CLINICALLY ABEAST

"Teenage years here is all about studying hard to go to a good University. I was told that I could do everything else (or anything I want) once I go to University. In theory, “life” is supposed to begin from the university years.

“There is a saying that Parisians can put up with inconvenience but can’t stand something ugly, and Koreans can put up with something not so beautiful but can’t stand inconvenience. And that’s why Paris is beautiful and Seoul is convenient to live in. Convenience and speed are the utmost essentials to Koreans.

The first word you'd probably learn here is ‘bbalibbali/palipali’ which means ‘fast fast’ or ‘do it quicker’.” - Hyoi Kim

“Seoul is a very safe place to live. This might be a surprise to a foreigner whose only reference point of South Korea has been news broadcasts related to North Korea and inter-Korean relationship, but South Korea is probably one of the safest countries to live in. We drink A LOT for social occasions, but alcohol/drug/gun/knife related crimes or other violent crimes are all pretty rare.” - Interview quote and photography by Hyoi Kim

“Koreans don’t really hang-out at home. I think it’s because of the tradition that you live in your parents place until you get married (it’s changing now, but it’s still uncommon to rent your own room if your parents are living in the same city. It is considered to be unnecessary, unless you’re are financially stable enough to buy your own flat. In the past, it was also considered to be rude, as if abandoning your duty to take care of your parents.)

We hangout a lot in cafes (café culture is huge). It is a place to hangout, read, study, have business meetings and so on. Normally after a meal in a restaurant, you move to café to get coffee and cake (often it costs more that the meal).

And there is also Jjimjilbang. It is like a sauna with hot stone and many other herbal rooms, but if European notion of sauna is a cinema, Jjimjilbang is like a multiplex. Normally it’s 2-3 story buildings with themed sauna rooms with different temperature and herbs, restaurants, common area where you can watch TV and sleep, nailshop, massage therapists (but not like a spa). It’s something very unique, fun and cheap pastime.”- Hyoi Kim

“Seoul is a BIG city. It’s a huge metropolis. I always have a hard time explaining the scale to someone who’s never been to this side of world (East Asia), especially to Europeans... As European cities tend to be small.

London is bigger than Seoul, but Seoul could seem bigger, as there really isn’t a suburban area. Each area has it’s own city center, and it looks very modern with all our high-tech and skyscrapers.

There are 10 million people living in Seoul, but 20 million in the metro area.” - interview and photography by Hyoi Kim

“Korea became a developed country from one of the poorest countries in the world in just 50 years after the Korean War. So the lives of my grandparents (who experienced the fall of the Chosun dynasty, the brutal oppression of colonialism and the war – some of them are from now North Korea), parents and my generation are unimaginably different, so are their point of views on life.” - Hyoi

‘Life talks’ in Seoul, South Korea.

At the very beginning of this series (before the pandemic and my trips to Jamaica and Brazil) I asked Hyoi Kim what it was like to grow up or live in Seoul, South Korea. I was planning to visit her there to expand on some of these questions and talk to some more people irl, but life and then the pandemic put a stop to those plans! So I’ll be sharing some of the insights she shared here over the next couple of weeks, and hopefully will expand on it in the future.

This is honestly a question or thought I have sometimes, when I hear about yet another archaic law, act or mindset, that still exists. Usually those that are against or effecting women!

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We're about to go into a whole new decade - 2020! We have A.I and pretty soon (probably) -flying vehicles, and an opportunity to holiday in space. And yet women are still fighting for equal pay! Still having to fight for the rights to decide what happens to their own bodies. Still, (in countries where it's illegal) being sent to prison - for having an abortion, or even an accidental miscarriage- regardless of the circumstances of the conception.

2020. A moment in time where we should be working harder to eradicate and review all oppressive laws (like they did in N.Ireland🙌🏾) -not begin creating them! (Like they were trying to do in Alabama, with their proposed abortion laws.)🤦🏾‍♀️

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When the 'me too' movement began and spread, I was pretty hopeful and anticipated lots of changes, both systematically and mentally, even if one of my first thoughts sadly was 'who hasn't?!'. It made me think about the treatment and experience of women all around the world, 'cos apparently '1 in 3 women worldwide will be raped or assaulted in their life time'! (Probably one of the most troubling statistics I've ever heard.)

