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THE KOREAN SHOESHINE TEAM: AN ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS

Gay Elizabeth KangDepartment of AnthropologyState University of New York

Buffalo, New York

INTRODUCTIONThis is an investigation into an organization

which can be succinctly called the Korean shoe-shine team.' The team is controlled by an under-world or syndicate operation that seems to bebased on the paternal Korean familial pattern. Intraditional Korea, the direction of authority andrespect within the family flowed along the lines offather-son and elder brother-younger brother.There was a paternalistic, iron-clad control exertedby the father on the family. Furthermore, due tothe rule of primogeniture, the eldest brother wastrained to one day become the head of the house-hold. The eldest brother gradually assumed morepower and authority within the family as he grewolder. The gangster element in Korea appears tohave made use of this basic familial pattern tomaintain discipline, loyalty, and respect withintheir organization. This familial pattern appears tobe applied to not only the higher levels of the syn-dicate organization, but also to the lower levels ofthe organization, which includes the shoeshineteam.What enabled me to find out about the shoe-

shine team and its position within the syndicatewas my acquaintanceship with a 14-year-old shoe-shine boy whom I shall call Kim. This paper willfirst deal with the interviewing of Kim. Then abrief description of the physical setting of SouthKorea and the capitol of Seoul will follow. Themain format of the paper will be: a description ofthe levels of status and power within the syndicate;a description of the operation of the shoeshineteam in terms of recruitment, socialization, andsocial control; and a case study of the shoeshineboy named Kim.

METHODThe key informant technique, plus informal in-

quiries to acquaintances, was the primary methodof eliciting information. There were two reasonsfor using this technique: lack of available time inthe field and the somewhat dangerous nature ofthe work.

Selection of the key informant occurred in the

following manner. A friend of mine owned a busi-ness in one of the multi-storied buildings in thealley where the study was conducted. He wasfamiliar with the shoeshine boy, by sight. Myfriend often had tea where the boy collected shoesand, occasionally, he had shoes polished by mem-bers of Kim's shoeshine team. Furthermore, Ifrequented the tea room for two to three weekswith my Korean husband and our friend. We be-came friendly with the boy and had our shoesshined. Finally, I asked him if he would talk to usover dinner after his workday was done. AlthoughKim was shy, he seemed interested in talking abouthimself and so, consented to the interviews. He didnot show up for the first two appointments, how-ever. The tea room girls told me that the boy wasprobably getting permission from his superiors.Finally, the boy did show up for the third appoint-ment.

The first interview took place in a restaurant inthe same alley as the shoeshine stand. The restau-rant had individual private rooms so that we couldbe alone with Kim. My husband and I treated theboy to dinner, and my husband acted as my inter-preter. The interview lasted one hour and fifteenminutes. The interview technique was semi-struc-tured. Three or four days before the interview, Ihad written several questions which would beuseful guides to stimulate converstaion. Thesequestions dealt with the boy's home, his jobs, thestructure of the organization, the life of the shoe-shine team, recreation, and goals or aspirations. Imemorized the questions as aids in covering a rangeof material and the list was never shown to theboy. At the start of the interview, the boy seemednervous, so I reassured him by saying that these in-terviews were part of a study involving people inlots of jobs and he would remain anonymous. Ialso told him that if he felt any pressure from hissuperiors or that any trouble arose because he wastalking to outsiders, he was free to stop the inter-views at any time. He shook his head yes and saidthat he did want to talk. The boy seemed to relax.Once over his initial nervousness, he spoke freelyso that I was able to ask him questions about what

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he was telling us. I did not write notes in the in-formant's presence, but I went home and wrote thematerial immediately.

After I wrote down the interview material, Iwrote a list of questions which would fill gaps inthe material. Then, a few days later, I went back tothe tea room to see the boy about doing anotherinterview. The shoeshine boy had disappeared. Thetea room girls said they did not know where he hadgone. Every other day for one week, I went to thevarious tea rooms in the alley of the shoeshinestand hoping to casually run into the boy. Finally,I did run into Kim in the hall by a bottom floortea room. He said that shoeshine collectors taketurns working the various areas in the alley and itwas his turn to switch from the top tea room tothe bottom one. This was his reason for not beingat the usual tea room, where our meetings alwaystook place.The boy consented to do another interview, so

we agreed on a date. He did not show up for theappointment, but he finally did keep an appoint-ment at a later date. My husband and I treated theboy to dinner at a restaurant three or four blocksaway from the shoeshine alley. On the way to therestaurant, I asked him the following questions, thepurpose of which was to attempt to discover whyhe had been avoiding us.

