Two faces of South Korea's growth
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The cover of "The New Koreans" / Courtesy of Michael Breen
'The New Koreans' is an updated overview of the 'land of miracle'
By Yun Suh-young
Michael Breen, author of "The News Koreans"
"Defiance," said Michael Breen.
"That was actually how I wanted to title the book. 'Defiance ― The Story of South Koreans,' or somewhere along those lines."
"Defiance is the key word that best explains South Korea's growth. It was the defiance of the Koreans that brought them here, to this stage. Defiance was the engine that propelled the country to growth," said Breen, author of the recent book, "The New Koreans," during an interview with The Korea Times last week.
"The main point I'm trying to make in the book is that Korea developed because of a certain emotion driving the country and it was identified as an angry defiance. They only had one way to go and that was to improve. The South Koreans were very angry toward the North Koreans and even toward the Americans. They defied circumstances and history and the way people looked at them."
He makes this claim upfront in the preface of the book: "I fear that I missed something that now strikes me as obvious about the modern development of South Korea: that the source energy driving it was defiance, not of the Japanese who colonized them, but of an entire history that had delivered them to a broken present. They refused to accept the place the world thought they occupied. Their defiance was set alight by anger against their brothers and sisters in the North and drove them to find the right way to compete."
The book started out as an update of his previous publication, "The Koreans" released in 2004, which was written in the late 1990s. A decade after its release, Breen felt a need to update the book as so much has changed from that time, but as he started writing, he realized it would no longer be an update. It took him 18 months to write it and 30 months to have it published.
"The idea was to update it because the references were old. It began as an update of the previous book I wrote in the late 1990s but sort of turned into a new book basically," he said.
What has changed in his new book, is the prediction of Korea's unification, which he initially predicted would have happened by now.
"I anticipated the sequel by this time to be The Unified Koreans," he writes in the preface of the book.
He thought the miracle on the Han River would be complete in three stages ― economic development, democratic development, and reunification with North Korea. Not only does he admit being wrong on timing, he says he has refined his views.
"The third miracle is cultural. It would be the acceptance of Korean culture by the world in the sense that they're familiar with Koreans," he said.
He has renewed his prediction about unification as well. He proposed the date to be 2028, like a 40-year plan per turn of events ― The first being the 40-year colonial period (1910 -1948), the second, war recovery and economic growth (1948-1988), the third, period of democratization (1988-2028), and fourth, period of unification (2028- 2068).
"The actual moment of reconciliation should ideally begin in 2028. It can happen then or after that, but this is going to take a generation," he said.
He even has some interesting suggestions for Korea. The first is to honor the people born in the 1940s and 50s and build a statue to that generation which made the country what it is today. The second is to change Korea's English name to "Hanguk."
"There are countries in the world that don't call their country the same name in English, like Korea. For instance, Guatamala would be Guatamala in their own language. I propose the name change because the two Koreas insist that the world calls them both 'Korea' when the two are completely different. I think the association with North Korea is damaging to the reputation of South Korea," he said, explaining his argument.
However, Korea's catapulted reputation doesn't necessarily mean its people's happiness has catapulted as well. Breen finds that its success hasn't led to individual happiness.
"Koreans suffer from depression and unhappiness at a greater level than people do in most other countries. I go into why that is, why that should be," he said.
According to Breen, there are two main factors: 1. The changing ethics. "It's much more an individualistic society now. It's a scarier place." 2. Koreans are sensitive to what other people think of them.
"People act, think and feel in reaction to what they think other people are thinking of them, which for some people in other democracies, is rather extraordinary. Koreans are exquisitely sensitive to that and that can be a formula for misery because it makes you do things that lack authenticity," said Breen.
This is the other side of growth, to which Breen says we need "attitude change."
"There was a Buddhist monk I interviewed who said one solution is to realize that we are happy. It's an attitude. (People's) instinct is to start thinking about what the government should do. I think it's more what individuals can do for themselves," said Breen.
"People need to realize that you're responsible for yourself. You live with yourself all your life, nobody else does. So you have to act with authenticity and you can't let yourself be ordered around by other people."
The book is not aimed for an audience who is completely new to Korean culture and history, but to someone who is "familiar with Korea and can recognize what I'm talking about," according to Breen.
"It's not for a complete beginner nor aimed at Koreans themselves," but it would be a helpful guide for non-Koreans who have a basic knowledge about the country but would like to learn more.