Korea's national image epidemic

By Jason Lim

In an emergency National Assembly hearing on the Park administration's crisis management failures over the MERS epidemic, members of both parties repeatedly suggested to Moon Hyeong-pyo, Minister of Health and Welfare, that the government raise its disease alert level from "watch" to "warning" due to the increasingly serious nature of the outbreak. According to reports, Minister Moon demurred, responding that raising the alert level to "warning" would have a negative impact on Korea's national image.

No, seriously, he did. This is not an Onion article.

A few days earlier, Korea's Foreign Ministry announced it had already launched a task force composed of related bureaus and departments to keep the MERS outbreak from negatively impacting the national image that could lead to, according to Yonhap, "reducing the number of foreign tourists, fueling anti-Korean sentiment, and adversely affecting the nation's credit rating."

Now, why didn't I think of that? When faced with a potentially disastrous outbreak of a virus with over 40-percent fatality rate, the national image would definitely be the first thing that would pop into my mind. I mean, diseases come and go, right? In an interconnected world, diseases tend to spread and people will die. Granted, if the government had acted more expeditiously and been transparent from the start, it might have saved a few more people from suffering, death and mass panic, not to mention a shortage of masks.

However, what's a few lives saved (since people die anyway for a variety of reasons) compared to the negative impact to the national image? If we don't nip this national image problem in the bud, then, the next thing you know, Hollywood will be doing a remake of "Outbreak," except that it will now be based on MERS and located in Korea. We can't have that. That would be a huge waste of the millions of dollars we spent to film "Avengers II" in Seoul to show the city in a positive light.

And what about the national energy spent on getting President Lee Myung-bak's Presidential Council on Nation Branding that he established in 2009 to improve Korea's national image? We couldn't possibly let that go to waste just when Korea was making its move up the Anholt-GfK Nations Brands Index (NBI) overall ranking from 33rd in 2008 to 27th in 2014. At this rate, Korea will be in first place in 2041. Can we really afford to lose the hard-earned momentum at this critical juncture because of a potential national epidemic? After all, isn't Korea now a G20 nation? Let's be rational, people!

All kidding aside, Korea's obsession over its national image has always seemed more like a collective mental illness. Recent announcements during the MERS crisis only confirm my suspicion that it's actually a full blown schizophrenia. Granted, Korea has every right to feel an ethnic pride over its share of top talents in all industries and leadership positions in various national governments and international organizations. But Korea's fixation over its relative pecking order in the global hierarchy and need to project the best image possible to the outside world ― whatever the internal reality and sacrifice ― has now proven itself to be outright dangerous to the very lives of its citizens.

But it's not just the government. Everyone's infected by the same national image disease. A recent story about Jung Yoon Kim, a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology who made up that both Stanford and Harvard inviting her to attend both schools with a full scholarship, speaks to this point. What's interesting about this story is not that she lied. Kids under pressure lie all the time for various reasons. However, what I did note with interest was the public reaction to the original narrative ― how people seemed to celebrate her individual achievements almost exclusively in the context of her positive contributions to the Korean image. Michelle Wie or Fleur Pellerin, anyone?

Korea's obsession over its national image seems to be a fundamental mental construct that shapes not only its self-worth, but also the very sociopolitical norms that drive its governance. Just like Sewol protests, I wouldn't be surprised if some in the government start accusing people who vocally complain of government's ineptitude over the MERS crisis for being communist sympathizers and shills for Kim Jong-un. I mean, if the parents who lost their children in the Sewol tragedy can be painted to look like money-hungry, shameless commie sympathizers, it shouldn't be a stretch to do the same to people who complain about MERS too loudly.

And that's the real tragedy of Korea's national image preoccupation. It has become a tool to silence any vigorous public debate that is a key driver of a healthy democratic society. If anything that criticizes the government or puts a negative light on Korea is seen to negatively impact the national image, then you are in effect giving a blank check for non-accountability and incompetence at the highest levels of the society. Now, how will that look to the world?

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

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