Apparently there’s an online controversy-du-jour going on in the expat community in Korea about the evolving restaurant scene in greater Itaewon. The source of the fretting came from this amusing cartoon by Chris Kwon Lewis. Some people thought it a good takedown of gentrification and hipsters in Korea. Others called it racist. In general, it looks like a pretty insufferable debate.

For a smarter take on the issue, check out these wise words that were recently written by Joe McPherson, of Zen Kimchi fame.

The way I see it, this is basically a fight between rival hipsters. Expat hipsters versus Korean hipsters. And, let’s face it, that is a fight that nobody wins. (Although, as this is Korea, if I had to pick a side, it would be with the Koreans. I don’t see the expat scene in Korea get upset when they ruin a perfectly nice local hangout, which has happened more than once).

Personally, I like that there is more Korean-foreigner interaction going on these days. And gentrification is a problem that is as old as capitalism, so it does not really annoy me. I’ve seen my favorite shops move around multiple times over the years in Korea. What’s one more time?

I think it is also worth pointing out that the cartoon can totally apply to a purely Korean context, too. Korean restaurant opens, does well with good prices, gets picks up by bloggers, becomes popular, prices goes up, quality goes down, rinse repeat. You might want to add a step about how the original owners sell the restaurant for a lot, too. It happens to Korean restaurants, it happens to foreign restaurants.

All I know is, when I look around Korea, I see a lot more diversity and cool stuff going on than ever. Music, food, art, life is all really interesting here, and for each negative change, there must be a dozen positive changes. I’ll take that over some sclerotic alternative any day.