Flunkyism South Korea 1

온고지신 (溫故知新, “Ohn Gho Ji Shin”) : South Korea’s Flunkyism

English 205

Sanghun Bruce Ham

Dec 7 2013

[Comparasion…]

Gangnam…

Flunkyism South Korea 2

Abstract

After World War II, the Korean Peninsula was divided into South and North Korea based upon

the agreement of the U.S. and the Soviet Union. As the U.S. military occupied in the Southern

part of the Korean Peninsula, South Korea adapted the U.S. form of political system, democracy,

and capitalism. In terms of economy, South Korea has achieved a great success for three to four

decades after the Korean War with significant national wide political events: two military

regime, IMF, and revolution. However, on the dark side, South Korean society faces several

social issues—high suicide rate, dishonorable title: cosmetic surgery country—from paradigm

shifting. South Korea, Confucianism system based, has been changing rapidly last six decades

with capitalism and democracy. Confucianism helps to understand the problems occurring in

South Korea such as high suicide rate. Also, the globalism and the dominance of Western culture

explain the cosmetic surgery boom in South Korea.

Author Bio

Sanghun Bruce Ham is native South Korean born June 1st, 1987 in Seoul, South Korea. Ham

grew up in Seoul until 2006. He joined R.O.K (Republic of Korea) Marines corps from July,

2006 to July, 2008 at the age of 18 to complete military service as a South Korean. In April,

2009, Ham left Seoul for Gold Coast, Australia to experience Western culture in the Oceania

continent. He came back to Seoul in January, 2010 and left for Seattle, WA, USA to pursue a

college level degree. He committed to Seattle Central Community College from January, 2011 to

June, 2012. In October 2013, He is currently pursuing Association in Business (Accounting) and

expecting to graduate in December 2013.

Flunkyism South Korea 3

Old Seoul, South Korea, did not look like contemporary Seoul packed by skyscrapers in

the picture on the front page. The old South Koreans did not look like the South Korean woman

on the front page. “옛 것을 익히고 새로운 것을 배운다.” This phrase is the definition of

온고지신 (溫故知新“Ohn Gho Ji Shin”) meaning “Review the old things and learn new things.”

It’s one of Confucius’1 old sayings. What Confucius originally meant, in the first place, was if

one can learn or find out something new out of old ideas or things, that one can become a teacher

of somebody else. Fundamentally, 온고지신 meant to say the problem that are currently

occurring can be solved by old ideas or when one wants to learn something new, it’s better to

know old things well.

In addition, 온고지신 also has a message to modern Korea not to adapt new (foreign)

cultures thoughtlessly because of the mistaken idea that the Western culture is always better,

which is called Flunkyism2. The Western countries have been leading the cultural trend of the

world, reflected in many different ways. South Korea, for example, is not free from the Western

cultural influence. South Korea society shows some social issues from having been led by the

Western cultures, especially by the U.S., and with the old South Korea culture.

Because of the 5,000 year-long history of South Korea and the importance of its location,

the Korean peninsula has been a target of neighbor countries around Korea: China, Russia, and

Japan; some influence from neighbor countries were unavoidable. To understand the influence of

the U.S. on recent South Korea’s atmosphere, having knowledge of the modern history of South

Korea around the Korean War is necessary.

1Confucius & Confucianism: An ancient Chinese way of thought that has spread through much of East Asia, is often described as a religion.

Perhaps a more accurate definition of Confucianism is that it is a detailed code of interpersonal behavior. In cultures where it is embraced,

Confucianism is a practical political and social doctrine.(Asia-Pacific)

2According to Collins dictionary, Flunkyism is defined “1. the state of being a flunkey or servant 2. a behaviour or trait characteristic of a

flunkey.” (Flunkyism)

Flunkyism South Korea 4

“When whales fight, the shrimp’s back is broken”: The Beginning of Division in the

Korean Peninsula

In 1945, a temporarily designated borderline by the U.S. and the Soviet Union was not

expected to be permanent in the Korean Peninsula. However, the Korean Peninsula has been the

symbol of World War II and the Cold War3. The designated borderline, in 1945, has been

standing there for almost last seven decades. In August, 1945, The U.S. and The Soviet Union

agreed to demilitarize remaining Japanese troops in The Korean Peninsula, and The Korea

Peninsula was “temporarily” decided to be divided into two different Koreas at the 38th

parallel

with the Soviet Union in the North and the U.S. in the South (Mark P, 2012).

