Madam Pelosi, return our embarrassing gift scroll to us
National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang presents his gift scroll to Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi during his visit to U.S. Capitol, Tuesday. The scroll contains the Chinese phrase that reminds one of flunkeyism and the erroneous English usage. Yonhap
By Oh Young-jin
National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang gave the wrong gift to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during his visit to the latter in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, with a group of lawmakers.
The gift in question was a scroll with Chinese calligraphy he presented in person. The photo of the occasion has been posted on media websites and carried in newspapers.
There are two problems -- the first being plain to see and the second more subtle and more damaging.
The first is “Dear Pelosi” written on the right side of the scroll. Missing is the honorific “Madam” or job title “Speaker” or “Madam Speaker” ahead of her last name.
Addressing the speaker just as Pelosi is inappropriate at best and ignorant at worst.
Then, “Dear” looks misplaced because it is not a letter but a scroll. Then, it violates the usual rule of scroll writing that allows for the name of the writer with their pen name and stamp of their seal, not that of the recipient.
The second is the four Chinese characters writ large.
Chinese characters were used by the upper class to boast of their knowledge and show their superiority over the ordinary classes in the Joseon Kingdom, a tradition that has survived in pockets of society.
Moon and his aides should have remembered what happened after the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Mar-a-lago Hotel in Florida.
Trump quoted Xi as telling him that Korea belonged to China during their private walk. Trump’s lack of historical knowledge and resultant gullibility, most likely shared by much of the American public, is reinforced by Western society’s Sino -centric view of Asia.
It wouldn’t be a great exaggeration if Moon had helped strengthen such a Western belief with his Chinese gift. Of course, the chance is that Pelosi won’t be as single dimensional as Trump.
Then, the meaning of Moon’s favorite phrase is detrimental to Korea’s image _ the Yellow River of China flows through countless turns and twists but only heads east.
The speaker uses it to express his conviction that North Korea’s denuclearization and establishment of a peace structure will eventually be achieved despite many challenges.
But the history of the phrase is rather unsettling.
It goes back to an ancient Chinese philosopher who first used the term to describe “what comes around goes around.” But it was etched on a rock on the outskirts of Seoul by a provincial bureaucrat of the Joseon Kingdom to express deep appreciation and respect for the Ming Dynasty in order to save his country from the 1592 Japanese invasion.
The etching is a symbol of the kingdom’s “flunkeyist” or “sadae” relationship with the dynasty, which was toppled by the Manchurians and succeeded by the Qing Dynasty.
Noh Young-min, now President Moon Jae-in’s chief of staff, took flak for writing that phrase in the visitors’ log when he presented his credentials as ambassador to Chinese President Xi Jinping in December 2017.
The embassy explained that it was not a show of flunkeyism but Noh’s wish for good bilateral ties.
But call a spade a spade and it was a mistake made by Noh that makes our country sound and look inferior to the other nation. The same goes with our speaker.
Since it is against Korean custom for a giver to ask for the gift back, Pelosi would be greatly appreciated if she returns the scroll to Moon privately so he will be able to fix it before giving it back to her. More properly, Moon should give her a new one that bears our beautiful Korean hangeul script.