(AP Photo/ Lee Jin-man)
In an AP article, via the Boston Globe, 19 physicians and executives ate American sirloin, with one top doctor saying it “tastes good and tender” and telling fellow South Koreans not to worry about getting mad cow disease from eating U.S. beef. Per the article:
“Eat it without any uneasiness. I can guarantee (the safety) by staking the honor of the Korean Medical Association,” Moon Tai-joon, honorary chairman of the doctors’ association, told reporters amid a barrage of camera flashes and smokes from the grill at his table.
Mmm, Mmm good…
54 Comments
“…I can guarantee (the safety) by staking the honor of the Korean Medical Association…”
You can bank your fan-death insurance check on it!
Yes, I saw the irony in this right away. Of course, I wondered where they were when the pseudo science was being used to stoke the protests. Obviously, there is a fear of confronting populist babble in a culture where the loudest voice prevails.
‘Yes, I saw the irony in this right away. Of course, I wondered where they were when the pseudo science was being used to stoke the protests. Obviously, there is a fear of confronting populist babble in a culture where the loudest voice prevails.’
i remember you saying you were korean, right? i just wonder, you used to always say ‘we koreans’, what happened to all that?
just wanted to ask since you’re a fellow korean and all.
#2
Never too late!!
I don’t think these guys much appreciating the taste of “Beef” or “sirloin” by this picture.
Their facial expression would be much better if they watched this episode of SBS drama “식객(http://tv.sbs.co.kr/sikgaek/)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptDrCZwV8zw
pawi, when returning to Korea in 2002 after 20 years’ absence,(this time to Seoul although we are originally from Daegu), my wife and I found ourselves in a very different country than the one we once loved. I believe the country has changed for the worse and that the optimism, “cheung,” simplicity and openness we once knew appear to have given way to dizzying confusion, a toxic social environment, and a narrow minded xenophobia.
We obviously still care. We watch Korean broadcasts every evening, still prefer Korean cuisine, etc. And our life in Seoul was positive for the first 2 of the 4 years we lived there. But we had enough of that lifestyle and left before it took much of a toll on our health.
And now a question for Pawi…when was the last time you were in Korea for any length of time?
#7,
LOL
And another question for pawi…what ROK military unit did you serve in?
Beef can also help boost test levels.
Don’t think that’s needed here though.
Per my take on this, here’s a little Johnny Mathis.
# 6 and # 3,
Like a lot of kyopos that have gotten a degree of aculturation to the new country, a lot of us develop a love/hate relationship with the culture that our parents came from. However, in most cases, we at least offer a measure of respect our parent’s culture and land of origin even though we may not agree with or understand it fully. To disrespect our heritage (especially if you are just a generation removed) is to disrespect a part of ourselves.
gnhj:
See also http://kr.youtube.com/watch?v=sYyWdw-0IyI
Maybe The Shrub and Condi will do a cover for Korea during the shrub’s upcoming visit.
@7 doubt we’ll get an answer to this one.
i am sure this will convince the left wing anti-american nut jobs to start grilling t-bones tonight!
“i remember you saying you were korean, right? i just wonder, you used to always say ‘we koreans’, what happened to all that?
just wanted to ask since you’re a fellow korean and all.”
So he’s not allowed a dissenting view? There you have it, in case you missed it. Pawi exhibiting the notion that groupthink is required of the minjok. Mizar5, bravo your openess. I can only hope people like you prevail here.
Wangkon, I noticed you used the word heritage. You can maintain respect for that heritage and not compromise your integrity. If you lie, falsify or manipulate and mistakenly do it in the name of “heritage”, you have forsaken what I would think is any semblance of integrity.
I and many others see pointing out our nation’s shortcomings as patriotic and a service to its heritage.
Haha. Those doctors look like they might have the fear of death in their eyes.
Fan death indeed.
“You can maintain respect for that heritage and not compromise your integrity.”
Of course, and integrity comes before heritage.
“I and many others see pointing out our nation’s shortcomings as patriotic and a service to its heritage.”
This is true as well, but Koreans don’t really understand it as such. They haven’t had a long history of western style self examination and criticism. They tend to think that criticism from non-Koreans means something that’s generally antagonistic to the tribe as a whole. Yes, it’s rooted in an inferiority complex. Probably why the Chinese get about as sensitive when they feel they are unfairly criticized or misunderstood.
“However, in most cases, we at least offer a measure of respect our parent’s culture and land of origin even though we may not agree with or understand it fully.”
