The night scene was even more inviting. The whole street lit up in bright yellow with a mix of green, red and blue here and there.

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Winter Movie Guide

The market was pumping enthusiasm into anyone who seemed to take even the slightest of interests. It made me walk with a grin on my face which left onlookers confused as to why an alien was in such a good mood. I couldnt care less; I just basked on to the selfinduced glory. As budgetary constraints often lead to uncomfortable circumstances, I have accepted that it is part and parcel of being a poor student. What counts now is how cheap the market is. This is where the market slots right in. The commodities available are as diverse as my brain can possibly fathom, ranging from local goodies to blankets to sausages and are, genrally, reasonably priced.

Fresh Chickens: As I want it

For people who tend to be quite indifferent to what the cafeteria has to offer and who wouldnt mind cooking, Nakseongdae presents the best option to buy induction compatible kitchen utensils. The hardware could get expensive starting from 20,000 won and going up well above. Fortunately though, once that is taken care off, the ingredients are rather cheap purchases One in particular: Chicken. My Bengali peers were kind enough to guide me a minute into the market where a butcher was simply waiting with a knife. She showed me what she had to offer; the whole chickens started from 3000 won and as the price went up by a thousand, the chicken got more robust and meaty. The former were rather sulkier than the latter so I optimized my size. After the birds were chopped according to my taste, I paid up about 10,000 won which later served for six. (It is better to take cash in these markets)

deceivingly quiet at the nadir of the market, I could observe that it aptly embodies the crowd that is busy shopping inside. With free delivery system (after a certain amount) and membership option, the mart scores a home run.

BY TSELMEG
Just as if Hollywood was keeping all the goodies at the end of the year the winter movie season has started off with great movies. With the Academy Awards nominations announcement scheduled for January 10 and the ceremony set for February 24th, movie studios are trotting out their Oscar contenders.

The Bakers: Support your local bakery

Nakseongdaes bakers are plainly cheap. With no money on brand advertisements or expensive displays to be put on, the items are some distance from the price that they hang on Paris Baguette. The closer I pay to the value of food, the better. A recent report in The Economist stated that for every dollar that an American pays for a packaged food, only 16 cents goes for actual food. This could as well be the case in Korea as well. The rest simply is gulped down in between. Going back to the observation, the level of hygiene has been maintained, with clean packaging and well placed plastic covers on the freshly backed confectionaries. The cream rolled bun is something I usually select although the pizza bread and sausage stuffed pastries always find a way into my save the environment bag. As for the rest, I will let the pictures speak for themselves. production crews including Ian McKellen as Gandalf the Grey while Martin Freeman takes on the roll of young Bilbo Baggins. The epic adventure of Bilbo Baggins starts with Gandalf the Grey asking him to go on a quest for the treasure with the joined forces of thirteen dwarves to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom. Most importantly, part of this story leads Bilbo into Riddles in the Dark where he meets Gollum and in the process, acquires a peculiar ring that has had and will have a great impact on the future of their world. You are not required to watch all three series of The Lord of the Rings to understand it, though theres no doubt you have done so already. As one of the most anticipated movie, it is sure to be a blockbuster of the year. The subsequent chapters of the movie will be following its release in 2013 and 2014.

A quick overview of what to expect:

Fruit Stands: One is simply not enough
Buying an apple was never an option back home and coming here and doing so, felt rather odd. Even though the market does have something similar, wholesale bulk buying does go some way in removing that oddness. The fruit market is in abundance of fresh items to choose from at reasonable rates.

The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey

The first of the prequel trilogy to the loved series of The Lord of the Rings will be hitting theatres on the 13 th of December on 3D, 2D and IMAX options. Korea will be enjoying the movie a day before any other nation, according to the release date worldwide. The adaptation of the fantasy book by J. R. R. Tolkien The Hobbit, journey from page to the screen was done by Peter Jackson who also worked on the famous The Lord of the Rings trilogy. He is returning with the previous significant

Les Miserables.
Singing every take live during filming is what makes the movie so special, bringing the emotions of the songs to the audience. Hugh Jackman Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, and Amanda Seyfried singing and acting through music is sure to be daunting. Will Russell Crowes rock-toned voice translate well to musical theater? Is Amanda Seyfrieds soprano beautifully delicate or woefully thin? We will have to see. Adaptation of the musical based on Les Miserables, the 1862 French novel by Victor Hugo, tells an enthralling story of broken dreams and

