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Andrei Lankov

Game of empires and its legacy

Some 10 years ago I published a column which then led to some controversy. I stated that, contrary to the oft-repeated cliche, widely believed by Koreans themselves, the history of Korea prior to the mid-19th century was not a history of never-ending foreign invasions and ever-present external threat. To the contrary, if compared to other countries outside East Asia, until the mid-19th century Korea had an unusually peaceful and non-violent history. Indeed, in no European or Middle Eastern country of comparable size one can find centuries-long periods of completely unbroken peace. If so, whe...

2017-10-15 18:00

Hardworking mermaids

Few longtime residents of Korea would not have heard of haenyeo, the female divers of Jeju Island. Usually presented as beautiful mermaids living in harmony with nature, these women are featured prominently on tourist promotion posters. Well, the reality is quite different from this glossy and sexy image. To start with, most of the haenyeo are older aunties, in their 50s and 60s, and their occupation nowadays seems doomed. We do not know exactly when the women of Jeju Island began to dive for shellfish and seaweed, but it is clear the haenyeo already existed in the 17th century as a speciali...

2017-10-01 17:02

Era of too many babies

Recently Statistics Korea published preliminary estimates for the birthrate in 2017. These estimates were worrisome: the estimated Total Fertility Rate (TFR), the number of births per woman of reproductive age, is expected to fall to the unprecedented level of 1.03. This is the lowest level in Korea’s history. So, a demographical disaster is looming, and many experts worry about the future. Their worries are well-founded, but one should remember that within the living memories of roughly half of the Koreans alive, the same words “demographical disaster” were employed to describe a completely...

2017-09-17 17:56

International marriages

Writing a piece on the marriage habits of Koreans some years ago, I argued rather matter-of-factly: “Korean mainstream opinion does not look upon marriages with foreigners favorably.” This was not mere extrapolation. Opinion polls administered regularly since at least the 1990s reveal that of all East Asian countries, including Japan, South Koreans were most reluctant to accept a foreigner as a son- or daughter-in-law.

2017-09-03 18:05

No such thing as free lunch

If one were asked to describe the Moon Jae-in administration’s political and ideological leanings in a few words, perhaps the best description would be “left-leaning and modestly nationalist.” Indeed, when it comes to social policy, Moon and his cadre might be compared to the “New Labour” of Tony Blair, and more broadly speaking, the moderate social democrats of modern Europe. They believe in free-market capitalism but want to manage it and reduce social inequities, commonly associated with the free market. Moon promised just that on the campaign trail: A dramatic increase in social welfare ...

2017-08-20 16:54

Brilliant future with hefty price tag?

South Korean politicians have one peculiarity not frequently found in other states: they take their electoral campaign pledges quite seriously. Newly-elected president Moon Jae-in seems to be no exception. On the trail he promised that he would reduce the country’s dependence on nuclear energy and shift resources to clean energy. True to his word, just weeks in to his new administration Moon halted the construction of all nuclear reactors and introduced a number of measures that more-or-less ensure nuclear energy’s limited role in South Korea’s future. The decision reflects the rather curiou...

2017-08-06 17:41

Democracy in name, democracy in essence

As the summer comes, so too arises the opportunity for the Republic of Korea to celebrate the 30th anniversary of its democratic transformation. While officially the ROK always portrayed itself as a liberal democracy, for all practical intents and purposes it became such only as the culmination of several events reached critical mass in the summer of 1987, an event most often described as a revolution in the minds and imaginations of nearly all Koreans. When the ROK was officially founded in August 1948, it professed an allegiance to the principles of liberal democracy as understood at the t...

2017-07-23 16:59

Nationalism, East Asian style

In the last decades of the twentieth century, particularly after the Cold War, it was widely believed that nationalism was retreating from international politics - at least among the most developed nations. The election of Donald Trump in the United States, Brexit, and the strong support of the once-fringe National Front party in France reverses this trend as an apparent backlash against globalization and liberalism has become an important feature of political discourse. Though these developments are recent manifestations, nationalism has been a constant in one part of the world. This area i...

2017-07-09 17:10

More equal than others?

The fallout from U.S. President Donald Trump’s off-hand statement that “Korea was once part of China,” made after his first summit meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, is another reminder that all history in East Asia is political. In many other parts of the world such an observation, irrespective of whether it is factually correct, would generate little public outcry. Indeed, it would be difficult to find an outraged Londoner harboring contempt for Italy when reminded that the United Kingdom used to be part of the Roman Empire (“part of Italy,” if you like). Similarly, Russia once was...

2017-06-11 16:54

Conservatives vs. progressives

The South Korean presidential elections are over. To the surprise of few, the country emerged deeply and sharply divided between two camps - self-described as “progressives” and 'conservatives’. It was the former that claimed victory, though with far below the majority of votes cast. These political titles are misleading for many Westerners eager to connect Korean politics to similar Western ideology and agendas. In actuality, however, the agenda and worldview of Korean “conservatives” are quite different from that of, say, the American GOP, and Korean 'progressives’ ignore many issues which...

2017-05-28 18:08

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