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5. Mark Peterson

A solution to a Confucianism problem

In recent months I have seen numerous “complaints” or “criticisms” of Confucianism on my YouTube channel. I've seen criticisms of genealogy, of ancestor ceremonies and of the seonbi (the well-educated man who takes and passes exams in traditional times). People are calling for an end to Confucianism as they know it.

2022-10-18 15:19

Death of monarchy

I am not a fan of the monarchy - British, Korean, Japanese -anywhere.

2022-09-19 15:01

Women's rights in Korea

This article, like most of mine, is quite optimistic. I've been in and around Korea for 57 years and I've seen the tremendous, even miraculous things that Korea has done. Korea has overcome huge obstacles in its way in the past, and I am optimistic it will do so in the future as well.

2022-08-23 16:41

Challenge for 'jesa'

It's hard to keep up with social changes in Korea. My finger on the pulse has been my YouTube channel, The Frog Outside the Well, and the responses and comments people post. I've been surprised to see the negative comments regarding all things related to Confucian practices. The most recent has been comments on “ancestor ceremonies,” or “jesa.”

2022-07-17 16:35

Korea's three E's - education, economy, entertainment

As an observer of Korea for the last 57 years, I have seen momentous changes. The first we should talk about is the economy and rightly so, for the Korea that I first knew in 1965 was desperately poor - $125/year/per capita income. Aid from the United States was equal to native GNP - incredible! We have seen the economy take off. Younger people haven't seen it, but they've read about it. And yet the economic miracle is actually miracle number two

2022-06-19 16:55

Today's world informed by history

For those few who don't think history is important, and for those who do as well, I thought today I would recap some of the historical issues that I've been looking at in this column to see how they inform our lives and decisions in present-day Korea.

2022-05-22 17:20

Paradigm shifts in jokbo understanding

Last month, after writing a “call to arms” for all Koreans, especially the female half of Korea, to redo their jokbo (genealogies) and start to think of jokbo as the pre-18th-century Korean “pal-gojodo” chart, which is the same as the Western “five-generation pedigree chart.” I started thinking more about what it will take to bring about such a paradigm shift. And it appears it would be difficult. But maybe not.

2022-04-24 15:49

Jokbo: new approach for men and women

Korea is in a new age, one that has discarded the old hierarchies and the old male dominance. True, much of male dominance still remains, but much is changing. There is still a predominance of men in elected offices, but I recently had dinner with the consul general of the San Francisco consulate, with his political consul, and found out that women now comprise 70 percent of the incoming class of diplomats each year.

2022-03-27 12:28

Non-massacre of Wang clan

That's an odd title! The point I want to address is the mistaken idea common in Korean society that the establishment of the Joseon Kingdom was a revolutionary action accompanied by wholesale social change and the emergence of a radical new elite. Baloney. Nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, the transition of dynastic houses from Goryeo to Joseon could not have been any less revolutionary!

2022-02-27 17:00

Korean names and the slave question

I am going to return to a familiar story for me, the remarkable story of Korean family names. I am returning to this issue because I still get questions and comments based on popular misinformation and mistaken ideas that still circulate in Korea.

2022-02-02 16:50

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