Today our schedule was full of interesting conversations and new perspectives. We started out at Cafe Pascucci at Seoul National University with Christal Phillips, a former University of Michigan alumnus and current lecturer at Yonsei University in Seoul. She began by explaining her life story and how she ended up teaching in Korea. She finished both her undergrad and law school education at michigan and later began work at a law firm. She soon became uninterested in corporate life and left to pursue her interests in social justice and sociology. She went back to school to complete her masters degree at Columbia University and through a friend stumbled upon a job opening at Yonsei University to teach. She jumped on the opportunity and has been working in Korea for about a year.
Christal seemed to be a strong advocate for getting a "global education" and studying abroad. She explained that even with high degrees from prestigious universities, sometimes it still can be difficult to find a job. For that reason, she explained, it's important to not limit yourself to only one job field, interest, or even country when applying for positions. This seemed to resonate with our group, because I felt that most people were interested in studying abroad or possibly even working outside of the U.S. sometime in the future. While some of us felt that her tone appeared disillusioned and pessimistic at times, she provided some very useful and practical information about finding jobs that fit our interests and how to find ways to work abroad.
The USO and U.S. Army presentation later on in the day turned out to be surprisingly interesting. I think many students arrived at the informal lecture assuming the material would be mostly military propaganda. While the session did seem to have a positive perspective on the U.S. military presence in South Korea, it also helped answer many important questions we had about korean military history and current tensions with North Korea. The USO began the discussion explaining that it was created to provide resources and boost morale for U.S. troops and their families stationed abroad. They are a private company that is contracted by the U.S. military and they help provide entertainment and "a taste of home" to the U.S. soldiers. Some examples of their work include contracting with big entertainers such as country singer Toby Keith, or helping to develop an "america town" around one of the U.S. military bases in South Korea. At this base, there are gas stations, convenience stores, shopping centers, and restaurants that all cater to american customers. They speak english, cater to american tastes, and even accept american currency. Overall, it seems like the USO does not have a strong involvement in politics, but rather acts as a support system to help american soldiers abroad.
Later in the discussion, we had two U.S. military officers stationed in Korea speak with our class. They provided some interesting insights into the reasons behind the U.S. military presence in korea. On one hand, they explained, it is beneficial to Korea to have American soldiers stationed on the peninsula to provide security should North Korea or another asian country decide to attack the country. Korea has historically been a wealthy but small country, making it a frequent target of invasions. In addition, the U.S. military does more than simply wage war and provide security, it often functions as an emergency response unit and provides assistance to Korea in the event of landslides, earthquakes, typhoons, and other disasters. Finally, they explained, the current presence of the U.S. military in Korea is not necessary; Korea has a very strong military of its own and can fully respond to any military threat or natural disaster without assistance. However, the presence of the U.S. military in Korea is used also as a way to form a strong political bond between the two countries, existing as an offering of goodwill and support to Korea. While it would be interesting to hear how the Korean military perceives these attitudes, it appeared that the opinions of the military officers were genuine and honest. Overall, the talks by both the USO representative and the U.S. military officers offered an interesting and unique perspective on the cooperation of the U.S. and Korean militaries.
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