Six Root Causes of the 'Korean Diseases'
Korean American Science and Technology News (KASTN)
Issue 01-27 (No. 304), August 1, 2001Preface
Whenever Korean intellectuals, in and out of Korea, gather for fellowship and conversation, one of the most often discussed topics is the social ills that so thoroughly permeate the contemporary Korean society - what Koreans often refer to as the 'Korean diseases.' The topics in this 'dishonor roll' include, but not limited to
Corruption (money, power, influence, connections),
Regionalism, Cronyism and Nepotism,
Compromising standards,
Extravagant weddings and funerals,
Social rudeness and the lack of compassion,
Inability to form group consensus.To be sure, no human society is free of social diseases; each has its own set of problems. And by no means Koreans can claim monopoly of these types of social ills. There are many other societies in the world that are beset by many more, and much worse, societal and cultural ills. Most of the ills are shared by the East Asian countries - Japan, China, Taiwan and Korea - and things tend to get worse in the Southeastern Asian countries.
Compared to some other parts of the world, especially the Latin America, Russia and other former Soviet bloc nations, and the Indian sub-continents, one might even go so far as to say that the nature of the social ills in Korea are quite tame. In Korea there are virtually no violent symptoms - terrorism, kidnapping, bombing incidents, assassinations and the sort. In comparison to these violent behaviors, the 'Korean diseases' are certainly more 'gentler,' but are just as insidious and deadly as cancer.
On the positive note, a hopeful sign has appeared within the Korean society recently. The emergence of various advocacy groups - the grassroots advocacy groups - is one unmistakable sign that the society is maturing and beginning to take first steps toward self-improvements. Utilizing the power of the Internet (Korea has more than half of its citizens wired) various advocacy groups have raised their heads. One such is the group that advertises on the Net the records of corrupt politicians in an election campaign. Another is the latest movements to eradicate the social ill of extravagant wedding and funerals.
As to what and how overseas Koreans can contribute towards helping fellow Koreans correct these ills is of critical importance and a broad framework for starting a movement for actions required by groups of overseas Korean intellectuals can be an important first step.
To this end, we at SKAS (the Society of Korean American Scholars) has recently conducted an informal survey of a limited number of readers - mostly the editorial board of SKAS, members of OKSPN (Overseas Korean Senior Professionals Network) as well as some selected individuals. The first task was to identify to the best of our capability the most fundamental underlying causes that fosters the manifested social ills such as listed above.
We came to identify the following six to be the most basic underlying roots.
Six Root Causes
1. Lack of honesty and integrity.
This is perhaps the most fundamental of all root causes and it permeates through all levels of the Korean society, but it is more pronounced, and hence much more damaging, at the leadership class.
2. Lack of principles and mental discipline.
All too readily, Koreans constantly compromise their principles and standards for immediate expediency. Abandonment of principles and standards is in fact a norm.
3. Lack of fairness, openness and civility.
This too is one of the deepest root causes, both at individual level and at the level of systems (chaebols, role of government, political and financial systems). The lack of transparency and fairness is pronounced in the so-called "Asian business model" (which is common in Asia but more severe in Korea) wherein the paradigm of doing business based on personal and institutional connections is the rule.
4. Lack of role models.
Three pillars that help to shape individual characters and mental strength in any society are education, religion and role models. The Korean society has failed in all three categories.
5. Failure of education.
Korean education has served well in teaching knowledge by memorization (rather than rationalization). This is an unmitigated failure in helping to shape the character of individuals. In other words, a person should be educated fostering "solid citizenry" as the first order of educational priority.
6. Failure of religion.
Teachings of religion have failed to become the 'living' guide to population; religion is practiced more as an abstract concept. It has failed to change, improve and uplift the human qualities in daily lives.
We have identified the above six points to be the most basic of underlying roots that feeds and breeds the social ills called collectively as the 'Korean diseases.' As to what remedies and what advocacy actions can be recommended, we plan to take it up in the near future.
This editorial represents collective thoughts of scores of individuals who participated in the survey and the resulting discussions. The names of those who have taken more proactive role are listed below, in random order.
Moo-Young Han
Professor of Physics
Duke University
myhan@phy.duke.edu
Editor-in-Chief, SKAS
Member of OKSPNS. J. Chang
Professor of Finance
Illinois State University
sjchang@ilstu.edu
Editor, KASTNKi Joon Chang
Professor Emeritus of Chemistry
Alabama A&M Univ
kjchang@hiwaay.net
Member of OKSPNJai B. Kim
Chairman and Professor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Bucknell University
jaikim@bucknell.edu
Member of OKSPN-------------------------------------
A KOREAN DISEASE: PERSONAL ACCOUNT
Andrew Hong, Ph. D.