One Mart: The local E-Mart

Self-proclaimed discount marts are ubiquitous but not so much as One Mart. The sheer volume of shopping items from everyday consumables to wines to BBQ briquettes is profoundly amusing as the mart comfortably stands as a one-stop-shop at the market. Although the place looks

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4 cafes, 4 themes
unrequited love, passion, sacrifice and redemption a timeless testament to the survival of the human spirit. Jackman plays ex-prisoner Jean Valjean, hunted for decades by the ruthless policeman Javert (Crowe) after he breaks parole. When Valjean agrees to care for factory worker Fantines (Hathaway) young daughter, Cosette, their lives change forever. Academy award winning director Tom Hooper brings the worlds longest running musical Les Miserables with amazing group of actors to the big screen on Christmas day later this year.

Seol-Ip
BY KWON IN HWA
University, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and many more. The list goes on with Marvel such as Iron man 3, Thor, Man of Steel and Wolverine. Classics like The Great Gatsy will be drawn from pages into the big screens. Looks as if 2013 has plenty in store for movie lovers.

cafes at

With coffee scene steadily growing near seol-ip station, the main street of seol-ip is full of brand coffee shops such as starbucks or coffeebean. Although these brand coffee shops may guarantee standardized quality taste, rarely do they provide you with spacious settings or cozy seating. So packed with people, it is hard to enjoy yourselves at these crowded well known coffee shops. However, there are other options for you to explore in the alleys of seol-ip. Here are four cafes with different themes that I found upon exploring seol-ip.

A Good Day to Die Hard

With the poster Yippee Ki-Yay Mother Russia, the fifth installment of Die Hard series sees Bruce Willis bring his action to Moscow. Instead of bringing back Justin Longs Live Free or Die Hard hacker Matt Farrell, the filmmakers decided to go with a more personal story as McClane travels to Russia after his son Jay Courtney is arrested. Expect a lot of McClane and his son jumping through panes of glass even with the aging hero persona. The first trailer for A Good Day to Die Hard lays out a clear message about what audiences can look forward to: guns, explosions and of course, hot women in black leather suit The first Die-hard series was released in 1988. Good news for the fans is that Bruce Willis has shown his interest for the sixth installment of the movie before finally hanging the white vest. The long-loved action thriller will be having its release a week earlier than any other place but Korea on 7th of February.

Jio Book Cafe

Theme: a place for comic books & study

Located at a bystreet near seol-ip main street Jio Book Cafe is quite unnoticeable, since it is located at a very secluded alley with not many shops around. However, the inside is well decorated. Even the stairs down to the cafe is decorated with pretty character wall paintings. The owner has decorated the cafe with feminine decorations, with adorable dolls and cabinets full of accessories. Also, as the name indicates armful of books are provided. What is interesting is that lot of these books on the shelves are quite rare. Some of them include Japanese magazines, comic books and photos. So if you feel bored while staying at the cafe, you can read comics and freshen yourself up. The cafe is relatively big with a few tables, so the seating is quite spacious. Since it is not so well known, when Quill made a visit, only two tables out of seven were taken.. That was really cozy and quiet, making it easier to concentrate on reading or studying. This cafe is recommended especially for the purpose of reading or studying. In contrast, if you are planning on enjoying coffee, this is not a place for you. The beverages are in plenty, but they taste very casual. Americano and chocolate slush were fine but were nothing more than the ordinary. The food consists mostly of toasts and they are not that bad since they are served with whipping cream on top

Django Unchained. How do you like the bounty hunting business?

Dr. King Schultz is a bounty hunter who poses as a dentist who frees a slave named Django from his vicious masters. He gives Django the option of hunting down and killing the Brittle Brothers, a ruthless gang of killers whom only he has seen. In return, he will free him from slavery completely and help rescue Broomhilda from the plantation of the charming but ruthless owner, Calvin Candie. Stated in an interview in Playboy magazine, Director Tarantine said however-bad they are I always love the bad guys. But Calvin Candie played by Leonardo Dicaprio, is his most hated villain written by Tarantine himself. Written and directed by Quentin Tarantine, this pre-civil bounty hunter adventure will be opening on 21st of March in Korea, but will be releasing on Chistmas day in North America. Luckily, for the moviegoers, 2013 will be showered with movies. The sequels to already blockbusters that are yet to hit the screens are The Hangover:III, Kick ass 2, Montsers

The Gangster Squad. No names. No Badges. No Mercy.

