Today in Korea

“ ‘왜’ 라고 묻지 않는 한국의 충동 소비자” (중앙일보 2016년 9월 10일)

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중앙일보

“ ‘왜’ 라고 묻지 않는 한국의 충동 소비자”

2016년 9월 10일

임마누엘 패스트라이쉬

 

일전에 나는 문구점에서 줄을 서고 있었다. 개학에 대비해 펜•연필•프린터용지를 사기 위해서였다. 계산대에 섰을 때 나는 현란한 모습으로 포장된 캔디바•사탕•초콜릿 같은 제품의 무더기와 마주쳤다. 하지만 그곳은 문구점이었다. ‘문구점에 건강에 안 좋은 간식이 이렇게 많이 눈에 띄는 이유는 뭐지’라고 나는 생각했다.

답은 뻔하다. 캔디바는 문구류와 아무 상관없지만 제일 잘 보이는 데 배치돼 있다. 캔디바는 손님들에게 필요도 없고 영양가도 없지만 손님들이 충동적으로 캔디바를 살 것이라고 상점 주인들이 기대하기 때문이다.

15년 전 한국에서는 요즘과 달리 캔디바를 쌓아 놓는 문구점을 발견할 수 없었다. 그때 문구점에는 사무나 공부에 필요한 종이와 펜을 사람들에게 공급한다는 뚜렷한 목표가 있었다.

모든 게 바뀌었다. 문구 상점은 사람들을 유혹해 그들이 필요하지 않은 물건을 사게 만든다. 비즈니스가 성공하려면 그러한 충동적인 행동을 유도하는 게 필요하다고 인식되고 있다.

같은 원칙은 서점에서도 적용된다. 학생들이 정치•문학•철학에 대한 책을 몰입해 읽던 자리의 일부를 동물 봉제 인형, 백팩 등 사소한 소품들이 차지하고 있다.

모든 레스토랑은 빛을 발하는 듯한 맛있는 음식 사진을 넣은 간판을 내걸고 있다. 우연히 레스토랑 앞을 지나가는 행인들의 욕구에 호소하기 위해서다.

우리는 뉴노멀(new normal)을 수용했다. 오늘의 경제는 사람들에게 필요한 것이나 사회에 좋은 것에 집중하지 않는다. 대신 사람들의 가장 원초적인 욕구에 어필해 그들이 충동적으로 물건을 사도록 설득한다. 그런 식으로 돈을 벌어야 한다는 게 뉴노멀의 가정이다. 그들이 구매한 물품이 진정 필요한 것인지는 고려의 대상이 아니다.

충동이나 단기적인 만족을 경제의 원동력으로 삼는다면 그 결과는 지극히 위험하다. 원초적인 갈망이나 허구적인 욕구를 만족시키는 것 외에는 인간 활동에서 더 큰 의미를 찾을 수 없게 된다. 시민은 소비자가 된다. 자신의 행동에서 그 어떤 상위의 윤리적 목표도 찾을 수 없는 소비자다. 뭔가 보다 위대한 국가적 계획은 더 이상 없다. 소비자들은 미래에 대해 생각하지 않는다. 그들을 노리는 영업하는 사람들은 이윤 추구 외에 관심이 없다.

경제에 대한 그러한 접근법은 외부에서 침투한 것이라 한국 문화와 맞지 않는다. 한국의 핵심적 가치는 인내•자제•겸손, 그리고 절제된 의복이나 일상생활에서 발견되는 검소함이다. 전통 사회에서는 잘사는 집안도 이러한 절제의 문화를 실천했다. 옛날 한국의 잘사는 사람들은 그다지 대단하지 않은 평범한 가옥에서 살았다. 유럽의 부유층과 달리 그들은 으리으리한 대저택이나 타운하우스에서 살지 않았다.

근검절약을 강조하는 전통 한국인들은 밥 한 톨도 아꼈으며 아무것도 내다 버리지 않았다. 한국의 미학에서 핵심적인 자리를 차지한 것은 아무런 꾸밈이 없는 소박한 물품들이었다.

