Opinion - The Korea Times

Sadness upon returning to Korea

By Mark PetersonAfter three years of carefully observing COVID-19 restrictions at home in America, I decided that, with five vaccination shots and a decline in the number of illnesses in both America and Korea, it was time for me to return to Korea. I have been struck with so many things about Korea after this long absence, but the most unfortunate, of course, is the tragedy in Itaewon.I've been positively impressed with the seriousness with which Korea has taken to wearing masks all the time. Currently, guidelines indicate that one can take off one's mask outdoors, but most people here, probably 90 percent, still wear their masks outdoors. On the plane coming to Korea, my estimate is that 80 percent of Koreans were wearing their masks, whereas only about 10 percent of Americans were. I've been impressed with Korea's diligence and unimpressed with the American distorted view of “freedom.”I've had a rented car this trip ― to keep more isolated from subway crowds and add to my COVID-19 protections ― and I've discovered a part of Korea I have never known before: the number o

Nov 6, 2022By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

A solution to a Confucianism problem

By Mark PetersonIn recent months I have seen numerous “complaints” or “criticisms” of Confucianism on my YouTube channel. I've seen criticisms of genealogy, of ancestor ceremonies and of the seonbi (the well-educated man who takes and passes exams in traditional times). People are calling for an end to Confucianism as they know it.All of these are complaints about Confucianism ― keeping track of genealogical records, carrying out ancestor ceremonies and indeed, the idea of the seonbi. All of these are connected to Confucianism and are seen as manifestations of various aspects of Confucianism.I've studied Korean history and lived in Korea learning to respect Confucianism as one of the world's great “religions” ― or maybe the term “belief system” is better in light of the fact that many say Confucianism is not a “religion.” There is no god figure in Confucianism and we are even told that we do not know about the next life, in spite of the fact that the primary ritual is making offerings to departed spirits. We are told that we

Oct 18, 2022By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

Death of monarchy

By Mark PetersonI am not a fan of the monarchy ― British, Korean, Japanese ―anywhere.With the death of Queen Elizabeth II, and the rise to the monarchy of King Charles III, I thought I would reflect on the Korean monarchy and the institution of monarchy in general ― including not only the Korean monarchy, but also the Japanese monarchy that has had such an impact on Korea.As a “true” American, a descendant of men who fought for American Independence in 1776 and thereafter, I have never been one who admires the British monarchy. It's a great credit to Queen Elizabeth who with great personal dignity as a young queen, and an aged queen ― she really was a wonderful person ― that the British monarchy still exists. That cannot be said about her family. They have behaved with anything but dignity. The clownish figure of the former Prince Charles, the abusive treatment of Diana, the licentious lifestyles of many ― particularly Andrew, who stands accused of pedophilia and other deviant behavior ― and others. Charles would be a great hero in the history of the world if he announced

Sep 19, 2022By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

Women's rights in Korea

By Mark PetersonThis article, like most of mine, is quite optimistic. I've been in and around Korea for 57 years and I've seen the tremendous, even miraculous things that Korea has done. Korea has overcome huge obstacles in its way in the past, and I am optimistic it will do so in the future as well.The success stories include economic development, maybe, first of all. But I like to quote Horace G. Underwood of Yonsei University, who enjoyed saying, “The education miracle preceded the economic miracle.” And indeed, Korea leads the way, internationally, in all kinds of measurements of educational success: the highest literacy rate, the highest high school graduation rate and the highest college graduation rate. I must quickly add that I know there are all kinds of criticisms of the educational system, but still, Korea's basic accomplishments are at the top of any standard of performance.Women's rights is one area that is still behind in many ways, but I see optimism on this front as well. Let me list what I see.In the late 1990s, Korea had a birthrate problem: the desire f

Aug 23, 2022By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

Challenge for 'jesa'

By Mark PetersonIt's hard to keep up with social changes in Korea. My finger on the pulse has been my YouTube channel, The Frog Outside the Well, and the responses and comments people post. I've been surprised to see the negative comments regarding all things related to Confucian practices. The most recent has been comments on “ancestor ceremonies,” or “jesa.” The practice was once translated as ancestor worship but that term was discarded as inaccurate and biased long ago.Jesa suffered as the enemy of some Christian sects early on. The Catholic persecutions of the 18th century were largely centered on the ancestor ceremonies, which were inaccurately translated as ancestor worship ― bowing down to the ancestors was all the evidence the Christians needed. Bowing equals worship. They overlooked the fact that living people would bow to each other. Worship everyday on the street? No, just Korean etiquette. Well, some Christian sects, including paradoxically Catholics (some, but not all? I don't know), started to accept jesa as an acceptable performance. So, the sc

