On the one hand, whatever happens in Korea to Korea and Koreans is none of my business. This is a country run by a democratically elected government and whatever direction they choose to take is up to them. This is their country and the future should be theirs to decide. On the other hand, the actions they take here affect other people.
One group in my Advanced Speaking class recently did a presentation on the controversy over the planned move of the U.S. Yongsan base to Pyeongtaek. All but one of my 24 students said that the base should be constructed at Pyeongtaek without further ado. I hadn’t expected this. Their presentation was quite interesting for me, but the discussions that followed were even more interesting. Any time that the
In general, I try not to get involved in a lot of political discussion with my students. I don’t want to offend them with my skepticism. I also don’t really care that much about what politicians anywhere are saying and doing. However, I was disappointed in their attitude. This attitude wasn’t based on a changing political reality. They simple felt it would be too expensive to reunify. It makes me sad to think that Koreans, after years of hoping that they could reunify their country, have changed because it would be financially difficult to do so. The thought that divided families should to be reunited wasn’t even brought up.
To be fair, I don’t know if this is just a generational thing. Most of my discussions with have been with college-age people. It’s possible that older people still passionately want reunification, and that it is only the younger generation that doesn’t, but I don’t think so. After the Asian financial crisis, threats to peoples’ livelihoods here are taken very seriously and no one wants to jeopardize their chances.
Let me provide a little background that may explain my feelings of disappointment. It’s a little difficult for ex-pats who came to
People here really believed that they were ONE people - Koreans. It was a very emotional time. The division of the peninsula was still like an open wound.
After the fall of the
50 years after the fighting ended, many of the people for whom the war was a defining moment have passed away. The ties that bind young Koreans to uncles, aunts, grandfathers, or grandmothers in another country just don’t seem that strong.
As well, South Koreans' feelings about North Koreans have really changed. Many South Koreans have traveled to
I don’t think anyone has a right to tell Koreans what they should do. If they don’t want to reunify, that’s their choice. If they want to reunify under Northern rule or Southern rule, that’s their choice, too. If they can come up with a different idea, that’s their right, too. But, to abandon their northern brethren because the financial sacrifice would be too great is disappointing. To have to give up a trip to
2 comments:
Interesting post. I can't help thinking, though, that the "family" is no longer family for the young. They've never seen their distant relatives in the north, nor corresponded with them. To all intents and purposes, they are not family at all. There is no living basis for the reunification anymore (for the young). Much like Taiwan and China, the two countries, despite the rhetoric, really are separate countries, with very few who can remember a time when there were no borders.
I think even those of the 386 generation do nothing more than give lip-service to the idea of reunification. I can understand Koreans not wanting to risk war by standing up to the North Korean government, but to openly support the North Korean government 'at all costs' shows that more and more South Koreans even oppose the North Korean government collapsing on its own. Yes, reunification would be costly, but what would it really mean to the average citizens? They'd have to live in a 35 pyeong apartment rather than a 45 pyeong apartment? They'd have to drive an Avante rather than get a new SUV? Put off buying a big screen TV for a few more years? Yeah, screw reunification.
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