Ruminations in Korea

Comment by H. Kim

2 January 2007 @ 1:40 pm

Haha. While it would be nice to believe this, Koreans themselves don’t. (I take it though, that you were being completely facetious.;-)

Koreans, however, do take pride in their ‘tribe’. What is so unusual about a country that takes pride in its culture, its language, its accomplishments, its celebrities, etc?

And while Koreans can take their pride to extremes sometimes, we do not think we’re better than others.

Happy New Year’s btw, and best wishes on a speedy recovery.

Comment by Jeff in Korea

2 January 2007 @ 3:00 pm

H. Kim,

I don’t know what to say…

The Korean media is always full of stories about how Korea is or will be number one in the world to do this, that, or the other thing…How Korea food is better/more healthy than any other food… How Korean athletes are the best in the world at this that or the other… How Korean scientist are the best in the world (why do you think the Hwang Woo Suk scandal happened?)… How Korean children are the smartest in the world. How Korean parents love their children more than any other race. etc.

It is everywhere (not to say that other places don’t do the same thing…but I am not talking about other places). Koreans and Korean media routinely puts forth Korea and Koreans as being better than everyone else.

By the way, the argument “that Asians are the greatest “race” in the world and that Koreans are the best of the Asians” was put to me by a Korean.

It is important to note that the TV station titled the Survivor day marathon as “KOREAN Victory Special.” the guy was not a Korean (하국인). He was an American. He was an American of Korean descent. It didn’t say Migookin Victory Special or Kyopo Victory Special… It said “Korean Victory Special.”

Another interesting sidelight was the translation of the show opening… the announcer said, “20 Americans…”, but the Korean subtitles said, “20 people” (20명).

I wish i was being completely facetious. Unfortunately I was just repeating what I see and hear around me all the time.

Comment by H. Kim

2 January 2007 @ 10:24 pm

Jeff:
Interesting thoughts, and having worked for a Korean media organization, I can’t deny that Korea can seem like they’re full of themselves at times. I ascribe this to narcicissm and overcompensation for historical feelings of inadequacy that stretch the eons.

Korea, nevertheless, will always be to me a country with a Napoleon Complex, i.e., a small country with an insatiable ego. And yes, many Kooreans — not all though — have a penchant for feeling special. Don’t we all though? At worst, Koreans have been guilty of feeling more ’special’ than others. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that Koreans think they’re necessarily better or more superior to others. Just unique. Don’t you feel unique too? I hope you do.

And as far as that “No. 1″ stuff goes — for Koreans, it’s a big “in” joke. Like my father, always telling me when he dropped me off at the corner of P.S. 38, “You gotta be No. 1!” Of course, forget that I just got an “D” on my math test — toeing the party line at our house means repeating the mantra over and over again: “I’m still “No. 1!” Why? Because it’s all part of being Korean — and in the same token — it’s like being part of one big inside joke. (Just like the Bears fans during tailgate parties at Soldier Field parading around — often times obnoxiously so –waving their big blue and orange “No. 1″ foam fingers, all the while knowing in the back of their minds that “Da’ Bears”, will in all likelihood, finish in last place, yet again.

And as far as the Survivor gambit goes, every overseas Korean also knows (don’t ask me how) that if they ever become a household name — for better or worse — the Motherland will claim them as their own, e.g., Korea’s ‘long-lost sons’, such as Toby Dawson, Hines Ward, Yul Kwon, Danniel Henney, Dennis Oh, etc.

All these “Korean” celebrities (notice they’re “Korean” now, and not Korean American or half Korean at this point), have all been feted by Korean media for nothing less than having been celebs in the U.S.

However, every Korean also knows that if they should ever f***up — especially massively so — the Motherland will disavow all knowledge of you — e.g., Robert Kim, Hwang Woo-suk, etc.

For example, Chosun Ilbo made it a point to say that the convicted spy, Robert Kim, “is a naturalized Korean American”, or that Hwang Woo-suk, was not a Korean researcher and scientist associated with and subsidized by the Korean government, but rather a veterinary professor at SNU.

Hardly surprising though. As they say: “A success has many fathers, but a failure is an orphan.”

Comment by Allan

4 January 2007 @ 10:00 am

H. Kim, I understand where you’re coming from and I think you and Jeff are trying to say the same thing in different ways. I feel that Koreans strength is also their weakness. That is, I have never; NEVER seen Koreans do anything “a little bit”. Be it going out for a night of drinking or building next-generator whatever. That all or nothing attitude carries over into their view on how the world runs. It’s a good thing but excess sometimes is just that–excess.

Comment by Langtry

7 January 2007 @ 1:51 pm

I am not a “Survivor” fan, but I read a short article about the winner of this year’s contest and was really impressed by his thoughtfulness. He said that he was ready to quit when, just prior to their departure to tape the show, it was revealed to the contestants that they would be teamed up by race/ethnicity. He went on to say that he had a long conversation with the show’s producers, and agreed to continue only after being assured that the “twist” in the match-ups would not play on racial stereotypes, be offensive or last the duration of the show.

Comment by Brendon Carr

8 January 2007 @ 7:58 pm

Another interesting sidelight was the translation of the show opening… the announcer said, “20 Americans…”, but the Korean subtitles said, “20 people” (20명).

But on the plus side, at least we’ve been moved up to “people” now.

Comment by Jeff in Korea

8 January 2007 @ 8:01 pm

That is true.