Jul 17, 2022By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

Korea's three E's - education, economy, entertainment

By Mark PetersonAs an observer of Korea for the last 57 years, I have seen momentous changes. The first we should talk about is the economy and rightly so, for the Korea that I first knew in 1965 was desperately poor ― $125/year/per capita income. Aid from the United States was equal to native GNP ― incredible! We have seen the economy take off. Younger people haven't seen it, but they've read about it. And yet the economic miracle is actually miracle number two.People usually think of the economic miracle as the first, but as my old friend Horace G. Underwood used to say, “The education miracle preceded the economic miracle.” And I subscribe to that idea also. When I was first in Korea, the terribly poor people were everywhere pursuing education. Everyone was convinced that education was the way out of poverty ― and it was true. I learned early on in Korean life that the “haksaeng” (the student) was respected. Look at the meaning of the Chinese characters for “haksaeng” ― literally, “to study as a way of life.” That was the key.Today K

Jun 19, 2022By Mark Peterson

Korea's three E's - education, economy, entertainment

Mark Peterson

Today's world informed by history

By Mark PetersonFor those few who don't think history is important, and for those who do as well, I thought today I would recap some of the historical issues that I've been looking at in this column to see how they inform our lives and decisions in present-day Korea.I've written a lot about Confucianism and how many of the negative views that some people hold about Confucianism can be transformed by an understanding of the role Confucianism played in Korean history ― not recent history, but earlier, pre-18th-century history. We see that it is only the history of the last three hundred years of Confucian practice in Korea that Confucianism has taken on the male-dominant perspective oppressing females that many are critical of in the philosophy. History teaches us that Confucian principles can apply to the modern world in an egalitarian way like they did for a thousand years in Korea, from the Three Kingdoms Period to the 18th century ― a time when sons and daughters inherited equally, where they hosted ancestor ceremonies on a rotational basis, including the daughters, and where the j

May 22, 2022By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

Paradigm shifts in jokbo understanding

By Mark PetersonLast month, after writing a “call to arms” for all Koreans, especially the female half of Korea, to redo their jokbo (genealogies) and start to think of jokbo as the pre-18th-century Korean “pal-gojodo” chart, which is the same as the Western “five-generation pedigree chart.” I started thinking more about what it will take to bring about such a paradigm shift. And it appears it would be difficult. But maybe not.We've already seen the paradigm shift from son-preference to daughter-preference in recent decades. This followed the paradigm shift from the large family and the three-generation family to the nuclear family. This followed the paradigm shift from a 90 percent rural society to a 90 percent urban society. This included the paradigm shift from a single-story “hanok” house to living in an apartment, initially as high as on the 10th, over time to the 20th, the 30th, the 40th, or the 50th floor. After all of these paradigm shifts, and many other related ones, is it too much to expect a paradigm shift from the male-line

Apr 24, 2022By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

Jokbo: new approach for men and women

By Mark PetersonKorea is in a new age, one that has discarded the old hierarchies and the old male dominance. True, much of male dominance still remains, but much is changing. There is still a predominance of men in elected offices, but I recently had dinner with the consul general of the San Francisco consulate, with his political consul, and found out that women now comprise 70 percent of the incoming class of diplomats each year. We will soon have a corps of diplomats and ambassadors who are majority women. I want to relate this to jokbo ― Korean-style printed genealogical books. Jokbo have been documents of male ancestry, but that might be changing. And Korea might look to the West for bilateral, male and female lines of ancestry, but it need only look into its own history to find evidence of a gender-balanced approach to genealogy and recording family history. I've written elsewhere about the development of the male-dominant approach to Confucianism that transformed Korea in the late 17th century. The Korea that we think of today as the traditional Korea with inheritance by the

Mar 27, 2022By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

Non-massacre of Wang clan

By Mark PetersonThat's an odd title! The point I want to address is the mistaken idea common in Korean society that the establishment of the Joseon Kingdom was a revolutionary action accompanied by wholesale social change and the emergence of a radical new elite. Baloney. Nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, the transition of dynastic houses from Goryeo to Joseon could not have been any less revolutionary!That's an odd title! The point I want to address is the mistaken idea common in Korean society that the establishment of the Joseon Kingdom was a revolutionary action accompanied by wholesale social change and the emergence of a radical new elite. Baloney. Nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, the transition of dynastic houses from Goryeo to Joseon could not have been any less revolutionary!This issue has come across my desk several times in recent months when I write, or make videos, about the peaceful and stable history of Korea. When I point out that the dynastic transfer from Gaya to Silla, from Silla to Goryeo, from Goryeo to Joseon, was relativel

Feb 27, 2022By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

Read more

Sadness upon returning to Korea

A solution to a Confucianism problem

Death of monarchy

Women's rights in Korea

Challenge for 'jesa'

Korea's three E's - education, economy, entertainment

Today's world informed by history

Paradigm shifts in jokbo understanding

Jokbo: new approach for men and women

Non-massacre of Wang clan

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