Does 'HAN' Make Koreans Different From Other Asians? (K-Rage)

what is exactly Korean Han is it just krage and is it what sets Koreans apart from other Asians let's talk about it it's going viral right now there's a lot of different articles a lot of different videos that have been made about it on the internet but first let's hear it straight from some Koreans what is Han in general Han is this great sense of unresolved Injustice and conflict and sense of Oppression he's got that Han in him he's got the fire like fire has to escape or die and we we're Koreans we need his hair is on fire red he's like come on Han is often described as an internalized feeling of deep sorrow Injustice resentment regret and anger some people describe it as Korean rage in the Korean psyche this sense that some injustice has been done against me and I am helpless to do anything about it and so that feeling of just in just now as many of you know Han is most common commonly associated with separated families you know these are the families that have members both in North and South Korea who were separated uh during the Korean War how come all the Korean guys are so tormented they're all carrying around some unseen weight Han is a Korean term describing a complex set of negative emotions including deep sorrow regret resentment and rage it denotes a uniquely Korean sense of intense negative emotions bound up within the individual and Collective Korean psyche often deemed untranslatable in English yeah so we're going to talk about it like uh what is it exactly is it a historical thing or is it a more recent thing and by the way there are some professors who looked into this so we're going to be quoting them and also are are are Koreans the only ones that can have Han or are there other groups that probably also have their own Han as well so we're going to dive into this guys if this interests you please hit that like button check out other episodes of the hot pop boys because uh you know this is what we do on the fun Bros Channel and also check out smas sauce.com guys it was sold out but now it is back for pre-order I'll tell you this Andrew clearly the Koreans have to have something unique to be able to have done what they've done over the past several decades right Andrew we're talking about economics jumping way up and Samsung LG Hyundai Kia we're talking about music movies it's been called the greatest economic miracle in modern world history woo so is it the Han that's fueling it like sun Kang said David that's what Sun Kang he's like why are Koreans unique compared to other Asians Chinese Taiwanese Korean I mean Japanese right um Thai Indonesians right it's like like why are they so unique right and it felt like there was a couple of things right and the first and most prominent thing was this notion of Han this idea of Han which it's very hard to translate right and it is this like you know like this sense of Sorrow this anger or this this frustration but on the flip side the positive of it is is that's what fuels us to excel to go all right you can put me down you can you know you can belittle me you can take over the country but we'll show you yeah right I'll show you like we will even show you as a country eventually it kind of puts that chip on their shoulder is it as simple as chip on your shoulder David what is your opinion from the Koreans that you know okay okay I will say this uh there's this clip of sun Kang saying that Koreans are Furious let me just play that right now Koreans are super angry like we hold a lot Insider so there's a lot of Fury in us anecdotally as somebody who was Chinese American and then had a bunch of korean-american friends in college this is true yo Korean guys they drink a lot they fight a lot relative to Chinese obviously you know I mean we got to keep the comparisons within Asians right now right and uh there does seem to be some sense of like deeply wanting to make up for the injustices of the past not just in their own life but potentially of their ancestors life right and and I think that this seems kind of like a hard thing to understand for some people cuz they're like wait why would you hold on to your ancestors like what do you mean ancestors we're talking about 3 4 500 years ago 3,000 years ago are we talking about maybe just 130 years ago yeah maybe maybe it's a little bit more recent and we're going to get into it um from my my perspective I guess like every time I heard of krage or Han or something that's like the Hot Blooded of Koreans the kimchi blood that they have uh I know that Koreans they would they would always use it I I'm not saying they use it as an excuse for things but sometimes it does feel like they like oh man that's just my like krage like oh we got to drink because you know that's just like the Korean thing to do but I was like but why why why why and I think that there are some historical reasons like this professor had talked about right David right this professor was basically making the argument that he's done the deep deep Research into the ancient text because um obviously a lot of stuff in Korea for a long time was written using Chinese characters and then they switched it to the Korean character so he's he's like a professor who like was reading both and he was like contextualizing it basically his argument is that the true modern-day Han that you see in a movie like old boy parasite Etc you know the detective chill rip to you know rip to the actor but it's like I'm saying that it's like he was saying all that stuff really arose 130 years ago basically the modernday way that korean-americans is also people in Korea Define Han is a recent invention relative to like thousands of years so it's more he's making the argument that this Han is more based off of essentially you could say the Japanese Occupation of Korea right right right but I do think there is some ancient context before that but at least the modern-day version that