7/1/2003: Korean tattooees

These South Korean youngsters have been arrested because of the tattoos on their bodies.

Turns out that South Korea officially considers men with tattoos to be unsuitable for the military because they are an "abomination".

It turns out that military service in S. Korea is pretty universal, a sacred duty and avoiding it is considered unmanly. So they've arrested 170 guys with tattoos, and these gents may get up to three years in jail for their crime.

In the country's older culture, tattoos were considered disgraceful, connected to organized crime. But this is colliding with the youth culture where the tattoos are apparently newly hip.

full story

Tsk..tsk..tsk...and they won't get into heaven either.:rolleyes:

As I remember from an article I read about this, these tattoos extend down the inside of their thighs as well. As anyone with a tattoo can attest too, that is a whole lot of needlework. I applaud them for making a stand and making some nice art at the same time, even if it only makes them worth an extra pack of smoke in the Big House.

An artist friend of mine has a book on "Body Art" which has photos of people - men and women, but mostly men - who are totally covered with tattoos, and I do mean totally, even the top of the head and the penis. Apparently when the later is done, the tattooee often passes out. And the tattooing is so extensive that the skin doesn't breathe as it should so that the tattooee (love that word) has a shortened life span, by perhaps 10 years if I remember correctly. It is the kind of book that makes a strong impression.

I saw some pictures the other day of a guy that has about 80% of his "body suit" done. So far it's cost him (pause for effect) $1 0 0, 0 0 0!!! :eek:

A few years back the Victoria and Albert Museum started this cool thing- "a day of record" where they would collect information from their visitors on a designated day and topic, to be compiled as historical documents, post them on their web site. They had a tattoo day with 1,000+ vistors who could have the museum photographers take digital pics of their tattoos. Its a wonderful visual data base \

Sneaky. So the army is picky about who they accept. But serving in the army is a sacred duty, therefore getting rejected is your fault, punishable by time in jail and/or hell.

In the country's older culture, tattoos were considered disgraceful, connected to organized crime. But this is colliding with the youth culture where the tattoos are apparently newly hip.

Well, that's not the reason they are arrested. They tried to abuse the rule to be dropped from the army: that's why they are arrested for.

And yes the tattoo is still related to gangsters (you may call them Yakuzas). Believe me, the usual `hip tattoo' NEVER looks like that!! That's standard Yakuza tattooes I say. Some of keen-eyed of you could make out the katana, snake and tengu (mythical person worshipped by yaks) in the picture.

Jail serves them right. I mean, such icons are not even Korean, they are totally Japanese. Yakuza wannabes... I hope some Yaku big brother in jail treats them RIGHT.

For the record, youngsters' doing `hip' tattooes are not considered disgraceful very much, at least recently -- we cleary know the difference. Of course, for their parents it's a different matter...

I was about to say, these look like yakuza-type tats to me, though i'm sure the Koreans have thier own orgnised crime syndicates. The yakuza are, after all, origionally samuaris of a sort.

Some asian cultures like tattoos.

Originally posted by gaemon
Jail serves them right. I mean, such icons are not even Korean, they are totally Japanese. Yakuza wannabes... I hope some Yaku big brother in jail treats them RIGHT.

Christ wept... should we start arresting black guys who wear 'do rags? How about skinny people.. probably heroin addicts. I know this is a different culture, but it's still outrageous. I don't care if they are yakuza every one, arresting people because they LOOK like yakuza just serves to undermine the authority of the law itself.

serves to undermine the authority of the law itself.

Not at all. It may undermine the morality but certainly not the authority.

Originally posted by xant
Christ wept... should we start arresting black guys who wear 'do rags? How about skinny people.. probably heroin addicts. I know this is a different culture, but it's still outrageous. I don't care if they are yakuza every one, arresting people because they LOOK like yakuza just serves to undermine the authority of the law itself.

Morality has little to do with legality. If it's illegal to do ___ and you do ___, then according to the laws which govern you, you have some form of punnishment due. It's similar to another thread where kids were "over dressed" and weren't allowed to graduate. Stupid rules by some standards, but rules none the less.

Case and point: pot is illegal, alcohol isn't.

But back on topic...

I also on first glance was wondering why all of these Koreans were wearing Japanese tattoos. Of course, I shouldn't have even paused for thought, since I can wander down the street and see _insert random person here_ with a "cool" Japanese/Chinese/Asian symbol branded on them.

It amuses me to think that were I a tattoo artist, I could put up some flashy Asian glyph which basicly means "I'm a fucking moron" in the window, and people would come in and have it done just because it looked neat. Seriously, how many of these people actually do the research and look up the symbol they go in and get?

"Dude! Check that killer design!"

Quzah.

[COLOR=indigo]I've been thinking of getting the "eternity" symbol on my left wrist, on the top. Cover-upable by my watch. :) I did my research. [/COLOR] ;)

Let it all out, Quzah.

You know, you and me really oughta start a fight club.

No one talks about fight club!

Originally posted by quzah

Seriously, how many of these people actually do the research and look up the symbol they go in and get?

