In the eyes of foreigners, Korea must be a land of mystery in many respects. Once a destitute country ravaged by war and military dictatorships, South Korea has now achieved both unprecedented democratization and astonishing economic success called the “Miracle of the Han River” in the short span of 60 years. As a result, these days the Korean people can thoroughly enjoy freedom of speech and press, and frequently encounter Hyundai and KIA cars, Samsung smartphones and LG appliances when traveling in foreign countries. 

Another mystery, or perhaps “wonder,” is the “Korean wave” and the widespread popularity of K-pop all over the world. Indeed, who could have imagined Korean pop songs and television dramas would enchant young people not only in Asia, but also in Europe and the United States?

Last year when I stayed in the United States, I was amazed by American students’ fascination with K-pop. Singing the Korean lyrics to songs by groups like Girls’ Generation, American students told me that they would love to visit Korea and learn the Korean language and culture.

Indeed, thousands of foreign students are now studying the Korean language in Korea, and amazingly more than 150,000 foreigners take the Korean language proficiency test called TOPIK in 177 locations all over the world annually. The Korean language is by no means an easy language to learn, and yet it has emerged as one of the most popular languages for foreign students.

In travelogues written by foreigners who visited Korea in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Koreans were depicted as extremely lazy with filthy and unhygienic living conditions, as the country was hopelessly poor. Today, however, foreigners are quite impressed by Koreans’ diligence and cleanliness. Foreigners who came to Korea in the early 20th century also complained about the intolerably slow tempo of the Korean people, who always seemed to be leisurely strolling, smoking a long bamboo pipe. Today, however, Koreans are astoundingly fast and dynamic.

Foreigners also wonder how South Korean society is able to stay intact despite the chronic feuds and antagonism between ideologically different factions. Indeed, it is a wonder that South Korea is still prosperous despite constant internal conflicts and factional skirmishes. “It’s a mystery,” a foreigner once told me, “that South Korea has not fallen apart yet, after all those ongoing internal brawls and scuffles.”

Foreigners are also perplexed by the fact that South Korea, whose economy heavily depends on exports (more than 90 percent, according to a recent newspaper report), is full of anti-foreign, jingoistic nationalists. What if one day, some of our major customers abruptly stop importing Korean goods out of resentment? Our economy would immediately falter and eventually collapse within a few months. Has it ever occurred to the anti-American, anti-Western and anti-Japanese demagogues that such a dreadful situation might actually unfold? Of course, it is premature to predict such a disaster. Nevertheless, one should realize that it is common courtesy for a seller to be friendly and courteous to buyers, instead of antagonizing them.

Foreigners also find it mysterious that in Korea, it is not the rightwing, but the left wing, that is nationalist. Strangely, the Korean leftist nationalists who vehemently denounce Western culture tend to think of Marxism not as an ideology from the West. Catholic leftists, too, think of Catholicism not as a Western religion, but as an indigenous religion of our own. I have met a number of devoted Catholic churchgoers who are stout anti-Western nationalists. But it never seems to occur to them that the Catholic Church is from the West.

Foreigners find it perplexing that the Korean streets are full of Korean cars manufactured by Hyundai, Kia and Ssangyong, whileforeign cars are hard to find. Foreigners are also bewildered by the Korean people’s vehement opposition to the WTO, free trade agreements or the Jeju naval base, all of which can be ultimately beneficial to Korea. It is equally baffling for foreigners that there are so many pro-North Korean leftists in South Korea.

In Korea, more absurd things can be found as well. In the 1980s, for example, Korean leftist demagogues imported liberation theology and dependency theory from Latin America. But these theories were totally inapplicable to South Korea because Korea was different from South American countries in many respects. At that time, Korean leftists also called South Korea a Third World country, which was equally wrong; South Korea by definition was not, and still is not a Third World country. But the leftists exploited such concepts and words to deliberately inflame anti-American sentiment.

Foreigners also find it mysterious that Koreans continue to vehemently and incessantly protest against Japanese rule, while they curiously seem to be silent about Chinese rule which lasted much longer. Of course, the two are different in practice. Nevertheless, foreigners, who perceive the essential similarities, wonder why Koreans react so differently to the two systems.

Korea is a land of mystery, full of contradictions and logical fallacies, but not without its amazing wonders as well. Perhaps that is why foreigners are attracted to this once Hermit Kingdom, now a dynamic and intriguing country.

By Kim Seong-kon

Kim Seong-kon is a professor of English at Seoul National University and president of the Literature Translation Institute of Korea. ― Ed.