Synopsis:

In the last episode of Live, the media has portrayed the actions of the police, specifically Sang Su, as an act of violence and danger to the public. While the media has intentionally opted out significant details of the incidence and the upper ranks prioritizing public relations,  justice was bestowed and Sang Su’s actions were declared as rational and fulfilling the duties of the police. As the story was approaching its ending, things turned out well for everyone and Oh Yang Chon returned to the police force being fully recovered.

Discussion:

The issue of being framed through the media exists in every part of the world. While these act of framing may be through the utilization of fake news, it can also happen, just like in Live, by leaving out essential information about the situation. It was said through one of the actors in the drama that “people aren’t even interested in things like that,” (ep. 18, 37:50) and that what only concerns the public and media coverage is the end result. News broadcasting agencies were primarily established todeliver and inform the public about issues but as capitalism became more dominant, the main priority of news agencies became viewership, even if it came to using phrases or words to frame people to be murderers when they are actually heroes.

As citizens and people tend to believe what they see and hear in the news to be fully true, the rate at which these information travel in Korea is extremely fast and during the travelling period, what was spoken as a “could be” turns into a fact with a negative connotation. Canada is about a 100 times larger than the size of Korea but ironically, Korea has approximately 16 million more people. We can imagine how fast information can travel in such a densely populated area.

One example which demonstrates this is the case of Youtuber Yang Ye Won and the owner of the photo studio that caused numerous uprisings and debates. To summarize the incident, the Youtuber filed a suit against the photo studio owner that she was sexually abused and forced to take nude photo shoots. However, messages exchanged between the two showed otherwise. While this story was one of the hottest topics during the summer of 2018, news travelled extremely fast and the media took part on what was only interesting and information that could bring more viewership to their channels. Being framed as a perverted freak, the owner of the photo studio committed suicide with a will that reportedly vented his frustration about the investigation in his letter. He claimed that it will not be fair to him and that the police and the media only want to listen to the victim (Rapir, 2018). It is too early to conclude whether who’s the real victim as the trial is still ongoing ,but Yang’s statement about the incident did not match the evidences so far.

According to a study by professor Wedding from University of Missouri-Columbia, one of the main reasons for people who consider suicide is due to being victims of bullying (Wedding, 2008). From the previous example, it is still not concluded that the owner actually did what he is being accused of; yet, people around him and the whole country hated him the day after the incident went viral, from a single statement, not a fact. The hatred that not only the owner had to endure, but also his friends and family that were also being bullied by the country.

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Discussion Questions:

1. Do you think framing comes from a biased viewpoint or are done intentionally to draw public attention?
2. How can we educate the public that not everything they see in the media/news are true?

Bibliography:

Wedding, D. (n.d.). Commonalities Between Suicide in Korea, Japan and the United States. Retrieved from https://dmh.mo.gov/docs/mentalillness/wedding.pdf.

Rapir, J. (2018, July 10). Yang Ye Won Sexual Harassment Case Update: Studio Director Involved In Case Commits Suicide, Leaves Will. Retrieved from http://en.koreaportal.com/articles/45952/20180710/yang-ye-won-sexual-harassment-case-update-studio-director-involved-in-case-commits-suicide-leaves-will.htm

Synopsis:

In episode 16 of Live, the Hongil Police force is shocked from the incident of an officer being shot in the head by a criminal. Another stabbed victim is found lying on the streets. An unmarried woman abandons her child in a box and reports to the Hongil Police force.

Discussion:

Parenting is difficult, but making the life changing decision to become a parent is even more difficult. In episode 16, aside from all chaotic situations for the police officers, viewers are introduced to a new supporting character: a lady and her newborn. The way she is presented ties back to modern contemporary issue for many women in Korea; she is first portrayed as an unwed mother who is abandoned by her boyfriend, or her newborn’s father, and is scared of her future because of the situation she is in.

In her introduction, we are able to sense the difference in perception among couples in Korea. In her call with someone who seems to be the father, we are able to retrieve 3 information about the father: whereabouts, state and his opinion on the newborn. First, where he is right now is unknown. The father and the boyfriend of the unwed mother appear to have ran off, or jam-soo-ta-da without telling the partner. Second, we know that the father did not want the baby and is understandable that he is scared but nonetheless irresponsible for he also took a role in creating the baby. Most importantly, the phone call infer us about the father’s view on the child in contrast to the mother. I think it is fair to assume that the father ran-off because the baby might change their whole lives, more likely in a bad way. Whereas, the mother seems to feel her motherly dues and her responsibility on the matter; she wants to try at least.

I see the father figure as a metaphor for the modern remaining patriarchal society within South Korea. Raising a newborn before marriage comes not only with much responsibilities but also with much more criticism, especially in Korea because it hints others that the couple has disregarded the social norm such as ‘sex before marriage’. As a result of negative social perception, additional problems, such as abandonment of newborns become apparent. Unfortunately, later in the episode, we encounter the “baby box” (ep. 16, 1:00:35). Baby box is the box that made it possible for parents to anonymously abandon their child (Chang and Cavicchi 2015).

While problems of being a single mother rise potentially due to the stress of negative social perception, it is also the potential cause of newborn abandonment. But it doesn’t end there as some of the orphans are adopted in a secret, once again due to negative social perception (Evans 2015). As this seems to be a cycle of negative influences, Korea as a society need to work toward becoming a individualistic society for them to ignore and handle situations in their own way, instead of conforming with the standard norm.

