Korea Dispatch

Anti-beef rally in Seoul

Ummm… hmmmm… really?

According to the Chosun Ilbo, South Korea ranked third among OECD nations in terms of its adaptabiltiy to globalization in a study conducted by the Confederation of Danish Industry. Some of the benchmarks used include education levels, growth and development, and export capacity. I’m assuming the anti-US beef protests last month occurred too late to be accounted for in the study.

Anyway, my initial reaction after reading the article was supercilious, given the nationalism, xenophobia and racism I’ve witnessed since arriving last year. I thought about the things I’ve dealt with personally while living here, a minority in a country that still cherishes its ethnic homogeneity. How can that qualify Korea as an “adaptable” country? How can its immigration policies possibly be considered globally oriented?

But then I remembered something I wrote my first week here, a short peice called Globalized Koreans see a lonely America. Having just arrived I felt suddenly reconnected with the world, not just Korea. It felt as if I had become a part of a global current that has been purposfully diverted to go around the US, not through it. Koreans I spoke to, from local cabbies to family friends, all had stories to share about experiences abroad. TV programs took viewers to India, Indonesia, Europe. It felt to me, a newbie here, like a globalized society.

A year later and I’m a little less dazzled and a little more settled, but no less cut off. I still feel much more a part of a larger whole than I did living in the US. And as for Korea being a global society, well… I think it’s still working that out, as are countries everywhere. How do you become part of a community without losing what you consider essential? Sometimes it seems Korea wants it both ways, to reap the benefits of globalization without paying the costs, but it is no doubt changing, and rapidly, whether it wants to or not. And change is an important sign of adaptability.