'Misuda' Girl Creates Controversy With Her Book

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

A popular female TV celebrity from Germany is creating a heated debate, if not controversy, with her book that apparently focused on the less than glamorous side of the Korean society.

Vera Hohleiter, a panel member of the popular KBS2 TV show, "Chat With Beauties" also called "Misuda" published a book in Germany, apparently highlighting her negative experience in Korea.

In the TV program, Hohleiter said on a number of occasions that she "fell in love with Korea." Her book, however, indicates otherwise, according to a South Korean blogger who lives in Germany and read the book.

On Thursday night, the blogger who identified herself as "a Korean student studying in Germany" posted a piece on a popular Korean Internet web forum. She said she bought a book, titled "Sleepless Night in Seoul" written by Hohleiter and gave it to a German friend as a gift.

Not long after, her German friend came back to ask her: "Is everything written in the book true?"

Realizing something went wrong, the Korean student read the book. "I am convinced that she wrote the book with a clear intention of dissing Korea," she was quoted as saying by JoongAng Ilbo on Saturday.

According to the Korean student, Hohleiter wrote in her book: "As a well-mannered and well-educated person from Europe, I put in a great deal of effort to appreciate the Korean society, but everyday I counter something that makes me fail to do so."

For example, Hohleiter wrote: "Korean girls are obsessed with keeping up with the popular trend of time and therefore they predominantly wear mini-skirts. But then, when they walk up the stairways in the subway station, they make every possible pretentious effort to hide their exposed bodies. I don’t understand why they even wear mini-skirts from the start."

The 29-year-old German also said, "Koreans have a bad taste for gossiping about foreigners. When they spot them in a public place such as in the subway, they delve into a very detailed criticism of their appearance and do it in a loud voice."

In the book, Hohleiter complained that Korea is a difficult place for a vegetarian to live, how her Korean boyfriend doesn’t pay enough attention to her, and that the crowded Korean subway reminded her of a group of mice, packed in a small space.

As for her TV remarks, she said a half of them were pre-written by a writer. "You just memorize and regurgitate what is already scripted during the show," she said.

As the contents of her book became known in South Korea, Korean bloggers were divided along the line of understanding and betrayal.

Some view what Hohleiter said rings a bell and her perspective could be used as "food for thought." Some yet are critical of her, questioning the entire verity of her remarks on the TV program, including her repeated praise for Korea.

Responding to the uproar, Hohleiter said in her web blog that there was some misunderstanding as well as distortion added when the contents of her book were translated from German to Korean.

Source

Comments

[yourexsilly.livejournal.com]

But.. this happens everywhere? I mean, I remember when I was in high school and shared a bus with girls that went to a Catholic school. Their skirts were short and the only bus stop was at the bottom of a hill, their school at the top. So they had to walk up this steep stair case with short skirts on, trying their best to hide their underwear.

I've never been to a place where other people don't gossip about foreigners.

If her Korean boyfriend doesn't pay attention to her, that's not South Korea's fault, he's just a dick.

Subways are always crowded.

Most shows are scripted.

I don't get how this could upset someone when it's a global thing.
I feel bad that she had a negative experience but it happens.

[iheartdarkblue.livejournal.com]

I agree.

My cousin experiences the exact same things over in Massachusetts. These types of things happen all over the world.

[bulgocrazyi.livejournal.com]

I can kind of get where she is coming from but in the end each country has it's pro's and cons. No culture is perfect.

[berrycherry.livejournal.com]

"When they spot them in a public place such as in the subway, they delve into a very detailed criticism of their appearance and do it in a loud voice."


It's the truth dear korea, stop trying hide your foreigner hate. Admit to it.

I must say that I also agree with the subway thing, but hell, it's the same in japan and even in germany (where I am from, btw) so I dont see why she should complain about that.
Maybe she was just dissapointed in her year abroad, maybe she pictured korea a different way before she went and decided to vent. IDK. Lady has got some issues.

[sexi-panda.livejournal.com]

The only bad thing I see is the foreigner thing and that goes for everywhere, I live in a small town and a girl from Korea moved here and I befriended her but then these group of guys always made fun of her calling her chinese and trying to talk "chinese" and basically being racist asses it eventually got so bad the boys spit on her. It upset us both to the point of crying and the principal gave them just a detention after they basically tortured her.