Well spoken, WongKon.
‘@7 doubt we’ll get an answer to this one.’ cmm
sme ziu korea flet nar kinas kenota.
I’m going to eat a big Texas steak in front of my American made electric fan while watching Goldfinger tonight. Don’t ask where the Goldfinger thing came it..I just like the movie.
“American made electric fan”
Where are you gonna find one of those? Emerson? GE? All made in China…
The chap in the middle does look a little nervous about eating the stuff. Perhaps he thinks he’ll keel over dead by the time dessert rolls around?
It’s a terrible photograph, it almost looks like the hands above their heads are ready to smite them really hard unless they choke down that mad-cow yankee beef!
On a positive note, I’ve noticed Korean beef is suddenly a hell of a lot cheaper! 15k for 0.6 kilo of kalbisal isn’t too shabby, still expensive, but you can feed 4 people with good meat and rice-veggie dishes for 30k at home. Yay for competition! Things are improving at last.
You shouldn’t eat too much red meat anyway. It’s great that poorer residents here can afford Korean beef, even if they’re been brainwashed into not eating American.
I’m not poor, and like top-end so I’ll still buy Aussie unless I’m just making burgers. American beef (the good stuff) is fine, Korean beef tastes good (but is full of antibiotics). Hopefully the Australian beef prices will fall too, I can’t wait. Competition is the best thing about capitalism.
I’d like to get some nice organically reared Scottish beef, that’s the best I’ve ever had.
Although I agree with the sentiments of the 19 mentioned in the article, one must also keep in mind that Koreans will generally say or do ANYTHING for a free steak.
What I mean is one of those fans without the little timer and runs on 110 voltage. It may not have been assembled in America, but darn it, was bought in the states at least. :p
“However, in most cases, we at least offer a measure of respect our parent’s culture and land of origin even though we may not agree with or understand it fully.”
Our parents’ generation is worthy of enormous respect. Unlike the spolied but stressed 386 generation (born in the Sixties, attended university in the Eighties), they actually did suffer, and then worked their arses off to improve the lot of their children. The conservative rallies illustrate how dissappointed many of them are with the ensuing generations. This is the generation that built mosern Korea.
As for the 386 dolts, admittedly, they carried heavy books to school, studied hard to get into university and served their stints in the Army. But they entered college with a sense of entitlement nad never lost that arrogance.
They devoted their college years to social clubs and demonstrations. They substituted social networks for academic accomplishment and rumor-mongering for factfinding. Is it any wonder that Roh Mu Hyeon was their man and that they became anti-American?
Now, this is the generation that is supposed to lead Korea into the future (as opposed to driving it into the ground). However, the generation that inherits rather than builds wealth often fail in business. Sure enough, the 386 generation I worked with in Samsung (where I was the oldest person in the division) had learned how to coast. For them, the purpose of work is to look as though they are “dedicated, hard workers” and to ingratiate themselves with management. What I found lacking is any heartfelt devotion to the quality of the work itself. I think this explains a great deal about the abysmal shoddy quality standards in modern Korea. The unspoken axiom is make it look good on the surface and improve quality to the extent that it takes to get by and still keep your job.
Another common behavior in the workplace is a culture of cheating - which is actually encouraged at Samsung. Let me explain.
The VP really doesn’t know what makes his dept. tick, and gets ahead by stealing credit for the work his charges do for him. In turn, the middle managers initiate projects that are duplicated by various other managers in various other departments. This sort of competition is encouraged and may the best project win. As the middle managers need to invent their own projects, they are constantly attempting to steal ideas from one another while concealing their work from the prying eyes of peers who would steal those ideas from them.
In Korea, the product cycle (and project cycle) is extremely short. New projects need to be initiated weekly and brought quickly to fruition. The implementation is an afterthought and the measurement of that implementation can often be overlooked. After all, yesterday’s project doesn’t earn you points for “originality” so once you turn it over for implementation, you forget about it and move on to the next brilliant-sounding idea.
As long as the project looks good on paper, and contains the proper percentage of English and Chinese phrases (as specified in the “How to Write a Report” handbook) as well as illustrations in the form of obfuscating charts and statistics, as well as a new catch phrase, viola!
For instance, one such project in my division featured the brilliant English phrase “top-down brainwashing” which was presented as some incredible new management concept that would revolutionize business operations. Because it is written in English, even though it is merely words strung together as if to adorn a Korean teeshirt, it has the appearance of authority. The actual significance of the phrase will connote the prejudices of the department VP. I say connote rather than denote because an assiduous attempt is made to avoid defining the phrase in concrete terms. The idea is to keep everybody guessing about the significance and implications of the term. That way, the concept appears more significant than it is and the project leader is seen as the genius who owns and controls the concept.
