What Debt South Korea Owe?
The Miracle on Han River is truly a modern-day miracle. South Korea is a model country for striving third world countries to emulate. They should offer a how-to-do-it manual for countries seeking to move into first-world economies. I am fascinated by the country that 70 or 80 years ago was economically one of the poorest countries in the world. Through marshaling their collective strength, patriotism, enormous sacrifice, and hope, South Korea, without war or strife, has emerged as the 10th most prosperous country on earth with one of the most educated and talented workforce anywhere. Cleverly using soft skills of beauty and culture, i.e. K-Pop and K-Drama, K-Beauty products, it propelled itself to the forefront of world economies. There can be nothing more powerful than a unified ‘people.’
If you're scratching your head and you haven’t heard of BTS, or Squid Game you are clearly not on this planet.
I’m probably one of the most educated people on South Korea, considering I’ve never been. I’ve been fascinated by the country for over fifteen years now, ever since the day I got sick and listlessly turned on Hulu. It was there that I discovered K-Drama — a series called Beethoven’s Virus. I’ve been hooked ever since and went on to get my entire family hooked on K-Drama. I later graduated from Hulu to DramaFever (now defunct) and then to Viki. Both were dedicated K-Drama channels. Since that day, fifteen years ago, I’ve not seen too many other flicks and now find American films banal. No, if ands or buts about it, the Koreans can write drama. No wonder Netflix is pouring billions into their film industry.
As they say, however, art mimics life. I have watched as K-Dramas changed to become more commercial and salacious, unfortunately not for the better. I’ve watched as Korean Hallyu stars approach Hollywood status — BTS — disproportionate adoration that drives them to hidden coping mechanisms. I have watched as beauty standards of the white world become adopted by these once humble and genuine people, who now boast the most cosmetic surgeries in the world. With Netflix all over Korea mining talent, I wonder what the art form will eventually become. Progress has its price but South Korea is used to making sacrifices for progress.
What I’m watching recorded in K-Drama these days is a nation descending into chaos. High unemployment rates, the 10th highest suicide rate in the world, and number 1 for OECD countries. Worse, these suicides are not related to mental issues but to social and economic issues…scary. The Koreans, both North, and South, even have a national holiday, Chuseok, to honor their ancestors and so I sincerely hope before they get to where we are today in America, a culture over-indexed in debauchery, addiction, adoration, dishonesty, and greed, that they harken back to their spirit of Arirang. I hope, too, that they learn from us the pitfall of the excess we experience here in our United States of America. We already see the significant effects of extreme competition and superficiality topping their social and environmental concerns. The spiraling debt of its young citizens, rising health issues, the rejection of their own culture in favor of western standards of beauty, abandonment of their old people, once revered for their wisdom are concerning. South Korea seems on a collision course with disaster. I hope they learn from history before it’s too late.
I, for one, will not write them off and feel that in their DNA is the ability to pull themselves up by their bootstrap before the wheels come off the cart. What will save them is the fact that Koreans know how to suffer and sacrifice. Still, while here, at the crossroad of grappling with the by-products of a first-world economy, there is still one thing I would like to see happen while South Korea’s heyday is in full swing. I’d like to see it pay due respect and its debt to those who seeded its progress.
I recently read a biography of a Korean War child, Orchestration by Saundra Henderson Windom. I truly got an appreciation of 1953 Korea…destitute yet hopeful. After the Korean War, which divided the two Koreas at the 38th parallel, we clearly see the outcome of each today. South Korea, the Miracle on the Han River, sacrificed its children and women to advance its society. During the Korean War, Kijichons, government-regulated prostitution camps were operated for comfort women who serviced foreign soldiers. Their activities accounted for 25% of South Korea’s GNP. Further bolstering their GNP were the exiled and adopted children that also significantly impacted the economics of the struggling country. Behind Patriotism, hard work, and hope, “The Land of the Morning Calm” hides a dark secret rarely discussed. The abandonment of their War children and eventually the abandonment of the Korean children of poverty who became the financial bedrock of progress. While South Korea’s meteoric rise is admirable, I hope they see fit to thank the women and children, many of whom were drowned, abandoned in the mountains or were exiled for their sacrifice. A Thankyou for what could be a model country for all countries including the USA. Kamsahaminda might go a long way.