Q: Has there been any pressure on you from yoursuperiors?A: No.

Q: How come you didn't show up the last meetingtime?A: I thought that we were supposed to meet outsidethe tea house or something. I came in to look for youbut couldn't see you.

Q: How do your superiors and the five other mem-bers of your shoeshine team feel about these inter-views?A; Well, they know you are a foreigner and it prob-ably wouldn't do any damage to talk about theirbusiness. Besides, they know I can't get away fromthem and I have to stay with them for some time tocome, so they have to trust me. They don't feelthreatened by the interview at all.

These answers, as well as other impressions givenby the boy made it evident to me that there hadbeen considerable discussion within the organiza-tion about the previous interview and whether anymore interviews should be allowed. My husbandand I had been watched by the fellow in charge ofthe shoeshine team during the week of search forthe boy. They evidently decided that I was harm-less and did not intend to stay in Korea, so theinterview was allowed to proceed.

The second interview lasted for one hour at therestaurant. We occupied a small room by ourselves,which could be completely closed off by slidingdoors. The interview technique was identical to

that of the first interview. However, the boy wasmuch more relaxed and informative than in thefirst interview. This was fortunate because the nextday we left Korea for the United States. When thelast interview was completed, we paid the boy. Herefused to take any money for "just talking aboutmyself and my job." However, as we parted, Istuffed the equivalent of $20 in his shirt pocketand he seemed very pleased. That night, I wenthome and wrote the interview.

The remainder of this paper is based on thematerial from these two interviews, plus back-ground information from Korean acquaintances inSeoul. To give an overall view of the setting inwhich this study was conducted, I shall proceedwith a description of the physical setting of SouthKorea and Seoul.

PHYSICAL SETTINGKorea-Land of the Morning Calm-"thrusts

from the northeast Asian mainland to within 120miles of Honshu, the principal island of Japan, onthe east and the Shantung Peninsula of CommunistChina on the west" (Smith, et al. 1958/1964:45).The peninsula separates the Yellow Sea from theSea of Japan. Over much of the land, there is analternating pattern of mountains and its terrain isso rugged that an early missionary described it as a"sea in a heavy gale" (Smith, et al. 1958/1964:45).The mountains range from 5,000 to 9,000 feethigh, and much of the rugged terrain of the penin-sula is found on the eastern side causing a con-centration of settlement in the west and southcoastal plain and inland river valleys (Smith, et al.1958/1964:2, 45). The total land area of Koreaand its islands is 85,285 square miles; South Koreacontrols about 45 percent of the territory or38,175 square miles (Smith, et al. 1958/1964:45).The population density of South Korea is 827.7persons per square mile, with a population of31,469,132 as of the 1970 census (Golenpaul1972:235).

This study was done in the city of Seoul, thecapitol of South Korea. Seoul is set in a valley sur-rounded by granite mountains. The climate in thisregion is temperate and gives an "average Januarytemperature of 23°F and the average summer tem-perature is 770 to 80°F. Late June to early Augustis the rainy season with 30-40 inches falling peryear" (Blechinger 1967:179). Seoul is ranked the11th largest city in the world and has a populationof 3,794,959 (Delury 1972:623). It has an area of237 square miles, which means that the populationdensity of the city is 16,012.4 persons per squaremile (Nehmer and McCune 1968:462).

Seoul is the sophisticated educational, cultural,and business center for all of South Korea. It has

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a long history of attracting all those who seek thefame, fortune, variety, excitement, education, andbright lights of the city. In fact, the people ofSeoul joke at anyone without a Seoul accent forbeing a country bumpkin or non-sophisticate. Thepopulation in the city-true to the pattern ofKorea-is quite homogeneous. There is a smallminority of Chinese in the city and they are dis-criminated against. The Chinese have their own

slum section of town, their own schools, and tendto be among the very poor. The Korean class pat-tern is especially evident in Seoul. There are twomajor economic and social classes: a large mass ofvery poor and a small elite of very rich.

