안녕, it’s Ari, your talkative Korean friend and weekend reminder. 🎉 Today’s newsletter is about a noodle dish, one of many reasons why Koreans hesitate to bring the next generation into the world, and the Dior bag controversy shaking my country. Let’s start!
The Food NewJeans Apologized for Not Knowing
Today’s dish is Korean comfort food, Kalguksu. It’s a noodle dish comprising vegetables and knife-cut wheat flour noodles (“kal” means “knife”) served in a large bowl with broth and other ingredients. It’s one of the most common home-cooked meals that moms make for their families. Because it’s so common that, recently, Minji of NewJeans, a K-pop girl group, even had to apologize for not knowing this food as a Korean. It’s surprising that a Korean teenager doesn’t know this food, but I’m not sure one has to apologize for not being familiar with it. If you don’t have time to make noodles from scratch, you can simply buy any thick noodles at a grocery store. In Korea, it’s easy to find freshly made kalguksu noodles in a local market. Watch how a grandmother makes this food for her grandchildren to try it for yourself, and for the broth and more detailed recipe, watch this.
If you’re a vegetarian, use vegetable broth. If you like seafood, add your preferred seafood. I recommend sprinkling crushed gim or dried seaweed at the end. Bon appétit!
Who Is Your Mother?
In the music video for the song "Who Is Your Mother?" by Park Jin Young, Park asks a woman on a treadmill for her waist and hip sizes, and she answers "24" and "34." Impressed by her perfect body size, he then poses two questions: "Who is your mother?" and "How did she make you like this?" The fact that he wanted to know about her mother rather than her workout routine highlights an important cultural aspect of South Korea: a person’s success or achievement is often seen as the result of their parents’ hard work.
Son Heung-min is a South Korean professional soccer player who plays as a forward and captain for the Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur. In April 2023, he became the first Asian player to score 100 Premier League goals, according to Wikipedia. In South Korea, his father is as much a superstar as his son; he is known as a man who made his son the greatest Asian soccer player of all time. The media often discuss how he trained his son to kick 1,000 times a day when Son was a kid. Because his practice was so harsh, he said he was once reported to the police for child abuse.
Another example is the story of a friend of my mother. A few years ago, her daughter entered Seoul University, the most prestigious school in the country. Acknowledging her hard work to get her kid accepted into the most prestigious university, her father-in-law gave her 10 million KRW (7,530 USD). A kid’s educational success is often acknowledged as the result of their mother’s hard work, such as finding good tutors, picking up and dropping off at the hagwons everyday and navigating the ever-changing university application process.
In other words, if a kid ‘fails,’ it means their parents didn’t do their job well. In South Korea, a kid’s failure often means going to a no-name university and getting a job at a company no one knows. This places significant social pressure on parents, and it passes on to their kids as well. I believe this played a big role in the country’s diminishing population. Perhaps young Koreans don't want to create next generation who will carry this pressure as much as they don't want to be burdened with it.
Mini Korean Lesson: Dior and Dessert
South Korea is buzzing with scandal as the First Lady's Dior bag controversy unfolds. A video capturing her receiving a Christian Dior handbag in her office from a pastor has surfaced and made headlines. The pastor claimed to secure an appointment with her via Kakaotalk (a messenger app) after sending her a picture of the brand's shopping bag. In an attempt to defend the First Lady, a now-deleted video by a government official argued that the $2,200 bag is not a luxury bag for a super rich like her who has about 50 million USD. 🫠 He insisted that brands like Chanel or Hermes should be considered luxury in her case. In his video presentation, a caption stated, 👆
진실은 따로 있다. 디올백이 명품일까? “The truth is elsewhere. Is the Dior bag a luxury good?”
In the first sentence, the word "따로" ("separately") is used. Now, here's a fun expression using this word:
디저트 배는 따로 있다.
“I have room for dessert.”
It literally means I have a separate stomach for dessert. South Koreans often go to a café for coffee or dessert after a meal. Many people use this expression, implying they are ready for dessert even after a substantial meal. For example,
배불러, 하지만 디저트 배는 따로 있어. “I’m full, but I have room for dessert (so let’s have some dessert).”
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Another great post, as always! Keep up the great work! Thank you!
Hi, I love your subject for discussion this week, “WHO IS YOUR MOTHER.” This reminds me of the Korean dramas I’m always watching at Netflix. I believed it’s true that children shows their personality how they are brought up or the kind of upbringing a child gets from parents. . But, we can only assume if there’s only one child because I observed if there are many siblings one or two does not follow who the parents are.😀 This is my first time to read your post and I enjoyed it because it’s what I heard watch and see about Korean ways of disciplining their children compared to many other Asian countries. Thank you.