Christina Kim suing Joongang Ilbo

[twmw]

I found original article and it was clear that writer was trying to paint her in every negative way without zero ounce of objectivity. CK wasn't only korean american who played for international team in lexus cup. Angela Park also played for international team but only CK was grilled by writer. I am not a CK fan but writer of this article should be condemned for lack of journalism.

[Blue]

posts have all been moved from Wie folder to Kim folder.

[Blue]

Originally Posted by BrianD

Sorry for the confusion, then; the comments appear at the bottom of the original post I made, but perhaps the gap between my words and the commentors weren't clear.

Nationalism is indeed important in Korea. That can be both a good and a bad thing, but suffice it to say here Koreans are very proud of their country in the sports world. Golf is one of the few sports where Koreans have dominated, hence the quickness to latch onto Kim as one of their own.

It is a pissing contest, as somebody just said. As I wrote in my post, you'll see Koreans claim Korean-Americans like Hines Ward and Toby Dawson as their own. The former is, as you probably know, a half-Korean who even the Korean media has admitted wouldn't have amounted to anything in Korea. The latter is a skiier whose family abandoned him in a Seoul market when he was a kid, and who was eventually adopted and brought to the US.

Koreans are also keen to assert themselves on the global stage. Even though they're one of the most successful and developed economies in the world, few people ever pay attention to them. It doesn't help that they're stuck between two of their rivals, China and Japan. Nearly every day you'll read a column in the paper about some aspect of Korea's "unique" culture, because they fear so greatly being overrun culturally---politically, too---by their neighbors. So that's why they're always so eager to have foreigners gush over their food, rave over their clothes, and generally praise Korean culture. Whether it's celebrities like Wie, Serena Williams, or Paris Hilton they wrap in Korean clothes, or ordinary people like me and ma-and-pa tourist who they film eating kimchi, there is an interesting dual inferiority-superiority complex going on. Many consider their culture the greatest, but nobody outside of Korea seems to notice.

That's why I included several excerpts of articles about kimchi and "kimchi power." Yes, the Korean women were all joking about it, or at least about it's power (although the newspapers always rave about its properties, including its power to prevent SARS). Although you have the "uniquely Korean" food of kimchi, and what looks to them as the unique talent of Korean female golfers, and it's easy to find the common thread to be Korean-ness. Hell, that's why I included that last column---whose opinions are not THAT uncommon---about how Korean women are good golfers because their ancestors made kimchi with their hands.

Michelle Wie played into her Korean-ness when she came to Korea. It was the most natural thing to do, since because she looks Korean, and is ethnically Korean . . . well, then she's Korean. Doesn't matter if she trained exclusively in the US, or benefited exclusively from what the US had to offer, she's Korean. Likewise many attributed Hines Ward's success not to his athletic ability or to him playing in the US, but rather to his (Korean) mother's hard work. She's a remarkable woman, it's true, but . . . still. I was in Korea during Wie's father's comments, and I don't know if they even registered back home, but I think the media back there would have been right to call her out on those comments. Just as Koreans get pissed when Christina Kim is perceived to abandon her Korean-ness, so should Americans get angry when Wie throws the US under the bus. And that's the reason I talked about both golfers the way I did . . . their situations are so similar, yet the media reaction so different.

Sorry for the long, sometimes disorganized post. You're right that I don't follow golf (mostly because I'm terrible at it), but I do take an interest in Korea and in what goes on in the Korean media.

Thank you for clarifying your points Brian. This did not come across in your original blog entry.

[Buzzer]

My apologies for the "ninny" remark, Brian. Your subsequent posts have proved me wrong.

Viva Annika

[RainMan]

Thanks for replying Brian.

I was kidding about our posters being old and feeble minded, but I do think message board readers are less inclined to pay attention through longer blogs or posts. Anyways, I thought your blog was organized fine and didn't have any problem following it.

I found the original December article online, but it's just a bunch of squares and numbers :). It included a picture of C. Kim at '05 Solheim with the U.S. flag face/body paint.

Do you think C. Kim has a chance to win the million won? My first thought was that she had a snowball's chance in Miami, but it sounds like you are saying that the Koreans do not enjoy the same freedom of speech as we do. Do you think her chances of winning are less because she is an American than it would be if she were Korean?

I googled a little and mostly found a few blogs that linked to your blog, but one of the commenters said something interesting (to me anyway). It said that Korean law doesn't permit dual citizenship for adults, so in 2005 C. Kim was forced to choose U.S. or Korean citizenship and she chose U.S. Do you know if that is the law?

[twmw]

we used to have freedom of speech but new government is trying to kill freedom of speech.
Korean law allows dual citizenship only to minors but CK never held dual citizenship.
CK wasn't first korean american who played in pinx cup. Pearl shin also played in inaugural pinx cup and there was no outcry whatoever. Difference is pearl spoke fluent korean and korean team needed her but CK couldn't speak korean and korean team didn't need her.

[RainMan]

Originally Posted by twmw

Korean law allows dual citizenship only to minors but CK never held dual citizenship.

OK, I must have misunderstood the KoreaTimes article:

The player’s attorneys claimed that the newspaper’s series of articles portrayed the once-dual citizenship holder and now American citizen as a "traitor.’’

I noticed I was mistaken on the money, it is a billion won.

[LoJo]

Originally Posted by twmw

we used to have freedom of speech but new government is trying to kill freedom of speech.
Korean law allows dual citizenship only to minors but CK never held dual citizenship.
CK wasn't first korean american who played in pinx cup. Pearl shin also played in inaugural pinx cup and there was no outcry whatoever. Difference is pearl spoke fluent korean and korean team needed her but CK couldn't speak korean and korean team didn't need her.

twmw.... Are you saying that CKim cannot speak Korean? I find that hard to believe since she grew up in a house with two Korean parents. Also, back when she lost all that weight, she'd spent a couple of months in Korea visiting relatives and doing an intensive weight loss program there. Surely, she has to be able to speak Korean. OK, perhaps she's not AS fluent as someone who was born in Korea (as Pearl Sinn was...came to the US as a child), but you said she can't speak Korean.

[Blue]

Here's an interview with Christina back in 2003 where she addresses a few topics, one of which is her fluency in English.

Magazine Christina Kim Interview

[wiefan]

Originally Posted by Blue

posts have all been moved from Wie folder to Kim folder.

way to go Blue.....about time someone else gets caught in something controversial.....Wiesy doesn't have to "hog-cheese" all of the controversial topics

whew!!...as a wiemaniac...I could use this break

anyway....have a good day everyone....by the way....I LIKE christina Kim....in my mind she is the "Lee Trevino of Women's golf"...and I mean this in a GOOD sense...anyway...see ya!!