Transportation in the city is typically by busand bicycle. Trucks of all varieties are usually tri-wheeled and they are fairly numerous. There arefew individually owned cars but many taxies. Asubway is under construction down the center ofthe main street of Seoul. Except for three or fourmajor arteries within the city, the streets are ex-

tremely narrow and are of loose cement tile con-

struction as the sewers are open. Many alleywaysare so narrow that cars cannot enter. Within thesenarrow streets and alleys, shops, stands, pushcarts,pullcarts, and beggars lire the way. In fact, thecrowded conditions of the city are extreme.The shoeshine organization operates best in this

type of urban setting. Shoeshine boys in areas out-side Seoul or other large cities hardly make any

money, so gangsters do not care about controllingor organizing them. In order to have a successfulshoeshine outfit, you have to have several publicplaces such as restaurants, theaters, and tea rooms

clustered around the shoeshine stands. Outside thecity centers, you rarely find such places.The following is a description of the syndicate

organization and its operation in Korean urbansociety. Then, a description of the shoeshine teamwill be presented.

THE ORGANIZATIONThe entire organizational network is diagram-

med below. The levels descend in status, power,and economic position.

Starting at the top level of the entire organiza-tion, there is Wang Cho. The term Wang Cho is a

specially invented Korean word which means

"head of gangsters. " He is the top level of thechain of command. Wang Cho are quite wealthyand live in the best sections of town. Their wealthcomes from legitimate business investments as wellas illegal business interests. In this respect, WangCho is a syndicate head who ultimately owns,controls, and protects territories in the city.

Each Wang Cho employs several Daejang (Gen-

erals) and Hyung Nim (Elder Brothers) who arepersonal bodyguards and enforcers. Daejang arethe most trusted confidants, enforcers and right-hand men of Wang Cho and they occupy a higherstatus than the Hyung Nim. The Hyung Nim actas errand boys, bodyguards, and enforcers. Thesetwo types of attendants, plus Wang Cho, comprisethe top level of the organization and they occupythe highest status in the framework.

Wang Cho 's permission must be obtained by Oaji(Father) before transactions involving selling orbuying a territory can be made. Oaji buy and sellterritories among themselves but they are ulti-mately responsible to Wang Cho. First, the Oajimust get permission from Wang Cho to sell theterritory. Then, the person who wishes to buy theterritory also has to get Wang Cho 's permissionbefore the deal can be completed.

The Wang Cho collects money, regularly, fromOaji. In return, Wang Cho protects his Oaji's terri-tories against rival Oajis by providing protectionwith threat of force; that is, "if you violate theterritory, I won't stand still" kind of force. Back-ing up this threat or force are the Daejang andHyung Nim of Wang Cho. Another important func-tion of Wang Cho is that he deals with top policeofficials to protect the interest of people workingin his areas. The presentation of money and gifts-that is, liquor, nightclub entertainment, and freevacation trips-to police officials of high rank isdone by Wang Cho. In return for these favors, thepolice spot intruders coming into the territoriesand force them out.

In short, we can characterize this level of the or-ganization as that of a syndicate boss who controlsseveral broad territories and business enterprises,alongside liaisons with the police.

The next major level of the organization is thatof Oaji (Father). Oaji is the man who owns shoe-shine territories and other investments within theterritories. These include boarding houses, tearooms, restaurants, and inns of prostitution. To bean Oaji, one has to be Kung Pae (of gangster back-ground). In other words, besides having a lot ofmoney, an Oaji should be tough. It takes largesums of money to purchase territories from otherOajis. For this reason, few Oajis have risen fromthe lower ranks of the organization.A good indication of the type of income that an

Oaji generates is the price he pays for a territory.The territory where this study was done sold for800,000 won or $2,000. Some territories havebeen sold for $10,000 or several million won. Theprice of a territory depends on the size of the busi-ness. Oajis have estimates of the number of cus-tomers in different territories and the price is basedon these estimates. For example, the price for this

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particular territory was based on an estimate ofapproximately 600 shoeshine customers per day.

