Made in ...

[samedi]

While teaching passive voice in one of my classes this week we did an activity from the student book that has students ask and respond to questions about where their belongings are from/ were made. Students are typically quick to check their pencils, highlighters, pencil cases, and notebooks; with a little prompting they also start looking at the

Comments

[about_right]

Man, that girl probably burned that coat later in the evening. :P

[samedi]

After I explained it was a South Korean company that was ultimately responsible for 'making' her coat I think she was okay with the fact that it was North Korean workers who did all the manual labor. :D

[briochick]

hey, interesting blog. I'm curious, what are the stigmas that South Koreans associate with North Korea?

[samedi]

Well, I have to admit that it's not everyone who stigmatizes North Korea -- there seem to be a number of teachers who give it a light treatment and really resent Lee Myung-Bak and everything from his political party. However, among the older generation who can remember what happened during and immediately after the Korean War ... well, they're not at all happy with the regime. (Also, North Korea isn't exactly helping its case with recent events like opening a dam that flooded parts of South Korea, killing several people.) Here are some photos from a protest in Seoul last week:

[briochick]

Wow, interesting. Ok, so, is it good or bad that North Korea is seen as kind of disgraceful (going off the dictionary definition of stigma here)? Has it broadened into an idea that all things from North Korea are bad or tainted? Does the older generation think this or are they simply intensely opposed to the social and economic influence/impact of North Korea? A North Korea, which routinely makes it clear they're not interested in playing nice. I know many of our generation see the new government as distasteful, particularly (I heard in conversations) since they saw their new president as a pawn of Bush. Has that changed at all now that Bush is out of office? Obama's approval ratings have dropped some here, do you sense that elsewhere as well? It does seem to me that the older generation really spoiled the new, and perhaps they don't understand the gravity of the northern invasion...What do you think?

[samedi]

To be honest I don't think I have any good answers to your questions