The Korean Mind. Boye Lafayette De Mente
Korean people finally began to result in the powers of the government being curbed and some of the worst government abuses being prohibited by law. It was another two decades, however, before additional reforms by a new generation of leaders actually brought about significant changes in the attitudes and behavior of government officials.
Still today, government bureaucrats and appointees on every level tend to view themselves as Korea’s first line of defense against unwanted intrusions by outsiders and as “big brothers” to the rest of the population. These attitudes are subsumed in a number of key words that have long been associated with the government and continue to play a significant role in business as well as in the private lives of the people. Some of the most important of these words:
Chido (chee-doh), or “guidance”: This term is probably best known for its use in reference to the influence that the Korean government exercises over business. An elaboration on this word is haengjung chido (hang-juung chee-doh), meaning “administrative guidance,” a specific reference to how the government influences business through the power that is inherent in its control of licenses, import and export quotas, taxes, government financing, etc. In addition to the various laws pertaining to these functions, there are numerous nae kyu (nay k’yuu), or “unwritten laws,” that the ministries and agencies of the government utilize in their efforts to control the economy.
One of the “unwritten rules” commonly invoked by government bureaucrats involves a practice known as gara mungeida (gah-rah muun-gay-dah), or “crushing with one’s rear end.” In other words, killing applications or proposals by sitting on them—something that bureaucrats are noted for in almost every country. Government bureaucrats are also noted for subjecting people to a runaround known as jajungga bakwi dolligi (jah-juung-gah bahk-wee dohl-lee-ghee), or “pedaling a stationary bike.”
Government control of mok (moke), or “quotas,” on some categories of imports and exports has traditionally played a key role in the Korean economy. In some product categories annual quotas are based on the previous year’s performance, virtually guaranteeing that certain companies are able to monopolize these import and export categories.
Another method used by the government to influence business in general is the official sponsorship of a large number of hyopoe (h’yahp-poh-eh), or “associations.” There is an association for almost every profession and industry in Korea, all of which are required to operate within guidelines set down by the government. Those pertaining to business are invariably designed to achieve goals that the government approves of or goals that the government itself has set.
Hyopoe that are sponsored directly by the government and designed to promote the export industry (like the Korean Traders’ Association) can be very helpful to foreign businesses wanting to import from Korea. These associations maintain extensive data banks of information on virtually every manufacturing category in the country and provide free staff help in identifying suppliers and setting up appointments with them. Associations sponsored by Korean manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers, on the other hand, have as one of their primary goals controlling foreign access to the Korean market.
Another factor that has long been an integral part of doing business in Korea is putting up with the age-old practice of bringing social, economic, or political leverage against companies to force them to make kibu (kee-buu), or “donations”—a custom that has traditionally involved people in all walks of life but is especially associated with top-level politicians, particularly presidents, because the sums going to them amounted to millions of dollars.
Chonggyo 총교 Chohng-g’yoh
Faces of Korean Religions
Traditional Korean beliefs and day-to-day behavior were an amalgam of four schools of spiritual and philosophical thought, or “religions” if you will—shamanism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and, to a lesser degree, Taoism. Early foreign Christian missionaries in Korea (in the last decades of the 1800s) noted that Koreans were Confucian in their social life, Buddhist and Taoist in their philosophical attitudes, and shamanist in their attempts to ward off and deal with life’s calamities—all without apparent conflict.
Korean educator and developmental psychologist Jae Un Kim has surmised that the “success” of so many chonggyo (chohng-g’yoh), or “religions,” in Korea was a direct outgrowth of the people’s need for spiritual comfort in an authoritarian society that oppressed and abused them. Kim also says that Koreans showed little interest in the theological foundations of religions because they were more interested in relieving the hardships of their daily lives than in contemplating abstract notions of a better life in the hereafter.
Kim explains that several religions could coexist in pre-modern Korea because none of them had theological underpinnings that demanded absolute exclusivity. None of the early religions of Korea—shamanism, Buddhism, or Confucianism—has a “jealous” God in the Christian sense. And strictly speaking, they also do not have a Christian-type hell designed to frighten them into worshiping a single deity.
The only conflict between Buddhism and Confucianism in early Korea was over government and royal patronage and political power—not in the religious or philosophical sphere. Confucianism provided the social, political, and educational ideology that determined how Koreans thought and acted in regard to these matters, while Buddhism (along with shamanism) influenced their spiritual beliefs and behavior.
Generally speaking, Korea’s Confucian scholar-philosophers paid no heed to practical social and economic matters until around the fourteenth century, and even then it was only a small group of powerless “outside” scholars who began advocating “practical learning.” When Christianity, a religion that is based on an exact theological premise, was introduced into Korea, Kim adds, most Koreans ignored its theological teachings and saw only its political and social implications.
Korea’s oldest religion, originally called Ko Shin Do (Koh Sheen Doh), or “The Way of the Gods,” is now officially called Tae Jong Gyo (Tay Johng G’yoh), which translates as “old religion.” Tae Jong Gyo incorporates Korea’s creation myth, which says that Tangun, the legendary founder of the Korean race, became a great teacher and lawgiver who reigned over the people of Korea until he ascended into heaven.
Early Koreans offered prayers to the sajik (sah-jeek), or “gods,” of the land and harvests before sajiktan (sah-jeek-tahn), or “god altars.” This eventually resulted in the so-called “Founder’s Altar,” a system under which new tribal chieftains and later incoming kings offered their prayers. These altars eventually evolved into shrines where shamanist rituals were conducted.
Buddhism was “officially” introduced into Korea in A.D. 372. By the time the Shilla kingdom had unified the Korean peninsula under its rule in A.D. 668, Buddhism was already generally accepted as the national religion. During the following Koryo dynasty (918-1392) Buddhist monks became politicians, courtiers, and warriors, usurping much of the power of the court and causing a steady decline in private as well as public morality. The more wealth and power Buddhist monks achieved, the more corrupt they became.
Ultimately those who opposed the corrupt government and eventually ended the Koryo dynasty associated Buddhism with its evils, resulting in Buddhism’s being replaced by Confucianism as the new state ideology when the Koryo dynasty fell in 1392.
Confucianism was brought into Korea much earlier, presumably by Chinese government officials and others who flocked to the peninsula after it was conquered by the armies of Emperor Wu-Ti in 108 B.C. But it was more of a social ethic than a religion and did not impinge on the spiritual beliefs or customs of the people. By the beginning of the Choson dynasty in 1392, however, Confucianism had been developed into an all-encompassing political, social, and philosophical ideology with cult status. Over the next five hundred years it was to become the core of Korean culture.
Taoism was “formally” introduced into Korea sometime in the seventh century A.D. Over the next several generations many Buddhist temples were converted into Taoist temples as part of the general decline of the influence of Buddhism. While Taoism did not develop into an independent cult, it was to have a significant influence on Korean thinking, particularly its emphasis on long life (su) and happiness (pok), whose symbols are still used widely