Jason Lim is a Washington, D.C.-based expert on innovation, leadership and organizational culture.
What's your story, Korea?
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By Jason Lim
When I wrote about Hell Joseon in my previous column, describing it as a collective psychopathology caused in large part by the prevailing Korean culture, I received more than the usual number of email responses. I was also very gratified and grateful to read comments on my Facebook page that engaged with the column in a very thoughtful and intellectual manner.
I thought about responding directly to each comment, but I thought, why not respond to the comments as a group by sharing my thoughts in a column? After all, I am all about efficiency, not to mention that I don’t have to look far to find a topic to write about.
I recently watched a fascinating TED talk explain why humans were the most dominant species in the world today. In his talk titled, “Why humans rule the world,” Yuval Noah Harari makes the point that humans rule the world because we are able to “cooperate flexibly over large numbers.”
He goes on to explain how: “The answer is our imagination. We can cooperate with numerous strangers because we can invent fictional stories, spread them around and convince millions of strangers to believe in them. As long as everybody believes in the same fiction, we all obey the same laws and can thereby cooperate effectively. This is something only humans can do. You can never convince a chimpanzee to give you a banana by promising that after he dies, he will go to Chimpanzee Heaven and there receive countless bananas for his good deeds. No chimp will ever believe such a story. Only humans believe such stories. This is why we rule the world, whereas chimps are locked up in zoos and research laboratories.
I mention this because the responses that I want to address have to do with the stories upon which modern Korean society is based. In particular, John Armstrong writes that the Korean social contract is based on the “‘Yushin Deal,’ which was originally made in the Park Chung-hee era and basically says that if the people will keep their heads down, work hard first in their education and then in their workplace, and don’t ask questions, the powers that be (particularly the partnership of the chaebol and the government) will ensure that they will gain status, money and security in return for their efforts.” He believes that this story was only valid when Korea had vibrant economic growth and fails in the stagnant economic era of today.
I fully agree. The main narrative that tied together modern Korean society between Park and IMF was the “Yushin Deal” that Armstrong mentions above. However, it’s pretty apparent that this narrative is no longer valid as the South Korean economy matures and settles into minimum growth that mostly goes to the top 1 percent , with success and prestige quickly becoming something that you inherit rather than work toward.
As the old story fails, the narrative glue that used to bind Korea together is also loosening, leading to the deteriorating social and cultural cohesion that the older generations took for granted. The ruling conservatives, who are the keepers of the old story, are reacting to this dissonance by trying to retell the familiar and comforting story in a more forceful fashion.
However, I believe that their effort is doomed essentially because they fail to realize that what got us here won’t get us there. In order for a story to remain salient, it needs to be continually validated by people’s actual experiences. And we know that’s not happening.
But there is no replacement narrative. People are suffering and losing hope but there is no overarching, constructive narrative that they can use to make sense of their current experiences and plan for a better future.
So, in the absence of a viable story offered by the leadership, the young people of Korea did create a story. And that story is called Hell Joseon. As you can guess, it’s not a pretty story. In fact, it’s pretty dark, filled with despair and loathing. It’s not a good story on which to base your country’s future.
But who’s going to step up and author a replacement narrative that can rally the young people around and reinvigorate Korean society?
Apparently, no one. For a moment during the previous presidential election campaign, I think people thought that Ahn Cheol-soo would be that author until their hopes were dashed. The opposition is certainly not offering anything new. They also have been telling the same old, tired story of democratic activism for a long time.
But Korea desperately needs someone to author a new, constructive story that can bring everyone together. No society can remain dynamic and vibrant long without a foundational story. This is huge void and represents a fundamental failure of leadership and imagination.
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.