제 2차 세계대전이 끝나기 직전인 1945년 8월 10~11일 밤 미국은 비밀리에 북위

38도선을 경계로 한반도를 미･소 양국 점령 지역으로 분할하는 안을 만들었다.

미국은 즉시 이 한반도 분할 안을 소련에 제시했고, 소련은 이를 받아들였다. 그

결과, 한반도는 미･소 양국의 점령 지역으로 나누어지게 되었다 (Kim, 2003).

Translated by the author, around August 10th

-11th

, 1945, right before the World War 2

ended, the U.S. secretly planned and suggested to Soviet Union that The U.S. and the

Soviet Union divide Korea peninsula into South and North Korea based on 38th

parallel

and occupy, and the Soviet Union accepted this. As a result, Korea peninsula divided into

two different areas that two different countries occupy (Kim, 2003).

Originally, the division of The Korean Peninsula was not the proposal of the U.S. The

Korean Peninsula was a geographically significant place for the U.S. because the entire part of

the Korean Peninsula would have taken by the Soviet Union and became a danger for Japan, and

the U.S. evaluated Korea as a country that is not available to manage itself (Mark P, 2012).

3A state of political hostility and military tension between two countries or power blocs, involving propaganda, subversion, threats, economic

sanctions, and other measures short of open warfare, esp. that between the American and Soviet blocs after World War II. (The Cold War)

Flunkyism South Korea 5

The Korean Peninsula was thought to be a neutral

country that would fulfill the best peace in Asia, and

Korea trusteeship was supported by the Franklin D.

Roosevelt administration, by 1943, to be conserved to

avoid probable issue s among countries around Korea.

However, Britain disagreed and the U.S. stated “at the

proper moment after the downfall of Japan, [Korea] shall

become a free and independent country” (Mark P, 2012).

In June 25th

, 1950, before dawn breaks, the Korean

War broke out with North Korea’s sudden attack and the

war “lasted” for three years. Officially, the Korean

Peninsula is still ideologically, socially, and

culturally in the middle of the war (Boose, 1998).

When the war was eventually “over”, the

“temporary” designated borderline with the endless

length of fence, as the image [A solider…] shows,

has been standing out there over six decades, just

like the unremoved line at the 38th

parallel on the

map as the image on the right shows. (Boose, 1998)

Moreover, in the image [Map shows…], the

armistice line shows the current borderline between

South and North Korea. The reason the north part of

the peninsula is filled with red because red color

represents the communism as the flags of

communist countries like China and the Soviet Union are filled with red while blue color

represents democracy.

A soldier…

[Map shows…]

Flunkyism South Korea 6

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with the first step”: Transplanting the

U.S. Style of Democracy

According to Im’s journal “The US role in Korean democracy and security since cold

war era" (Im, 2006), published by political science department, Oxford University, in the

Southern part of independent Korea, the U.S. form of democracy settled down and became the

borderline of the U.S. as South Korea experienced capitalist market economy, education, and the

U.S. style of politics. The goal of the U.S. for South Korea was to be anti-Communist during the

Cold War. In 1948, as the United States occupied South Korea, all adult South Koreans had

universal suffrage to set Constitutional Assembly. The universal suffrage to South Koreans

seemed daunting because of the total lack of South Koreans’ democracy experience throughout

history including Japanese colonial time and Chosun Dynasty. Because of premature democracy,

coordinated parties stole the opportunities from lower class by spreading out the problems of

sudden enfranchisement and land redistribution in South Korea. Meanwhile, the United States

had two paradoxical purposes in South Korea. The first one is to promote communist nations and

the Third World nations, the United Sates tried to develop South Korea as ‘a showcase for

democracy.’ The other purpose was to limit the power of South Korean democracy. The United

States hoped South Korea to maintain in the mid-range of democracy (Im, 2006).

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with the first step”: Transplanting the

U.S. Style of Capitalism

South Korea, in the early 1960, rapidly became known as a powerful and effective

economic country with isolating the domestic market from the world competition and exploiting

the world market to make profits out of manufacturing exports. Government’s regulating for

businesses and promoting made South Korea seem to be a classic “late-developer” in terms of

development. The Korean government decided to be interdependent with businesses, which

government vigorously supports the survived companies in each industry to stimulate industrial

development rather than either government or businesses dominating the other. Those companies

Flunkyism South Korea 7

compensate government for enormous funding for the political leadership. The South Korean

economy had been popular for its strong economy which grew much more strongly for two to

three decades after the Korean War (Lee & Han, 2006).

