A Geek in Korea. Daniel Tudor
to mark the nation’s emergence onto the world stage.
The Olympic Torch, 1988
1950–1953—The Korean War
Following liberation, two Korean states emerged—each backed by a superpower. North Korean leader Kim Il-sung was personally chosen by the Soviets, and the South had Lee Seung-man (Syngman Rhee), a Harvard-educated Methodist whom the Americans trusted (well, at least initially). Both wanted to reunify the country under their sole command, and after a series of skirmishes, the North launched a full-scale attack on June 25, 1950. The war lasted three years, claimed millions of lives, and had no victor. From now on, our story just deals with South Korea…
North Korean refugees aboard a US Navy vessel, 1952.
KOREA’S MULTIFACETED BELIEF SYSTEMS
For a country forever being labeled “homogeneous,” there is a surprising amount of religious diversity in South Korea. It may surprise you to know that the most popular religion now is Christianity, but Buddhism and even traditional shamanism still both have many adherents. Buddhism and shamanism even blend into each other, to a large extent. And some shamanists even follow Jesus Christ. To add to this mix, Christianity itself—a Western import—has been “Koreanized” in many ways. To talk about belief systems in Korea though, we cannot ignore Confucianism. As we shall see, Confucianism is not actually a religion. But what is it? Read on and find out...
Myeongryundang, at the present-day site of Sunkyunkwan University in Seoul. Myeongryundang served as the nation’s top Confucian college during the Koryo and Joseon Dynasties.
THE ENDURING INFLUENCE OF CONFUCIANISM IN KOREA
Especially after the inception of the Joseon Dynasty in 1392, Confucianism came to have great influence on Korean culture. This system of moral philosophy is an import though, having originated from the teachings of Confucius (Gong Fuzi), in ancient China. Confucianism is not a religion like Buddhism, but it does offer guidance on how people should live. Particularly, it is concerned with how people behave in relation to each other, in order to promote a harmonious society.
In a Confucian society, one must uphold certain obligations: the practice of ren, the humane treatment of others; li, the correct observance of important social rituals, such as funerals, or even the preparation of tea; and xiao, or filial piety. The last was the most important of all. The worst kind of person was the one who did not show sufficient respect to his or her parents.
HIGHER OR LOWER?
Confucianism is very hierarchical. Though the king had to treat his subjects humanely (because of ren), the people were to respond in kind with absolute subservience. All human relationships were considered to have a higher and lower partner: ruler and subject; father and son; brother and younger brother; man and wife; and, friend and friend. Equality only existed in the very last one of the five. As a result, men came to be treated as superior to women, and the old as above the young. The ideal Joseon woman was simply a “good wife and wise mother,” who did not concern herself with the world outside the family home; even today, Korea’s gender pay gap is the highest in the OECD.
Shin Saimdang, the ideal Confucian “good wife and wise mother.” She devoted herself to raising her son, the noted scholar Yulgok.
AGE HIERARCHY
Because of Confucianism, one is expected to use a respectful form of language (known as jondaetmal) to those older than oneself. People even give each other titles based on their age difference: older and younger members of the same school or university are known as seonbae and hubae respectively. The seonbae is supposed to look out for his hubae, and pay for everything whenever they get together for a meal or a drink. The hubae ought to follow the seonbae’s words of guidance, and even do favors for him if requested.
Age is also a major factor in promotions in the workplace. At a typical Korean company, even the utterly brilliant must peer up from the lower rungs of the ladder for many years. But things are worse for the less-than-brilliant fifty-year-old. It would be strange for such an older “salaryman” to remain a middle manager, as younger staff would overtake him. His fat salary—which naturally increased every year in accordance with his age-derived status—is also a burden to the company. Therefore, he is pushed into early retirement. Thus Korea is full of fifty- and sixty-something men scraping a living driving taxis or working as security guards.
EDUCATION IN KOREA SHUT UP AND STUDY!
The Daechi-dong neighborhood in Gangnam, Seoul, is a kind of ground zero for Korean education mania. Due to government efforts to develop Gangnam in the 1970s and 1980s, there are an abundance of good schools in the area. This resulted in spiralling property prices, and the creation of a nouveau riche elite. In turn, this drew in large numbers of private after-school academies (or hakwon), which can charge top dollar for extra-curricular tuition. Today, one of the main streets through Daechi-dong is known as “hakwon alley.”
Young children learning English at a hakwon—a private after-school academy.
Daechi-dong kids are lucky by any material standards. They wear expensive brand name clothes, and have a great chance at entering top universities and getting top jobs later in life. They also stand to inherit million-dollar apartments. Yet, it is unlikely many of them feel fortunate. When I first lived in Seoul, I gave one lesson per week at an English hakwon there, and saw how extreme their education-obsessed mothers could be.
It was really not unusual to see children crying from stress. Nothing less than an “A” ever seemed to be good enough, and I heard comments like, “I went to bed at midnight after studying, and got up at 6 AM to start studying again” on a very regular basis. Korean society values education to an astonishing extent, so parents put great pressure on their children to achieve. And particularly in areas like Daechi-dong, mothers engage in vicarious competition with each other: “Our Soo-min just got into Seoul National University” will be followed with, “well, our Jae-won just got into Harvard!”
A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD
No doubt education mania has had very positive effects on Korea—having a highly-qualified populace has contributed greatly to economic growth. However, there are great costs involved, too. The Institute for Social Development Studies at Yonsei University has found Korean teenagers to be the unhappiest in the OECD. Another study, by the Korean Educational Development Institute, also found Korean youths to be the second worst at social interaction among 36 countries surveyed.
Tragically, suicide is the leading cause of death among Korean youths. And according to Statistics Korea, 53 percent of young Koreans who have suicidal thoughts do so because of worries about education-related competition. Every year, there are many cases of high school students taking their own lives around the time of the university entrance exam.
English hakwons remain a great way to make money if done right. Several people have approached me asking me to open one with them, even offering to put up all the capital. But although I know I’ll never change this extreme education culture—it is as Korean as kimchi—I don’t want to be part of it.
CONFUCIANISM AND EDUCATION
One other important area where Confucianism affects Korea is education. A traditional Confucian society was supposed to be ruled by those who mastered li, and the way of demonstrating this was through examinations.