Korea’s tunnel vision

By Oh Young-jin – The Korea Times

An inattentive observer wouldn’t understand Koreans’ feeling of being stuck in the same place.

After all, the country is known for its dynamism and vibrancy ― something new and big happening everyday so that newspapers need not worry about stories for their front pages the next day.

Then, can this national case of immobility be explained?

It is the repetition of the same repertoire of big dynamic events to the point that spectators can no longer feel the sense of motion; losing the will to change status quo. A newcomer is surprised at the fast and furious turn of events, get into the groove and eventually feel stuck as well, given enough time.

This repertoire is composed of corruption high and low, inequality unchecked, parochialism prevalent, and resentment growing with a sense of despair set in by realizing it is an inescapable destiny. Young people call this sense of helplessness “Hell Joseon.” Old people accept it as tough luck.

However they may call it, it gives them a contradictory sense of being taken for a ride on the perpetually-rotating Mobius strip ― moving but being entrapped.

Then, could Korea cut this Gordian knot and get back on the path of forward-moving change as it has done before? Its future may depend on it. Or what ails Korea is the same incurable disease afflicting the world ― the beginning of class warfare between the top 1 percent and the remaining 99 percent. That is a subject for another time.

Now, here are four recent cases that may give a clue or two to help explain the sense of entrapment. The trick is that on the flip side, they may prove answers to this challenge.

Kim Young-ran Law

This latest anti-graft law is an offshoot from the 1960s and 1970s under the dictatorship when “decency police” on street patrols measured the length of women’s skirts and men’s hair.

The introduction of the 3/5/10 rule ― for bureaucrats and reporters, buying them meals worth more 30,000 won ($27), gifts (50,000 won), and cash payments (100,000 won) for weddings and funerals will be a crime punishable by fines or sometimes jail terms from Sept. 28.

This law assumes everybody is guilty until proven otherwise. Then, the execution of this law proves to be intrusive ― assigning the job of enforcers to “paparazzi” of a kind who will be out to catch the violators red-handedly for the government’s cash rewards. The crimes ― overeating, over-gifting and over-grieving ― could be so prevalent that the perpetrators could get tickets, similar to those for traffic infractions.

The law has received popular backing amid a litany of corruption cases.

Star prosecutors milk businesspeople for protection money through sophisticated methods such as stock trades and gain relatives plum deals from chaebol in return for conniving at shady deals. A senior presidential secretary is hiding behind his boss’s skirt to deflect influence-peddling allegations.

This law, however, runs many risks ― accessorizing corruption, criminalizing the masses and deepening mutual distrust. But the biggest of all is to take the nation on a time travel back 40 years, showing it that little has changed since then and make it feel the futility of all efforts to make it better.

Volkswagen

Korea is as crude as China, one foreign firm’s executive said about the level of regulators. That’s not a compliment. Both countries have only one tool ― one that is crude and blunt ― and are ill prepared.

As for Volkswagen, the environment ministry devised a clean air act to punish it more severely but without success, and then slapped a sales ban on it but VW has not budged.

Why is it not scared? First, it looks down with justification on Korea’s consumer protection system ― no punitive damages or class-action suits, which explains the difference between the rich settlement in the United States and no deal for Koreans.

The lack of these is, ironically, aimed at helping the domestic industry grow, which has grown but the benefits are still intact. It would be a surprise if these protective systems are brought in as the result of the Volkswagen case.

As shown by a prosecutors’ investigation, Volkswagen got away with irregularities in the certification of imported vehicles. The practice was that only 3 percent were checked. What about cars of other importers? The loopholes are everywhere to take advantage of.

More importantly, the government should have read the situation facing VW from an international context. It is facing an existential challenge in the aftermath of the emissions cheating scandal. Already, it could no longer exist after all claims are settled. In a desperate situation, it may well feel that it should put up all resistance it can muster. It’s the Battle of the Bulge.

Korea should be patient and talk to it and find a solution that can help both sides.

American monk

Let Ven. Hyon Gak speak.

Don’t hold grudges against him for speaking his mind.

Rather listen to him especially the criticism.

He has been around long enough and knows what is seen to be wrong with Korean Buddhism. Knowing the defects is the first step to correcting them.

He has helped it grow out of parochialism so it is natural to recognize it.

Especially, don’t vilify him as it would only show how mean a host is to a guest.

THAAD

It is the Cold War nonstop on the Korean Peninsula, being frozen for 66 years after the start of the Korean War, although communism died toward the end of the 1980s. What was thought of as a forthcoming spring as the result of closer Seoul-Beijing ties turned out to be a brief unseasonable interlude. Alas!