Oaji has a retinue of at least three men whoaccompany him everywhere. There is one Daejang,who is a lieutenant of Oaji in much the same man-ner as Wang Cho's Daejang. Daejang has the confi-dence and trust of Oaji. He has had several years'experience in the shoeshine business and acts as anenforcer. His job is to give protection to Oaji andcontrol the shoeshine boys and rough characters inthe alleys, physically if needed. Secondly, Oajihas two personal Hyung Nim who assist him. Theyare not as important as Daejang, and they occupy aslightly lower status. These Hyung Nim serve muchthe same function as the Hyung Nim of Wang Cho.

As was mentioned earlier, Wang Cho protects hisOaji's territories. A peace-keeping arrangement aswell can also occur between Oajis within the regionof Seoul controlled by Wang Cho. Two or moreOajis can make agreements or contracts stipulatingthat they will not violate each other's territories.This is done in the presence of Wang Cho. TheDaejang and the personal Hyung Nim of Oaji arealways around to enforce the agreement. Breakingthis type of contract would result in bloody con-flicts and none have occurred in recent history.

Oajis also give money and gifts, like liquor, tolower level police officials, that is, to the police atthe precinct office and to people in charge ofpeddlers at police headquarters. In return for thesefavors, the police will spot outsiders coming intothe territory and force them out-this would in-clude stray peddlers, gangs, beggars, pushcart peo-ple, stray shoeshine boys, and prostitutes. In otherwords, when Oaji buys a territory, he buys a pro-tected territory. This is why the police are impor-tant in spotting those outsiders who come into theterritory.One of the businesses which Oaji operates in his

territory is the shoeshine organization. At leastonce or twice a day, Oaji, Daejang, and his personalHyung Nim visit the shoeshine location to makesure that the business is running smoothly. How-ever, they seldom fraternize with the shoeshineboys. They prefer to lounge in tea houses in theshoeshine alley, rather than sit near the shoeshinestand. Furthermore, unlike the poorly dressedshoeshine boys, Oaji, Daejang, and the personalHyung Nim are all dressed immaculately in busi-ness suits, ties, and hats. This is in keeping withthe higher status and respect accorded to membersof the Oaji retinue compared to the members ofthe shoeshine team.

The lowest level of the organizational chart con-sists of the shoeshine team or unit. The basic unitwhich operates the shoeshine stand has from fiveto seven boys-four full-time boys, plus one super-

visor. Occasionally, there are two part-time boys.The top member of the shoeshine team responsibleto Oaji is the Hyung Nim, It should be emphasized,however, that the personal Hyung Nim of Oaji aredifferent from the Hyung Nim of the shoeshineteam. This is true not only of the job they do butalso the status accorded. Personal Hyung Nim ofOaji have a much higher status because they areattached to the Oaji retinue.

The Hyung Nim of the shoeshine team is an ex-perienced shoeshine boy placed in a supervisoryposition by Oaji. Each shoeshine team has its ownHyung Nim. His job is to oversee and control theunit on a day-to-day basis. He supervises the boys,controls all the money, and polishes shoes. Gener-ally, he has been in the shoeshine business for yearsand has a close relationship with Oaji. BeneathHyung Nim in the team are the polishers and at aneven lower level are the collectors. The polisher'sjob is to sit at the stand, which is always locatedoutdoors in the alley, and polish the shoes thatthe collector brings. Two full-time boys sit at thestand and polish. The collectors number two full-time boys and any of the part-time boys. The shoe-shine boy called the collector asks customers intea houses or restaurants if they want their shoesshined. If so, he gives them a pair of sandals towear, takes their shoes to the stand outside, andhas the shoes shined. A short time later, he re-appears with the polished shoes for the patron, re-covers the loaned pair of sandals, and collects thefee. The price of a shoeshine is 20 won or 5¢ perpair.

