July 10-31, 2019
It had lasted me fairly well thus far, but my suitcase wheels seemed to have all but given up on me. I was half soaked from the rain that had picked me as the victim of the day. I was exhausted and hungry, arms aching and feet sore.
But I had arrived: I was at George Mason Korea University, the first site of the 12th annual KASC with which I would spend the next three weeks.
KASC stands for the Korean-American Student Conference. It is a student-led conference that brings together Korean and American college students to promote dialogue and cultural understanding. Together, the delegates engage in topic-driven workshops, explore cultural and historical sites, and develop lasting relationships with both the delegates and the culture they were able to experience. In honor of its 10th annual conference, KASC began following a two-country model in which the delegates would travel and experience a site in both the U.S. and South Korea.
And all of that sounds very well and fine on paper, but in reality, I would be interacting and living with these complete strangers for three weeks, discussing potentially very sensitive and political charged topics… and I was nervous.
Turns out, so was everyone else. And with such proximity with a group of students that, at the barest level, shared my interest in the U.S.-ROK relationship, it wasn’t long before I felt comfortable. The girls bonded over our mutual hatred of heels. The entire delegation bonded over the disgusting, disgusting humidity that we had to suffer through, dress pants and all. Whatever their personal reason may have been, all of the 20 people in our delegation had flown (or planned to fly) halfway across the world to be here, just like me. And as a starting point, that was more than enough.
Trying to reflect on every activity, speaker, and discussion is unrealistic for me – I’ll save that for next year. But for now, here are my top highlights from KASC 12!
1. Korean Folk Village Excursion
July 17, 2019
If I could have changed one thing about this day, it would have been – without hesitation – the weather. I’m sick of myself complaining about the humidity, but it was even worse while we were outdoors, exploring a historic folk village.
There were tourists taking advantage of the picturesque village, milling about in hanboks, and the overall atmosphere was borderline festive. As our guided tour had been delayed, we set off to explore on our own. We first found ourselves in a small amphitheater-like setting where the sound of the drums caught our attention. Not long after, the stage was filled with a performance group: women in hanboks carrying large and beautifully designed fans, as well as men and women with traditional Korean drums in a performance called pamullori, a traditional Korean performance that combines music, dance, and acrobatics.
Pictures do not do the performance justice. The synchronization, the music, the colors of the clothes, and the sheer enthusiasm of the performers slipped the audience back in time, to when such performances were the epitome of entertainment.
The old Buddhist temple had been preserved, and the small bamboo forest at the entrance was reminiscent of a different era. In fact, the entire folk village had been preserved not only for the sake of historical preservation but for use as film sites in historical dramas and movies. As a long-time fan of such productions, it was a strange feeling to see and appreciate the places where films brought history to life.
As we continued to explore, we came across a small market place near a bridge that overlooked a small river, as well as homes of nobles and peasants alike, preserved. There was a replica of the old magistrate’s office, complete with the chair and tools used for interrogation, as well as cells for prisoners. A lively group of elementary students was role-playing as the magistrate and prisoner when we arrived and their enthusiasm was infectious.
Our next brief stop was my favorite from the village: traditional swings. Swings in that era were enjoyed with the individual standing up on the swing. This was definitely not what I was accustomed to, and nearly fell off a few times, but the feeling of the wind was more freeing than sitting down, for sure. Cue, photoshoot.
2. Korean War Museum: RT Excursion
July 20, 2019
This museum had been one of the top things on my bucket list for Korea. As a Korean-American, it has always frustrated me how little attention the Korean War receives in the U.S., so it was gratifying yet sobering to see the proud memorial and museum.
The detail on the monument outside was heartbreaking. The central monument is a tall structure, almost shaped like an enormous bullet cut in half. The sculptures surrounding the monument in two half circles depicted scenes from the conflict including, as expected, armed soldiers in uniform. But the expressions of these soldiers are filled with grief, with worry, because this war was a civil war and one that came tragically soon after Korea’s liberation from Imperial Japan. Their expressions are determined, of course, but there is grief. But intermingled with the soldiers are civilians. There is an elderly man who has fallen and seems to be raising his hand to someone leaving, presumably a male relative going to fight in the war. There is a young girl on the knee of a soldier, looking bewildered, and behind her, a peddler still carrying his goods. Behind him are two other children and an older woman who has fallen, all with their arms outreached, for what? It’s hard to say. But the agonizing details of the sculptures humanized the conflict, and really focused on the struggle of each individual, as opposed to the cold, hard number of people impacted by the war.
On the steps leading up to the entrance of the museum, there are the pillars, flags, and memorial plaques for the 21 countries that actively participated in this war. It was a beautiful way to commemorate the cooperation of the international community in this conflict.
While this museum was and still is, my favorite museum that I’ve visited, we ran into a very significant problem while we were there: we ran out of time. As this excursion was for my Roundtable group – Refugee Crisis – there were other items on the agenda following this excursion. And we had vastly underestimated the time it would take us to explore all three floors of the museum. Our main mistake had been to start from the first floor, which would normally have not been a problem, except it was the entire military history of Korea, complete with artifacts and explanations. By the time we had finished the first floor, we realized that we had to rush through the next two, which was not what I had intended. Especially considering that the two upper floors were the ones that actually focused on the Korean War.
The exhibit that particularly caught my eye was the one honoring the contributions of the 21 foreign countries that assisted South Korea in the war. The uniforms of each of the countries were on display, in addition to a description detailing the contributions of each. In the same room, there were multiple large dog-tag shaped displays, each with a different soldier, in remembrance of their efforts.