Inspired by a true story, the film, which is based on efforts of the Los Angeles police to control the Mafia in the 40s and 50s in Los Angeles,which includes a climactic gun that was filmed at Graumans Chinese Theater. A glimpse of the scene can be seen in the trailer for the movie that the studio pulled from circulation. Sean Penn looks fierce enough for the ruthless mob king while Josh Brolin looks hard-boiled enough to take him down. This time around, heartthrob Ryan Gosling makes his way for the action movie exhibiting cool emotionless image. Also it will be interesting to see what dramatic turns Gosling and Stone have in for us. The movie release had been postponed from September 2012 to 11th of January, 2013.

Location: turn right at the corner of

Hongkongbahnjum. It is right next to Sogongdong Ddukbaegi. Phone no: 02-882-7522

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Mom C Coffee
Theme: Original brews
This is just the right place for coffee-holics, especially if you are interested in tasting variety of coffee beans. The owner roasts the beans by himself and is proud of this hand-made drip. If you are lucky you might be able to see him roasting while the cafe erupts in aromatic smoke. Although less spacious with only four tables, the cafe provides customers with an array of coffee beans and other beverages. If you enjoy the coffee itself, you will find joy in tasting various beans, such as Tarrazu or Colombian Supremo. Espresso added beverages, such as lattes are also available. And for those who do not drink coffee, sweet non-caffeine beverages such as blueberry latte and green tea latte are also available and they do taste good. Not only does it taste great but arts on lattes make the visit more interesting. If you order lattes, the milk foam is decorated with adorable bears or the shape of heart. Just with seeing the latte-art the visit felt worthwhile. However, since the cafe is small, visiting with bunch of people is not recommended. A group of two or three is more appropriate to enjoy the coffee and conversation. Location: right across guanakgu office. tel) 02-6369-7474

The Eternal Nature of Van Goghs Paintings

BY SU HYEN BAE
painting landscapes and city sights, such as Montmartre, and began to experiment with diverse colors. Van Goghs poverty led him to explore different modes of painting and coloring through his self-portraits and still-life paintings. He painted not only on canvases, but on the back-side of canvases, carton boxes, and any other material he could find. As for paint, he bought cheap paint from Tanguy that later became discolored. Despite the hardships as a painter, Van Gogh overcame every mental and physical challenge with his will and desire to paint, eventually finding his genuine Modernist style that we know of today. Van Goghs paintings are the products of the experiences of a miserable artist. During the short ten years that he worked as an artist, he dedicated his life and everything he had to solely art. Van Goghs work and life, art and life are inseparable ? this is the reason his art still speaks to the audiences of today and the explanation to Van Goghs immortality. Reflecting on Van Goghs life and art give the modern people a glimmer of hope and inspiration that we fail to appreciate in our mundane lives. Location:
The exhibition will continue until 24 March 2013. More Information can be found at vangogh2.com

falling in love with the world

Theme: do it all in a cafe!
This cafe aims to be a book cafe but actually it is far more dynamic. With small space there are only four tables. The seating is, however, very spacious and also cozy. With paucity of customers, it is quite and good to concentrate on work or books. Books on various topics are provided which include topics from sociology to history. So you can enjoy quality time reading books. Additionally computers are placed at the side wall, so you can surf the internet or watch movies as well. Simple board games, such as Monopoly or chess are also available, making the cafe more fun and interesting. With only books it would have been somewhat dull, but with so many other attractions, the visit promises to be more amusing.. As some paintings are on the wall, so you even enjoy the art. The beverages are simply average. Banana almond shake is recommended amongst the lot. With snacks, books and talk, the visit to this cafe would be really worthwhile. Location: turn right at cafe justin and you will see it on the right side. It is located on the second floor of the third building on the alley.
Tel) 02-887-2621

cafe whipping

Theme: cozy, warm and quiet

Cafe whipping is very small with about seven tables. However, since most tables are for four people, if you go there as a group of two, it will feel cozy and spacious. Most of the time, the music is not played or if it is, a serene one is played. As a result, it is a nice place to study or read. It is not exactly inappropriate for conversation, but you might feel uncomfortable since the surrounding is so quiet. There are plentiful beverages on the menu ranging from coffees to juice to smoothies. Coffees are enjoyable but smoothies or juice beverages are better. This cafe also distinguishes itself from others with a variety of food. Although most of them are simple toasts or sandwiches, they taste also good and go well with the beverages. Kaya toast is recommendable and among beverages ades or juices are outstanding. Location: right next to the building of Olive young. It is on the second floor.

