Opinion - The Korea Times

The Confucian Cowboy

By John Burton I find the rivalry between Samsung Electronics and Apple fascinating because of their contrasting management styles as they compete to see who will come out on top. It is tempting to say that Samsung’s consensus-driven management is Confucian, while the entrepreneurial Apple model represents the cowboy ways of America. Those categories are not quite so neat. There are plenty of hierarchy-heavy firms in the technology sector in the U.S. such as Hewlett Packard and Microsoft. But it is also true that there are no big innovative cowboy-style companies in Korea, where the cultural default mode favors the group over the individual. A compelling argument that can be made that Korea’s Confucian values played a crucial role in the country’s rapid industrialization as it did in Japan and China. Confucian-based organizations lend themselves to having a dictator at top, which means that decisions can be made quickly and forcefully. Moreover, the group orientation results in the mass mobilization of workers to tackle a challenge successfully despit

Feb 25, 2015By John Burton

John Burton

What's best about Korea?

By John Burton Having lived in Seoul on and off for 15 years, sometimes it’s nice to be reminded of the good things about Korea that one takes for granted after being here for awhile. I was reminded of that when I was recently reading the postings on Quora, a U.S. question-and-answer website, in response to the question: “What does South Korea do right?” Although some of the answers, mostly from short-term expats, may be obvious to those of us who have lived here longer, nonetheless it’s still useful to be told that we have a lot to be thankful for. Here are some of the observations that were offered on Quora about what is best in Korea: ― An excellent public transportation system, particularly in Seoul, while traveling in the rest of country is relatively easy and reasonably priced due to an extensive network of bus, train and air services. ― Internet connectivity is among the fastest in the world, with the wide availability of Wifi, even in remote areas, being praised. ― The rapid adoption of cutting-edge technology as

Feb 11, 2015By John Burton

John Burton

Korea's Cuba solution

By John Burton “In Cuba, we are ending a policy that was long past its expiration date. When what you’re doing doesn’t work for 50 years, it’s time to try something new,”  said President Obama last week in his State of the Union address to defend his decision to normalize relations with Havana and to relax the trade embargo against the communist-run island. Could the same be said for North Korea? The answer would appear to be an emphatic “No” since the U.S. has recently imposed additional ― although largely symbolic ― sanctions on Pyongyang for its probable role in mounting a cyberattack against Sony Pictures. But the question still needs to be asked since U.S. policy towards North Korea over the past 15 years had done nothing to weaken the rule of the Kim dynasty or deterred them from successfully developing nuclear weapons. So would a Cuba-style move by the U.S. or at least a greater degree of engagement change the situation? It should be remembered that North Korea has long sought some form of d

Jan 28, 2015By John Burton

John Burton

Transparency counts

By John Burton Park Geun-hye can be seen as a tragic figure. In the space of five years, while in her 20s, she saw first her mother being murdered in 1974 and then her father in 1979 in politically motivated crimes.These events have probably contributed to public perceptions that she is a lone, perhaps insecure and secretive figure who uses a small group of advisors as a wall against the world.She is said to prefer retiring to her living quarters to study state papers at night instead of socializing. Former advisors have described her as being stubborn in refusing to change her mind once a decision has been made.Moreover, she seems most interested in burnishing her father’s legacy as the father of modern South Korea to counter criticism by political opponents that he was a harsh dictator.For example, her administration is actively promoting the saemaul (new village) rural development scheme that her father launched in the 1970s as a model for poor developing countries to adopt now.President Park is in danger of falling into an unfortunate pattern followed by other Asian fe

Dec 17, 2014By John Burton

John Burton

Is the foreign media leaving Korea?

By John Burton There has been a discussion recently in the Korean press about what is perceived as an exodus of foreign journalists from Korea, blamed partly on the uncommunicative nature of the Park Geun-hye administration. Worries have been expressed that this could result in a less sympathetic treatment of Korea in the international media in the future. As someone who has written about Korea on and off for more than 20 years, I find these comments to be based on a misunderstanding and lack historical context. Evidence cited in the articles to prove that foreign journalists are fleeing Korea was the reposting of the Washington Post correspondent from Seoul to Tokyo and the move of the correspondent of the French newspaper Le Figaro from Seoul to Shanghai. In addition, the Los Angeles Times has replaced its full-time correspondent in Seoul with a freelance journalist. The truth of the matter is that the number of foreign news bureaus in Seoul has fluctuated over the years. To a greater extent than is sometimes realized, whether a foreign journalist is based in Se

