Trevor Dailey's Weblog

South Korea isn't a place I have given much thought to. I even 'missed' the 60th anniversary in 2013 of the end of the Korean War. However, my interest in South Korea was sparked by the most unlikely of sources.

I happened to come across some modern South Korean music on the Internet, and what got my attention was the english words placed within the songs. Why did these South Korean songs have english words added to them?

At first I thought that it was because of some sort of a fad, but the words kind of made sense in the songs, and were sung as well as the Korean words. I reasoned there must be something more to it, so I listened to more popular South Korean songs. I admit, I did start enjoying some of them after a while even though generally it isn't my cup of tea music. Pop, Dance, Techo music; whatever it is called today. 

What I soon discovered is the two main languages in South Korea are Korean and english. English is taught in school in South Korea. Instead of these young South Koreans singing english words that they did not know the meanings to, as I first thought, they probably know exactly what the english words mean they are singing, and how to correctly sing those english words. Just as they do for Korean words. Fascinating. 

Funny how I never thought much about South Korea until I heard some music, that led me to learning a little about South Korea, and then I realized that if South Korea had been abandoned in 1950 the freedom of South Korea most certainly would not exist today. All of Korea would be of darkness and desolation that North Korea is today. I may or may not like the music, but I am glad I am able to hear it. It means South Korea is still free, as I hope North Korea will be someday too.

© Trevor Dailey

CIA - The World Factbook - Korea, South

Canada Remembers the Korean War

Grolier Multimedia Maps: The Korean War