But is that surprising, when we still live in a world where even in the self described 'more progressive' Western countries, they still have the audacity to ask female rape victims questions regarding 'what they were wearing'- 'how many sexual partners they've had', questioning them on 'why they went there'. Not only dangerously suggesting that all men lack self control or are inherently violent- which we know not to be the case! It suggests that sexual assault is also the fault or responsibility of the women, whenever they put her as well as the attackers on trial.

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However, as much as men do need to take responsibility for their own attitudes/actions, I think that we may need to address how we (as a society) have raised them - be it culturally, religiously or socially...

Immigration regularly deporting 'illegal' citizens back to their birth countries is nothing new, but a couple of raids by ICE officials recently in the US, left hundreds of kids literally parentless.

Just one of the many shameless #icecold actions the US government have taken against Central American migrants in recent months. When it was revealed that children arriving from Central America,(already dealing with the trauma of being separated from their parents on arrival), weren't even getting their basic human needs & rights. Kept in overcrowded 'human cages', without a bed to sleep on, or soap to clean themselves!(No surprise that more children have died in custody in the past year than they have in the last TEN)

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But this it's not just the case in the U.S. Problematic mentalities & inhumane treatment happens across the pond here in the U.K & in Europe too.

One newspaper actually used the word 'swarm' to describe people trying to get to Europe once. People are regularly deported whilst in restraints; living in questionable conditions & in Italy, anyone found helping migrants- even those in danger of drowning at sea, risks imprisonment or prosecution.

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In the U.K. we have some of the biggest immigration centres in Europe, with thousands of people detained every year. Some of these places look worse than prisons & there is still no statutory time limit on how long an individual can be held. So people can be left languishing in centres for years, with no date or idea on how long it'll take to be processed. Even West Indian migrants invited to the country during the Windrush, have had their status questioned& a hundred have already been deported unjustly.

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There was an incident in Australia, where a man literally set himself on fire after being repeatedly refused medical treatment at a centre there. At another- it was reported that asylum seekers arriving by boat were called by the numbers they were given on arrival by staff -instead of their actual names.

Prevention is better than no cure - Scientists have painted a pretty dismal picture of our (offsprings) potential future. Inhabitable countries. Billions more displaced and forced to migrate. Whole species of sea life in particular becoming extinct. Reduced amounts of clean water and food for the majority of our booming population. All apparently likely if we increase the Earths temperature ‘just’ by 4 degrees. Something that’s been predicted to occur well before the end of the century if we continue along the path that we’re on…

Despite this, some of our governments are still proposing to reduce carbon emissions by 2030-50 when clearly that’ll be much too late!?! • Living in London, England I’ve been 'lucky’ enough to not have personally experienced any natural disaster so far. And I must admit that I’ve been outwardly basking in the unusually hot summers we’ve been getting here in the U.K, but also inwardly panicking about it, because I know just what it could mean… • Climate change has already changed lives and livelihoods. Forcing thousands around the world to abandon their homes due to unbearable heat waves; live in shelters due to severe- more frequent tsunamis, wildfires, hurricanes and flooding. And although yes, some countries have always just been more prone to disasters because of their natural climate and location, (unfortunately it is still the poorest countries with the lowest carbon footprint who are experiencing the worst effects), the rate is increasing and likely to happen everywhere at some point, especially now that 'the lungs of the earth’ -the Amazon rainforest are being deliberately and regularly set on fire! Not only releasing dangerous amounts of C02 into the atmosphere and destroying indigenous people’s lives and homes. Those trees are responsible for producing 20% of the worlds oxygen- aka the air we need to breathe, and losing even a fifth more of it would be catastrophic for us all. Not just for those living in and around the surrounding countries…