But Korean culture is to blame

By Jason Lim

When the mainstream media started blaming the Korean culture of obedience as the cause behind the students staying put as the Sewol sank, I thought, "Here we go again," and immediately came up with several reasons why such analysis is as baseless as it is inane. Anyone who's lived in Korea would know that Korean teenagers aren't any less rebellious or independent-minded than their global counterparts. They may show superficial deference to their elders as a part of the larger cultural norm, but that certainly doesn't mean they are all faceless lemmings living in a cult. As far as I know, Jim Jones wasn't a Korean.

Further, if you are stuck deep inside a listing ship listening to repeated official announcements to stay put, wouldn't you follow instructions also? In fact, following instructions would probably give you the best chance to make it through alive in most emergency cases. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case here due to the inexplicable actions of the ship's captain and senior crew, who were among the first to be rescued _ with the captain in his underwear ostensibly in part so that he wouldn't be recognized as the captain of the ship _ without giving the passengers the evacuation order or any other guidance that they were desperately waiting for.

So it wasn't some mysterious Korean culture that is to blame, but situational factors that contributed to the tragic ferry disaster that claimed over 300 lives.

Or is it? As more facts come to light, one can actually make a plausible case that the Korean culture is to blame. No, I am not referring to some mysterious Korean culture that makes all Koreans obedient robots. I am referring to the trail of money that thread through almost all the contributing factors that have been presented so far.

One, Chonghaejin Marine Co., which operated the ferry, had bought an 18-year-old Japanese ship and resurrected it as the Sewol. This was only possible because previous regulations were relaxed in 2008 as to extend the legal life of a passenger ship from 20 to 30 years, making it possible for Korean companies to import ships that had reached the end of their lifecycles to be repainted and repurposed. This saved money, but at cost of safety.

Two, Chonghaejin Marine Co. renovated the ageing ship by adding additional sleeping cabins to the ferry's upper floors, making it top heavy. More sleeping cabins in upper floors meant higher paying passenger, which means more money. But also at a cost to safety. In fact, this design change has been repeatedly noted as one of the key reasons that the ferry suddenly listed and overturned.

Three, the captain of the ship was an irregular employee on a one-year contract, getting paid a little less than $2,500 a month. Admittedly, he was a substitute captain since the regular one was on vacation, but having a temporary employee as the captain of a ship that he's not familiar with does not lend itself to good emergency preparedness where teamwork and cohesion are key. But it wasn't just the captain who was an irregular employee. Three of his navigation officers were all irregular employees. In fact, over half of the 29 member crew were as well, including more than 70 percent of the crew on deck and engineering. Having a crew made up of mostly irregular employees _ who are not paid as much and don't get insurance _ may save money but at the cost of safety.

Four, the cozy relationships among the regulatory agencies, industry watchdogs, and safety inspection organizations all led to cursory safety checks that allowed for the design change and even gave the Sewol good safety marks in February. Supposedly, it took an average of only 13 minutes for each ship when a four-person inspection team checked the condition of 36 ferries last year. President Park Geun-hye even referred to the "deep-rooted evils" that allows senior regulatory officials to take post-retirement jobs at industry bodies that they had previously overseen, breeding a good ole ‘boys' club of incestuous and mutual backscratching. This certainly makes money for everyone concerned. But at the cost of safety.

And many more. I don't want to belabor the point. It's pretty apparent that an overriding pursuit of the almighty won is a key factor that manifested in all these symptoms. And I am pretty sure that these symptoms are not confined to the shipping industry. Remember the fake parts that caused a scandal in the nuclear industry?

But it's not just the love of money. After all, who doesn't like money? But it's the almost Machiavellian pursuit of money, growth, and success that has reached its peculiar zenith in Korea and trampled any other considerations in its way, including safety. The Washington Post quotes Professor Lee Chang-won of Hansung University as he poses the question, "The thinking is, is it worth stalling progress to deal with these regulations if there's only a 1-in-10 million chance of something going wrong?"

It's pretty apparent that the Korean society has answered a collective no. And that's the Korean culture. And that culture killed these kids.

Jason Lim is a Washington, D.C.-based expert on innovation, leadership and organizational culture. He has been writing for The Korea Times since 2006. He can be reached at jasonlim@msn.com, facebook.com/jasonlimkoreatimes and @jasonlim2012.

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