That snow job goes all the way up the reporting chain with each successive level of management getting credit for the “idea.” Now, the idea may be just a figment of the originator’s imagination, but it is presented in such a way that it appears fraught with meaning and the manager can be credited with cracking the code of a mysterious Western business practice.
But what else would you expect from a generation that never did any serious research in college and received passing grades in many subjects regardless of whether they even bothered to show up in class more than twice a term?
No wonder these self-proclaimed geniuses have not mastered English but only adulterated and defiled it. I recall hearing a radio report about a new English phrase to describe students earning salaries - “salarydent.” This kind of fraudulent standard is what passes for knowledge in modern Korea.
So when these imbeciles complain about what Japan has done to them and the suffering of the Korean people that cannot possibly be understood by outsiders, it begs the question of intellectual honesty. How could THEY possibly understand these things, never having experienced them firsthand? They have in fact rejected and repudiated their elders. Since their elders survived the Japanese occupation with dignity rather than whining, this generation has decided to do the whining while lacking any knowledge of what it is they are supposedly whining about. As their elders are eternally grateful to the American soldiers who liberated them and fed them when they were physically starving, this generation has decided to revile the Americans as an occupying force oppressing the race.
It is this generational divide that largely defines the politics of modern Korea, and it is essentially dishonest, lazy and morally bankrupt.
I read that three times. Awesome.
Our parents’ generation is worthy of enormous respect. Unlike the spolied but stressed 386 generation (born in the Sixties, attended university in the Eighties), they actually did suffer, and then worked their arses off to improve the lot of their children. The conservative rallies illustrate how dissappointed many of them are with the ensuing generations. This is the generation that built mosern Korea
They did build modern Korean, including its problems. You see the problems you see today in Korea, are a legacy of the above generation. As for the 386ers, they simply used and expanded those problems for their own benefit. And I wouldn’t exactly call the conservative rallies an “expression of dissapointment on the younger generation”. The conservatives like the leftists have their own agendas that they want to express and has nothing to do with the generation that came before or after them. Not that I like the 386ers. Taking potshots at them is becoming one of the favorite pastime here among the generation that came after them.
As for your corporate experience, well it sure gives meaning to the Korean saying “no matter which company you go to they are all the same.” But on the other hand, what do you expect from a corporate culture that stresses appearance rather than substance, and throws what little work process there is out the window for some executive’s personal convenience among others.
em>saying it “tastes good and tender”
Kim said. “There are many people who say they would buy and eat U.S. beef because it’s cheaper and tastes good.”
Well, so much for the theory, put forward by some expats, that Koreans consider US beef as “low quality” and “less tastier” meat.
“They did build modern Korean, including its problems. You see the problems you see today in Korea, are a legacy of the above generation.”
mins0306,
Cut ‘em some slack. It’s incredibily difficult to build a modern (or modernizing) country out of the ashes of colonialism and civil war…
Actually, it’s hard for me to even think of a country, other than Korea (India and China are still developing), that’s been able to do that without the help of oil (Russia) or the Marshall Plan (Western Europe).
WK,
Who said I was hard on them?
I was simply pointing out that one shouldn’t overromanticize the aspects of the older generation.
Actually, it’s hard for me to even think of a country, other than Korea, that’s been able to do that without the help of oil (Russia) or the Marshall Plan (Western Europe).
You sure about that?
Well… I just did the edit, but I’d say that India and China are still “developing” nations. India never had their infrastructure shattered in a violent civil war that tore through the country. I guess Brazil can be counted as a country that’s come a long way, but it never went through a civil war and it’s got a HUGE natural resource base.
mins0306: “They did build modern Korean, including its problems. You see the problems you see today in Korea, are a legacy of the above generation.”
True enough. There is no generation without blame. Thanks for the correction.
WK,
Korea doesn’t have any natural resources, but it did have help during the period of economic development during the 1960s ~ 80s.
The money to build POSCO, the Kyungbu expressway, where did that come from?
Yes, Korea’s rise from the ashes can be called a miracle, but let’s not ignore the foreign help behind it and above all let’s not gliss over the problems that have resulted from it.
Good grief… you guys are jaded. Yes, the money they got from the Japanese helped build POSCO. However, money isn’t the secret sauce to successful development. Look at all the money poured into black holes in Latin America and Africa.