In the cartoon on the right side, Dave Granlund, the editorial cartoonist, published in

daily newspapers since 1977,

shows the sarcastic situation

with North Korean’s leader,

Kim Jong-un, and Dennis

Rodman, who is a former

NBA player and a figure of

freedom with his colorful

hair back in 1990s. Kim

Jung-un in the cartoon has a

plan to attack the U.S., who

is supposedly the biggest

enemy for North Korea, with nuclear weapons except for California because Kim’s friend,

Dennis Rodman lives in California. Such sarcastic cartoon came out after Dennis Rodman's

second trip to North Korea. A basketball event was held in North Korea by Rodman with

Rodman’s basketball crew, and Rodman watched the basketball event with Kim Jung-un.

Rodman also toured North Korea around with Kim. According to ABC news, Rodman was the

first U.S. citizen that has met Kim Jong-un in person which and Rodman repeated sentences like

“Kim Jung-un was awesome and amazing. North Koreans were honest, and Kim Jung-un is my

friend.” in an interview.(ABC News, 2013) even though North Korea had been threatening the

U.S. national security with nuclear weapons. Behind this situation, Rodman’s trip to North Korea

was possible because of Kim’s love for basketball. Kim is known for a huge basketball fan since

his school years abroad. However, if North Korea and Kim truly have considered the U.S. as

[North Korea’s…]

Flunkyism South Korea 8

enemy as North Korea’s been promoting to normal North Koreans, Kim’s invitation for Rodman,

whose fashion and appearance could bring a cultural revolution in North Korea, is a paradoxical

idea based on their political strategies. In addition, the fact that Kim’s school years abroad must

have affected his life style and ideas about Capitalism and democracy as his fat body figure in

the cartoon reveals while North Koreans are suffering from starvation and his invitation for

Dennis Rodman, could bring a cultural sensation into North Korea.

With the fact that democracy and Capitalism in South Korea were the influence of the

U.S. on South Korea after the Korean War, Confucianism was the most widely known ideology

in The Korean Peninsula and still affects South Koreans daily lives.

Korea and Confucianism

According to the journal “Korea and

Confucianism” (Connor), Confucianism is

the fundamental philosophy of Korea.

Koreans advocated Confucianism so

actively and strictly that even Chinese

considered Koreans believed Confucianism

more than Chinese themselves did. By the

root of Chinese examination system, which

made the high government office, A solid

class structure and society was built out of

Confucianism. Yangban class—the upper

class who studied to learn for classic Confucianism and government system—was ten percent of

the total population (Connor).

The fundamental Confucian principles were the base of the Koryo4 (936-1392) and the

4

Koryŏ dynasty, in Korean history, dynasty that ruled the Korean peninsula as the Koryŏ kingdom from 935 to 1392 CE. During this period the

country began to form its own cultural tradition distinct from the rest of East Asia. It is from the name Koryŏ that the Western name Korea is

derived.(Encyclopaedia)

[Portrait…]

Flunkyism South Korea 9

Choson5 (1392-1910). Concepts of loyalty, filial duty, respect for age and status and veneration

for learning were combined in the system. Ruler and subjects were connected by loyalty.

Hierarchical, strict and unequal relationships were there. To maintain ruler’s power, the idea that

the ruler and his officials have to be honest based on Confucianism. Otherwise, the broken

relationship between the ruler and his officials could justify people to revolt. Economic

development was influenced by Confucianism as well. Confucianism limited the development of

commerce, self-serving and conflicts in society and maintains the stable agriculture. Besides

trades between China and Japan, it was really narrow to interact with other countries in terms of

trade (Connor).

Consequently, over 200 shrines and academies are located in across South Korea.

Confucianism is a fundamental concept in people in spite of the fact that the portion of

Buddhists, Christians, or Shamanists is huge now days. Over 2500 years ago, what Confucius

taught over 2,500 years ago was still the standard of the social relationships in home, workplace,

school, and government. A number of Koreans expect their leaders to be moral and make

decisions based on morality. Otherwise, those leaders lose their legacy as recent Korean history

shows; “The young are to respect their elders, children their parents, wives their husbands,

daughters-in-law their mothers-in-law, students their teachers, employees their employers and

friends their friends. Tradition dictates that each family member must be diligent in fulfilling his

or her role. Children learn before the age of ten that their lives are not their own, but belong to

their family. Decisions are familial, not personal.” One’s choice of spouse was also affected by

Confucianism. Parents give their children a piece of advice who they should marry. People name

their babies based on Confucian system to distinguish their family members and relatives. Even

though the ways of life in the modern Korea has been changed, marriage, ancestor worship, and

funerals—family rituals—are still celebrated in some level of Confucianism (Connor).

