#20 Sports! Sports!

[스티븐스 대사]

Greetings Netizens!  I have sports of all kinds on my mind today.

I don’t watch sports on television very often, but on Monday morning Korean time, millions of Americans watched the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals play in the Super Bowl championship game.  The Super Bowl is like the World Cup of American football.  In the United States, it is often the most-watched television event of the year.  Even I kept an eye on the score.

I also enjoyed watching the Australian Open finals over the weekend, especially the incredible competition between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.  What an excellent game!  I like playing tennis, and used to play quite a bit in Korea.   I know tennis is not so popular anymore, but I am hoping to play with some of my Korean friends when the weather gets warmer.

Another sport I enjoyed in Korea many years ago was taekwondo.  I shared this sport with my Embassy colleagues last week when the Embassy hosted a demonstration by some well-known taekwondo masters in our cafeteria area.  We observed breaking and self-defense techniques from a team led by Master Lee Kyung-ho.  The ceiling was so low that the taekwondo athletes were not able to jump as high as they might have, but their performance was still impressive.

Taekwondo demonstration at the Embassy Cafeteria

When I took taekwondo in the 1970s, very few women were involved in the sport, and there were no female taekwondo athletes in Yesan.  It is terrific to see that today the sport is practiced with enthusiasm by both men and women.

Group photo with Taekwondo mates in 1975

 (Can you recognize me?  In case you don’t, I am in the second row, first from the left.)

I also had fun attending the Korean Basketball League’s All-Star game on Sunday as an honorary referee.  What a great atmosphere!  I learned that Korean’s professional basketball league is only about ten years old, so I was really impressed by the quality of play and the great enthusiasm of the fans.  I mentioned to the crowd that basketball is known to be one of President Obama’s favorite sports, so I’ll have to make sure Washington is aware that basketball is growing in popularity in Korea.

 Ambassador Stephens at the KBL All-Star Game

It was great to see American athletes playing a role in the Korean Basketball League.  The American and Korean athletes seemed to have a fun time together on the court.  Seeing Americans and Koreans playing basketball together took me back to a time even before I came to Korea, when I spent my junior college year at the University of Hong Kong.

It was my first experience living outside the United States, and I was one of only a few foreigners at the university.  Because I was tall (178 cm), I was recruited to be on the women’s basketball team, and given intensive training to try to overcome my lack of talent.  Despite my poor skills, I had great fun as we played games on courts throughout Hong Kong.  I attracted considerable attention in places like Wan Chai and the New Territories as the tall American girl with long blonde braids running up and down the court, trying to keep up with her faster and more skilled Chinese teammates.

I remember what a valuable cross-cultural experience playing basketball in Hong Kong was for me.  At Sunday’s game, I had the sense that some of the American athletes, though playing at a totally different level, were enjoying a similar experience with their Korean teammates.

  

[깡가루]

[이은심]

A healthy body, A healthy mind, You have! How nice you are! I envy you as your choice is right and the right has a way.We are so unhappy because of the unrighteousness to be always power. You cannot understand how hard oursituation is . lt is like the mix of water and ice, always Sound of Fury. All of healthy value has been going to be vanished. Both of literature and sports is under the same destiny.

[역사학도]

Dear Ambassador Kathleen Stephens, what a surprise to hear that you learned taekwondo(태권도) as early as in 1975. Now many Americans eager to learn taekwondo, but I think taekwondo was not still well known among Americans in those days. The year 1975 was the year when still the western movie(서부활극) was very popular in Korea. There was a movie experience that a new Korean generation does not know. The western cowboy movies has been completely disappeared now. But in those days when there was no such things like the Internet or color TV, the western cowboy movies fascinated us.

