powers. They therefore looked on those in power as arrogant and unjust and on themselves as eternal victims whose only recourse was to pretend to obey the laws and to get by with as much as they could without getting caught.
In the minds of most ordinary Koreans today the government is still more authoritarian than democratic, still denies them rights that they should have, and tramples on those that have been enacted into law. It often seems that the greatest—and sometimes only—champions of justice in Korea today are university students. Knowing that government officials would pay little if any attention to them if they presented their criticisms and demands in petitions—the traditional practice of scholars and others—the students take to the streets.
The Confucian-oriented concept of proper behavior, collective responsibility, and personalized justice still prevails in Korea. While punishment is no longer officially collective, most Koreans still believe that misbehavior by one member of a family dishonors the whole family, and there is extraordinary pressure on family members to obey both customs and laws. (Korean students who are active enough in street demonstrations to attract personal attention to themselves endanger their chances of getting jobs with prestigious companies after their graduation. Some companies have a policy of not hiring former student agitators.)
There is one other important factor in the Korean concept of chongui that is not totally unique to Korea but is much more developed there than in most cultures. When someone confesses to misconduct or a crime, expresses remorse, and asks for forgiveness but is subjected to the full measure of punishment anyway, the person typically takes it as an injustice, resents it deeply, never forgets or forgives, and, if possible, exacts some kind of revenge in the future.
Justice in Korea also has a nationalistic element that favors the Korean side in any situation involving foreigners. Some of this bias is to be expected. Consciously and unconsciously, most people favor their own kind. But in business and political disputes with foreigners, the tilt toward the Korean side is generally open and aggressive.
There is also often an easily discernible clan, regional, and relational aspect to local justice in Korean courts. The local judicial system can be expected to favor people who are members of the same family lineage or the same community. Part of this bias is a holdover from earlier times when local people regarded the central government as an adversary rather than an ally and generally resisted what they regarded as unfair treatment by bending laws or ignoring them altogether to benefit the local community.
Still today, the concept of Korean justice is generally based on what is best for society rather than on what is best for the individual. Because of this concept, individualistic foreigners who become involved with Korean courts are likely to be disappointed with the decisions handed down.
Chongyong 총용 Chohn-gyohng
Paying Proper Respect
One of the key Confucian principles of Korea’s traditional lifestyle was maintaining absolutely harmonious relationships among all people at all levels of society. The basis for this interpersonal harmony was the suppression of individual interests and desires coupled with unquestioning obedience to all superiors and the authorities, along with unselfish service to the family, the local community, and the nation.
This abrogation of virtually all “human” and personal rights by the Confucian-oriented government was cloaked in the guise of chongyong (chohngyohng), or “paying proper respect”—to one’s parents, siblings, elders, the authorities, and so on.
While the Confucian concept of chongyong was emminently admirable when presented in principle, translating it into practical day-to-day rules that governed all human behavior turned out to be primarily a political maneuver that stifled the lives and spirits of the Korean people. Common Koreans had almost no personal choice in their lives. They were required to submit to the will of their parents, particularly their fathers, who in turn were subject to the will and authority of the government. With only a few exceptions during the long pre-modern dynasties, this system kept Korea locked in a social, political, and economic time warp.
Particularly between 1392, the beginning of the Choson dynasty, and the latter decades of the 1800s, changes in Korea were few and far between because the emphasis was on a kind of harmony with the status quo and the past that made change immoral. But modern times were to bring to Korea in just one century as many changes as most European countries went through in five hundred years.
One of the facets of traditional Korean culture that has survived these changes, however—albeit in significantly altered form—is chongyong. For the first time in more than five hundred years, paying respect in Korea is more a matter of personal choice than of government edict. Koreans today continue to show exceptional respect toward their parents, teachers, and superiors who have legitimate authority over them. But they draw the line at respecting people they consider undeserving, especially government officials.
The most important facet of chongyong in Korea today is the respect that individuals expect and demand for their own feelings and face. People are extremely sensitive about any comment or demeanor that appears to be disrespectful in any way. The respect that bosses expect from their employees, for example, includes bowing to them at all appropriate times, addressing them by their titles and using other respect language, not leaving the office or workplace before they do, and doing—or trying their utmost to do—anything asked of them.
There is also a strongly nationalistic facet to the respect that Koreans expect. They are fiercely proud of their country and their culture and react very emotionally to any comments or actions that disparage either one. Foreigners dealing with Koreans must therefore be equally sensitive about their feelings, keeping in mind that their reactions are likely to be emotional rather than logical and that once they have taken a position they will typically defend it well beyond all reason.
To maintain effective working relations with Koreans, foreigners must continually demonstrate Korean-style sincerity, loyalty, and respect for all of the things that Koreans hold dear.
Chonjung 촌중 Chohn-juung
Deferential Honor
Until the latter decades of the 1900s the Korean lifestyle denied people on all levels of society the right to exercise personal prerogatives, to demonstrate any significant degree of individuality or self-interest. In fact, there was virtually no time and no situation in which Koreans could think or do exactly as they pleased. Their lives were programmed to conform to a very precise and strictly enforced vertical system based on gender, social class, age, order of birth, education, and occupation.
Every individual had a specific place in this hierarchically arranged society that generally was fixed at birth. In most of the fundamental things in life—such as education, occupation, place of residence, marriage, and so on—people usually had little or no personal choice. These were things that were prescribed by custom and by law. Life was further controlled by a system of stylized etiquette that was designed to maintain harmonious relationships among all the ranks and categories of people.
In such a society self-esteem derived mainly from following all of the rules prescribed for one’s class and category rather than from individual efforts, skills, or accomplishments. With but few exceptions, personal ambition, initiative, innovation, and anything else that might disturb or change the status quo was taboo.
One of the most important cultural factors in the existence and survival of this system was the role of chonjung (chohn-juung), or “paying deferential honor to superiors.” Koreans were literally programmed from childhood to treat those above them with extraordinary deference at all times. Deferential respect for parents, especially fathers, for the male sex in general, for senior members of the family, for elders in general, for government authorities, and for spirits and the gods was a prime directive