Development happens because there is political will on top and economic will from the rank and file population. You guys look at Korea as if it’s a tropical fish in a fish tank and you are making sterile observations. However, your observations are not very sterile (quite the contrary sometimes) and you may not be the ones doing all the observing and judging. Those fish in the tank may actually be looking at you in your air bubble and making their own judgements and some of those judgements (shockingly) may even be close to the truth.
Korea’s development was far from perfect. It was messy. A lot of mistakes were made along the way. In hindsight, much could of been done differently. It wasn’t any better in the West when it was developing during the later 19th and later 20th centuries. Violent strife between labor and business owners. Check (GM Flint strikes, the Great Railroad Strikes, etc.). Struggle to define democracy? Check (civil rights movement, the Civil War, Prohibition, etc.). Corruption? Check (Teapot Dome, Civil War Profiteering, Crédit Mobilier, etc.). Now take all that development from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century and compress that into 50 or some odd years. Korea is probably in year 30 or 35. Yes, of course it should still develop faster due to technology and the fact that modes of development already existed to borrow from. However, it’s so hard to change people. Korea’s development relied on those who had to survive the hell that was the Korean War and the aftermath of the war, where people didn’t know where their next meals were going to come from, had to make cook ware out of artillery shell casings and made soon jae bee out of American wheat handouts. This hard scrabble existence still reverberates faintly in today’s South Korean society.
Any ways, it was these scarred people and their children that had to develop industry and a democracy from 1970 to today. Everything was compressed. An agrarian, traditional and confucian society had to become modernized in two or three generations. That’s tough to ask out of anybody and change like that tends to warp society. I think Koreans have done alright considering. But yes, Korean society is a bit warped. However, I think what we are seeing is still a rough draft of what may ultimately mature in another 15 to 20 years. The results today are imperfect and rough hewed, but who are we… who is anyone for that matter, to place such harsh value judgements on something another people have worked so hard to build? I think it’s beyond cultural arrogance to compare, apples to apples, your final draft (the fully developed economy and democracy that you may have been born into) and compare it to a rough draft that someone worked night and day to build. You guys should really take a good look in the mirror sometimes.
@36
Hear, hear.
Well said, WK!
Well put.
I think mins0306 was just responding to your comment regarding Korea lacking the “Marshall Plan”. It did seem you denied foreign aid had anything to do with Korean development, so he just pointed out that Korea did receive foreign aid and lots of it, too. He didn’t say that Korea was some guppy in a fish tank that effortlessly grew eating free fish-food (=foreign aid), so I wouldn’t call him “jaded”.
#27 “As long as the project looks good on paper, and contains the proper percentage of English and Chinese phrases (as specified in the “How to Write a Report” handbook) as well as illustrations in the form of obfuscating charts and statistics, as well as a new catch phrase, viola!”
Oh God! Oh God! I work for one of these companies!!! The truth hurts! I help (gulp) make those obfuscating charts and rewrite in absurdly complicated language what could have been written simply, because I know it’ll work!!!
The horror!! The horror!!!
oh well, gotta pay the mortgage. umm…
‘Sparkling!’
korea stopped receiving foreign aid in the early 70s. south korea is also the only country that actually paid back any money that was lent to it.
you keep that in mind while you try to tell us that foreigners developed korea rather than koreans developing korea. ok?
south korea is wealthy because of koreans not foreigners.
sorry.
#32
“Actually, it’s hard for me to even think of a country, other than Korea (India and China are still developing), that’s been able to do that without the help of oil (Russia) or the Marshall Plan (Western Europe).”
I can instantly speak of Taiwan and Singapre.
The American foreign aid’s top 3 recipient are 1)Israel,2)South Vietnam and 3)South Korea.
As for Japanese aid’s top recipient are
1)Indonesia 2)China 3)South Korea.
Considering the U.S has long been the largest foreign aid donar and Japan being the second,I say South Korea did recieve far more bigger amount of foreign aid than any other country in the world.
#36
“Yes, the money they got from the Japanese helped build POSCO. However, money isn’t the secret sauce to successful development. ”
Nippon Steel gave entire infrastructure and trained personal for no expense for the opening of POSCO factory in 1973.
#42
“korea stopped receiving foreign aid in the early 70s. south korea is also the only country that actually paid back any money that was lent to it. ”
South Korea was recieveing Yen loan from Japan until march of 1991.