[iheartdarkblue.livejournal.com]

:(

I hope your friend is feeling better.

I'm so glad I live where I am (San Jose, CA). I've never experienced such blatant racism and plus it's filled with Asians.

Tell her to move here! There's not enough Koreans!

[chibi-rei.livejournal.com]

he thought I couldn't understand him

Lol nice. My aunt - by marriage - is from around Yugoslavia, and she and her family speak fluent German. Her mother speaks about people in the supermarkets here in the U.S. in German, but she did the same thing when they visited Germany... forgetting that the people there actually speak the language. XD My aunt was like, "Mom! You can't do that here!"

[warui-otome.livejournal.com]

"As a well-mannered and well-educated person from Europe"

I highly doubt this, especially with her writing a book centered on her Korean hate.

"Koreans have a bad taste for gossiping about foreigners. When they spot them in a public place such as in the subway, they delve into a very detailed criticism of their appearance and do it in a loud voice."

Eh, but isn't Hohleiter doing the same thing to them Koreans too? She's badmouthing a country who had given her attention from the masses. Shouldn't she be the least grateful? Every country has its own bad & good points. If she couldn't say something appreciative of Korea, then she had better shut up. :\

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

I don't really understand why she shouldn't write about negative points. After all she wasn't writing her book for some Korean brand advertising agency. Plus those negative points were pretty tame and quite true.

[izabera.livejournal.com]

The 29-year-old German also said, "Koreans have a bad taste for gossiping about foreigners. When they spot them in a public place such as in the subway, they delve into a very detailed criticism of their appearance and do it in a loud voice."

Maybe she's getting at the fact that people criticize foreigners in a loud voice right in front of them? Because you know, foreigners can't possibly be fluent in Korean?
I've seen that in Japan several times. It's so shockingly rude and local people don't seem to appreciate the facts that many foreigners understand what they are saying.

[erbalurbal.livejournal.com]

To me it sounds like she just talked about the struggles in her daily life and someone mistranslated it and took it the wrong way. It is easy to take a line from one page of a book and make it seem negative.

But honestly if that is the content of the book, she needs to get a reality check. People everywhere follow trends, that is why they are called trends lol

They call subways "mass transit" for a reason. Massive amounts of people ride them duh...

In a very homogeneous society like korea, the acceptance of foreign cultures aren't going to come easy.

[erbalurbal.livejournal.com]

I also don't understand how korea isn't vegetarian friendly. With all the noodle and rice dishes around, how can you not find an option? I always hear about idols wanting to eat meat so that makes it sound like they don't eat it often...

[jyusou.livejournal.com]

I don't know whether to laugh or roll my eyes, tbh.

[jasmineakaiumi.livejournal.com]

oooh sucks about your friend .. yet I'm interested in knowing why she thought it was so horrible! What happened? If it's not prying too much ;)

[stopthedisco.livejournal.com]

Wow, generalizing much?

1; Most girls EVERYWHERE try to keep up with the latest fashion, even if it's a little revealing.
2; Everyone talks about foreigners, my family in India does it all the time they see a non-Indian there. :/
3; I went to France this Spring on a school trip and they didn't have many vegetarian options either. It's not that big of a deal, it's just that most people are non-vegetarians there.
4; One boyfriend =/= All Korean men. Maybe he didn't like how she criticized his country w/o knowing everything first.
5; All subways are crowded.

[blindxbandit.livejournal.com]

Everyone talks about foreigners, my family in India does it all the time they see a non-Indian there. :/

My family does it HERE all the time when we're at church or a wedding or something. :/ I hate it.

[neptunepirate.livejournal.com]

....as far as bad points go, those aren't all that bad.

Crowded subways? Cry me a river. That's hard to avoid.
Her boyfriend sounds like an ass.
The vegetarian thing does suck, but I had vegetarian friends who lived in Austria for a year. But they did it, with no complaints.
The gossiping---it sucks, but, what are you going to do? Just ignore it.

And about the girls...well, that's nothing new. Teenagers trying to fit in with the trends, even if it makes them uncomfortable. At least they have the decency to try to cover some of them selves up, unlike some of the out and out slutbags I encounter here...and hopefully that's a stage the girls grow out of, that they'll find ways to be stylish and comfortable and idk.

