"What do Americans think of Korea?!"

It's Friday afternoon and I just finished lunch at JiJeong Middle School. JiJeong is located in the rural countryside about 20 minutes outside of bustling Wonju . Here farms mingle with the rolling hills, they line the roads and are filled with flowering, thriving and sometimes overgrown squash, corn, rice, potatoes, flowers. The air seems moist here and the hills are shrouded in fog during the early morning.

Its only 1pm and I don't leave the school until 3:30pm. I have free time until then as I've already taught all three of my classes. (Which is a breeze here with only 30 students total, compared to the chaos that usually ensuses at Sangji.)

On the bus ride to school this morning I decided I needed to write a blog clearning up some of the common misconseptions about Korea... The idea has morfed since this morning and I think instead I'll discuss my reactions to one of people's favorite questions to ask me: "what do American's think of Korea?!"


I always have to cringe and it makes me a little sad when the girls at my middle school, or even the other teachers, ask me "what do Americans think of Korea?" or "What do American's know about Korea, do they like Korea?" -- I always wish I had something to say! The best answer is probably that we just don't think of Korea (or many countries outside of Europe). I believe that most Americans, and I definitely include myself in this group, don't think much about what goes on in the rest of the world unless it effects them. There are many complex reasons to explain this... (we are such a huge country in itself, we emphasize American history in school over world history, we are literally "cut off" from the world by two oceans, our news media coverage is very localized, English is our national language and English is, lucky for us, the language the world has decided is "the" language to know.)

The only answers I can squeak out when asked these questions are vague references to Korean BBQ, kimchi, Seoul, North Korean tension... While my middle school girls just look down/sad/frown when I say American teens don't know what kimchi is or who Rain or the Wonder Girls are (find them on You Tube) some questions are more pointed. Today a history teacher asked me what the US knows of Korea. I told him not enough and that our schools should do more. He nodded and went on to explain that he had just finished teaching the American Revolution, the Civil War... I could tell he was saddened that he and his students knew a lot about the US while I, we Americans, know very little about Korea.

Conversly why do Korean's know so much about America? It has a lot to do with war. For fifty years, from about 1900 until the end of WWII, Korea was occupied by Japan. Many children know the word "colonize" or "colony" because they have been taught that is what Korea was to Japan. I didn't realize this before, but many older Koreans still bear some tension/ill will/unease towards the Japanese. I'm sure some of them, or at least their parents, remember when Japan controlled Korea. This era is known as a time when Korean culture was very much looked down on and the Japan tried to stamp it out. It was only when the Allied powers defeated Japan in WWII that Japan's hold on Korea was lost. And thus the Soviet Union poured into Korea from the north in China and the US hopped on ships and came over from the south of Japan. Whatever the various political and economic reasons for this, Korean's see the US as a sort of savior... or, that is a strong word, at least very protective friend. At the International Music festival we went to in Wonju last Saturday an American cowboy and a traditionally dressed Korean sang a duet about how America and Korea were "united in freedom" and would always be friends. The end of WWII is how North and South Korea were created. During the Korean War North Korea tried to invade South Korea. Again for whatever reason (a stronghold in Asia? Stop communism? Help the many Christian Koreans?) the US intervened. I find it very interesting that while in the US the Korean war is usually considered as having been unnecessary (and it is a war I know very little about even though my Grandmother's husband George served in it!) here in Korea the war scored major points for the US in the eyes of Koreans. Today American pop culture is everywhere, especially seen in music and movies. Today the history teacher also told me how much he liked American westerns with the likes of John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. He also asked me if California had a lot of gold.

In the US when we think of Korea, if we know anything at all (I'm not saying I knew much either!) we think of: North Korea, North Korea nuclear/arms threats, poor people, weird food and weird bathrooms... Maybe I'm being harsh and I'm really just pointing out my own limitations, I know I am generalizing, but I don't think everything I'm saying is too far off base. I also find it interesting that in the US we do lump North and South Korea together. While they are definitely two very distinct countries, Koreans generally wish for unification and want to help their brothers and sisters in the North. There is a large zone between the two countries called the DMZ (demilitarized sone) that is guarded on both sides. If you wander into Noth Korea you wil be captured and you will not be released. So while American lumping of the two countries is incorrect, it does unconciously recongnize the longing of the South Korean people to be a whole country. They consider themselves a people divided. Whatever peoples individual hopes for or against unity, one Korean college professor shared with us his serious personal doubts that it will happen any time soon, or peacefully. He explained how North Korea is very poor, with little resources, an aging leader and a people surpressed. Yet if the country was to go to war with the US or the South, they would surreally win and thus destroy themselves. This would also be bad because he believes other powers, like China and Japan, would rush into the chaos and try to claim land for themselves. Ultimately he believes if the North collapses little by little than the South will be able to come in and take over. His concern really did seem to be for the people of North Korea. If the country collapses and fighting starts, he believes the innoccent with suffer the most.

If anyone has further comments/disagrees/thinks I'm talking without knowing the facts, please comment! I'm just offering some observations and thoughts.