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Bibliography:

Chang, Paul Y. and Cavicchi, Andrea Kim. “Claiming Rights: Organizational and Discursive Strategies of the Korean Adoptee and Unwed Mothers Movement.” Korea Observer, Vol. 46, No. 1, Spring (2015): 145-180.

Evans, Stephen. “Taking on South Korea’s Adoption Taboo.” BBC News. January 06, 2015. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-30692127. (Accessed 11/9/2018)

I ask you to consider:

1. Some research has shown that even 45% of the homes in America are fatherless (); yet, South Korea is in top 5 countries that send out orphans to other countries. What do these numbers imply as to the difference in two cultures and how they deal with social perception?
2. The Korean law was changed so the unwanted children of unwed Korean mothers had to be registered before adoption. What are your thoughts on this change? Consider how adoption or views on adoption has changed in Korea.
3. What are your thoughts on the “baby box”?

Synopsis:

The drama starts with Song Hye-Ri helping his dad at her home. She asks her dad why he continues to work, despite severely injuring himself from the work and also asks if he is not scared at all. His father replies saying that he is scared, but if he runs away his life will be over and being scared is not a bad thing but something that helps one to be cautious. Later the scene portrays An Jang-Mi being used as a scapegoat for the higher ups to avoid getting disciplinary actions. She shouts in anger telling them that they are cowards who hide behind a woman’s back to keep their positions. After the scene moves to Min Su-Man who is trying to commit suicide by burning himself in the car. Ki Han-Sol and Lee Sam-Bo who are his close friends, tries to calm him down so that he does not take action. However, Min Su-Man does set himself on fire, but Yeom Sang-Su and Oh Yang-Chon manages to put out the fire and rescues him. Kim Min-Seok is in a similar situation as Min Su-Man and the person who is obviously lying that he got injured because Kim Min-Seok pushed him to the ground is asking for 50 million Won as a settlement price. Later in the story the officers tries to help Kim Min-Seok by doing a fundraising campaign. Near the end of the episode a man barges into the convenient store and starts drinking. The worker tries to stop the man but the worker gets beat up. Oh Yang-Chon and others along with the other officer from the Myeongu department shows up to the scene and tries to stop the culprit. However, the other officer gets shot in the head and the episode ends.

Discussion:

In the drama live, viewers are introduced to the hardships of old people and people with disabilities living in Korea. Min Su-Man a former officer who is disabled due to accident from his work as an officer, Ki Han-Sol who has cancer and Lee Sam-Bo who is trying to pass the exam to become a heavy equipment operator after retiring from his work as an officer shares one common thing and that is poverty. “With rapid aging, many of the elderly suffer from poverty and high healthcare needs” (Ito, Jeon, Kwon, Noguchi and Tamiya 2017, 175). In Korea, many people that works for the government such as police officers are forced to continue working to earn and save up money despite being retired from the old job. This is due to earning minimum income [they do not get enough pension for their retirement plan] and at the same time, their healthcare price increasing (Ito, Jeon, Kwon, Noguchi and Tamiya 2017, 175). For elderly with disabilities are in worse situation than a normal elderly person because they “are not protected by both income and health systems for the policies of the disabled and those for the elderly are not mutually linked in many social security areas” (Ito, Jeon, Kwon, Noguchi and Tamiya 2017, 176). I believe that Korea is one of the countries to have a bad healthcare and pension system for people who are over 60 and especially for people with disabilities. For example, Canada has great health care system and pension plans for people that are old and for people with disabilities and because of that, they are living in stable life compared to people in Korea. Also Korea is one of the countries for strongly discriminating people with disabilities. “Microaggression refers to diverse discriminatory acts that are incessant, often gratuitous, and subtle offenses to certain categories of human beings because of their ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, or disability” (Park 2017, 919). In Korea they are people “who have been isolated and excluded in South Korea” (Park 2017, 919). Many news and articles are stating that Korea’s negative views on disability people are changing rapidly for the better (Park 2017, 918). However, I believe that it will take tremendous time for Korea to accept people with disabilities and elderly people with poverty like the other developed countries. In conclusion, Korea is a country where people with disabilities and elderly with poverty are not suitable to live in the cruel society, unless a proper action is taken for those people to survive the cruel society in Korea.

Questions:

1. How are the pension systems and health care systems in Canada or any other countries compared to Korea? Are they better or worse?
2. Why do you think the discrimination for disabilities in Korea are this serious? Why can’t the society accept them?
3. How is the discrimination in North America? Do they treat people with disabilities equal to other healthy people?

Bibliography:

Park, Jung Youn. “Disability Discrimination in South Korea: Routine and Everyday Aggressions toward Disabled People.” Disability & Society 32, no. 6 (2017): 918-22. doi:10.1080/09687599.2017.1321223

Jeon, Boyoung, Haruko Noguchi, Soonman Kwon, Tomoko Ito, and Nanako Tamiya. “Disability, Poverty, and Role of the Basic Livelihood Security System on Health Services Utilization among the Elderly in South Korea.” Social Science & Medicine178 (February 14, 2017): 175-83. Accessed September 27, 2018. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.02.013.