충동 경제의 비극은 단순히 불필요한 낭비에 국한되지 않는다. 사람들의 삶에서 ‘왜’라고 묻는 감각이 사라진 게 문제다. 그들은 그저 남들이 하는 대로 따라 한다. 그들은 소비자일 뿐이지 시민도 아니고 가족의 구성원도 아니다. 인과관계에 대한 이해도 궁극적으로 붕괴한다. 사람들은 모든 일이 그저 우연히 발생한다고 느낀다. 자신의 행동과 벌어지는 일들 사이에 어떤 관계가 있는지 모른다.

많은 젊은이가 소비하라는 압박을 받는다. 그들은 자신들이 왜 소비하는지 모른다. 그들은 사회적인 압력이나 마케팅 때문에 소비 행동에 착수하도록 강요되는 느낌을 받지만 소비에서 만족을 얻지 못한다. 의미 있는 친구나 의미 있는 소유물이 사라진 가운데 개개인은 점점 더 외롭다.

충동을 기반으로 하는 경제에는 더 큰 어둠이 내재돼 있다. 충동 경제는 문화적 퇴폐주의를 부추긴다. 퇴폐주의는 보수와 리버럴(liberal)을 따지지 않고 사회 곳곳의 모든 측면에 스며든다. 옳고 그름을 가려내거나, 더 나은 사회를 구상하거나, 도덕적 판단을 할 수 있는 능력이 퇴보한다. 우리는 독립적으로 생각하고, 행동을 통제하고, 심각한 사회문제에 대응하는 능력을 상실했다. 그렇기 때문에 우리는 더 이상 사회의 구성원이 아니게 된다

한국의 젊은 세대는 ‘충동적인 행동은 긍정적인 것’이라고 생각하도록 교육받고 있다. 이런 세대는 모순적인 사실(事實•fact)을 이해하는 노력에 필요한 인내력이나 자기통제력이 결여될 것이다. 편의적인 허구와 복합적인 진리를 구분하는 능력도 없을 것이다. 우리는 우리 사회의 미래를 상상하고 능동적으로 미래 목표를 위해 일하는 능력을 상실할 위험에 빠져 있다. 꼭 필요 없는 사치가 치명적인 수동성으로 이끄는 가운데 우리는 이해 능력을 벗어난 사회의 전개에 끌려다니는 우리 모습을 발견한다.

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Calligraphy for “Earth”

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I had an opportunity to attend an exhibition of calligraphy at the Gyeongbok Gung Station in Seoul last month that featured work by Korean, Chinese and Japanese artists. One Japanese woman produced this remarkable piece which features a version of the characters for “Earth” (地球）in which that latter one,  球, is shaped like the Earth. She told me that it was based on a Zhuan script version (篆書）version. I am afraid that I did not get her name. But here is a photograph.

 

ere

Space Aliens and the power of the media in South Korea

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A South Korean friend remarked to me this evening that if South Korea

were taken over by space aliens tomorrow and they were crawling all over

Seoul and their space ships blocking traffic, that if the mainstream Korean media

never mentioned a word about space aliens and

completely ignored their activities most Koreans would pay not

attention to the space aliens and in most

cases would pretend that they did not exist even in such cases

that they got in the way.

What do you think?

 

“Frenemy” (프레너미) and Korean perspectives on the contradictions of US-China relations

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Hot book just released in Seoul!

 frendmy

A new book on US-China relations has just come out in Korea titled  “Frenemy” (프레너미) which tries to present an assessment of the complex and contradictory nature of US-China relations from a Korean perspective. I do not have a copy, buy I intend to buy one and see what exactly the Korean take is on the paradoxes of US-China cooperation and confrontation.

The Cover of “Frenemy” reads:

“In international relations there is no permanent friend or permanent enemy.

What will be Korea’s new compass: The United States or China?”

Read about the desires of the United States and China as revealed in the THAAD crisis.”

The book is authored by Lee Woo-tak (이우탁) of Yonhap News and Park Hanjin (박한진) of KOTRA

More details are available in Korean at

 

Korea’s media leaves out climate change

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This article in the Korea Herald talks about the profitability of coal-fired power plants because of the heat wave but does not mention a word about climate change, the cause of the heatwave, or about the profoundly negative impact of coal power plants on the climate. There are lots of things to be unhappy with, but this irresponsible behavior is a matter of life and death. The focus is place on the billing for electricity, and not on the profound challenge of climate change–for which Korean industry and government has no plan at all.