The salaries of those in the shoeshine team re-flect their status. Hyung Nim receives 18,000 won($45) per month, polishers earn 12,000 won ($30),and collectors are paid 6,000 won ($15) permonth. These salaries, however, are much lowerthan the amount of money actually collected bythe shoeshine boys. There are always two collect-ors working and an active shoeshine team willcollect on the average of 600 pairs of shoes perday. A team should be able to gross about 12,000won ($30) per day or 360,000 won ($900) permonth. As an example, a collector receives 1/4 ofthe 20 won per pair of shoes that he collects andeach collector will bring in approximately 300pairs per day. This means that a collector would beable to make 1,500 won ($3.75) a day or 45,000won ($112.50) per month. However, as is notedabove, a collector receives only 6,000 won ($15)per month.

All of the above salaries for the team are earn-ings after Oaji deducts the rent for a room and thecost of meals. Most Oajis own boarding houses intheir territories and require that the shoeshineteam live in one room at the boarding house. The

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Oaji of the territory where this study was doneowned three territories and owned a boardinghouse in each territory. He deducts 500 won per

month from the gross earnings of each boy for thecost of the one 8 x 10 room in which all five or

seven boys stay, plus the cost of the meals whichconsist of rice with a few pickles. Oaji also deductsthe general expenses of running the shoeshine busi-ness, which includes the cost of the shoepolish andrags, money to bribe police officials, money toassociate with other Oajis, and money given toWang Cho.

In short, the Oaji makes substantial money fromthe gross earnings of those boys who work in theshoeshine unit. How he is able to successfully ex-

ploit these boys will be discussed in the next sec-

tion which analyzes the shoeshine team in regardto recruitment, socialization, and social control.The focus will. be on the collector since promotionsoccur within the team-from collector to polisherto Hyung Nim-on the basis of length of service,faithfulness, and trustworthiness.

THE SHOESHINE TEAMInitially, the boys are happy to be recruited into

a shoeshine job because, in most cases, it means a

substantial increase in salary-at a restaurant jobthey might make about $8 a month, but in theshoeshine business they would make about $15 a

month as a collector. They are attracted to theshoeshine business because of the money and alsobecause of the inducement by a man called Bang-bum (way of reducing crimes-translation).Bangbum are men who watch public buildings

like railroad stations for the possible occurrence ofpetty crime or for North Korean spies. They are

paid by the police for this type of work. At thesame time, however, the Bangbum are controlledby Wang Cho-Wang Cho controlling variousillegal businesses. The Bangbum are non-licensed,illegal employment agents who take young girls offthe trains and put them into tea house-prostitutionjobs and take young boys and put them intorestaurant, shoeshine, and other jobs. Bangbumuses his position to literally snatch farm peoplecoming to Seoul to get jobs, or unattached, run-

away children from the trains, and to put them inplaces of employment for the fees paid by theprospective employer. All employment agents mustbe licensed by the government. However, the non-

licensed Bangbum does not get arrested because heis connected to the police and to Wang Cho. Inorder for Bangbum to increase his income, he re-

locates some children from one job to another. Hegets paid a fee from each new employer. However,once a boy is located by Bangbum into the shoe-shine business, there is no way to move or relocatewithout permission of Oaji.

Oaji pays the agent about 3,000 won ($7.50) foreach shoeshine boy. Since there is always thedanger of boys collecting shoes and running awaywith them, Oaji and Bangbum draw a formalletter of agreement in which the agent guaranteesthe trustworthiness of the boys. If the boys runaway with the shoes, the Bangbum has to pay thecosts. This is enforced by Daejang and the personalHyung Nim of Oaji. For these reasons, the boy thatBangbum places into the shoeshine business hasusually been placed previously by that agent intoanother job. The agent can then check the trust-worthiness of the boy before placing him into ashoeshine position.

Socialization into the shoeshine team is accom-plished by a rigid work routine and by confiningliving conditions. The full-time shoeshine boyworks from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., seven days aweek, every week of the year. They only stop ifthey are sick or it is raining. The team works allday and into the evening together. As was mention-ed earlier, the team is also likely to room togetherin Oaji's boarding house. All seven members of theshoeshine unit share one room in the house. Theyalso eat their meals together. Essentially, then, theonly people that the members of the shoeshineteam associate with are each other. There is someoccasional contact with member-s of the Oaji reti-nue, but there is simply no time for friends outsideof the organization. In a sense, the shoeshine teamis an isolated primary group.