Dec 3, 2014By John Burton

John Burton

The Caesarean birth of Korean cool

By John Burton “The Birth of Korean Cool: How One Nation is Conquering the World Through Pop Culture” by Euny Hong is just one of a recent spate of books that also includes “Korea: The Impossible Country” and “A Geek in Korea” by Daniel Tudor and “Modern Korea“ by Andrew Salmon. Their appearance underscores the fact that Korea has indeed become “cool.”But what separates “The Birth of Korean Cool” from its competitors is Hong’s rather audacious claim that the Korean wave, or hallyu, was the result of an effort by the Korean government to push for soft power influence in Asia and even the West.In Hong’s telling, Korean officials came up with the cagey strategy to woo foreign customers with an attractive mix of K-pop, TV dramas and video games. The pay-off would be that foreigners, particularly those in emerging markets, would feel so good about Korea that they would snap up Samsung smartphones, LG televisions and Hyundai cars. She even talks about how “the Korean government is now taking defi

Nov 19, 2014By John Burton

John Burton

Korea's next hit product?

By John Burton The electronics industry moves at a dizzy pace. Look at how Samsung Electronics was the undisputed king of smartphones at the beginning of the year, but is now seen under renewed threat by Apple at the upper end with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus and Chinese makers such as Xiaomi at the lower end with their cheaper models.Less attention has been paid to what is happening this year in the display sector, one of three key pillars of the Korean electronics industry along with smartphones and semiconductors. That may seem surprising since we are staring at displays probably more than half of our waking hours, whether it is computers, smartphones, TVs or tablets.Korea already dominates the display industry with Samsung and LG accounting for half of global production, mainly with liquid crystal displays (LCDs). But interest has shifted in recent years toward the Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) screen, which is seen as the third generation of displays after LCDs and the old bulky cathode ray tubes TVs.Videophiles have raved about the picture quality of OLED screens

Oct 22, 2014By John Burton

John Burton

Will Seoul gain from Hong Kong's pain?

By John Burton The protests that have paralyzed parts of Hong Kong have raised questions about the city’s stability and its future as an international financial center. A key question is if long-term damage will be inflicted on the city because of continued unrest or a Chinese government crackdown and will foreign banks or other financial institutions reduce their presence and move some of their operations elsewhere in Asia?The jury is still out on whether this will indeed happen, but the recent events in Hong Kong nevertheless provide a wake-up call for Seoul to burnish its credentials in hopes of attracting financial players if things continue to deteriorate in Hong Kong.Although the protests in Hong Kong appear to be dwindling as I write this, it is pretty clear that the problems that have sparked the protests are not going away since they revealed longstanding and fundamental social divisions within the city, particularly the growing gap between rich and poor, which is exceedingly wide.  Further unrest could undermine investor confidence in Hong Kong. In the long-

Oct 8, 2014By John Burton

John Burton

Garages of dreams

By John Burton “Garages of dreams” is how President Park Geun-hye rather inelegantly described her latest plans for encouraging start-ups as part of the “creative economy.” She was referring to the mythical beginnings of Apple, Google and Amazon in small garages before they became the global powerhouses of the internet economy.“I will provide support to creative economy innovation centers until they become the ‘garages of dreams’ that turn innovative ideas into technologies, products and businesses,” she declared in her hometown of Daegu in opening one of the first innovation centers last week.What might be surprising about her plan is that it appears aimed at benefiting the big chaebol conglomerates rather than leading to a genuine start-up economy. The reason is that each innovation center in a major city will be sponsored by a different chaebol. The one in Daegu, for example, will be supported by Samsung, whose heir apparent, Jay Y. Lee, attended the ceremony along with the President.Other partnerships include an innovation cent

Sep 24, 2014By John Burton

John Burton

Property boom or bust

By John Burton “House prices bubble up” was the headline for a recent article in the Economist that highlighted the recovery of property prices around the world due to monetary easing. Real estate prices have been on fire across many Asian markets. Home prices in Hong Kong have doubled in the last six years, while those in Singapore have risen nearly 20 percent.But during that period, Korea has been a regional outlier at the other end of the property spectrum. Housing prices nationwide have stagnated since 2008, while those in Seoul have declined. The construction industry is in the doldrums as building orders have dried up.The depressed nature of the Korean property market initially appears surprising. The Korean economy has performed relatively well since the global financial crisis in 2008, with export growth benefiting from strong demand in China and a weak currency. Real wage growth, although unspectacular, still remains positive.What has brought the property market to a shuddering halt was a binge of housing construction in the middle of the last decade, which

Sep 10, 2014By John Burton

John Burton

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The Confucian Cowboy

What's best about Korea?

Korea's Cuba solution

Transparency counts

Is the foreign media leaving Korea?

The Caesarean birth of Korean cool

Korea's next hit product?

Will Seoul gain from Hong Kong's pain?

Garages of dreams

Property boom or bust

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