By David Watemeyer
It is now two weeks since I traveled from Seoul to Taiwan for the Chuseok holidays. Having lived there for two years I was no stranger to the place.
Yet the trip gave me cause to reflect on my perceptions of South Korea and Taiwan, two countries that have been my home for the past five years.
I also had the opportunity to ask the Taiwanese about their attitudes toward South Korea, a country whose history parallels their own in many ways.
Koreans, with their increasing affluence, are traveling far and wide, usually on organized tours and when I visited one place on the east coast there were moments when it was difficult for me to realize I was in Taiwan given the amount of Korean being spoken around me. Taiwan is clearly not unfamiliar to Koreans.
I have to be honest and admit this. I live in Korea and have made the place my home _ yet I definitely find that Taiwan has the advantage in the consideration, friendliness and help it offers foreigners. The question I ask myself is why, given that the two countries have such similar backgrounds.
Do the Taiwanese have a more secure sense of identity than the Koreans? Could it have something to do with Taiwan's longer period of modern development?
Taiwan's modern industrial development precedes that of Korea by at least a decade. Development similar to Taiwan's didn't get underway in South Korea until the mid-1960s during the period of rebuilding after the destruction of the 1950-53 Korean War.
When I asked Koreans about Taiwan, they invariably point out the difference in industrial development between the two countries. ``Taiwan doesn't have large chaebol as we do,'' was response I got from one person. Another emphasized that Taiwan's information technology was nowhere near as developed as Korea's.
But when I asked the Taiwanese about Koreans, I got responses such as, ``We love Taiwan yet we are not concerned about being the best in the world. That is not important to us but it's very important to Koreans.'' Or ``We are humble people and not aggressive.''
But Taiwanese with friends in Korea were more cool in their responses. ``I have two lovely Korean friends. I do find Koreans less relaxed than we are here. But maybe that's because we started on our road to development earlier than they did and have got used to the process more than they have,'' said one Taiwanese woman.
Koreans and Taiwanese have much in common. Friendship between the two countries is invaluable to both. Both have so much to learn from one another because of common problems and differing perspectives.
The potential for working together in many areas _ particulary in tourism _ is huge. Of course, South Korea's relationship with China _ its largest trading partner _ precludes it from recognizing Taiwan as an independent country. But isn't that much more a problem for Taiwan than for Korea?