Oaji arranges for the room and board of theteam, and he ties the team to him by a judicioususe of rewards. Some of the rewards, besidessalary, are favors, such as taking the team out tomovies (he gets so-called complimentary tickets),buying the boys inexpensive dinners occasionally,and holding one or two picnics a year for all theshoeshine boys. Oaji also promotes those withinthe shoeshine team. Emphasis in promotions is onfaithfulness to the group, trustworthiness, beingtough, haing experience in the business, and gain-ing a close relationship with Oaji.

The fact that the work routine and confiningliving conditions limit a shoeshine boy's exposureonly to shoeshine activities is an element of socialcontrol in itself. Nearly all of his social contacts arewithin the shoeshine team, so he does not have theconnections to be able to get into a better job. Hisability to find a different occupation is also re-stricted because he does not have time or money tolearn a trade. Given these factors, it is not likelyfor a shoeshine boy to find employment outside ofthe shoeshine milieu. This is a type of de factosocial control. If a boy returned home or found ajob completely outside of any type of shoeshineoccupation, he would be able to move without fearof reprisals from Daejang or personal Hyung Nim

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of Oaji, however.In terms of the shoeshine milieu, the shoeshine

boys must stay only within their own territory.They are not allowed to engage in shoeshine ac-

tivities in any other territory nor seek shoeshineemployment in any other territory. This is en-

forced in two ways: by the police and by the Dae-jang and personal Hyung Nim of Oaji. The police,in return for favors given by Oaji, spot stray shoe-shine boys coming into the area and either advisethem to return to their home territory or, more

directly, turn them over to the Daejang and person-

al Hyung Nim of the invaded territory. If the latteris done, the boys are beaten quite severely by theDaejang and personal Hyung Nim. Secondly, as was

mentioned earlier, two or more Oajis may makeagreements not to enter each other's territories.The followers of Oaji (Daejang and personalHyung Nim) are always present to enforce thisagreement. If they hear a rumor that one of theirshoeshine boys is planning to run away to anotherterritory, they will beat him or cut him withknives. The Oajis do not want to risk a bloody con-

flict between Oaji camps, so they keep strict con-

trol over the members of the shoeshine team.It woud be possible to move into another shoe-

shine outfit with the consent of Oaji. This is un-

likely, however, because of the investment thatOaji has in the boy. Oaji has paid a fee to Bangbumfor the boy, housed him, fed him, and generated a

good deal of money out of the boy's salary. TheOaji, generally, does not switch boys from one ofhis units to another. He prefers that the boys be-come well known in their area so that the policebecome familiar with each boy. Furthermore, hewants the team to develop a mutual bond becauseof the extensive time that they must spend togeth-er. For these reasons, shoeshine boys tend to staylocked into one shoeshine system for years.

CASE STUDYMy principal informant was a Korean shoeshine

boy whom I shall call Kim. Kim was a handsome14-year-old runaway from the countryside ofKwangju, near the southwest tip of South Korea.He had been working in the shoeshine business forabout one year and his job was that of collector.The following is his own description of his life andoccupation:

I'm from Kwangju city and Cha La province.We lived there for about eight years and thenmoved to a place called Kwangjin. I lived withmy family in Kwangjin until the time I lefthome [must be about six years]. My father is a

farmer there, and for the countryside, we had a

pretty good size house: three rooms, a littlekitchen, and a hallway. The place had a thatch-

covered roof. My family is not well-to-do, andthe size of the farm is small.

Five years ago my mother ran away to aconvent. You see, several years ago-before myfather was married-he had a favorite mistressand she gave birth to his first son. When fathermarried, he brought this first son-my step-brother-to his own house. My mother bore twochildren-me and my younger brother. Then myfather started to see that other woman again, somy mother ran away. The mistress then movedin with us, five years ago, and from her there isthe one older step-brother and two youngerstep-sisters. The older step-brother helps myfather farm and the other chidren are going toschool.

I don't want anything to do with my step-brothers and -sisters or my step-mother. They allhave been nasty to me and my younger brother.I love my younger brother and I feel sorry forhim that he is living with my step-mother. Theway that step-mother treated younger brotherand me was real lousy. She would give betterfood to her own kids-that kind of thing.Trouble got so bad between her and me andyounger brother that we stopped talking to her.So, I decided to move out. I didn't leave anyforwarding address and I didn't let them knowwhere I was going.