On the other hand, for the last 50 years, the growth of South Korea’s GDP (PPP) per

capita was over 18,460%. One of the poorest countries in the world 50 years ago, and now

became one of the richest countries as 15th

ranker in terms of GPD, $832,512 million (Park). So

5

Chosŏn dynasty, also called Yi dynasty, the last and longest-lived imperial dynasty (1392–1910) of Korea. Founded by Gen. Yi Sŏng-gye, who

established the capital at Hanyang (present-day Seoul), the kingdom was named Chosŏn for the state of the same name that had dominated the

Korean peninsula in ancient times. The regime is also frequently referred to as the Yi dynasty, for its ruling family. General Yi established close

relationships with the neighboring Ming dynasty (1368–1644) of China, which considered Korea a client state, and Chinese cultural influences

were very strong during this period. Chosŏn’s administration was modeled after the Chinese ... (100 of 505 words) (Encyclopaedia)

Flunkyism South Korea 10

then, how is this unbelievable progress South Koreans made in economy and development? Park

thinks the key of Koreans success was Confucianism.

Confucianism can reveal not only the great development and economy growth as a

country, but also Confucianism has to stimulate individuals to fulfill their best work to be

successful from competition. According to Collins, R, the central idea of capitalism makes

people to desire to be rich through hard working. The ignorance of individuals wealthy in

Confucianism harms Confucianism based countries to be successful by Weber’s logic. (Park)

In spite of Collin’s argument, Park still believes that Confucianism in South Korea was a

significant role to boost up Korea’s economy with capitalism, which rooted in Western countries

because some traits of Confucianism are shown in South Korean society. South Koreans

investment for human resource was tremendously higher than other countries. Korea ranked the

second highest in the world in terms of the percentage of college admission from high school

graduates in 1990 (Park).

However, with such an enormous and quick success in economy and development called

“the miracle on Han river,” Several social issues begun to appear in South Korea.

South Korea is the Best: in Suicide

Suicide is the one of

worst social problems that

South Korea has. Among the

31 rich countries in the

Organization for Economic

Cooperation and

Development, the Suicide

rate of South Korea was the

highest—22 deaths per

100,000 people. According

to OECD footnote, when

most other developed

countries’ rate slowed down, the suicide rate in South Korea was drastically increasing with

tripling from 1990 to 2006 (Yoon, 2010).

[Suicide rates by Gender from OECD]

Flunkyism South Korea 11

Furthermore, the graph on the right side shows the suicide by gender for each country.

Surprisingly, both male and female’s rate of suicide is the highest among the OECD countries.

Which shows suicide in South Korea is not a problem of a certain gender but a problem of a

country as one.

In addition, in the graph [Change…], the suicide rate in 2010 has jumped 280.7 percent

from year 1990. This rate is extremely high comparing to other OECD countries in the chart.

When most of

OECD countries’

suicide rates

decreased from

1990, only 6

countries

including South

Korea have

increased in

suicide rate. This

suicide rate indicates some drastic changes to South Koreans appeared for last 20 years.

Moreover, according to Yoon, Korean Spanish freelance journalist based in Beijing,

China, the OECD report pointed out that the increasing suicide rate is “weakening social

integration and erosion of the traditional family support base for the elderly.” The rapid change

of economy over long time is also another cause of the high rate. This perspective is advocated

by Lee Min-Soo, professor of psychiatry at Korea University College of Medicine. According to

Lee, “Social changes that the country’s fast economic development brought and a culture that did

not adapt to them” is the cause of the high suicide rate (Yoon, 2010).

[Change in suicide rates from OECD]

Flunkyism South Korea 12

For example, Confucian-family values and local traditions were the atmosphere—

grandparents, parents, and kids lived in the same house—of South Korean society. The economy

status of South Korea was as low as the poorest nations in Asia or Africa as Gross Domestic

product per capita reveals. South Korea became one of the richest countries in the world as they

succeed in shifting their political system and freedom of business with high-tech

industrialization. However, the desire to be richer with “economic miracle” ruined traditional

social structures and led people to live with smaller families, rising house prices, hoping to have

the end of lifelong employment, but with fierce competition for the best jobs and caused

alcoholism. The divorce rate hit tripled from 1989 and 2009, according to the government.