And as far as I concern,Japan,Finland,Singapore and Taiwan had also paid back all the foreign loan,I could probably come up with more if I check the papers.
foreign aid = loans?
you’re dismissed. and who the hell gonna find some nationalistic jap man who tells us his people created posco as a credible source?
korea is responsible for it’s success not you. ok?
‘And as far as I concern,Japan,Finland,Singapore and Taiwan had also paid back all the foreign loan,I could probably come up with more if I check.’ banzai
loans = foreign aid?
Please document Korea’s repayment of the (in current dollars) tens of billions that the US provided between 1945 and 1970, when during the early years US remittances made up >90% of ROKGOV budget) or, God help us, the equally large investments in infrastructure made by the Japanese colonialists.
The development of Korea was not an either/or proposition. Uncle Kim and Aunt Min provided the sweat equity, but foreigners provided nearly all the capital and (especially early on) the expertise (which they passed on to Koreans.
Why is it so hard for so many Koreans to acknowledge as much with some grace, if not sincere gratitude (the latter not being expected in the case of the, and without embarrassment? Japanese)?
Please document Korea’s repayment of the (in current dollars) tens of billions that the US provided between 1945 and 1970, when during the early years US remittances made up >90% of ROKGOV budget) or, God help us, the equally large investments in infrastructure made by the Japanese colonialists.
The development of Korea was not an either/or proposition. Uncle Kim and Aunt Min provided the sweat equity, but foreigners provided nearly all the capital and (especially early on) the expertise (which they passed on to Koreans).
Why is it so hard for so many Koreans to acknowledge as much with some grace, if not sincere gratitude (the latter not being expected in the case of the Japanese), and without embarrassment?
because you are without grace. that’s why.
documentation? find it yourself. i’ve decided not to argue with you, spewy, quite a long time ago.
good day.
dear expat:
your attempts to inform the korean people that their succress isn’t their success is the primary reason you don’t receive any acknowledgement of your assistance with the tranformation of korea from people like me.
loans, foreign aid, and expertise are certainly facotrs in sk’s rise but aren’t the primary reasons. many countries around the world recieved aid, loans, and expertise and yet almost all of them are still running in place. the fact of the matter is, the people who receive is much more important than what is given.
your refusal to acknowledge korea’s miraculous rise is the very reason you’ll receive no thanks from this korean and many others.
and just imagine, some japanese guy demanding we thank him.
i don’t think so.
There isn’t any - as you no doubt know, because with some relatively inconsequential amounts, Korean has not repaid the US.
So you don’t argue, because your claims have no factual basis.
And the facts are profoundly embarrassing to your sort of Korean chauvinist, the energy of whose hatred is generated by the immense gulf between your fantasies and the realities of Korean history and the consequent cognitive dissonance it induces.
Better start taking your meds.
If you want to credit Koreans with the success of South Korea, you need to also blame Koreans for the failure of the North.
“foreign aid = loans? ”
Yes.Some loans can be considered as foreign aid,since the interest rate is way lower than the commercial financial institutions.
“you’re dismissed. and who the hell gonna find some nationalistic jap man who tells us his people created posco as a credible source? ”
Too bad my father died of cancer two years ago,for he was working for Nippon Steel for about 40 years.
Instead of “some nationalistic jap man”,how about founder of POSCO and ex-Prime Minister of ROK,Park Tae-Joon telling you how it was.
http://joongangdaily.joins.com.....id=2887893
“korea is responsible for it’s success not you. ok? ”
I know “I”didn’t do anything.But some of “my”country men “helped” Korea and it’s success.That’s a fact.
And I’m not “demanding” any Thank-you-s form any Koreans.
To be honest, I just use stuff like that because it drives dude like Pawikirogi absolutely nuts. it’s fun.
Instead of “some nationalistic jap man”,how about founder of POSCO and ex-Prime Minister of ROK,Park Tae-Joon telling you how it was…
Somebody done been schooled, eh P?
When was the last time you visited your homeland?
WangKon936: “…Korean society is a bit warped. However, I think what we are seeing is still a rough draft of what may ultimately mature in another 15 to 20 years. The results today are imperfect and rough hewed, but who are we… who is anyone for that matter, to place such harsh value judgements on something another people have worked so hard to build?”
