At 4 am July 31, 1898, two professional photographers sneaked into the castle of ‘The Iron Chancellor’, the Prussian/German statesman Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898), in the suburbs of Hamburg, Germany. It was only 5 hours after Bismarck succumbed to death, ending his struggle against ill health for over a year. The room where his body was laid was strictly controlled and no one was allowed to enter without the permission of family members of the deceased.
The measure was taken according to the wishes of the late chancellor who did not even want to make public his poor shape in his sickbed. However, the photographers infiltrated the room and took photos of his corpse. A little later, they appeared at a publishing company and handed over the original prints to the publisher, who agreed to pay them what amounts to 200 000 euros at today value and 20 percent of the sales of the publication.
Exactly 99 years after that, in August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales (Diana Spencer, 1961-1997) was killed in a car accident that occurred while her driver was trying to outmanoeuvre the paparazzi. Paparazzi—who originated from photographers who took photos of celebrities, politicians and other prominent people—had now committed the tragedy of driving the living to death.
The meaning of paparazzi is an annoying noise, particularly that of a buzzing mosquito. It is said that the word originated from a photographer, who chased upper-class women, featured in the 1960 film La Dolce Vita (The Sweet Life) directed by the Italian Federico Fellini (1920-1993). The term, implying a negative connotation, is an excellent choice for these kinds of photographers.
Korean society is a place where scores of mutated paparazzi look for their prey. Food paparazzi watch people who sell harmful foods; trash paparazzi watch people who throw away trash illegally; cigarette paparazzi watch people who throw cigarette butts on the street; karaoke [カラオケ, a portmanteau of Japanese kara (空, empty) and ōkesutora (オーケストラ, orchestra) is a form of interactive entertainment or video game in which amateur singers sing along with recorded music (and/or a music video) using a microphone and public address system] paparazzi watch people who run karaoke facilities without permission; sex paparazzi watch people who violate the sex trafficking prohibition law; and so on.
Even their names are unusual. Among them, most popular nowadays is private tutoring paparazzi (hagparazzi), which watch hagwon (學院, 학원, a for-profit private academy or institute) that run illegal private lessons. During the 6 months, from July to December 2009, 719 hagparazzi were rewarded 2.13 million won (1460 euros) each on average. They received a total of 1.53 billion won (1.050 million euros) in return for their reports on illegal private lessons run by tutoring centres. One hagparazzo received 61.85 million won (42 400 euros), the highest amount, almost equal to the net income of those who are paid a 100 million won (68 400 euros) annual salary.
However, the problem is that the nature of their job is tailing students and staking out private institutes to catch perpetrators of illegal lessons in the act. I worry that their activities will create an atmosphere in which such dishonourable behaviour as distrust and tattling are rampant. It seems that the effect of the crackdown is not so great. There is criticism that large private institutes are left intact, while smaller ones are caught by hagparazzi, who target small and medium tutoring centres that are relatively easy for them to watch. Hence, Koreans should focus their concerns on what their children will learn from hagparazzi!
The measure was taken according to the wishes of the late chancellor who did not even want to make public his poor shape in his sickbed. However, the photographers infiltrated the room and took photos of his corpse. A little later, they appeared at a publishing company and handed over the original prints to the publisher, who agreed to pay them what amounts to 200 000 euros at today value and 20 percent of the sales of the publication.
Exactly 99 years after that, in August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales (Diana Spencer, 1961-1997) was killed in a car accident that occurred while her driver was trying to outmanoeuvre the paparazzi. Paparazzi—who originated from photographers who took photos of celebrities, politicians and other prominent people—had now committed the tragedy of driving the living to death.
The meaning of paparazzi is an annoying noise, particularly that of a buzzing mosquito. It is said that the word originated from a photographer, who chased upper-class women, featured in the 1960 film La Dolce Vita (The Sweet Life) directed by the Italian Federico Fellini (1920-1993). The term, implying a negative connotation, is an excellent choice for these kinds of photographers.
Korean society is a place where scores of mutated paparazzi look for their prey. Food paparazzi watch people who sell harmful foods; trash paparazzi watch people who throw away trash illegally; cigarette paparazzi watch people who throw cigarette butts on the street; karaoke [カラオケ, a portmanteau of Japanese kara (空, empty) and ōkesutora (オーケストラ, orchestra) is a form of interactive entertainment or video game in which amateur singers sing along with recorded music (and/or a music video) using a microphone and public address system] paparazzi watch people who run karaoke facilities without permission; sex paparazzi watch people who violate the sex trafficking prohibition law; and so on.
Even their names are unusual. Among them, most popular nowadays is private tutoring paparazzi (hagparazzi), which watch hagwon (學院, 학원, a for-profit private academy or institute) that run illegal private lessons. During the 6 months, from July to December 2009, 719 hagparazzi were rewarded 2.13 million won (1460 euros) each on average. They received a total of 1.53 billion won (1.050 million euros) in return for their reports on illegal private lessons run by tutoring centres. One hagparazzo received 61.85 million won (42 400 euros), the highest amount, almost equal to the net income of those who are paid a 100 million won (68 400 euros) annual salary.
However, the problem is that the nature of their job is tailing students and staking out private institutes to catch perpetrators of illegal lessons in the act. I worry that their activities will create an atmosphere in which such dishonourable behaviour as distrust and tattling are rampant. It seems that the effect of the crackdown is not so great. There is criticism that large private institutes are left intact, while smaller ones are caught by hagparazzi, who target small and medium tutoring centres that are relatively easy for them to watch. Hence, Koreans should focus their concerns on what their children will learn from hagparazzi!
Giorgio Olivotto
Seoul, Korea
August 1, 2010
Seoul, Korea
August 1, 2010
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