concept of morality and Western democratic ideals, particularly as they relate to government in general and to the treatment of women in particular. Other Western influences, from films and love marriages to traveling and studying abroad, have greatly diminished the more inhuman facets of Confucian-oriented morality.
But generally choe in Korea continues to be Confucian and Buddhist first, and often last as well. The Korean criteria for sin are not based as much on universal absolutes as on the effect actions have on individuals, on the family, on co-workers and friends, and on society at large. Sin is not tied to what may happen to the spirit or soul after death. In fact, Koreans have never really been frightened by the prospect of going to a Christian-type hell.
One of the many advantages that Korea’s choe -based morality has over a sin-based ethic is that it gives people far more leeway in what they can do and how they do it. Generally speaking neither businesspeople nor politicians judge their actions on the basis of any universal principles of right or wrong. They judge them on the basis of the risk involved and how beneficial they will be if they succeed.
Cho Guk 초국 Choh Guuk
The Mother Country
From the 1950s through the 1970s hundreds of thousands of South Koreans fled their country in search of a safer and better life elsewhere. During the 1980s thousands of others went abroad to study and ended up staying in their host countries. By that time, however, political and economic conditions in South Korea had changed to the point that many expatriate Koreans began to return home, responding not only to unique opportunities to take advantage of the burgeoning economy but also to a deep-seated attachment to their cho guk (choh guuk), or “mother country.” (This term may also be translated as “native country” and “fatherland.”)
Unlike the Japanese, who have traditionally had powerful prejudices against other Japanese who went abroad and returned, regarding them as no longer Japanese at best and dangerous traitors at worst, Korea’s major enterprises not only welcomed their countrymen back but offered them special incentives as well.
The most notable among these Korean returnees included many who had become successful technicians, engineers, and scientists and were subsequently given high-level positions in Korea’s leading multinational firms. This factor alone played an enormous role in the rapid progress Korean companies made in the electronic and computer industries—progress that stunned the Japanese and others who did not believe that Koreans were capable of using, much less creating, high technology.
There is another curious difference between Koreans and Japanese that appears to be a part of their respective national consciousness. When the Japanese go abroad, they tend rapidly to lose their Japaneseness unless they spend most of their time in overseas Japanese enclaves with other Japanese. Koreans, on the other hand, seem to be much more adept at absorbing foreign cultures while retaining their own.
No doubt the key to this difference is that traditionally the Japanese were conditioned to believe that they were unique; that their language and their culture were so exclusive that no non-Japanese could ever learn them; and that any exposure to other cultures was like some disease for which there was no cure. The Japanese believed these things largely because their country had never been invaded successfully and they had never been forcefully exposed to other cultures (until the country was occupied by American and Allied troops at the end of World War II in 1945).
Koreans, on the other hand, had been subjected to repeated invasions from the dawn of their history. Forced to play a subordinate role to the Chinese (as well as the Mongols and Manchus) throughout most of their history, they learned very early to survive and prosper by accommodating foreign cultures while preserving their own identity. The call of the cho guk remains especially strong among Koreans because of their long history of survival against such fearsome odds. Their economic success since the 1950s is in considerable part due to the extraordinary pride that they have in being Koreans.
Munhwa undong (moon-whah uhn-dohng), or “cultural nationalism,” is another important factor in the “mother country” pride that imbues Koreans with extraordinary energy and ambition. Munhwa undong is said to have originated in the 1920s as a movement to thwart the plans of the Japanese occupation forces to obliterate Korean culture and transform Koreans into Japanese. Korean scholars began to teach, surreptitiously as well as publicly, that the survival of the nation depended on preserving the culture.
When Japan was defeated and Korea regained its sovereignty in 1945, a number of Korean patriots who had absorbed the teachings of the scholars and survived the annexation by Japan became leaders in the new Republic of Korea. They unobtrusively made the concept of cultural nationalism part of their official platform, integrating it with their economic policies.
But it was not until the 1980s, by which time Korea had begun to flex its economic as well as its cultural muscles, that “cultural nationalism” became a primary theme in the country’s domestic and international policies. Much of this phenomenon was precipitated by the United States government and American companies beginning to bring political pressure against Korea to open more doors to American-made imports.
None of these efforts were more controversial among Koreans or did more harm to the Korean image of America as a sympathetic “big brother” than the campaign to force Korea to allow the importation of American-made cigarettes. This campaign resulted in Korean intellectuals and industrialists creating a counter-campaign that appealed to the patriotism and nationalism of all Koreans. Signs disparaging American cigarettes and the American efforts appeared all over Korea.
It was during this campaign that the Korean phrase Uri Hanguk saram (Uh-ree Hahn-guuk sah-rahm), meaning “We Koreans,” took on new meaning that was pregnant with emotional connotations. In its new emotionalized context the expression was meant to distinguish Koreans racially, culturally, socially, geographically, economically, and politically from all other people. It meant “we Koreans are a unique people,” with the additional connotation that their cultural values should not be trampled on by foreign companies or governments interested only in financial profits.
Munhwa undong continues to buttress the “mother country” feelings of Koreans and to play a leading role in the planning and design of new public facilities as well as construction in the private area. The feelings that Koreans have for their country are often expressed in the term aeguk (aye-guuk), which literally means “love of country.”
Chok 촉 Choak
The Korean Clan System
Korea began as a collection of clans that gradually coalesced into tribal states and finally a unified kingdom. But the ancient chok (choak), or “clans,” did not disappear, and today Koreans still commonly identify themselves and others by their ancestral clan roots. Contemporary terms for “clan” include ssijok (sshe-joak) and tangpa (tahng-pah).
Korea’s clan system survived into modern times because of shamanism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and the political ideology that evolved from these beliefs. Shamanism, Korea’s indigenous spiritual philosophy, taught that the spirits or souls of individuals survived death, continued to influence the welfare of the living, and therefore had to be treated with reverence to avoid making them angry.
Chok leadership eventually became hereditary, with the families of the leaders becoming the royal houses and therefore vitally concerned about their genealogy. At the same time the roles of court officials, military officers, and other ranking members of the various tribal kingdoms also became hereditary, making it imperative that people in these families keep track of their bloodlines.
Buddhism, the state religion in Korea from around the seventh century A.D. until the end of the Koryo dynasty in 1392, also fostered the belief that the spirit survived death and was reincarnated time and again in an attempt to achieve