we see is only 130 years old okay I thought there was a really interesting quote from Lauren Choy on her YouTube channel she was quoting a professor I don't know if it's the same one but he was they were saying so that same Professor I mentioned also noted that he doesn't think that it's only Koreans who can possess Han he thinks that also African-Americans and the Irish possess Han in their own cultural way as well so they kind of internalized that and they let it out in artistic ways dramatic ways comedy you know for Jewish people that's typically known as their way of of Haun and also drinking which they pointed to the Irish having gone through a lot the famine and being uh uh uh not treated well when they first got to America by the way I obviously a lot of groups have been through a lot of horrible things especially a previous the really the world didn't hyper stabilize until like 60 70 years ago you know what I mean like on a macro scale like every group has gone through a lot of things but I think the two things that are unique about having Han and like we said let's just say for example Irish and African-Americans have too I think there has to be it has to happen to a smaller selective group to have a collective Consciousness because Andrew we know uh the rape of Nan King that was horrible horrible horrible what the Japanese did to the Chinese but China is so big there's not a collective Consciousness to sharing it do you see what I'm saying like we're not all from Nan Jing right and Nan Jing isn't all of China that was actually just one city in China which was terrible and each city in China is obviously very huge but you're right it didn't affect all Chinese it can not affect the collective Consciousness because almost like nothing can affect the collective consciousness of all Chinese because China is way too big and diverse right I will say as a Chinese person when you like hear about that incident you kind of feel like oh dang the Japanese did that oh shoot but ultimately it doesn't change like your internal dude if you were like way across the other part of the country it's almost like you just heard about it right right right right so I think that that's one of the complicated things so that's that's one of these things but here's another thing too so I think it has to happen to a small group to have a shared Collective Consciousness that's actually from like one thing and number two it depends on how you take it because there were some Egyptians that said yo look Egyptians we are also an ancient civilization we've been through a lot but even in our ancient texts even the British and the Greeks when they would meet the Egyptians they would always say they joke their way through pain they laugh it off so there's this saying that basically some cultures they laugh off pain some cultures they may sink into their pain I believe those are the cultures that are more Han and then for example Andrew Chinese they're known for just eating their pain like bitterness with a neutral face right and that's where that Chinese saying of eat eat vinegar goes sure cool like almost like you're you you eat it but you like nothing came from it yeah and then I think like more recently like something I always noticed between like my intense Korean friends and like my Vietnamese friends Vietnamese people obviously went through a very traumatic like War I mean usually it's my friend's parents right who came from who fled Vietnam to come to America became refug they also had a civil war like North and South Korea split obviously Vietnam North and southet also cambodians went through something similar so I think trauma being passed down that's very recent for some of those groups and that's where that conversation comes from of like viets or cambodians being very intense and having a lot of pain right that's maybe I guess perhaps more recent but it is somewhat similar right it seems like there's no no no I would say my Korean and my Viet friends both have way more of an ability to get way more intense way quicker than my Chinese friends yeah almost given anything that pops up disrespect actual beef perceived beef slights like they they to go yeah so basically guys we're going to go through the comment section then give you our uh takeaways at the end but hopefully you found that insightful and that explains something about Korean Han obviously we showed a bunch of clips of Koreans explaining it but anybody else in the comments below let us know if there's some inconsistencies the first argument that popped up in the next shark comment section Andrew was is this really a unique Korean thing or is it just anybody who just went through something um I think we just previously addressed that for a larger group like Chinese even when we go through crazy pain it's just different I mean the I I would say Taiwanese may have more of a similar you know what I mean like could understand it more you know what I mean like a chip on their shoulder yeah I mean I think it's individuals can have this Han thing this sorrow this internalized hurt if you went through trauma or if you just even imagine that you went through trauma right cuz not every Korean family went through a terrible time but why does it s feel like that it's passed down to a large amount of them obviously not all Koreans but a a large number of them you know because I think that part of it is buying into it you know what I mean like once you grow up knowing that Koreans have Han aren't you more likely to buy into it because that's like what you're known for that's your group kind of thing even if it doesn't apply to your exact family or your exact bloodline you're just going to be like yeah Koreans are just intense let me just say this I have a friend called kiwan and he told me he is from a royal lineage in Korea and he said he has less Han because even when all the internal justices between uh the slave peasant here versus the Royals was