Korea's Obession With Shit

No doubt about it, Koreans are obsessed with shit, or as it is known in Korean, 똥 (ddong), and everything associated with shit. The Korean people use the word 똥 in some fairly strange ways in their language. "똥배 (ddongbae)" for example literarly means "shit stomach," and is used to refer to a person with a pot belly. In Korea if you have a mixed breed dog, you would say you have a "똥개 (ddonggae)" or a "shit dog." And my personal favorite, "별똥 (byul-ddong)." "별똥" literally means, "shitting star" and is used by the Koreans to refer to a shooting star.
Their obsession with shit goes beyond their language, permeating every aspect of their culture. Let us examine now, a popular children's game, known as 똥침 (ddong chim). In this "game," one child attempts to shove his or her fingers up the anus of another child, or of an unsuspecting English teacher. (See this link for a better understanding of 똥침). 똥침, oddly enough, is a fairly socially acceptable. "Comedy" programs on TV here, often use 똥침 to illicite riotous laughter from the viewers.
Shit is also a popular topic for art and literature with the Korean people. A popular children's book here in Korea is "강아지 똥 (kangaji ddong)" or "Puppy Shit." This touching story teaches children how everything, including a steaming puppy loaf has a greater purpose in life.


Puppy Shit!

As for the art, I use the old addage, a picture speaks a thousand words. Examine if you will a photograph I took of a sculpture in 혜화 (Hye-hwa).


'Art'

So why is it that Korea so obsessed with shit? Perhaps it stems from their years and years of using "night soil," or human shit to fertilize their lands. In the mid-1960's a British Journalist named James Cameron wrote, "This characteristic of Korea - the hand fertilizing of the paddies with domestic ordure - was of course by no means unique in the East, but it is a fact that here it reached an especial concentration of evidence. I have never known a country where there was a more lively or thriving commerce in human excrement, even throughout the continent of Asia which always seems to Europeans excessively reluctant to part with its sewage."¹
Well, the historical precident, and agricultural background aside, I'd be will to wager that Korea's obsession with shit has more to do with what 3rd graders, the world over, have known for centuries...shit is funny!

¹James Cameron, Point of Departure, 1967, quoted in op. cit., The Travellers' Dictionary.