The Land of Many Kims

Brendan Nyhan whacks Bill Richardson:

On a related but less serious note, Bill Richardson was quoted saying the following about negotiating with North Korea: "Their U.N. guy calls. His name is Ambassador Kim. K-I-M. They're all named Kim." A tip for future presidential candidates: It's never a good idea to say "They're all named ____" about any ethnic group.

I'm not one to rant and rave about political correctness out of control, but this is political correctness out of control! If you've ever tried to learn about anything Korea-related, as an American, one thing that happens is you rapidly become confused about who's who because, well, it's actually the case that an incredibly large proportion of Koreans are named "Kim." Specifically, of the nine members of the DPRK cabinet, eight are named Kim. Wikipedia says that twenty percent of South Koreans are named "Kim." It makes telling anecdotes about one's interactions with Korean officials somewhat confusing in a funny kind of war.

UPDATE: As you should be able to see at the link, it's four not eight Kims out of the nine DPRK cabinet members. I have no idea how I made that mistake. Apologies.

Comments

I count four.

Posted by Anonymous | June 15, 2007 10:04 AM

You let slip your true intent with that closing typo!

Posted by Steve | June 15, 2007 10:07 AM

Serenity now.

Posted by Rich | June 15, 2007 10:12 AM

Not all of them are named Kim. Some are named Park (or Pak).

But yeah, the Korean clans are very large.

Posted by Rob | June 15, 2007 10:15 AM

I wonder what helpful advice Brendan would have for these people.

Muhammad, widely thought to be the most common name in the world, first entered the top 30 names’ list in the UK in 2000 and saw a rise of 12% in popularity last year, according to The Times...

Mufti Abdul Barkatullah, formerly an imam at the Finchley mosque in London, said: "In Arab countries, the name Muhammad is said when you don't know the name of someone."

Posted by Steve | June 15, 2007 10:23 AM

It's never a good idea to say "They're all named ____" about any ethnic group.

So if I say of hispanics, "They're all named 'Richardson'", it'll kill my (non-existant anyway) political career?

Posted by DAS | June 15, 2007 10:25 AM

I'm not running for President, so I'm finally free to admit that all of those Norwegians are named either Johnson, Anderson, Carlson, Nelson, or Dahl.

Posted by FS | June 15, 2007 10:25 AM

People are still paying attention to Richardson after that Tim Russert interview? Steve Sailer had a humorous take on that ( The results of 159 years of Hispanic assimilation in New Mexico):

MR. RUSSERT: But let’s go through the resume a little bit. First, there’s governor of New Mexico. As you well know, they rank states in a whole variety of categories from one being the best, 50th being the worst. This is New Mexico’s scorecard, and you are the governor. Percent of people living below the poverty line, you’re 48. Percent of children below, 48. Median family income, 47. People without health insurance, 49. Children without health insurance, 46. Teen high school dropouts, 47. Death rate due to firearms, 48. Violent crime rate, 46. You’re the very bottom of all those statistics of all 50 states, and you’re the governor for five years.

GOV. RICHARDSON: Well, Tim, let me just say that we’ve made enormous progress in all of those areas. [More]

He's been governor for five whole years and he hasn't yet turned turn New Mexicans into Minnesotans? What a loser!

The press is obsessed with political horse races and bored with long-term realities. Yet, the pervasive, unchanging mediocrity of New Mexico sheds important light on the issue of the day, immigration.

Despite being one of the four border states, there is remarkably little immigration from Old Mexico into New Mexico. Why not? In large part, because it's already filled with Latinos, many of who trace their ancestry in New Mexico back before the U.S. seized it in the Mexican-American war. After 159 years in the United States of America, they still haven't much assimilated to American standards. What does that say about the prospects for assimilation of newcomers from Mexico?

Posted by Fred | June 15, 2007 10:31 AM

Bill Richardson Johnson is right!

Posted by catalexis | June 15, 2007 10:34 AM

"Steve Sailer" and "humorous" in the same sentence?

Posted by kvenlander | June 15, 2007 10:35 AM

At least it's not as bad as Mongolia. When they reintroduced family names there a decade ago, more than half the country chose Genghis Khan's tribal name - Borjigin

Posted by Ginger Yellow | June 15, 2007 10:37 AM

There are no funny kinds of wars!

Posted by mk | June 15, 2007 10:42 AM

Fred, take the racist crap elsewhere. Please.

Posted by too many steves | June 15, 2007 10:42 AM

There's got to be some joke in there connecting this to The Plank's report that Richardson forgot that France was on the Security Council.

Posted by Al | June 15, 2007 10:56 AM

Canada had two Fathers of Confederation named John Hamilton Gray and everything still seemed to work out ok.

Posted by monkey.dave | June 15, 2007 11:00 AM

"At least it's not as bad as Mongolia."

Or the Nepalese side of the Himalayas. Most Sherpas' last names are "Sherpa". Sort of like how Smurfs' last names were all "Smurf".

"Fred, take the racist crap elsewhere. Please."

Where's the racism - in Russert pointing out how badly Richardson's state lags in every indicator, or in Sailer saying it's not Richardson's fault?

Posted by Fred | June 15, 2007 11:06 AM

At least it's not Vietnam, where 38.4% of the population is named Nguyen...

Or my econ department, where it seems you can't even walk down the hall without bumping into someone named Smith...

Posted by Mr. Noah | June 15, 2007 11:22 AM

Or my econ department, where it seems you can't even walk down the hall without bumping into someone named Smith... - Mr. Noah

I heard of an academic department where everyone had the first name of Bruce ;)

Posted by DAS | June 15, 2007 11:26 AM

"Here in California, we have a name for people who understand the importance of hard work, discipline, and respect for authority: Nguyen."

Posted by Cyrus | June 15, 2007 11:57 AM

What about Grace Lee?

Posted by Eric Martin | June 15, 2007 11:58 AM

What about Grace Lee?

Posted by Eric Martin | June 15, 2007 11:58 AM

And what about Obama's "Hillary Clinton (D-Punjab)", Matt? The Richardson thing was his "less serious note".

Posted by frank | June 15, 2007 12:27 PM

I remember looking at the boxscores for the World Baseball Classic. Half of the players in the Korean lineup were named Kim. On one occasion, both the starting pitcher and relief pitcher were named Kim.

Posted by blah | June 15, 2007 1:06 PM

How would Nye propose discreet silence about the fact that Sikh men are named Singh? And fuck Steve Sailer.

Posted by h | June 15, 2007 1:11 PM

In my experience, pointing out this phenomenon is one of the very, very few things one can do that will fail to piss off a Korean.

Posted by godoggo | June 15, 2007 2:08 PM

"Where's the racism - in Russert pointing out how badly Richardson's state lags in every indicator, or in Sailer saying it's not Richardson's fault?"

Russert and (of course) Sailer are both racists for not acknowledging that New Mexico's poverty problems result from centuries of racism against Hispanics and Native Americans. It's just exactly that simple.

Posted by rea | June 15, 2007 11:37 PM