going on he said that his lineage was on the Royal side and that's why he has less Han than somebody who came from more of a like went through worse situations right as a Chinese person sometimes like I would jokingly say oh it's because Koreans are like part Mongolian and Mongolians are fired no no no I mean dude even the profess there's some nomadic basis for all of this to take place even though we we could go back to like I don't know they was they was talking about the break break up with the Jan Dynasty and everything I don't know you guys got to do the research yeah I'll say this you can't just write it off if you have like an outburst where a Korean guy should not be like this guy at work he called me Chinese two times so then I threw my coffee mug at him but it is just a Han that is not a good excuse you got to do the research it is not an excuse for anything it's but yeah but yeah like you said it's Fuel and I think that it also fueled Andrew the incredible art and music that Koreans are capable of also I think it's their love for hip-hop so um some people were saying oh my goodness I'm so mad I'm so sick of like everything Korean being considered so cool right now and then this turned into a Koreans versus other types of Asians thing in the comments section um we're going to get back into the haunting but I will say this I think right now Korean stuff is really hot right and I do think there is and shout out to all my Korean friends we know so many that it's like sometimes they're like more into their own stuff than like other Asian stuff so there's some resentment from the other Asians that they got to think about Korean stuff but the Koreans only get to think about their own stuff right people in the comment section are like oh this is uniquely Korean right yeah sure let me guess internalize hurt and sorrow that's only Koreans right only they went through it right no actually I don't believe it's just kind of listen Koreans they kind of won with the branding on this one they get The Branding they called they story they got everything they had a word for it they called it Han not just sorrow they kind kind of had this it's an easy word to say too it's not Han Chinese by the way it's not referring to the same Han it's just spelled like that yeah yeah well the thing about uh ancient Middle Chinese Andrew and all the hanza it got kind of interpreted differently Japan Korea Vietnam it's all the same characters there's the same root words but they got used differently the kanji and everything like that um somebody said I'm adopted Korean and I didn't even know that I had this but I always knew I had it something deeply inside of me until I learned about the Han this kind of goes to what you were saying like it but I do think it is genetic but I think like you said once you find out about it you like lean into it at double time yeah I mean there is some confirmation bias in all this but I get it I think it's how you're raised if you had an intense parent or depending on what stories they told you if they yelled and drank and were very intense in the way that they did things then yeah you would it would be passed down it makes sense for sure for sure um somebody just said man we love our families we love our friends yet we can be very shrewd to those that are against us people have fear greed empathy and so many other emotions basically saying that the Han and another word J just make people feel emotions very intensely um some may lead to harm some may lead to good it's just the way life goes yeah I think that's it really interesting way to put it like I said I mean you do meet occasionally some intense Chinese people Andrew that are emotional but I would say it's like by far not the norm would you agree whereas like for Koreans that feel intense emotions on the upside and downside probably over 50% um some people were saying I got it as a tattoo because it meant so much to me and then somebody were saying basically it's very uh a lot of black people were commenting it's very similar to African-American anger um which is called post-traumatic slave syndrome not my words guys this is just me saying it from the comments section um yeah I do think so I think like we said you know different groups Irish African-Americans uh Jewish people they may all feel something very deeply uh inside of them that's very difficult to explain without a lot of words and a lot of scientists coming up with new stuff somebody said Han is real but it's not genetic it's sociocultural and then a lot of people were arguing about that back and forth Andrew some Koreans were saying that korean-americans don't understand it enough to be using it I think this is true I think this is actually true and this is not a knock on korean-americans no this is a Korean Korean saying it to Korean Americans yeah I mean I I could see how this would be true because I think at the end of the day like I said it kind of like just describes the intensity but like you don't know where it comes from you know but well because you're not going to get taught in school like in Korea Korea obviously you will learn all all the Gordo and Josan Dynasty and the this and that but obviously in America you would never learn yeah and obviously I would say I have a lot of korean-american friends who also don't have Han and K rage what percentage of your korean-american friends have K rage and Han and like etc etc uh I mean obviously I think the younger you go the less they have it you know the less that they're going to be taught that growing up so maybe I'd say I don't know 50/50 obviously it's higher than other it's higher than Chinese for example right and you're saying that Vietnamese hot-headedness different from Korean hot-headedness or is it just the branding I don't know guys you guys let me know in the comments down below it's hard for me to say I mean I think if it's recent trauma obviously like you could look at the