Households became to be consisted of less than three people instead of with their grandparents

and parents like back in days. Dr. Lee say “It is the price we pay for such unsustainable fast

economic development” (Yoon, 2010).

The suicide problem has also been linked with the Korean concept of "Han," a kind of

stoicism also tied to feelings of anger and impotence that arise when facing a situation

that can't be changed. Han, deeply embedded in Korean society, has been linked to

depression. "When a situation is bad and they can't show their cool selves, Koreans tend

to get frustrated, give up and take drastic choices," says Hwang Sang-min, a professor of

psychology at Yonsei University (Yoon, 2010).

Kang Do-Hyun, who teaches Psychiatry at Seoul National University Hospital, said that

South Koreans might become known as prove to mental disease because of these characteristics

of culture. Committing suicide is the number one reason for 20s and 30s die and the fourth

reason overall Koreans, based on South Korea’s Ministry of Health (Yoon, 2010).

Furthermore, South Korea spends almost the least amount of money on health care

system among OECD countries—according to OECD, Turkey and Mexico are the only two

countries to allocate less than South Korea. There is no doubt the ranking in the number of

Flunkyism South Korea 13

psychiatrists per capita in South Korea is almost at the bottom among OECD countries because

of low support for mental-health treatment (Yoon, 2010).

Flunkyism in the Ordinary Life 1: Meaningless Signs

The image shows a bunch of signs on

a street in Seoul, South Korea. 퓨전 플러스,

드림존, and 로얄 경주 are Korean letters that

are on some of the signs in the image. Those

Korean letters are not just random Korean

words. Those Korean words in the signs are

actually English words written in the Korean

writing system called “Hangul6”. “Translated”

by the author, 퓨전 플러스 means Fusion

Plus—fortunately, additional information on

the sign gives a clue that “Fusion Plus” is a

restaurant, 드림존 is Dream Zone, the

author, who is a native South Korean, doesn’t

even have a clue that what kind of business

this place is, and finally, 로얄 경주 means

Royal Race which is a screen horse racing place. English words on the signs sometimes are

“Konglish7” which is failure of those business owners trying to use English words, and a number

of Korean business owners name their businesses after English or Konglish words which

sometimes even has any meaning or no clue what kind of businesses they are.

6 Hangeul is a phonemic writing system, and it consists of letters for consonants and vowels. Unlike general phonemic writing systems such as the Roman Alphabet, it was uniquely designed to combine consonant letters and vowel letters into syllabic units. Because of this, we can say that

it has something in common with syllabic writing systems. (The National…) 7 English words that Korean people use in a manner that is not correct English. Usually this is by combining two words or modifying words incorrectly.(urbandictionary.com)

[A Street…]

Flunkyism South Korea 14

If those English named Korean businesses meant to attract non-Korean tourists in Korea,

writing English words in English would make more sense and be much more effective and

appealing to non-Korean tourists than the current way that English words in Hangul or Konglish

are enchased on the sign. Some the U.S. related businesses or restaurants like pizza or burger

places make sense to name their businesses after English words and use English words on their

signs to emphasize their specialties or features.

At this pointed, the question would be why some of Korean businesses are willing to put

Konglish or English words in Hangul which provides inefficient information on their signs even

though those kind of signs are not effective to attract either South Korean customers and non-

Korean tourists. As far as the author, born and raised in South Korea, understands the South

Korean culture properly, One’s using English words and being able to speak English in South

Korea make that person sounds and looks “smart and fancy” most of time. This English-prefer

tendency presents one side of South Korean’s Flunkyism and, furthermore, the U.S. power of the

cultural imperialism8.