 

(thanks to Malcolm Wrest for this reference)

 

 

The Korea Herald

“Heat wave boosts profits of coal-fired power plants”

 2016-08-22

Five Korean coal-fired power plants operated by a state-run company have seen a

sharp rise in their profitability amid the weeks-long heatwave, data showed Monday.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service and power industry sources, the five coal-powered plants run by

Korea Electronic Power Corp. recorded profit rates – operating profit as a proportion of total sales —

of about 15 percent to 22.5 percent from January to June this year.


Korea East-West Power saw the highest increase to 22.5 percent, which is 9 percentage points higher than last year.

Korea South-East Power and Korea Western Power saw their profit rates rise to 20 percent.

Korea Southern Power and Korea Midland Power, whose profit rates

had been around 5 percent, saw a surge to 16.5 percent and 14.9 percent, respectively.

KEPCO, which purchases the power from those five companies and sells it to customers, also saw a 46 percent rise in its

operating profit to 6.4 trillion won ($5.7 billion). This is equivalent to earning 34.7 billion won a day in the first half of this year.

KEPCO hit the record high operating profit last year of over 11 trillion won.

The state-run company is projected to break the record again this year,

thanks to plummeting wholesale prices of power and rising demand.

The wholesale price of the power hit a record low of 65.31 won per kilowatt-hour in June, the lowest point in seven years.

The sweltering heat that started early, in May also contributed to the demand increase.

Seoul City saw temperatures hit 37 degrees Celsius on Monday, the highest in 22 years. The Korea Meteorological

Administration forecasted that the heat wave would continue until the end of this month.

Amid the heat wave and rising profitability of power companies, public voices have

grown over reforming the current power bill system that only charges cumulative bills to households.

The industry sector and self-employed businessmen are exempt from the cumulative charge system despite the high demand.

As the public demand escalated earlier this month, the government and ruling

Saenuri Party set up a task force to draw measures of revising the electricity bill system.

Electric fans in the subway

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I am not bothered by Koreans lacking certain “Western” habits and I think that Korea is plenty sophisticated in its own way. But there is one thing about Korea that really bugs me: the complete lack of concern for the impact of our actions on the environment. Most notably, we have seen a great enthusiasm for small plastic fans that can be held in hand, or even powered by smart phones. They sell for just 9000 Won. But no one seems to think about the impact on the environment of that unnecessary use of plastics (petroleum) batteries and other materials. Or the waste of electricity (generated by nuclear power, natural gas, coal or petroleum) required. The bottom line is that you can use your own hands to power a fan. No need for an electric fan. Such actions are indulgent and thoughtless when we think about the impending doom of climate change.

 

 

classic hand-powered fan and wasteful electric fan.
classic hand-powered fan and wasteful electric fan.
Electric fans for sale
Electric fans for sale

“Making Korean smartphones smarter” (JoongAng Daily June 20, 2016)

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JoongAng Daily

“Making Korean smartphones smarter”

June 20, 2016

Emanuel Pastreich

 

The craze with smartphones in Korea today reminds me of the glory days for Motorola cellphones when I studied in Tokyo in the late 1980s. I took tremendous pride that America was able to produce the thinnest and most powerful cell phones, ones that could not be matched even by the IT powerhouse Japan.

But Americans were drunk at the time on our success. Motorola started putting more money into marketing and sales, and less into long-term technological development. Moreover, American industry became obsessed with profits and ceased to think carefully about what the future of manufacturing would be.

I worry that Korea will lose control in the smartphone market because firms in China, Vietnam and elsewhere develop cheaper and more sophisticated versions, and because Korean smartphone firms grew inebriated with their current positive image and short-term market share and failed to take the steps required to keep on top.

But the problem goes far deeper. The designs of smartphones in Korea are identical with those made elsewhere in the world. There is no distinctive Korean layout employed in Korean smartphones, or designs and patterns in the form of the phone, or the graphics used within the programs that are based on Korea’s artistic past. If anything, Korea’s smartphone has been developed with the assumption that it should not appear Korean in any sense.