African-American history it's very clear that's very well Irish trauma in the UK right like potato famines oppression from the British yeah I mean Irish like to fight too right why are they known to fight like this you know so I don't know I don't know so um Andrew what could Han be good for yeah so I think there's so we were past the intellectual part guys that guy real murky you could watch like a 100 videos on it yeah no let's talk about what Han something like Han whatever Han is to your group because I think your different groups can have it what is it good for while can we just call it ancient chip on shoulder it's a yeah ancient chip on your shoulder or a longtime cultural chip on your shoulder isn't it the same thing but with way more complexity that that makes little guys often get super swaggy and buff because they're little they got picked on a lot so they become really ripped jacked I mean you know what I mean some people call it little man syndrome but some guys really pull it off and and become this like cool buff swaggy little guy like formerly bullied kids syndrome country culture right some people let being bullied in the past break them but other people makes makes them be like the most on point you know guy ever yeah but I think that's not just that yeah there's always the sorrow that's tied into it anyways let's just talk about what Han could be good for and and this is coming from a Chinese guys's perspective um I do think uniting Koreans I think Koreans always seem to be more collectively on the same page about how to get something done like especially if you've ever played a sport with a Korean team a primarily Korean team they're actually going to be more intense about the game plan overall yeah I'm going to yeah generally like what I've noticed from like Chinese fobs playing basketball is they really Fus on ISO skills but not as much teamwork but the Korean uh basketball teams they play less basketball cuz they're more in a soccer but they move more like a soccer team in terms of play AC and I've noticed like Koreans are more likely to tell another Korean like hey don't do that or like hey stop doing that you know like oh they check each other from for normative behaviors yeah for manners and stuff like that or um so I think it's also maybe better for the Arts as far as like feeling Soul you know like there's a lot of like Korean soul singers or they like Soul they like R&B they they love hip hop and think that it allows them to understand black American hip-hop at a more deeper level uh I think it allows them to feel it right right maybe more just because they have more emotions as well or maybe their just their situations is more similar right yeah I mean black music often times very emotional too so very painful to be honest yeah um also it's better for acting dramatic acting K dramas right I mean listen if you got uh the sorrow internalized in you then you're going to be you know more dramatic acting um uh also it's yeah just I feel like you just do more of your average activity and more intense you know and I think the oxytocin piping if you guys know about that the pipes are way more wide open the valves and the the piping is bigger yeah what it could be bad for I mean I think that it's pretty you know Common Sense what it could be bad for I think possible abuse on others right depression sadness taking things very hard uh overreacting to things going into extreme sides whether it's substances or something like that's something have noticed of my Korean friends too that they're just more intense when they do something like that well there's a thin line between lit and getting too lit yeah into degenerous to be honest I'll say this um there's also somebody this is by the way guys Korean Koreans in the comments arguing with korean-americans but also saying that they believe that the Han allows people to glorify or glamorize depression too much that's what they said guys that's interesting I don't know I I don't have a lot of perspective on on that one but interesting point I just think this man I think that it's a little bit like kind of more how Americans are like Americans are kind of a little bit more like wide open with their expressiveness and stuff like that I actually think the Chinese people are like very different in the sense of like like like we said like you know like I said I got this from the comment section they said Egyptians laugh out pain Koreans lean into pain and Chinese just eat the pain and then you seem unchanged yeah I think there's just pros and cons to each approach because if the Egyptians always laugh off pain how are they going to like build the systems to correct the symptomatic thing that's causing the pain if Koreans lean in pain they're going to have way more fuel to fuel their rocket ships in One Direction but rocket ships are volatile sometimes rockets explode right you even see elon's Rockets sometimes they don't work and then the Chinese if they just eat the pain and their face remains neutrally unchanged I guess you could say that's good cuz they keep on going but then it's bad because it's like you're in a constant state of somewhat pain dang David maybe we need to do our next video on Chinese eating bitterness like why is that possibly a uniquely Chinese thing and maybe Han is uniquely Korean but also applicable to a lot of other people anyways guys we're going to wrap it up right there let us know in the comments down below what you think about this topic hopefully you found it interesting and watch Until the End hit that like button check out small ass sauce coming back um and yeah I don't know do you have Han do you have krage yeah and is it just like a unique set of circumstances that often happens to like maybe a smaller exclusive group that that that you know once that hits the checklist then it's on let us know what you guys think in the comments section below until next time we the hop hop boys we out peace for