Office of International Students and Scholars and
Department of Management & Human Resources
Utah State University
andrews@cc.usu.edu
In connection with the [above] editorial just published in KASTN, "Six Root Causes of the 'Korean diseases'," KASTN 01-27 (8/1/01), I would like to share with others one of my recent experiences in Korea:
What can we do to help cure the Korean social diseases?
This spring I had a chance to visit Korea with other colleagues for university assignments. The weather was wonderful with cool morning breeze and cherry trees blossomed in the streets and over the hilly mountains. It was indeed a lovely timing to visit Korea, perhaps except the colorful fall season. My colleagues who happen to be whites and first-time visitors to Korea were whole-heartedly impressed by the natural beauty and kind hospitality of Korean people.
One of my assignments was to assist and evaluate the export business we do with Korea. The University has been supplying ice cream to Korea for more than a year and the prospect seems to be good despite some communication difficulties resulting from cultural differences. My role was to assist both sides to put trust into each other and develop business strategy as a team for the success of the new commercial venture.
Everyday we visited ice cream stores and had a series of meetings with investors and other stakeholders. After all, the business is only about one year old and we have a long way to go to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We were treated real well.Korean culture of entertaining guests is one of the best in the world to the point, I felt, that Koreans may be wasting too much resources to impress their guests. I know for sure that the cooperation between the two parties will go well even without the excessive entertainments. None of us from the University had expectations of such extravagant hospitality. Indeed, the time and resources that they put into building relationships was beyond the American standards, although I was fully aware in advance that 'that's the way they do business in Korea.'
It was all good for us and for them. We have accomplished our objectives to our satisfaction and they to theirs. It was a huge success for relationship building as well as exchange of ideas for future directions of our venture. We were very impressed by the quality of people involved in the venture and the locations of the ice cream stores in Seoul. The future looked bright.
There was one particular incident, though, that made this trip relevant to the topic of 'the root causes of Korean social diseases,' which motivated me to write this note. One day before our departure from Seoul, one of the key members of the Korea side, whom we know real well, wanted to meet with us. Since he was the closest member to us, I did not think of it anything special. My thought was that he might want to say 'good by' up close and personal.
He came to my hotel room, then presented an envelop to me. Instinctively, I got tense and many thoughts rushed my brain and heart to figure out what it is and what to do about it. So far, I have conducted myself appropriately as a public official from the University and I have no intent to foul-up at the last minute.
With some predictive anticipation, I asked him what it was. Of course, my suspicion was 'money.' He told me it's money, a small token of gesture of their appreciation for our visit to Korea. I said 'no' immediately explaining to him that the token will make things more complicated than necessary. He insisted that this was an expression of the 'Jung,' that is based on traditional close friendship. This was the most difficult issue to deal with as a Korean American. He was pushing the most sensitive button in human relations in Korea. 'Jung' is the fundamental fabric of social relationships. No one dare to refuse or deny the 'Jung' in Korea. Doing so is a suicidal behavior. I saw myself on litmus test and the possible answers were 'no' or 'yes,' nothing in between.
At this point, I was quite emotional still struggling to maintain cool head for the future of our venture. I kept asking myself, what would be the best thing to do in the long run for the University and Korean company. If I accept the kind Korean gesture, they will be happy and satisfied, but I will never feel good about myself because I have compromised myself. I made a firm decision to refuse the token to the end despite all possible repercussions. I knew it was not going to be pretty if the token is being refused. They will take it personally and get seriously offended. I was fully aware of all the possible adverse consequences on the future business relations. But I must do what is right.
I told him that 'it is against the basic tenets of my life to receive any money from business relations.' Emotions were running high on both sides and it was clear that neither one of us was going to give in. I did not want to continue the unending haggles over the matter in a hotel room. A lot of his credibility was riding on this matter as a representative of Korean side and he was not about to lose his face in front of me. I have later returned the token of 'Jung' through a third party.
Still it was awkward for me as well as for them. It was a tremendous blow to their ego, I knew. I wish it never had happened. But I have to do what is right for me and for all of us. I believe that business relations based on personal ties (i.e., Jung) are one of the root causes of social malaise in Korea.
We are now in 21st century of global community where interactions between people from different countries are more frequent and delicate. Global awareness and education is required to become a contending partner in the global game. Intellectual diagnosis of Korean social ill is a good start, but doing what is right as an individual requires courage and determination. We can make a difference if we act as an individual with conscience and courage.