Moreover the production of emoticons and applications for smartphones is essentially cut off from the millions of creative young Koreans who use those phones. High school students cannot easily design emoticons and sell them to each other, or to other young people around the world. College students cannot get easy financing to create new social network programs that can go beyond applications like Facebook in terms of flexibility and creativity, thus allowing our youth to build a robust and dynamic cyberspace throughout the region of East Asia. The production of smartphones themselves has less and less to do with Korea (as factories are built around the world) but the culture that flows through those smartphones should be made by the youth of Korea directly.

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“The poor Chinese book section” (JoongAng Daily June 8, 2016)

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JoongAng Daily

“The poor Chinese book section”

June 8, 2016

 

Emanuel Pastreich

 

 

I visited a big bookstore in Gwanghwamun last week looking for some recent books written in Chinese about politics and economics.

Since May 16, the fiftieth anniversary of the launch of the Cultural Revolution in China, there has been a very heated debate within China about the legacy of Mao Zedong, which includes a diverse range of opinions. I have read a bit on the Internet about recent debates in China and I wanted to read in a bit more detail.

The foreign books section of the mammoth bookstore has been remodeled recently and I was told that there would be a Chinese book section a few months ago. That made sense. After all, there is a substantial population of Koreans who read Chinese and many Koreans take a strong interest in contemporary China. Moreover, the Chinese population of Seoul has increased not only in terms of tourists, but also in terms of exchange students and long-term residents.

But the Chinese book section that I found at the bookstore is one of the poorest collections of books I have ever seen. The Chinese books are hidden away in a corner of the Japanese book section without any signage indicating that the books are in the Chinese language. Unless you asked an employee, you would not know this section existed.

There are only seven shelves of Chinese language books, and Chinese language textbooks take up the top two shelves. The remaining shelves are filled with Chinese translations of foreign books by notable authors like Murakami Haruki and J. K. Rowling — and a biography of Barack Obama and a few Chinese translations of the Bible. 

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“A cleaner Korean dream” (JoongAng Daily May 9, 2016)

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JoongAng Daily

“A cleaner Korean dream”

May 9, 2016

 

 

Emanuel Pastreich

 

My daughter played for the first time on the football team of her school over the weekend. I was proud to see her score a goal and make several critical assists for her teammates. But then I was awakened repeatedly from sleep by her coughing late at night.

I am glad to have my family living with me here in Seoul and to have my children learn about Korean culture. I have often argued to others that our children have tremendous opportunities living here that they would not have in the United States. But I am starting to wonder these days whether I should send my children to live somewhere else where the air is clean, a country where they can exercise outside without endangering their health.

I was deeply embarrassed when my father came to visit us in Korea last year. The first thing he remarked when he stepped out of Seoul Station was that the air smelled like Sulphur.

It is an open secret that the air in Korea, even in rural areas, is getting much worse and that the number of people who become ill as a result is increasing. There have been frequent cases of diesel automobiles on the market which violate restrictions on hazardous emissions — I can smell them when I walk by — and yet nothing is done to ban them.

The fine dust that endangers citizens has made the yellow dust blown from the spreading deserts of China, seem harmless compared with the fine dust particles in the air.

To blame this situation on China is inaccurate on many levels. Not only do many emissions of hazardous gases originate in Korea, the emissions from coal plants and other factories in China are not beyond Korea’s responsibility. Koreans build factories in China that do not hold high standards for emissions. Even more importantly, China in turn is directly influenced by Korea’s environmental policy. If Korea were strict about emissions and had an ambitious program to eliminate fossil fuels and mitigate climate change, in the manner that Sweden or Denmark do, the Chinese would take note of that fact and most likely would benchmark Korean policies accordingly. In fact, China is making a greater investment overall in renewables than Korea.

Several foreign friends have confessed to me that they are having trouble recruiting people to Korea these days because of the terrible air quality. I can see that the reputation of Korea has suffered terribly from this wanton destruction of the environment and thoughtless embrace of short-term growth.