Then, I took the train up here to Seoul tolook for some kind of job. A Bangbum immedi-ately spotted me getting off the train at SeoulRailway Station. He found me a job working fora restaurant, which happened to be located inthe railway station. My job was to stand outsidethe door, dressed in black pants with a whiteshirt and bow tie, and invite customers intothe restaurant. This is the lowest kind of job ata restaurant; waitress, waiter, kitchen help, andcooks are all paid better and are more respected.I only made 3,000 won there.

Well, I worked at the restaurant for twomonths and after working for this time, the em-ployment agent saw that I was trustworthy. Heapproached me with the proposition to place mein the shoeshine boy job. So, with his sugges-tion and the fact that I would earn twice asmuch as at the restaurant, I decided to become ashoeshine boy. I've been working as a shoeshineboy for about one year now.

The territory of our shoeshine stand is,mainly, the four many-story buildings in thisalley [see map of alley] . In these places, we getthe most customers at the three restaurants, twotea houses, one shoestore, and one movie thea-tre. The bottom tea room is the most lucrativearea and I can get more customers there. Theother collectors and I take turns working each

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All of the buildings below are multi-storied with

many small shops ard businesses, except for the restaurant

and smaU grocery at the upper left corner.

Restaurant

- a

ShopsBank&

Shops

1

4.,U)

00

:0m0

0

en

u - a

Main Street

_ _

Figure 1: Map of the Alley Complex

rMCA

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area and now it's my turn to switch from thethird floor tea room to the bottom one.We are supposed to charge 20 won per pair of

shoes but the people in my business usually liketo brag about conning customers. Sometimes wegyp foreigners; that is, we learn the Englishwords for units of money and ask 200 won-tentimes the regular price. Mostly, the foreignerspaid the money but the police got tough on thatstuff-too many complaints from tourists. It'sfunny, even more gullible than the foreigners arethe people from the countryside. You can forcethe country people to have their shoes shinedand charge 1,500 won, with threat of force, andthey usually pay. I heard the stoy that one guycharged 2,000 won for shining a pair of shoes.He ended up in jail, though. Now-a-days, policecontrol is much too tight to do this. The policeseem to get upset over this kind of petty stuff.We have orders to keep on pretty good termswith the police and any patrolman stopping bygets a free shine.

I live two blocks from where I work. It is ahuge boarding house owned by my Oaji. All theshoeshine boys of our team stay there and theseven of us live in one room of the house. Weseldom stay in the room because we have towork all day. Another room is used by Oaji andhis new wife. The rest of the house is where theordinary renters with families live. The ordinaryboarders include some students and people fromrural areas. The people from the rural areas payfor their own share of rice, as well as paying fortheir room, and they pay for Panchum (thingseaten with rice, like pickles).

Since I work all day with the members of myshoeshine unit and we room together, I don'thave any time left for associating with anyoneelse. I did make friends at the restaurant placewhere I used to work, but the shoeshine job isso demanding and the restaurant job was soshort, that I never see anyone I used to see whenI worked there. There is not much time for anykind of fun, unless it is raining or a special holi-day. I just don't have any time or money to doanyting but go to a movie; my Oaji gets compli-mentary tickets. The movie house is in my alleyand I see the same movie three or four times, asit changes every ten days. The guys sometimesgo out to game rooms for pinball but that's atreat because it's expensive. Sometimes, Oaji willtake us out to dinner.We stay close to our territory, when we're out

on the town. As far as the shoeshine businessgoes, we never go to someone else's territory.We all know our own territory and stay inside it.If I tried to move to another shoeshine outfit on

my own . . . well . . . Oaji has ways of findingout about where you are located, and I heardthe story that anyone who tries to do that getsseverely punished. Oaji and his Daejang andHyung Nim are rough, tough bunches. You justdon't know what they could do-beat you to apulp, cut you to pieces. All these men couldbeat you to death or cut you to pieces likenothing. They all have knife marks. You shouldsee my Oaji-you'd be scared to death to justlook at his face-so many scars. My Oaji says hehas killed a couple of guys.