I will definitely be back. There was too much that I had to rush through, but I left with a greater appreciation of the truly international cooperation that was displayed during this war, as well as South Korea’s clear effort to honor their sacrifice.
3. Six Party Talks: Interactive Simulation
July 23, 2019
There was an air of suspense as the representative from the Korean Economic Institute walked around each table, handing out label tents that had no names, but countries. We were about to begin our Six Party Talks simulation.
The six countries that were being assigned were as follows: the U.S., South Korea (ROK), North Korea (DPRK), China, Russia, and Japan. By sheer chance, I landed the role of North Korea.
The rules of the simulation were simple: the countries had to negotiate and come to an agreement regarding three key issues regarding the threats posed by North Korea. Within each one of the issues were multiple options to choose from, each offering a varying number of points to each country. And depending on the country and their priorities, the point value set for each option would be different. At the end of the workshop, if negotiations succeeded in establishing an agreement, the simulation was considered a success.
It was absolutely fascinating to see how the countries behaved because it was a clear indicator of which option they were promoting. The simulation did an excellent job of helping us to understand that even countries that most people would consider aligned – such as South Korea and the U.S. – were not always in sync with the other. As the representative of North Korea, it was definitely fun to realize that the threat of walking away was a clear and very dangerous threat to the other members. While it was, in a mischievous way, rather fun to play that card in this simulation, it was also sobering to realize how easily and how often North Korea could play this petty card in actual negotiations.
4. Alpin Hong: Pianist and Speaker
July 29, 2019
In accordance with true Asian stereotypes, I had grown up learning and, at times, dreading, piano lessons. I would be hard-pressed to find an Asian-American friend who had never been forced, when younger, to learn the piano, if not additional instruments. As such, when the agenda detailed that our last guest speaker would be a pianist, I was excited, but not overly so because I was wondering how a pianist would incorporate our theme into his playing.
When Alpin first walked in and introduced himself as a classical pianist, there was an increase in the fidgeting of the delegates. “Classical pianist” didn’t exactly bring to mind the most exciting of performances, at least to us, a group of college students. But when he began to play, I was absolutely floored. It wasn’t just the skill and the clear ease with which he played, but how he was able to communicate the story and emotions he had just told us, with a song.
He went back and forth, intermittently telling us stories about his childhood, and his decision to become a pianist while expressing those stories in the songs that he chose. With his extremely expressive playing, he both excited and interested us, and I found myself leaning forward to catch his softer notes and wishing that I had somehow recorded the entire performance.
As a performer, he explained that he had had the training to hold himself in a certain way, to always present himself with confidence and pride. He made us practice this and told us to remember that our confidence would be an important asset and that sometimes, the quote “fake it till you make it” had a bit of truth to it
His final song was a medley in which he intertwined a great number of songs – and this is where he showed us that he knew his audience incredibly well. Within his songs were childhood favorites, as well as melodies from Stars Wars, Super Mario Bros, the Marvel theme song, and of course, Harry Potter. As our last guest speaker, he not only offered us the gift of a fun and interactive performance, but one that inspired us and encouraged us to pursue what we loved to do.
5. Final Forum: RT Presentation
July 30, 2019
While others had expressed dread regarding our final presentations, I was excited. We had been preparing for this presentation for the entire conference, and I was proud of the work that we have accomplished. Of course, it was a bit nerve-racking to know that the conference had invited former alumni, experts, as well as the International Student Conference board members to our final event. We were also to be live on Facebook for alumni and friends who couldn’t be present physically.
But again, I was eager to present, if only because I strongly believe that the topic we had chosen was one that was under-studied and largely unknown. My roundtable group had decided to research the topic of North Korean women defectors in China who were victims of sexual exploitation. Not exactly the easiest topic to speak about – some of the documents we used in our research were absolutely heartbreaking – but one that I believe more people need to know more about.
The crux of the issue is that China refuses to acknowledge the North Korean defectors as refugees but rather, labels them as “economic migrants”. This is because if they did, they would be bound by international refugee law to not return them to their country of origin. But for China, the defectors are a tiresome drain on their resources and, there is no reason to unnecessarily antagonize the North Korean regime. For this reason, the defectors that succeed in entering China, have no choice but to live in fear and hiding because if they are caught, they will be sent back to North Korea where the punishment will be cruel and hurt up to three generations of their family. The North Korean women that escape often find themselves sold or tricked into the exploitative and widespread Chinese sex industry.
Our proposal was to set up a refugee-style camp to cater to sexually exploited women in China. Now, there would be no legal way in China to specifically target North Korean women, so the idea had been to target all women – regardless of race – who had been a victim of sexual exploitation. In this way, the Chinese government would not be able to use the camp as a means to locate and deport North Korean women and rather would have a chance to lift the often-desperate women out of prostitution and to a chance at a better life. The camp would offer medical facilities as well as practical job training education to give these women that small chance. For the sake of this project, we were told to prioritize creativity over practicality in terms of financing. Our group did not suffer under the delusion that this sort of establishment would be easy – or cheap. But it might be a start, to offer help to sexually exploited women, and through the presentation, conversations began to take place and for us, that was enough.
Bonus!
KASC is a program led by students – and as such, the executive committee of the following year’s conference is chosen from the current year’s delegation and..
I was nominated and voted to be the American Vice Chair for KASC 13!
Look forward to highlights from KASC 13!
