The great inner wall of Korea

By Jason Lim

Last week’s crash landing of an Asiana Airlines jet spawned several interesting articles in the international media on the intersection of Korean culture and crisis management.

An AP article titled ``Asiana Crash a Point of National Shame for Koreans” especially caught my eye for pointing out how the average Korean shares a sense of shame and guilt over something that a Korean company or person did or didn’t do.

The article writes, ``South Koreans take great interest in the global profile of local companies and of ethnic Koreans on the world stage. Many feel pride, for instance, seeing Samsung billboards in New York’s Times Square. And when a company’s stumbles draw international attention, there’s collective sense of national shame, even for South Koreans who have no connection to the company beyond nationality.”

No kidding. The tendency for group think and group identity over anything and anyone Korean is pretty extreme. Full-page ads in the New York Times claiming rightful sovereignty over Dokdo becomes huge news and a point of national pride. Psy setting records on YouTube becomes an argument for the superiority of the Korean pop-culture.

And I still remember sitting in a classroom in grad school when I first heard about the Virginia Tech massacre; when the news confirmed that the perpetrator was an Asian with a last name of, ``Choi,” I remember having that sinking feeling come over my heart although I had absolutely nothing to do with the guy. Just because he was an ethnic Korean.

And, obviously, it wasn’t just me. When the then-ROK Ambassador to the U.S. apologized for the fact that Choi was a Korean, we understood where he was coming from. It might not have made logical sense since Choi was raised in the U.S., but it made a weird kind of sense nonetheless.

As the AP article points out, perhaps this extreme form of ethnic group identity is a natural by-product of an economic development scheme that handpicked certain companies and allocated national resources and collective sacrifice to propel them to succeed. So, Samsung, Hyundai, LG, Korean Airlines, Asiana, just to name a few, are not just private companies but represent the symbols of Group Korea’s rise from the ashes; everyone has both a claim and stake in their successes.

Also, we can’t forget that modern Korea was born out of the trauma of losing one’s country to a foreign power for 36 years during the Japanese colonization. So, Korea’s modern psyche is inevitably a reaction against Imperial Japan’s attempt to wipe out the Korean identity and impose a foreign one.

And this collective emotion was skillfully shaped by Korea’s leadership in the postwar rebuilding years to build an emotional wall of reactive national and ethnic identity that they could channel to demand willing obedience and sacrifice in return for collective ``Korean” success. I mean, the main slogan for the 1970’s New Village Movement credited for jumpstarting the Korean economy was, ``Let’s all live well together for once.” Enough said.

Judging by South Korea’s economic success, you can’t argue that this group identity ― national and ethnic communalism ― wasn’t effective. It brought people together to willingly work for a common goal of economic prosperity. After all, South Korea is the fourth largest economy in Asia and a member of G20.

The problem is that times change. And what worked in the past to get you here will not necessarily get you there. Actually, what worked in the past might actually prevent you from getting you there. Also, if you identify too strongly with being a ``Korean,” then, conversely, you identify equally strongly against anything ``non-Korean.” If you build a wall, then you are either inside or outside the wall. Do you get me?

The Atlantic recently ran an article that points out those great civilizations of the past built walls as a last-gasp attempt to protect and defend before they collapsed. This comes from ``the psychological impulse to protect a nation's wealth and culture from foreign contamination in an example of what behavioral economists call ``loss aversion" ― the idea that people are more concerned about what they might forfeit than gain from change.”

In Korea’s case, this wall need not be a physical wall. A mental wall originally constructed to shape a cohesive group identity to drive change forward might easily become a wall that defends the same group from any perceived threats from future changes. In other words, the reflexive wall of group identity that causes Koreans to feel ashamed over Asiana Airlines’ accident might actually impede South Korea from becoming a truly pluralistic, dynamic, and diverse society of the 21st Century.

Farfetched you say? Tell that to anyone who has experienced South Korean media’s coverage of Samsung’s intellectual property battles with Apple. Don’t get me wrong. I think Samsung had the stronger case, but that was a pep rally disguised as journalism.

Jason Lim is a Washington, D.C., based expert on innovation, engagement and organizational culture. He has been writing for The Korea Times since 2006. He can be reached at jasonlim@msn.com, facebook/jasonlim2000 and @jasonlim2012.