"Western-style artists like Ko [Hui-dong]were scorned by the average person, who thought of Western art as some sort of trick. Ko relates the following anecdote: 'When I came back to this country, sometimes I would tie up my sketch box and go outside the city. All those who saw me thought I was selling taffy or cigarettes. Some friends argued with me for having spent all my money to go suffer in a foreign land [Japan], only to learn something disrespectable that looks like bitter medicine or shit'"