Most everyone that I know (that has tats) put a lot of skull sweat in before they got their work done. Of course, my friends are strange folks and tend not to make major life-altering decisions on a whim. Mostly.

its a pity when anyone is improsoned for expressing themselves peacefully without harm to others. i think the artwork is great, but the tatoos themselves need some work.
possibly, the reason why the artwork looks Japanese is due to the fact that during feudal times, Japan made many raids on the Korean peoples. during these raids many of the Korean artisans were captured and sent back to japan and their art went with them. as a matter of fact, many of the aesthetic traditions that are commonly thought of as Japanese like bonsai and stylized prints, actually originated in Korea.

Originally posted by quzah

...snip...nded on them.

It amuses me to think that were I a tattoo artist, I could put up some flashy Asian glyph which basicly means "I'm a fucking moron" in the window, and people would come in and have it done just because it looked neat....snip...

Quzah.

Happened in my neighborhood with the car guys. There is the whole fad of glyphs on cars. One guy had a "cool" glyph put on his car. From what I heard, it said "Sucker is willing to overpay". He got great service (and high prices) at every autoparts place he went to, until someone told him what it said

Originally posted by warch
Its a wonderful visual data base \

I certainly hope that's a temporary tattoo on the kid on the second page. He can't be more than five or so. I'd turn that mother in for abusing her kid.

Stupid rules by some standards, but rules none the less.

Well, duh. That's what I said. Just because the rules are stupid doesn't undermine the legality. But it does undermine the morality.

But back on topic...

Which IS, tattoos and their legal/social ramifications in South Korea.

Originally posted by dave
Let it all out, Quzah.

You know, you and me really oughta start a fight club.

So which one of us is the figment of the other's imagination? :D

Quzah.

You're both figments.:p

its a pity when anyone is improsoned for expressing themselves peacefully without harm to others.

As I wrote before, they are not imprisoned because of the tattoo. They tried to skip the army recruit, abusing the tattoo rule made long ago (presumably in 60s). Actually the rule existed to keep out gangsters from army, because they do exactly that kind of tattoo. And they still do. The rule itself is quite dumb, but they had no choice because you can't prohibit a person servicing his country just because he is supposed to be a gangster.

Doing tattoo is not illegal in Korea. What do you guys think we are? A bunch of dumb fascists? (thou there are still a lot of them :D)

Ranting about the tattoos being Japanese kind is just about my own personal taste. Acutally I'm a Japanimation fan, but such tattoo really irks me. Come on... that's not a pretty sight. is it?

By the way, according to a late night news, the most popular tattoo pattern among young Korean chicks is butterfly these days, here in Korea.

they are not imprisoned because of the tattoo. They tried to skip the army recruit,

Thats not true. If they had been called for military service and found unfit because of the tattoos then sent to jail as alternative service, I'd buy your statement. The linked article said nation wide roundup of tattooees arrested and jailed just because they were tattooed. Assuming they were trying to avoid the army is the same as assuming they are gangsters.:rolleyes:

Originally posted by xoxoxoBruce
You're both figments.:p

Actually tatoos are pigments of your imagination.

And your photo looks very photoshopped.

pigments of your imagination

ha,ha,ha that's a good one.

And your photo looks very photoshopped.

My god, I hope so.:D

Originally posted by xoxoxoBruce
Thats not true... The linked article said nation wide roundup of tattooees arrested and jailed just because they were tattooed.

Well I'm not sure about the credibility of Strait Times (intl. section)... But nobody around me got arrested only because of tattoo. If you didn't notice, I live in Korea.

Also, civil rights movements are very strong in here, so if anybody was arrested for tattoo it wouldn't pass by without raging a lot of people. heck, some people are fighting for smokers' right nowadays. (not that I oppose)

Assuming they were trying to avoid the army is the same as assuming they are gangsters.:rolleyes:

i) normal citizen doing gangster tattoo is very dangerous, i.e. gangsters wouldn't like it. kinda spoils gang's reason to do the tattoo, isn't it? ii) most gangsters are on police list, and they are not on it, iii) they did the tattoo only days before they submitted re-evaluation of their recuit status, iv) they confessed that they planned to remove it after skipping the army.

amazing laser surgeries, eh?

) normal citizen doing gangster tattoo is very dangerous, i.e. gangsters wouldn't like it. kinda spoils gang's reason to do the tattoo, isn't it? ii) most gangsters are on police list, and they are not on it, iii) they did the tattoo only days before they submitted re-evaluation of their recuit status, iv) they confessed that they planned to remove it after skipping the army.

If what you say is true, then the article was very misleading. Thanks for shedding light on this.:thumb:

By accurate report made by Los Angeles Times & New York Times that 75% of Yakuza are 2nd. and 3rd. generation Koreans that were born in Japan. Also very deep ties with Korean organized clans in Korea. Tattoos have means and identities.

Korean organized clans

Are they the gangsters?
Oh, and welcome to the Cellar, ak4004. :biggrin:

Bruce is that baby the new Yakuza Gerbers baby?

When I get the foundation done I'm gonna have to p'shop a mullet on him...
bwahahaha

Wow if those guys are in trouble, i wonder what kind of trouble i'm in?

Uh oh, you're in deep poopie, Doodle. :headshake

China Army prohibits the tattoo guys entry.

Do they arrest them then, or is army service not mandatory in China?