Nothing was more telling than the near simultaneous resignations of Yvo de Boer, the director general of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), and Hela Cheikhrouhou, executive director of the Green Climate Fund. Whether those decisions were directly related to frustration with current Korean policies, I don’t know, but I do know for a fact that the decision of the Korean minister of the environment not to stay to the end of the COP 21 conference in Paris was noticed around the world.

Sadly, all we see in Korea these days is a booming market for various filters for the home, or automobile, that promise to make this uninhabitable climate more tolerable to those who can afford such devices. Most Koreans seem to be in deep denial about the impact of such terrible air on their health, let alone the catastrophe of climate change that awaits them.

The time has come for us to take a stand. Korea must move bravely forward and establish itself as the nation with the strictest rules on emissions in Asia and Korea should make it clear that all coal-fired power stations will be closed down in the next five years, rather than increasing the number. Korea should be the model of a developing nation that moves beyond fossil fuels quickly.

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“Filial piety and Korea’s future” (JoongAng Daily April 18, 2016)

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JoongAng Daily
“Filial piety and Korea’s future”
April 18, 2016

 

Emanuel Pastreich

 

When I wrote the book “Another Republic of Korea, of which Koreans are Ignorant,” I spent hours deciding which part of traditional Korean culture could serve as a blueprint for its future development. I wrote the outline for a chapter about the value of filial piety for Korea’s future, but ultimately did not use it because the response to it from Korean friends was so lukewarm.

Koreans describe filial piety as an obligatory duty, but evince no particular enthusiasm for it.

Yet filial piety was not a quaint habit in the Joseon Dynasty, but rather the core of an ethical system that bridged abstract morality and concrete practice, one that brought together the private and the public realms to create a sustainable political system.

Chinese in the 18th century spoke highly of Korean filial piety, considering the respect Koreans showed for their elders and ancestors to be the mark of civilized society. It seems wrong-headed to leave out filial piety when we plan the future of Korea.

I visited Confucianland in Andong, a massive building crammed full of dioramas illustrating Confucian values with cartoonish figures. Although I understand the motivation for the amusement park, regrettably it seems more aimed at tourism than at promoting virtue, and it contains little that would draw in people over the age of twelve.

But the compassion for others found in filial piety is desperately needed in our society, in a country in where elder parents are abandoned by their children, and similarly youth are so alienated from family that they commit suicide in despair.

The Korean tradition of filial piety must be revived, but that can only be done if we first accept that filial piety must be completely reinterpreted and made a living, breathing part of daily life, and not an abstract concept. We must use our imagination to radically reinvent filial piety. We need intellectuals to work together with artists, writers and common citizens to reinterpret the tradition for the present day—the work cannot be done by “branding committees” or PR consultants.

First, filial piety must be stripped of any bias against women. Korean society has changed fundamentally and the Confucian tradition must be gender neutral. There are plenty of examples of such reforms in the Jewish and Christian traditions. Women should be important ancestors and they should participate in the Confucian rites in the same manner as men. A failure to reform the tradition will result in its loss.

Second, filial piety must be understood not only as a moral duty but as a process that leads to self-understanding. Filial piety is the key to our own true identity because we understand how we are a product of the contributions of ancestors about whom we know so little.

We need to use storytelling to revitalize the filial piety tradition and parents should tell their children about past ancestors and allow them to see how their thinking, the shapes of their bodies and their experiences are related to past generations. Filial piety offers a form of psychological understanding which is akin to, but more constructive than, Freudian approaches. The critical role of the parent in the lives of children is recognized through filial piety, not in abstract scientific analysis, but in daily practices that reinforce positives of the relationship.

After Bertrand Russell spent a year in Beijing giving lectures in 1920, he noted in his book, “The Problem with China,” that Confucian filial piety was a far preferable system for running a government than the “patriotism [which] directs one’s loyalty to a fighting unit” employed in Western nations. These words have profound significance. Filial piety offers potential for a unifying philosophy connecting the personal and the political. It is not a simplistic “ideology,” nor dependent on any “patriotism” that can easily descend into militarism. Koreans were criticized by Westerners in the 19th century for placing too much emphasis on family, but perhaps it was precisely filial piety that kept Korea from becoming imperialist and has allowed it to retain humanity in government institutions.