One of humanitys enduring questions over the ages has been the eternity of everything and anything. Does anything last forever? The exhibition currently held at the Seoul Arts Center under the title Van Gogh in Paris: A Dialogue with Modernism is the second exhibition of the three part 10 year project called, The Immortal Artist, Van Gogh. The Seoul Museum of Art held the first part of the exhibition in 2007. If the first exhibition provided a retrospective and general view of Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) as an artist, part II of The Immortal Artist series centers around Van Goghs most transitional period in his life of his stay in Paris from March 1886 to February 1888. While the exhibition offers many distractions that enable

the audience to analyze Van Goghs paintings scientifically and nakedly by consuming information on the details of his paintings, one must not forget to search for the answer to how Van Gogh may be an imperishable artist in the history of humanity. Out of ninety paintings that Van Gogh created in Paris, sixty of them have been brought to the Seoul exhibition, which has never been done before in Van Gogh exhibitions. The paintings depict Van Goghs hopeful and experimental, yet desperate and distressed emotional state of mind. Before his arrival to Paris, Van Gogh painted morbidly dark, bleak paintings in the realist Dutch style. However, after realizing that the success of a painter is determined by how many paintings are sold, Van Gogh turned to

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Strindberg celebrates a 100 years in Korea

BY JOHANNES HWANG
It will be possible this winter vacation to experience European culture without spending that extra money that you might not have had the time earn due to studies. In addition to the intriguing paintings by Van Gogh, plays by his contemporary Johan August Strindberg, a famous Swedish playwright and novelist, will be introduced throughout September 13th to January 20th at the Hanguk Performing Arts Center. This is part of the Strindberg Centennial Festival which has taken place all over the world this 2012 in commemoration of Strindbergs 100th year death anniversary. August Strindberg, a naturalist and expressionist, was an innovative playwright, having written over 60 plays in various styles and genres. Born in 1849, he made his breakthrough in 1879 and his career spanned over four decades and his heritage includes the following: plays, novels, poetry, paintings, photography and political controversies. Considered as Swedens most famous dramatist, his plays have influenced world renowned writers and directors including Edward Albee, Tennessee Williams, Franz Kafka, Eugene ONeill and Ingmar Bergman, to name but a few. The reasons behind Strindbergs popularity and legitimacy as a literary artist are many; his work mirrored his stormy life so that there is no single Strindberg style, instead, his writing and themes constantly changed during the course of his career. Furthermore, his thoughts on morality, class, power structures and familial politics reflected the current climate of the society and are in many ways are still relevant today; for example Strindbergs opposition against the establishment and persistent struggle for free thinking and free speech are applicable in our time. Another reason for Strindbergs popularity was his accessibility. While some older literature can feel dated, he used everyday language, and today his texts feel remarkably modern. However, while Strindberg was a forward thinker in many areas, the morals on parts of his heritage are highly questionable. Even at the time, the celebrated playwright was considered a misogynist which is oftentimes reflected in his plays as women are portrayed as inferior. To learn more about August Strindberg take part in the festival events which includes eight domestic plays and two foreign plays and many other accompanying events. Some of the performances that can be seen during the winter vacation are: A Dream Play (1901), a play focusing on Agnes, a daughter to the God Indra, who descends to earth in order to experience the life of a human being. It is considered an important precursor to both dramatic Expressionism and Surrealism. Miss Julie (1888), a drama about class, love and lust tells a story of an upper-class girl falling in love with one of her servants which ends in a unique power structure and struggle as Miss Julie has the power due to class difference, but the servant has power due to gender. The Dance of Death II (1900), a tragic story with elements of black humour, centers on the life of a bitter married couple. In addition to this, there will also be an acting workshop, symposium, photo exhibition as well as the closing ceremony. For more information visit the Hanguk Performing Arts Centers website: www.hanpac.or.k

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