Hey Geograpeeps!
So, I kinda wanted to talk about this topic because it kind of comes up a lot from you guys on social media.
One of the question I get the most is: "Barby, where are you from? What's your ethnicity?"
To which I typically respond "Okay, what do you think? What's your guess?"
I've gotten everything from like Polynesian to Central-Asian, Kazakh, I've gotten Latino,
I've gotten like Mediterranean. So I'm just going to lay it all out.
The unofficial term for someone like is a "Hapa" or a half-Asian. The word "Hapa" is actually derived from the
Hawaiian word for "half". Some other notable YouTubers that are Hapas include:
Ingrid Nilsen, Sam Tsui, Kina Grannis and my fellow half-Korean Hapa homeboy, Markiplier.
However, sometimes when I tell people that I'm half-Korean they go "Oh, wow! So, are you North or South?"
You know, for me it's kinda mind-boggling that that's even a question but you know, some people
genuinely don't even know about the deal about North and South Korea.
So, let me just tell you straight up. I would venture to say that about 98.34% of the people you meet in this
world that claim to be Korean are most likely going to be South Korean.
And why is that? Because, unless if they have specific permission from the government or unless if they
are an escapee, North Koreans are not allowed to leave North Korea.
And here's the thing. All Koreans, North or South are all ethnically Korean however after six decades of
separation, the cultures have diverged quite drastically.
So, this video, I'm going to try my best to explain the differences between North and South Koreans
in a very plain, simplistic, objective format. Using facts and statistics and not you know, subjective biases
'cause we all know how easy that can get.
So, let's jump in!
#1 - Political Ideology
This is probably the biggest difference between the two countries. The closest thing I can compare it to
would probably be like, mainland China vs. Taiwan.
You know, ethnically they are all the same but they differ greatly on government.
In the simplest way I can put this. North Korea is all under Kim Jong Un.
Nobody can oppose him. He has all authority.
South Korea is a constitutional republic that operates with a president, prime minister, national assembly
and chief justice that can kind of keep themselves in check.
Why is this? Well, long story short, the Korean war, things got ugly,
and now we have two Koreas that act completely different.
#2 - Culture
Now, here's where things get a little bit more clear-cut. North Korea is interesting because it's kind of like
in a time warp. I mean, just look at the way they build their cities.
Although, I will admit they do kind of embellish their metro system very well
which also acts as a nuclear bomb shelter.
In a nutshell. After the Korean war, Russia kind of influenced the North
and the U.S. kind of influenced the South.
North Korea, I will say probably does a little bit better of a job in maintaining the traditional
Korean customs and mannerisms of what it probably used to look like before the Western world came in.
It's not uncommon to see the traditional Hanbok dress worn regularly every day by women.
Whereas in the South, you would probably only see it on a holiday or in a wedding.
They have completely different schooling systems. Children in the North are taught to praise and honor
their dear leaders, the Kims every single day and pay tribute to them.
Nearly every classroom, office and household in the entire country has a picture of Kim Il Sung & Kim Jong Il.
While the South likes to play Starcraft and Lineage while checking their Kakao and buying groceries on their
smartphones and Tango video chatting their relatives in Vancouver.
And that's the other thing. North Korea is incredibly restrictive. No international calls.
No outside music or media. No driving unless you are a government official. No jeans or short skirts.
And their computers have computers have incredibly limited state monitored "intranet"
that only allows certain sites that the government approves of.
Because the North has been so closed off the rest of the world, there hasn't really been much of
a huge culture shift. Things were just kind of left as they were untouched for a long time.
Which brings us to the next part.
#3 - Language
Now, both North and South Korea speak Korean and they can generally understand each other.
However, over six decades, South Korea has gained a whole new volume of Western influenced loanwords
which can kind of sometimes make communication difficult.
For example, in South Korea, ice cream is "아이스크림" (ai-seu-ceu-rim).
But in North Korea it's "어름콰자" (eo-reum-kwaja) which translates to something like "ice sweet snack".
In South Korea, juice is "주스" (jyu-seu).
However, in North Korea it's "과일 단 물" (kwa-il dan-mul) which literally translates to "fruit sweet water".
It's kind of funny because South Koreans will say it's kind of like talking to somebody from the 60's.
A lot of North Korean words are untouched from outside influence so, in a weird sense
it's kind of like they speak a little bit more of a pure version of Korean.
It's kind of like how Icelandic is closer to ancient Norse than the other Scandinavian languages.
So anyway, those were just kind of like the key differences that I wanted to highlight
you know, both Koreas are basically the same in terms of ethnicity, language and historical heritige.
It's just, you know, one of them decides to close off and the other one is a booming economically, innovative,
world superpower. Funny how culture can develop that way.
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So, with that being said. Thank you for watching this video about me kind of explaining a little bit more about
my heritage. I guess it's kind of like a preview of the Korea episodes which are going to be really fun to make.
But in the meantime, I have a lot of research and editing to do. So much work. So little time.
So, I guess stay cool, stay tuned!