If you're going to write a book and bitch about the country...make it something worthwhile, you know?

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

I'm kinda amused how this has become such a big deal in Korea. I wonder how they would have reacted if she had wrote about teenage prostitution in Korea. LOL

[yumenii.livejournal.com]

Girls wearing mini-skirts, crowded subways, asshole bfs, people pointing at foreigners... every country has those, sry2say. :/

If she really did a book to criticize Korea (because this can be just a mistranslation of some sort) she should have mentioned the racism, homophobia, machism and double-standards instead. Just sayin'.

[rainysakura.livejournal.com]

ahh, interesting.

you know, i am glad that sometimes i heard something unpleasant about Korea because i dont want to be too 'blinded' with the 'perfect' image that i always see through their entertainment and media. Hopefully these kind of 'bad' things will help to balance my current obsession towards Korea, lol.

[mihsayam.livejournal.com]

Go to forums or go to the country. There are lots of insights.

Personally, a bad experience of mine when I was at Incheon Airport the very moment I landed in Korea. Asked a couple of female airport personnel about directions.

To make long story short: the way they responded is a story I really don't wanna tell. XD

I still love Korean entertainment though. But the whole thing is just pretty far from realistic Korea. Just like Japan. To travel to those countries would be awesome, but only for a trip and not to live.

[risabet.livejournal.com]

I didn't find those remarks that horrible. Hohleiter didn't exactly go "OMG THE BARBARIANS DESTROYED MY FAITH IN HUMANITY" or anything. The writer has the right to recite her experiences and of course they are going to represent only one point of view, hers. She is by no means an official authority who'd represent her entire home country or anything. Sure, she should have maybe taken things with a grain of salt and not expect everything to be perfect and dreamy just because it was new and foreign to her, but still.

[callmeliyah.livejournal.com]

mte. if she felt like expressing her experiences then thats her business...it's not like she said All Koreans are racist hateful people and the entire male population in the country is extremely neglectful and all the girls are short-skirt-wearing whores and just, no one should ever live here.

...

had she written that, I'd understand the fuss.

[talgi-uyu.livejournal.com]

Who doesn't complain about their s/o at some point?

[julili.livejournal.com]

Well I was in Korea this summer and I must say that well I agree with the girl.
Sure, things like that happen in every country and no culture is perfect, nor a people.
But I felt extra stared at and talked about when I was walking down the streets and in the subway. It went as far that I became very self concious. To me that was not a nice experience, and the first time it has ever happened to me and I have visited several countries.
Eventhough, that bad experience has somewhat tainted my picture of Korea, I will still visit it again because the country has so much to offer as long as one does not let petty things as how people think bother you.

[finchburg.livejournal.com]

When I spent a semester in Costa Rica part of our "intro" was that as a blonde female foreigner I was going to get catcalled, etc. and the best thing to do was ignore it. It helped a lot that I knew Spanish and what they were saying but it does get hard to ignore it and not become paranoid.

[music3chick.livejournal.com]

so in short... the truth hurts?

[inheritable.livejournal.com]

How dare someone say something not positive about Korea.

[coyotecolored.livejournal.com]

my god, I know, right? it's just perfect in all regards, full of hot boys and kittens, and right now, I'm actually living in a rainbow, don't you know!

[silent-shout1.livejournal.com]

To be fair, Korea would be a difficult place for a vegetarian to live.

[sup-homeskillet.livejournal.com]

sounds like this is a case for the...

LOL.

[crystalheng.livejournal.com]

[crystalheng.livejournal.com]

Girls wear mini skirts to look nice, not to expose themselves. If they would like to expose themselves, they would have just worn their underwear or none at all.

[breathe-ai.livejournal.com]

"how her Korean boyfriend doesn’t pay enough attention to her..."

rofl, I think all girls would complain about that...

[xkimchi-ninja.livejournal.com]

At least she has a Korean boyfriend /cry.

[love-allure.livejournal.com]

"As a well-mannered and well-educated person from Europe, I put in a great deal of effort to appreciate the Korean society, but everyday I counter something that makes me fail to do so."

oh whatever. i don't live in korea and i still counter stuff that makes me lose faith in humanity and society as a whole. it's everywhere girlfriend.