- Genre and Sub Genre – Cutomary Folklore: Rituals / Rites of Passage
- Language – English
- Country where Item is from – South Korea
Informant Data:
DongHyun Lee is a 23-year old male from South Korea. He is currently a sophomore at University of Hong Kong. He has served in the Republic of Korea (ROK) Marine Corps from June 23rd 2014 to March 22nd 2016. He was stationed in a battalion in Yeong Pyeong Island, one of the northern most islands closer to North Korea than South Korea. His job was a machine gun marksmen for the first half of his service time and a cook for the second half.
Contextual Data:
- Social Context – DongHyun Lee was interviewed over Skype because he is currently located in Hong Kong. He got assigned to his unit in Yeong Pyeong Island after finishing 7 weeks of boot camp. He recalls being very nervous and confused, as he felt he was not quite ready to face the reality of confronting his seniors.
- Cultural Context – The ROK Marine culture is extremely hierarchical. Throughout the 21-month service period, ROK marine culture climb up the strict hierarchy divided by the number of months each marine has served. Each month has a special name, a code of conduct, and rites of passages which are unofficially yet universally maintained by the conscripted soldiers (from ranks E1 to E5). Thus, whatever your senior soldiers want you to do for them, you have to do it unless you are ready to face some grave consequences which often includes collective violence and further hazing.
Item:
- Aki-ba-ri (transalted as “exertion of willpower to the extreme level”) – On the first day of his arrival at the unit, two sergeants (E5) in his company came up to him asked him what he wanted to eat right now. When he answered he wanted to eat spicy instant noodles, right away he was forced to eat 8 portions of the noodles in one sitting, after which he vomited. This was the beginning of initiation rites that he had to endure until he got promoted to corporal (E4).
Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):
Transcript of Associated File:
Can you give me your experience with Aki-ba-ri?
Sure, sure… on the first day, the sergeants… came to me and asked, “Hey noobie… what do you want to eat right now?”
At first, I said, “I’m fine, thank you,” because I was so nervous, but then they were like, “come on, we will give you a treat.”
They were quite friendly when they actually asked… Back then I wanted to eat [spicy instant chicken noodles]… The sergeants said, “Okay, we will buy you [spicy instant chicken noodles].”
So I came to this… PX so I grabbed one [spicy instant chicken noodles]. But then, the sergeant was like, “hey, you only eat one?? Come on, you can do better than that.”
So I had to pick another one. But this guy kept insisting me to grab more and more, as if 2 or 3 weren’t enough. So eventually I got 8 of them… And I had to eat them all.
In one sitting or throughout the day?
It was one meal. And I eventually vomited, becuase my stomach couldn’t endure the pain.
What was their reaction after you finished eating?
After I finished, they were like “NIce job man, you are awesome.” But I could tell it was… sarcasm, obviously.
Informant’s Comments:
Informant was able to laugh over this recollection now, but he was definitely upset and scared at that time.
Collector’s Comments:
The informant’s direct experience with this initiation is very authentic and expressive. It is a widespread hazing ritual sometimes even publicized in the South Korean media, but it was the first time the collector had heard a full version of an actual experience.
Collector’s Name:
Jeong Tae Bang
