Born into superrich families not necessarily a blessing

Dentist proposes 'mud spoon' paradox, debunks Cold War in East Asia

Dentist Park Se-dang / Park Se-dang photo

Showing his own drawing of a colorful phoenix based on a map of East Asia, Park Se-dang explains that Korea is the bird’s head, while west China and Japan are the two wings and northeast China is the body.

By Kang Hyun-kyung

Dentist and geopolitical observer Park Se-dang, 55, said some trend-based theories may be invalid owing to their faulty generalizations or flawed assumptions.

He cited the so-called “spoon theory,” a theory about success based on inherited wealth, and the foreign policy debate about the neo-Cold War on the Korean Peninsula after the rise of China as two outstanding examples of problematic trends, or those with erroneous assumptions.

“Contrary to the popular inherited wealth theory, real cases show that many people who were born with silver spoons in their mouths do not live fancy lives as many people think they do,” he said.

Park, the author of eight books about history, culture and the arts, debunked the popular spoon theory, which categorizes people according to the amount of inherited wealth they have, with the diamond spoon as the highest stratum.

He cited “Seven Princes,” a term coined in the 1970s to refer to seven spoiled children of the founders of the 30 largest businesses in the country at the time, as an example of faulty generalization. “All of them were born with silver spoons in their mouths, but as you see, most of them have lived miserably. Some had illnesses, some met tragic ends and some went to jail,” he said.

The Seven Princes made the headlines in 1977 after Park Dong-myeong, then president of Taekwang Group, was jailed for violating the foreign currency law. His and the six other “princes”’ scandalous lifestyles, which included sordid extramarital affairs with top actresses, were exposed during the investigation of Park’s violations. The full names of the six other princes have not been made public, albeit some media outlets have identified them by their initials.

According to Park Se-dang, the successful business scions, such as Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee and Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo, are either products of strict parenting or survivors of tough sibling rivalry.

“Hyundai and Samsung families are well-known for their strict parenting,” he said. “Samsung Chairman Lee was groomed by his father, the late founder Lee Byung-chul, to succeed the business after he survived the tough competition with his brothers. He was able to build a stronger global business empire, the influence of which goes far beyond that of the original empire built by his father, thanks to his father’s tough leadership training.”

Park said inherited wealth itself doesn’t guarantee success and thus, the assumption of the spoon theory is not valid. This inherited wealth theory reflects young people’s frustrations during an economic recession. According to the theory, those born into the lowest stratum, the mud spoon stratum, that is, those born into poor families, find it much harder to succeed in their careers than those born into the diamond or gold spoon stratum because of the structural barriers they face.

Park instead proposes the “mud spoon paradox.” According to him, those born into poor families or who face numerous hardships in their childhoods or early adolescent years are blessed because the challenges will teach them valuable lessons and skills, and they will emerge from those trying times wiser and more mature than those from superrich families. “I think being born into superrich families is a curse rather than a blessing because people who are given many things without exerting effort tend to be spoiled,” he said.

The 55-year-old multitalented Park is also an art collector, author, IT entrepreneur and inventor. He oversees his start-up, which develops IT devices to help people learn foreign languages. As an inventor, he has acquired over 40 patents since the 1980s.

Park, who also considers himself a culture critic, said he is enthusiastic about discovering cultural, political and economic trends, based on which he can develop suggestions to help the public understand current events and make forecasts for the future.

A self-taught historian and a keen foreign policy watcher, he cited the popular debate about the impact of a rising China on the Korean Peninsula as another example of a flawed assumption.

Some foreign policy watchers characterized Korea as being sandwiched between the United States and China — two world powers with conflicting interests concerning the Korean Peninsula. For example, their clashing views on the deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense in South Korea puts pressure on the country from both sides.

Some European historians claim that East Asia has become unstable since the start of China’s rise and that now, the region’s geopolitical landscape is similar to that of Europe before World War I following the emergence of Germany. Back then, Germany was similar to what China is today in terms of influence and foreign policy. And just as the misguided German foreign policy led to the outbreak of the war in 1914, a diplomatic miscalculation by China could lead to catastrophic results in East Asia at a time of escalating tensions amid China’s growing geopolitical influence in the region.

‘Phoenix theory’

Park disagrees with this view, however.

“A peaceful East Asia is neither unrealistic nor unfeasible,” he said. “Once the two Koreas are unified, they, together, can mediate between the continental and maritime powers to influence the region to be peaceful.”

According to Park’s “phoenix theory,” East Asia, from a bird’s eye view, looks like the mythological bird, which is an icon of mercy, peace and grace. Showing his own drawing of a colorful phoenix based on a map of East Asia, he explains that Korea is the bird’s head, while west China and Japan are the wings and northeast China is the body.

His book, “The Phoenix Opens Its Eyes,” was selected by the Ministry of Culture ,Sports and Tourism as one of the best children’s books of the year in 2014.

“The phoenix opening its eyes means that Korea will awaken and find its role as a peacemaker,” he said.

The public, which is not familiar with the phoenix theory, may question its validity as an explanation for the evolving East Asian geopolitical landscape since the rise of China. And their skepticism is not necessarily unfounded. For one, Korea has limited influence in the region. It has a lower standing in the global economy than the other East Asian powers China and Japan. So the skeptics ask: How can the smallest country in the region play the central role?

Park said history has the answer. “Korea had been a strong country until the mid-Joseon era, and many Koreans from that time were multilingual, speaking Chinese, Japanese and other foreign languages,” he said.

According to him, historical trends show that the entire region was peaceful when “the southerners” with humble backgrounds gained power, referring to the Silla Dynasty, which was located in the southeastern part of the peninsula and was smaller than its rivals, Goguryeo and Baekje. Despite being the smallest, it was Silla that unified the peninsula.

He said there are several other historical examples showing that East Asia was peaceful when Korea had a strong presence in the region.