WangKon, I’m wondering if you still feel as optimistic about the nation’s future given the continuing onslaught of anachronistic irrationality? I make no bones about the fact that I am extremely pessimistic about Korea’s future as a nation, given the pre-scientific, xenophobic, race-based, communist, amoral mindset that prevails and the resulting social, political and economic disarray. I see an exponential downward spiral. In the US, it may indeed take a shock like the current economic, political and energy crisis to shake people up but, historically, the US has invariably prevailed over such crises and come out stronger. In Korea’s case, what we see is a nation being whittled away by self-absorbtion through infighting and willful ignorance of global trends.
I have already given up holding out any hope for progress in Korea for reasons illustrated by the fable of the turtle helping the scorpion to cross the river:
“Would you help me cross the river?” The scorpion asks the turtle.
“Hop on!” Says the turtle generously, “but you have to promise not to sting me?”
“I promise.” The scorpion declares.
He then jumps on. The turtle swims across the river. Just as they get to the other bank the scorpion stings the turtle.
“Why did you do that?” Asks the turtle painfully right before he takes his last breath and sinks under the water.
“It is just in my nature to it.” The scorpion answers.
The moral - expressed in mixed metaphor - is that a scorpion cannot change its stripes. The history of Korea is that of a scorpion stinging a turtle.
Been kind of thinking about how to answer your questions, Mizar. I just want to make sure I correctly understand what you are saying. However, although I understand and have hear the analogy of the scorpion and the turtle, I don’t know how it applies to Korea. We have a disagreement with what the “nature” of Korean’s history as it relates to how it can give us guidance as to what their future behavior is. Correct me if I’m wrong, but you appear to see the natural progression of Korean history as being one of making mistakes that end-up becoming the root of their own downfall. I would disagree with you on this harsh assessment, but agree with you on the more moderate analysis that Koreans do tend to shoot themselves in the foot a lot.
The history of Korea has, at least to me, been one of making very critical decisions in light of very difficult regional and geopolitical environment. Of course, nothing new here. However, I’d take a more balanced view and say that it’s full of both successes and failures, but it isn’t a failure overall.
At its worse, Korea’s divisiveness, regionalism and stupidity have created some enormous problems such as the Manchu invasions, which came about because a certain faction of the government wanted a pro-Ming standing and they deposed the wise Korean king who advocated a neutral standing so as to not provoke the Manchus. Another would be the divisiveness of the East and Western factions ensuring that Korea would be ill prepared for Hideyoshi’s invasions (although it can be argued that maybe no amount of preparedness could get Chosun era Korea ready for 150,000 samurai’s pronouncing around the peninsula). Korea’s greatest failure (and more recent one) would be it’s annexation to Japan at the turn of the 20th century. Clearly divisiveness played a huge role here. The strong Queen Min, the idiot King Gojong and the ghost of the Taewanggwon haunting the halls of Gyeongbokgung palace, which he rebuilt at the expense almost bankrupting the nation while Japanese began their march to modernization.
However, what about Korea’s successes? Let’s not forget those when evaluating Korean history. It must be remembered that for most of Korea’s history, the dominate and most advanced civilization in East Asia was China and they were the most successful state not under direct administrative control of the Chinese that best emulated its culture. Too many people tend to think that this emulation of China contributed to it’s lack of development in the late 19th century, however, let’s not forget that striving to attain Chinese modes of civilization was a goal sought by many nations in pre-modern Asia (hence why China was able to attract so many tributaries) and very few were successful in attaining it. As far as philosophy is concerned, Korea did make meaningful contributions to the corpus of neo-confucian literature.
So Korea, in its history, has had it’s ups and downs. They shoot themselves in the foot, but Korean history is not one of chronic failure. Thus I don’t see how your analogy of the scorpion and the turtle applies.
Regarding today’s Korean society and their idiocracies getting in the way and doing some serious damage. It is true that today’s generation of young Koreans have a dangerous fondness towards North Korea and China and an equally dangerous dislike of the U.S. and Japan. I know the recent beef protests (as well as the great anti-U.S. protests of 2003) probably reinforce this. Korea’s younger generation is, in my opinion, quite immature and so unexposed to the outside world. However, this is what I think about Koreans. I think that Koreans hem and haw a lot. They complain a lot. They make a big ruckus. However, at the end of the day, they do give thought to things and will ultimately make the right decision at the end of the day. I mean, let’s hope they do. They are a democracy after all. Theoretically, a democracy will eventually make the right decision, right? My gut tells me that these Koreans will make a lot of mistakes before they get the wisdom to make the right decision. They will sometimes make spectacular failures (the cloning scandal being one of them). They will take five steps forward only to take four steps backwards. I hope and believe that at the end of the day, they will eventually get it right more often than not.
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