Interview with family that crashed dad's BBC interview

One thing you’ve failed to consider are cultural differences. In a rapidly-changing, post-colonial, Cold War, homogenous monoculture like South Korea-- which has both long traditional roots and has liberalized differences among generations-- the social negotiation of marriage cannot be readily defined with Western stereotypical terms like “patriarchy.”

You do need to know the details. I know, because I lived there almost a decade. A husband in a Korean mixed-marriage has very few “patriarchal” advantages: as a foreigner he has little Korean social-group support (except his secondary stature as a professor), and he cannot navigate Korea using Western presumptions about marriage. Although interracial marriages have recently become trendy in Korea, marriage between cultures requires broad-mindedness from both husband and wife.

Robert Kelly did a press conference for the Korean media which was mostly a positive boost for his employer, and reflected Korean idealism about his marriage. I refer you to these websites for the general Korean perspective on the video:

http://news.nate.com/view/20170315n29228

If you wish to talk about the reasons why a Western feminist viewpoint makes little sense in non-Western cultures, we can discuss further.

3 Likes