월드미션프론티어

When Western missionaries and merchants first stepped foot on Korean soil, they noted an a people extremely determined to keep out foreign devils. More closed than China and more isolated than Japan, Korea was nicknamed “the hermit kingdom”.

After one century of engagement with the rest of the world, the Northern half of Korea has returned its traditional roots of extreme isolation -- no trade, no contact, just self reliance. This seems a bit odd in a place that calls itself Communist. Isn’t Communism supposed to be an international movement where the state will “wither away”? North Korea is still the hermit kingdom with Kim Jong Il sitting as king.

In South Korea, things are more schizophrenic. Traditional self-reliance has collided head on with globalization. Old instincts are in constant battle with new reality. Most South Koreans recognize that the economic miracle happening around them is due to world trade, globalization, and engagement with the world. Yet there remains in the hearts of Koreans this dread of foreign devils. I see it all the time.

While Koreans sing global songs in karaoke bars, they sing like their national anthem like hermits “Let us keep our nation one blood, uncontaminated”.

Like good global citizens, Korean require that every student from 6th grade to 12th grade learn English. Educators insist that English is the key to global success. But strangely, Korea is the only country that I know of to celebrate a “national alphabet day” for its native Hanguel.

Koreans exporters are global in outlook, frantically sending abroad electronics, cars and clothing. But, Korean importers are hermits, complaining that Korea cannot possibly import American cars without a huge import tax. Why is this?

I believe that Koreans are a passionate people. At times they pull inward like passionate hermits. At other times, they push outward like passionate global citizens. They have become the global hermits of the world.

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