Comment by Fantasy

9 January 2007 @ 5:28 pm

H Kim:

Yes, I think your description is very apt, and I also understand that you as a Korean-American feel that there is nothing wrong with this attitude. Maybe even for the Americans (a nation worshipping competition almost as much as the Koreans) the entire concept is not really widely off the mark.

But for me, as a humble German of Romanian descent, continuously involved with Koreans in some way or another as from 1985, the concept espoused simply bears the mark of aggression, reminiscent of “Deutschland über alles” which, as you certainly know due to your having been a GI in Germany in the 1980s (when I was not in the country, thus missing Germany’s re-unification), has gone seriously out of fashion over here after 1945. Maybe your first hand experience of German life provides you with some understanding for my unease about it.

If I were to say in Germany: “I want to be No. 1 !” I would be in for the sniding reply “Fuck off, you arrogant asshole !” Germans worship the concept of mixed talents, i.e. someone excels in Physics, someone else in Chemistry, … and simply do not like people whose declared aim it is to outcompete everybody else. High school students aiming at A’s in each and every field will be most unpopular, not only with their fellow students but also with their teachers and even with their own parents ! And a whole nation striving for No. 1 status in each and every respect is, in our view, even more unlikeable and downright scary.

Comment by H. Kim

10 January 2007 @ 10:06 pm

Fantasy:
Endlich koennen wir ueber etwas einverstanden! The Germans that I’ve gotten to know while serving and working in Germnay (I went back for a college internship), have always had in abundance what the Koreans lack profusely: common sense and practicalness.

The average Korean, if there ever was one, is so ‘out there’ in terms of negotiating reality with their ideal that it’s often quite sad. Comparatively speaking, Germans seem to be more driven by pragmatic and realistic considerations, but can get bogged down by their penchant for nihilism and skepticism.

Case in point. I had a recent conversation with a group of young Koreans here in Seoul, all in their mid- to late-20s and college graduates to boot (whoopee doo!) about their future aspirations and whatnot. Mind you, Korea is going through the highest unemployment rate in 10 years now. Nevertheless, among my dauntless peers were a future movie diretor, a diplomat, and a highly paid executive of a foreign company. Nothing wrong with such high-minded dreams –if you can only put aside the fact that not one of them has even an iota of practical work experience on their resumes to date.

The young Germans, however, that I met and worked with in Frankfurt a.M., from 1988-1990, including a few Uebersiedlers, quite memorably had more pedestrian aspirations, including the following: a Hotel hauptfach person, a Flight Attendant, a Kellner, a Chef, a Lufthansa Airframe Mechanic, etc.

Wir verstehen die Unterschiede! In Korea, it’s a one-track system in a one-dimensional society. And as far as success is defined, it’s one-dimensional affair as well: An oversupply of college graduates competing for a scarcity of top jobs in the top conglomerates and foreign companies.

In Germany, however, there is a healthy pluralism that abounds just like in America. In Germany, the first thing I noticed is that anyone who has “Ausbildung” and the ability to a job well can command respect from his peers and society at large.

In Korea, however, this is absolutely not the case.

The result is that Koreans from an early age are forced to focus on attaining society’s limited notions of what a success is in the Korean mind — a graduate of a top-ranked university who works in a top-ranked field or in a top-ranked conglomerate or for the government. The result of this elitism and impracticalism is the preponderance of a lot of wasted human talent that is cast aside and absent from the workforce just b/c they don’t meet the narrow definition of success in Korean society.

And for those who can afford to be unemployed, like my young charges, there is the luxury of idling their time in fancy cafes, studying English, and literally doing nothing. I think the average middle-class German would be highly unsettled and appalled with the amount of idleness and lack of productivity among a large proportion of Korea’s 20-40 demographic. But then again, Germany has its own problems. C’est la vie!

Comment by Fantasy

11 January 2007 @ 4:16 am

Hello H. Kim,

thanks a lot for your most interesting and detailed description of the various education systems and their intrinsic differences. I value your expertise, especially since you have first-hand experience of the US, Germany, and Korea - and you are therefore in a position to compare the three cultures better than anybody else.

I also highly valued your occasional inclusion of the German perspective on “The Asia Pages” as a third cultural option besides the Korean and the American way of handling things. I tell you one fact you may or may not believe, but it is really true: I used to live outside of Germany for many years in the 1980s and 90s and, in these times there being no internet, I had only the vaguest idea of what was going on in the country in the decisive period of 1989/90. You wrote about it in one of your comments, and from reading what you said I got a much better grasp of how the re-unification of Germany came about than I had had before.

Please do not feel offended at my occasional bashing of some of your comments - you certainly know from experience that Germans tend to be a bit undiplomatic at times. I was labouring under the mistaken impression that you, just as Bluejives, were opposed to interracial dating, and as I have been labelled an Asiaphile simply too often, my initial attitude towards you was somewhat hostile. Later, when I browsed through the archives of Jodi’s great blog I found many interesting comments you had written, and I felt sincerely sorry about my rudeness.

I feel saddened, though, that, as Jodi seems to be saying in her latest post, she might be leaving Korea and the Korea-related blogosphere in the near future. That would be a real loss to all of us, since hers is certainly the most interesting and varied blog, striking just the right balance between the political and the personal. I certainly would regret to see her parting !

Best regards to you

Fantasy