David Tizzard is a professor at Seoul Women’s University, holds a PhD in Korean Studies, and hosts the Korea Deconstructed podcast. He has lived and worked in Seoul for more than two decades. Reach him at datizzard@swu.ac.kr.
Your new moon
By David Tizzard
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By David A. Tizzard
When we think about the future of the world, we always have in mind its being where it would be if it continued to move as we see it moving now. We do not realize that it moves not in a straight line but rather that its direction changes constantly.
And so as the full moon rises for this year’s Chuseok holiday, we need not believe that that which has been done in the past will necessarily be continued tomorrow.
Of course holidays bring with them traditions and rituals which help remind us of our place in the family, society, and the universe at large – whether it’s the handing over of money to relatives, trips to tree-covered temples, or rotating the soju three times before pouring it into the cup during ceremonies, some things will stay with us.
But others need not. The world is one of change and – with a little effort – we can help make those changes for the better.
In his address to the nation this week, a hanbok-clad President described how the full moon of one’s hometown shines unusually bright so as to cast its light fairly and equally over everyone. And just like that lunar satellite, one of the current administration’s policies has to been to create a society based on equality and unity.
In the President’s vision, this is to encompass not only the economic future of the citizens of South Korea but rather the joy and happiness of the entire Korean Peninsula. Noble aims and ones on which I’m sure any person would agree.
The peace drive seems back on with mustachioed Libya-referencing John Bolton now removed from the American foreign policy team. Despite the recent missile tests from the North and the increased military spending in the South, talks seem to be back on the agenda.
And that is a very good thing.
Of course one is right to question the human rights situation as well as the legitimacy of the ruling party in Pyongyang seeing as it has not established formal diplomatic relations with South Korea, the U.S. or Japan. But because such things are as they are today, doesn’t mean that they are necessarily inscribed into the future as some form of destiny.
Certainly America knows more than most that things can change. The former British and European colony now boasts of its independence. It promotes freedom and liberty for all but was a nation developed on the back of slavery.
Many of its citizens now legally buy marijuana from shops when for more than a decade of the twentieth century production, sales, and transportation of even alcohol was banned. And despite the issues of race now dominating domestic politics stateside, it was only in 1967 when the anti-miscegenation laws were passed declaring the banning of interracial marriages as unconstitutional.
That U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Loving vs Virginia case was, coincidentally, helped by a large amount of American troops having either gotten married or having brought their partners back while serving in armed conflicts in both Korea and Vietnam.
Things are connected, and war somewhere helped bring peace and momentous societal change elsewhere.
Thus rationality and logic might be the cornerstones of western thought but they can only go so far, particularly in an ever-connected world which sees various cultures drawn closer around the global bbq and forced to act and eat in unison.
For the people of South Korea – particularly the youth who now find great comfort and joy in Netflix, iPhones, and pasta – the idea of self-reliance seems to be somewhat of a non-starter. And with a great many more multicultural children in the schools, and with foreign workers assisting the development of the nation at all levels and in all fields, calls for a Shin Chaeho-esque focus on the unity of the ethnic-race seem a little out-of-date.
Korea has one of the strongest platforms on which to build a new nation, a new vision, under a new moon. While there is of course talk about youth unemployment and the unreliability of the North, South Korea has shown time and time again over the past century that it is capable of rising to the challenge and prospering in even the bleakest of environments.
I hope that it continues to do so. And I hope that, in doing so, it also changes. The world need not be that which it was. We need not live tomorrow as we did yesterday.
People do not need revolution or utopian ideals. They need real, life-affirming, goal-fulfilling, positive changes – for themselves and for their children.
So as the full moon rises above your home town, think about doing something differently tomorrow – whatever it might be. Perhaps if 51 million people did so, next Chuseok might look very different.
Happy rice cakes and jeon to one and all.
David Tizzard (datizzard@swu.ac.kr) is an assistant professor at Seoul Women's University.