[역사학도]

I watched "High Noon" when I was very young, but I still vividly remember the thrill, and the name of the hero "Cary Cooper." Had you seen any comic books in those days? The comic books looked much different in those days. Boys liked the stories of cowboys(카우보이) from Texas and Arizona. And we thought 카우보이 meant gunmen. Naturally, we had the story of cowgirl from Arizona on our comic books. But I did not know we had a Taekwondo girl from Arizona in 1975 by name 심은경! So, here is my reflection on Taekwondo(太拳道). Now, many Western people learn

[역사학도]

without thinking about that do(道) means the Way--the word which has a philosophical implication in the Oriental culture. Taekwondo is not the Way to beat your friend, but the Way to have a healthy body and healthy mind. Above all, it is the martial arts you cannot learn apart from the master(사범). A Havard genius can buy books about Taekwondo and study the theory of Taekwondo by himself or herself. Yet, he or she will never learn Taekwondo without exercise under the master. You were a teacher in your school in Yesan, but you had to be a student under the master when you came to

[역사학도]

the exercise hall(도장). And you begin to learn Taekwondo by first learning the Way to salute--the traditional way of salutation in the Taekwondo community. And you have to wear the exercise dress(도복) inside the exercise hall(도장). A cowboy dress may looks stylish, yet you have to wear the exercise dress from Korea even in the midst of cowboy culture in America. In short, you acquire the knowledge and skills of Taekwondo only first being a student of Taekwondo. Well, I have illustrated this for our question, "How do you learn democracy?" In the case of Taekwondo, you could learn

[역사학도]

learn Taekwondo through being a member of Taekwondo community. You do not learn the arts of Taekwondo by imagination. You can acquire the the skills of the arts only when you participate in the exercise of the Taekwondo community. Learning democracy also needs participation and experience. You are from the country where democracy is experienced in daily life. But how do they learn democracy in the culture where they had never previously experienced democracy? Historically speaking, the Korean people had never experienced democracy prior to the independence in 1948. Democracy would be

[역사학도]

possible only when its people could learn and experience democracy first. But how? Here is my critique of Kim Gu's "내가 원하는 우리나라" (Our Country that I want). Kim Gu stresses, "나는 우리나라가 남의 것을 모방하는 나라가 되지 말고." Of course, there are some positive elements in his refusal to imitate other countries. I do also support his idea for ingenuity. But tell me what is the ingenuity of democracy. Is is possible an American insists on an American ingenuity of Taekwondo? Can any American pretend to be a master of Taekwondo when he or she refuse Taekwondo originated from

[역사학도]

Korea. To do so is to lose genuine Taekwondo along with objective reference. Kim Gu is right up to the point that a copy of American or European democracy may not best fit in Korean situation. But if what he refuses is a model, it is a different matter. We would need a model of democracy. And it was especially the case in the country under the situation where its people neither learned or experienced democracy ever before. The year of 1975 marks the time your American government was closing the program to invite the military elites in developing countries to U.S.A. for extended

[역사학도]

education. And the main purpose of that program was to provide the opportunities to learn and experience democracy in America. Perhaps you remember that still very few Koreans could have the privilege for study in U.S.A. in 1970's. And this is why it was mainly military elites who could have the chance for studies in U.S.A. in 1950's and 1960's. Thus, both Park Chung Hee in 1952 and Chun Doo Whan in 1960's had the chance to study and experience democracy thanks to your government's program to advance democracy in developing countries. These two future leaders returned to Korea with a

[역사학도]

good model of democracy. But how about the two Kims--Mr. Kim Young Sam and Kim Dae Jung--who had never learned or experienced democracy? Simply, the two Kims had no credentials to pretend to be the master of democracy. The two Kims ascended to presidency by pretending to be the master of democracy while they were not. This is why we should not based on their lies for pretending when we talk about democratization. For in reality, it was under the leadership of President Park Chung Hee and President Chun Doo Whan that one saw the advance of democracy in Korea. For example, there is no

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basis to assume that the election law amended in 1987 was better than that of 1981. Follow the link http://cafe.daum.net/issue21/3Fdk/3872 and you will see some sections of the election law in 1981 under the title "선거인단 및 대통령 선출을 위한 5공화국 선거법." In the case of that of 1981, the American model is very clear. And the amendment of 1987 was the result of rejecting the American model. Of course, it was possible that the earlier election law could be improved. But was there any substantial improvements in the amendment of 1987 enough to support the claim that it was the mark

[역사학도]

of democratization?