Bibimbap Patriotism (2)
By Sunny Lee
Korea Times Correspondent
BEIJING ― Holy Mao Zedong! I couldn't believe my ears. It's now even on the Chinese radio. I mean the bibimbap controversy.
The state radio's popular talk show, World Focus, picked up on an incident set off by Kuroda Katsuhiro, the Seoul bureau chief of the Japanese right-wing Sankei newspaper, who recently made a disparaging remark about bibimbap, a major Korean dish.
In an unusual ``G2'' unity of the world's two superpowers, the Chinese host and an American guest on the show both reproved the Japanese journalist for his cultural insensitivity.
The bibimbap controversy is similar to the pasta spat between the U.S. and Italy in 1995 when The New York Times ran a front-page piece, decrying Italy's signature food, pasta, as an ``unhealthy'' food that causes obesity.
Immediately, Italian media outlets were up in arms, criticizing the newspaper whose first sentence was: ``Bye-bye, pasta: It's been fun.''
It's universal that people bristle when their representative national dish is belittled by others.
After causing the uproar, Kuroda seemingly backed off, saying there was ``misunderstanding,'' yet argued Koreans ``lacked the spirit of tolerating criticism.''
The latter part of his comments struck a chord with many foreigners. Browsing through blogosphere comments on the bibimbap controversy, foreigners' focus on the debate was not so much on bibimbap itself as to whether Koreans are a bit too sensitive to criticism.
This aspect deserves some attention in Korea as the nation attaches an increasing importance to how it is viewed in the eyes of the international audience. It is also the right time to do so because Korea launched a national branding campaign one year ago to boost its image abroad.
Are Koreans nationalistic? Some foreigners do indeed point out that Koreans are overly sensitive to criticism and they tend to overzealously defend their national pride when they feel that some aspects of their country are criticized by outsiders.
The irony is that many Koreans actually never think about themselves that way, while it is obvious in the eyes of foreigners. It's also likely that Koreans didn't hear about it from foreigners either because their foreign friends didn't want to offend them by saying so.
Nationalism in South Korea has never been dealt with as a ``problem'' in its domestic politics because this is what unites people together and the collective solidarity nationalism produces is effective in mobilizing people in times of foreign aggressions.
In Korea's historical experience, which includes over 900 invasions by foreign forces, the boundary between nationalism and patriotism was not always clearly marked, and it was promoted by such leaders as Shin Chae-ho (1880-1936), an independence fighter against the Japanese colonial occupation of the Korea Peninsula (1910-45).
Perhaps due to this uncommon historical experience of victimization by foreign forces and Koreans' collective consciousness that recognizes the value of unity for survival, in the Korean language, ``minjok,'' the key character denoting ``nationalism,'' doesn't carry the usual negative connotation as in the English language.
As nationalism often puts on the cover of patriotism, it gives a powerful legitimacy in domestic politics. But unchecked nationalism can take the form of a totalitarian shield against constructive criticisms.
Any opinion validating foreign criticisms can be easily labeled as given by a ``traitor who sells out the nation'' in a nationalistic community.
For example, Jo Gap-je, a South Korean journalist and a former chief editor of the Monthly Chosun magazine, was assailed by a mob of Korean bloggers when he supported Kuroda's view. One blogger charged him arguably in the most effective and incriminating way in Korea: ``Are you a Korean?''
The Korea Times was also accused for failing to perform its patriotic mission of defending the nation by clearly criticizing Kuroda.
I was part of the loop in The Korea Times to know that the desk received protest e-mails from some angry readers who accused the newspaper of making the mistake of ``siding with the Japanese'' by running a Jan. 17 article with the title, ``Koreans Are Less Tolerant Toward Criticism.''
One reader fumed: ``Is The Korea Times a newspaper that boosts anti-Korean sentiment?'' He then added the remark: ``Is The Korea Times a Korean newspaper?'' In Korea, this is a very formidable accusation. Editors took the criticism seriously.
But I didn't think foreign readers were ``siding'' with the Japanese. Saying that they were simply influenced by the title would be an insult to their intellect. Rather, it would be more correct to say that they found affinity with the remark by Kuroda for something that they had felt strongly about Korea.
Besides, a newspaper doesn't have to go with the populist agenda that only reinforces the pre-constructed social norms.
Nationalism is a source of both pride and prejudice. Koreans turn to nationalism to reaffirm their sense of pride, but they neglect the other side of nationalism ― prejudice.
As Korea is seriously engaged in the business of sculpting its international image and as it now stands as one of the world's major economies that hosts the G20 meeting this year, it may as well study more objectively how it is viewed in the eyes of others, including whether what it perceives as patriotic expression is seen as raw nationalism.
The ``conceptual gap'' means Koreans don't think of themselves as nationalistic, while it is apparent in the eyes of some foreigner that this should be addressed if Korea really cares about its international image.
Without bridging this gap, Koreans will continue to scratch their heads, wondering why foreign expats in Korea complain that they are compelled to master ``the art of criticizing Korea without offending Koreans.''
On the other hand, Kuroda is only half-right in saying that Koreans lack the spirit of accepting criticism. Koreans often harshly criticize themselves and their country too, but they feel very uncomfortable when foreigners do so.
Koreans, under the Confucian influence, look at their country as the ``father figure'' and take any outside criticism as an insult to the head of the family.
At the end of the day, once Korea commits itself to becoming a global player and cares about how it is seen in the eyes of others in an effort to boost its international image, it needs to learn to appreciate the perspectives the expatriate community brings. They are from different cultures. And they will tell you what strikes them unusual, good, bad, impressive and lacking in Korea.
In a survey by the World Economic Forum in 2008, South Korea was rated 111th in an index of friendliness among 130 countries.
The results should come as a wakeup call to Korea, calling for a serious look so as to understand not just why foreigners don't feel the right vibe with the ``Sparkling Korea'' slogan, but also why Chinese tourists who visit Korea tell their neighbors not to go there as a tourist destination, why an Indian professor says Korean society is racist, why a Russian expert on Korea calls Koreans ``nationalists'' and why a Japanese journalist says Koreans cannot take constructive criticism in good spirit.
Nationalism cannot win the hearts and minds of people in the world. In a globalized world that brings nations closer, different cultures collide and misunderstandings happen.
Here, avoiding criticism is not an option. Joining globalization means Koreans now live in a goldfish bowl. People who live in a goldfish bowl cannot escape publicity, both good and bad. Bibimbap was on the spot because it gained publicity as well.
After all, Koreans don't have to view the ability of foreigners to criticize some aspects of Korea itself as inherently antithetical to the national interest.
The whole thing about the bibimbap controversy could be simplified as the following. A foreigner said he doubted the internationalization potential of the dish and said something additionally that turned out to be very offensive to the Korean people. He was condemned. Koreans also learned how to improve bibimbap to better promote it internationally. That's it. Now Korea can move on.