A couple of days ago, Brian at Cathartidae posted some very thought-provoking commentary on Korea’s obsession with its image abroad. I suggest you read it full, but I would like to add some comments of my own below.
Run a Google search on “Korea’s image,” and you’ll get a ton of articles discussing Korea’s almost ceaseless “crusade” to improve its image abroad; Brian is quite right when he writes that international functions held in Korea almost invariably turn into a massive PR campaign. What I don’t quite understand, however, is why Koreans should care so much what others think of them. Granted, as a major trading nation, reputation is important, but the tone of Korea’s image campaigns reveal a disturbing lack of national self-confidence. Given the trials of Korea’s recent (and not so recent) past, it shouldn’t surprise me that many here on this fair peninsula feel a sense of shame, but sooner or later, the nation is going to have to move past its inferiority complex and the bouts of over-compensating hyper-nationalism that accompany it. By all reckoning, this should be a proud, confident society, unconcerned with what some textbook in Iowa says about 7th century Korea, yet when just about every perceived slight against the nation is taken as a mortal offense, it reveals a society psychologically still trapped in 1910. As an American, perhaps this is something that I should be able to sympathize with - we are, after all, widely criticized for taking ourselves a little seriously, a symptom, I believe, of a deep-seated sense of cultural inferiority vis-a-vis our European cousins across the Atlantic. Over 200 years have passed since we achieved our independence, including the last 50 spent as the world’s hegemon, and yet, in the backs of our minds, we’re still backwoods colonial hicks pining for acceptance. It’s natural that Koreans should share some of the same feelings vis-a-vis their immediate (and not so immediate) neighbors, all of whom have spent time dominating Korea in one way or the other during the last 5000 years. But at some point, we have to put our past behind us, lest it become a trap preventing us from enjoying acceptance even after we’ve achieved it.
6 Comments
Thanks for adding some much needed perspective. All those image games are annoying, though I guess still better than the “who gives a $&!+ what the rest of the world cares” attitude you see in China.
When I think about the problem I’m reminded of what is a Eurocentric obsession with the Nobel prize and winning recognition in Western perfoming arts like opera, violin, symphony directing, etc. (Check out this mighty fine latest acomplishment, impressive enough even for OnmyNews.)Daewoo founder Kim Woo-choong (sp?) said in the early nineties that Korea’s two main goals need to be reunification and the winning of a Nobel prize by a Korean. (One reason conservatives were so upset about Kim Dae-jung winning one first - the Nobel has always mattered so much to them!)
Overall I think it’s why it’s so hard to find a toy doll here that isn’t blonde.
BTW: Speaking of Eurocentrism…. I was thinking maybe “our European cousins” applies to only a certain kind of Americans. Just a thought.
Hear, hear. I often tell Koreans that the biggest difference between me and the average Korean is that I think Koreans are a great people - even if they don’t prove it.
Brian’s main point was how most Koreans obsess over the country’s image, yet at the same time invariably behave in ways that undermine that image — through boorishness and bad sportsmanship on the sporting field, rudeness as travelers, unseemly parliamentary brawls, brazen scams that show contempt for the laws of other countries, etc. I think the economic and political achievements of the ROK speak for themselves, but it will take more time for individuals to move from the me-first egoism behind so many of country’s warts to a healthier individualism — one where the average Korean won’t give a stuff that Korea is the number 4 widget-maker in the world (and gaining on Germany for number 3) and a speed skating gold medal for Kim Dong-song is a credit to Mr Kim and not a matter to unite a nation around. Japan not too long ago had a “what-do-they-think-of-us” cottage industry, but it seems the younger generation is more chilled out about that.
Robert, I don’t think all that many Americans think themselves inferior to Europeans any more. I think more Americans are at times annoyed because the rhetoric coming from Europe leads one to believe that at least Europeans apparently want us to imagine ourselves as inferior. Also, there are Eastern Seaboad liberal elites who want us to imagine ourselves as inferior.
Thanks for the link and the additional comments, Robert. You added a few good points.
“America’s Image vs. Reality”
Run a Google search on “America’s image,” and you’ll get a ton of articles discussing America’s almost ceaseless “crusade” to destory its image abroad. What I don’t quite understand, however, is why Americans should ignore so much what others think of them. Granted, as the world’s lone superpower, reputation is not all important, but the tone of America’s image campaigns reveal a disturbing lack of care and interest in World opinion.