Op-Ed Contributor - South Korea’s Collective Shrug - NYTimes.com

Op-Ed Contributor - South Korea’s Collective Shrug - NYTimes.com

ONE of the students at my university was killed in the attack that sank a South Korean naval vessel on March 26. A visual communications major, Mun Yeong-uk was only a few months from concluding his military service when a North Korean torpedo split the warship, the Cheonan, in half. His classmates loyally collected money for his family’s funeral expenses, but I was struck by how few people on our campus evinced any real anger toward the regime of Kim Jong-il.

This lack of indignation is mainstream here. Most people now accept North Korea’s responsibility for the sinking that killed Mr. Mun and 45 other sailors. A small but sizable minority suspect an elaborate government conspiracy of some sort. What almost all seem to share is the desire that South Korea put this unfortunate business behind it as soon as possible.
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This article accurate expresses attitudes I saw during my more than two year stay in South Korea. These attitudes were a surprise to me and just about every other non Korea I met there. The common sympathy and race identification of Koreans seemed very bizarre to me. It seemed to be a throw back to an ancient since of tribalism, an attitude indirect opposition to the empirical reality of the present situation on the peninsula. It is all very puzzling. South Koreans generally have an unrealistic view of the world with little understanding of world history or the political machinations of other governments. The real shocker was the lack of any real intellectual curiosity concerning these issues.


John H. Armwood