Once in awhile, I go up to Eui Chang Bu orTang Du Chang where army camps are located.At times, G.I.'s for whom I polished shoes hereask me to come up and work for them a fewdays. I only go there with permission of Oajiand Daejang. As I told you, they have ways ofknowing where I am and they would break everybone in my body if I tried to leave them for an-other shoeshine post. They would beat the hellout of me.None of the shoeshine boys seem to like the

job. The only thing important to keep them inthe business is money. The thought of promo-tions doesn't do much to keep us in the busi-ness. You see, my Hyung Nim of our unit is22 years old. He started in the shoeshine busi-ness when he was nine years old, and he has onlybeen a Hyung Nim for two years now. Daejangis twenty-six and he has had over ten years ofshoeshine experience. So, chances of promotionare kind of lousy.

I don't know, really, what I'd like to do but Ido know that a shoeshine boy's job isn't re-spected and I don't want to be a shoeshine boyall of my life. I will try to save up enoughmoney and finish my education. I only finishedthe third grade and I want to go to high school.I guess my chances of finishing high school arealmost next-to-none because of the lack ofmoney but I do realize that education is theonly way to move ahead. At any rate, as soon asI can find a better job, I'd like to move out ofthe shoeshine business. When I get older andmore education, I'd like to get a desk job. [Hedid not know what kind.] This is no kind of lifefor a boy.

CONCLUSIONThe shoeshine organization seems to operate

within a pseudo-familial framework. The gangsterelement in Korea appears to have made use of thebasic paternaistic Korean familial pattern tomaintain discipline, loyalty, and respect withintheir organization. They have even borrowedfamilial terms for certain levels of the organization,

8 0

i.e. Oaji (father) and Hyung Nim (elder brother).Wang Cho is like a father to Oaji. He commandsgreat respect and allegiance and Oaji is directlyresponsible for his actions to Wang Cho. At thesecond level of the organization-Oaji level-wehave seen how Oaji controls the members of hisshoeshine team. They are living in Oaji's house,receive their support from Oaji, and must ask hispermission in order to travel outside the territory.Oaji rewards and controls them through a pseudo-father role. At the third level-the shoeshine team-the Hyung Nim of the team is respected and incharge; he is like an older brother to the rest ofthe boys. The members of the unit all sleep, eat,work, and play together as brothers of a family.

Without taking the analogy too far, it shouldalso be noted that every effort is made to maintainpeace and stability within the family. Wang Cho,with the aid of top police officials, attempts tomaintain peace for his territories. Oaji, with the aidof lower police officials, also keeps peace in muchthe same way as Wang Cho and Oajis make con-tracts or agreements of a peace-binding natureamong themselves. Finally, the Hyung Nim of theshoeshine team maintains order and peaceful rela-tions among members of the team.

From what little I could gather, this paternalis-tic pseudo-familial structure is evident in other lowprestige or illegal occupations in the city. Investiga-tion into the organization of such units or teams asprostitution rings, bar girls, tea house girls, andpeddlers would furnish additional necessary evi-dence. It would then be possible to clarify whetherthis paternalistic familial syndicate pattern is, in-deed, a unique Korean adaptation to an urbanenvironment.

REFERENCES CITED

Blechinger, Peter1967 South Korea. In Worldmark Encyclopedia

of the National. Moshe Y. Sachs, ed. NewYork: Harper and Row. Vol 4. p. 179.

Delury, George1972 The 1973 World Almanac and Book of

Facts. New York: Doubleday. p. 623.Golenpaul, Dan

1972 Information Please Almanac Atlas andYearbook 1973. New York: Simon andSchuster. p. 235.

Nehmer, Stanley and Shannon McCune1968 Korea. In Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Warren E. Preece, ed. Chicago: Benton.Vol 13, p. 462.

Smith, Harvey H., et al.195 8/19 64 U.S. Army Area Handbook for Korea,

Revised Edition. Washington, D.C.: U.S.Government Printing Office.

NOTES

'This article is based upon fieldwork conducted inSeoul, South Korea, during the summer of 1972. Iwould like to acknowledge Keith Otterbein, ErwinJohnson, and Tai Kang for their suggestions andassistance.