Korean Job Discussion Forums

[xpat]

The following is an excerpt from a pretty intersting article written by a Korean professor in the U.S. comparing the differences between American and Korean society.

[flarestar]

[Moldy Rutabaga]

Good article. Thanks for the link.

Ken:>

[redaxe]

"If It�s Different, It�s Wrong

In Korea when a thing is different from the rest of the group it belongs to, it is often regarded as wrong.
In fact, the Korean word �tul-lee-dah� that is equivalent to �different� in English also means �wrong.�
This is because Koreans value uniformity and conformity almost too much. The strong community-
based spirit in Korea tends to promote not equality but equal quality."

I was thinking about this myself recently, how they use 틀리다 to mean both "different" and "wrong." It's rather telling.

[Epicurus]

WOW.

this article is pretty mind-blowing.

I may not agree with everything the Korean professor says, but coming from a Korean and an expert in a field under which I have a lot of experience and some expertise, I have to tip my cap to him.

doesn't THIS particular sentence pretty much sum up almost every Korea complaining post on Dave's which is then summarily described as "racist", etc.?

[kg2095]

[asams]

[Goku]

This article spoke to me.

Especially the part about moral behavior. The face saving, and the behind the doors ok mentality really analyzed much of the behavior we see in Korea.

While not speaking from a judgmental tone but purely from a observational standpoint, i had theorized that Korean culture has an amoral social problem.

Take cheating for example, a lot of question the norebangs, double barber poles, and all of the other forms of alternative cheating. What seems to be this absence of guilt only really manifests when someone else finds out about it (and the guilt is being caught, not to the pain they caused their partner). There is a Korean TV show that displays this (although in my opinion is wholly staged) with a lot of couples cheating on each other. The obvious lack of any sort of guilt is apparent even when caught.

The punishment is public embarrassment but they don't seem to have any apparent guilty conscience or pangs of empathy for the person they hurt. After suffering from my own breakup due to cheating, I was irrationally distraught and tried to understand why my partner felt no guilt. Even she seemed to want to deepen the wounds by telling me about him and how wonderful he is and he made her feel (What a nice girl).

There seems to be this common underlying theme of no consciouses or guiltless behavior. As actions that cause other pains, that are OUTSIDE their area of concern (not family) still don't strike a chord with many people. I've seen this in my Korean friends too as their consciousness doesn't seem to extend to others in terms or their needs or desires. There of course, exist obligations, but what I consider emotionally attachment was not as strong as the west I theorize. However, what confounds me more is the ajumma mother of Korea. Which I believe to be a strong and wonderfully emotional bond to the baby. So this paradox I can only explain as the child being within their circle of concern.

Here is my overall "feeling", Koreans are more emotional in acting and behaving... yet they aren't as empathetic or sympathetic to anyone that isn't like them. that's the vibe I'm getting anyways. However, this is a worldwide thing. People tend to feel empathy for people who are most like them, but in America, we actually take steps to care about people different from us.

This is a generalization and just a theory of course. By no means am i trying to judge the Korean people as morally inferior or anything, just it's simply a cultural difference.... or maybe genetc? (shrug)

[flarestar]

[fermentation]

[thoreau]

[crossmr]

[ThingsComeAround]

[eamo]

I'd agree it's a Confucian thing. Not specific to Korea.

It's an interesting article, but no real revelations for anyone who's been in Korea more than a year or two.

[typo]