Korea Dispatch

The comments I read from non-Koreans about Korea on the blogosphere are ironically very reminiscent of comments made by some earlier Western visitors to Korea in the first part of the 19th century.

eg. A comment on the Marmot’s Hole:
Yes, Breen is feeling the heat. But he is right about one thing: Korean identity is racial, not national (Koreans don’t even have a nation; what they have is a northern Chinese colony facing a southern U.S., Japanese, and Chinese colony — militarily, economically, and culturally, that is). All modern societies based on race are fascist. The Koreans we witness every day in the streets, for example, are not leftists. Not even close, though they employ some of the obligatory rhetoric. If there is anything radical about them it is their extreme enthnocentrism. If you think this is mere stereotyping, well, go wallow in your blissful ignorance.

Well, the above simply echoes what colonialists were saying prior to violating Korea’s sovereignty. Only in this case I think it just comes from built up resentment from living here for a while (understandable, but simplistic). I mean, in that case the US is a rip-off of European thought and society. The Enlightenment is just an imitation of medieval Islamic philosophy. Societies borrow, they influence, and they clash.

It sort of begs the question, though: is it that Korea has fundamentally not changed in its character? Or, rather, that non-Koreans continue to fail to understand what is essentially a very different and equally complex society? I think one thing is true: there is a tendency to measure Korea to certain standards that ultimately Korea will not live up to, simply because it is a different country, with a radically different history that has produced an outlook that is offensive, challenging, dynamic, and on the whole no better or worse than any other. 

On the other hand, it’s hard not to dismiss these comments. especially when you look around and see them proved day in and day out. Bulguksa, the temple in Gyungju, was restored by the Japanese, who said Koreans simply let their historical legacy fall to waste. I look around and see this type of neglect very often here in Korea.

Also, I remember once reading a comment about how, during the Tonghak rebellion, Koreans were seen by Westerners as simply walking by starving or rotting corpses, oblivious to the suffering around them. This too I see in Korea today. Whether it’s bus-drivers who could give a shit about the fact that you’ve got a child and a stroller while trying to balance on the bus. Or drivers who’d as soon run you down on the road as stop for you. And the homeless woman I pass daily who seems so alone in a sea of youngsters more concerned about their Converse than the fact that someone’s grandma is rotting in front of them. 

I see this, and yet I know the same is true for the US, Europe, or any other modern society. Hell, I walk by devouring my morning toast without as much as a glance these days.