Flunkyism in the Ordinary Life 2: Plastic Surgery

In addition to the Flunkyism in language, Kim and Fu say in the journal “International

Women in South Korea's Sex Industry: A New Commodity Frontier” in Asian Survey, published

by University of California Press, even though South Korea hasn’t been colonized by any

Western countries, because of the U.S influence—economy, politics, and military—on South

Korea, the standard of values has been Westernized. Furthermore, Western women are the ideal

appearance that South Korean women would like to be. (Kim & Fu, 2008)

Moreover, Whang Sang-min, a psychologist at Yonsei University, says even though any

kind of physical changes on given body breaches the traditional Confucius rules, the

8the fact of the culture of a large and powerful country, organization, etc. having a great influence on another less powerful country, etc:(Cambridge)

Flunkyism South Korea 15

contemporary South Koreans abuse plastic surgery to appeal to others. (Coppage, J, 2013)

Besides, one makeup artist, who was waiting for a plastic, says that eye job is not even

accepted as a plastic surgery because eye job is widely spread in South Korea. “One of every five

women in Seoul Between the ages of 19 and 49 said they had undergone plastic surgery, based

on a market survey. According to Choi Set-byol, a sociologist at Ewha Woman’s University,

plastic surgeons say young women are their primary patients. Young South Korean women want

to take plastic surgeries in order to get ready for the marriage or job hunting. Those young South

Korean women suppose that they have to be good looking to survive. (Coppage, J, 2013)

The Author’s Perspective

Although South Korea undoubtedly made an enormous achievement in economy with

“The miracle on Han river,” some drastic changes and problems came out with its society. I

personally believe problems currently occurring are from the changing of economic system,

capitalism, but maybe partly true not totally.

Based on Confucianism, in old South Korean education, teachers were allowed to hit

their students, firstly because parents let them. And students believed it was okay and just

because they were teachers!: Confucius said. “Teacher is as high as sky(god),” an old Korean

saying. Author’s parents even asked author’s teachers to corporally punish me more if the author

do something wrong. Teachers scolded students badly when students didn’t do homework or

when the test results were not good enough. Sometimes teachers abused that power, but the

abuse power as teacher seemed okay until a decade ago. But now, with developing technology,

students take out their cellphones and take pictures when their teachers scold or gave punishment

to their classmates, and they even send those pictures to broadcasting companies. Then, those

became serious social issues. Media reported a matter of human rights or cultural norms. But

then why is the situation so much different now? There’s no respect for the elders and teachers

anymore.

Flunkyism South Korea 16

When those baby boomers eventually became parents of only one or two kids because of

the government encouragement, their kids were so much important than anything else, and they

didn’t want their kids to experience the same situation as they had. Because those baby boomers

are the people who went through “the miracle on Han River,” hard workers under horrible

working conditions, and South Korea is still known for having relatively poor working

conditions. Parents’ “love” for their kids drove them to manipulate their kids to become higher

social status people. The author believes those parents believe the ultimate happiness is not being

hungry from their experience. As long as their kids have get stable jobs and make enough money

and marry at right time with right people, there is no problem. the author can't see value of

happiness for them. Parents were too busy working just to survive from the competition, and

busy parents’ kids are forced to study to get higher grade. Students under high school commute

to school at 8am and finish at 3pm and go to “hakwons”, private institutions, until 9-10pm. Kids

have to go to all kinds of hakwons like English, piano, violin, Taekwondo, math, science, soccer,

so on. High schoolers stay at school from 8am to 10-11pm. Then, majority of students enrolled

in colleges and didn’t want to get jobs at low income and working places like factories because

they are “educated.”

Also, the Westernized standard of beauty is considered an important factor to get a job

and find a “good” spouse. Eventually, plastic surgery has become a “must to do” thing to South

Koreans.

This is why Korea has the highest rate of suicide in the world. What is one’s life about?

Some people know the way they live is not right but they have to live in that way to live in

Korea. Otherwise, they can’t get any “normal job.” The author is lucky for now being away from

that situation even though the author went through all those listed experiences.

In short, ever since South Korea adapted capitalism and democracy seven decades ago,

the real Korean values have been slowly disappearing but money with cultural anomie. The

Flunkyism South Korea 17

author is not saying Capitalism and democracy are bad, but Capitalism and democracy have to be

fixed somehow in South Korea and now is the time to act to fulfill the real meaning of

온고지신. It is time to review the old faults South Korea made for the last seven years and learn

from that and use what South Korea learn for the future.

The South

Korean flag on the left

with the U.S. stars and

a stripe figuratively

shows the depth of the

relationship between

South Korea and the

U.S. or the influence

of the U.S. on South

Korea. The meaning of

this mixed flag can be interpreted as the strong relationship between South Korea and the U.S or

South Korean’s Flunkyism, depending on how South Koreans assess the U.S. culture and adapt

properly with Confucianism.

[Mixed flag of South Korea and The U.S.]

Flunkyism South Korea 18

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