Korea Focus June 2015 by The Korea Foundation

Table of Contents - Korea Focus - June 2015 - Politics 1. End of Cold War in the Caribbean and Future of Korean Peninsula 2. The Day When Korean Diplomacy Fell into a Well 3. Legacy of the April 19 Revolution 4. Do We Need a Prime Minister, Indeed?

- Economy 1. Improvement of Income Distribution through Structural Reform 2. Frustrating Part-time Work for Young People 3. Corporate Tax Should be Removed in the First Place 4. Deregulation in Seoul Area, Learn from London, Tokyo

- Society 1. Give Our Jobs Away to North Korean Defectors? 2. Counterattack by Miss Kims 3. Legalizing Homosexual Marriage in Korea

- Culture 1. No Era of Cultural Prosperity without Reading Books 2. Useless Art 3. Food and Liquor Go Together Like Flowers and Butterflies

- Essays 1. Comparison of Korean and German Efforts to Secure Foreign Talent 2. South Korea’s Participation in the AIIB and its Benefits

- Features 1. Hanji to be Used in Restoration of Globe at Vatican Museum 2. Joy of Living Together toward ‘Small Reunification’

- Book Reviews 1. Both Koreas Resemble in Gender Inequality and Competition in Education 2. Why are Myeong-dong Streets Inviting to Pedestrians while Gangnam Streets aren’t?

- Interview

1. Gong Ro-myung, Living Witness to Korea’s Diplomatic History 2. Huseyin Kirdemir: “It’s my calling to promote a proper understanding of Islam through books.” 3. Lee Kang-woon: “Insects Have Evolved Lifestyles.”

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- End of Cold War in the Caribbean and Future of Korean Peninsula

- The Day When Korean Diplomacy Fell into a Well

- Legacy of the April 19 Revolution

- Do We Need a Prime Minister, Indeed?

End of Cold War in the Caribbean and Future of Korean Peninsula

U.S. activist Gloria Steinem, sixth from right in front, leads a group of women along wire fences near Panmunjom after crossing the DMZ from North Korea, on May 24.

Chang Dal-joong Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science and International Relations Seoul National University

“Cuba is no longer a threat to the United States… I think that after 50 years of policy that has not changed on the part of the United States, it was my belief that it was time to try something new, that it was important for us to engage more directly with the Cuban government and the Cuban people. And as a consequence, I think we are now in a position to move on a path towards the future, and leave behind some of the circumstances of the past that have made it so difficult, I think, for our countries to communicate.” Thus, U.S. President Barack Obama expressed his views before his historic talks with Raul Castro, president of Cuba`s ruling State Council, on April 11. He declared that the United States would no longer pursue a change in the political and economic systems of Cuba. He said that the U.S. policy that aimed at isolating Cuba from the international community and the collapse of the Castro government for more than 50 years had failed. He thus made it clear that Washington would drop its hostile policies and economic sanctions against Havana. In the first formal meeting between the leaders of the United States and Cuba

since the two countries severed diplomatic relations in 1961, Presidents Obama and Castro shook hands before the global media. It signaled the beginning of dialogue and an end to confrontation. For President Obama, it was another agenda item on his engagement diplomacy, following a breakthrough in nuclear negotiations with Iran. Only the first step has been taken in the Caribbean. Yet, it draws our deep interest because, following the nuclear deal with Iran and reconciliation with Cuba, North Korea remains the only major problem on the diplomatic horizon of the United States. We all vividly remember the Cuban nuclear missile crisis of 1962, which brought the world to the brink of a nuclear war. And now we are watching the United States and Cuba open dialogue to end hostilities and normalize diplomatic ties. In other words, we are seeing the end of the cold war in the Caribbean 25 years after the Cold War era ended between the Soviet bloc and the West. North Korean leaders must be watching the events. President Obama has one year and nine months left in his presidency. We are wondering whether it will be possible to see a settlement of the nuclear problem on the Korean peninsula and an end to the cold war conditions here. The answer is negative at the moment, considering the overall atmosphere in the U.S. government which has been complaining of the North Korea fatigue. U.S. officials recognize the need for dialogue with Pyongyang but they have little trust in North Korea as a dialogue partner. North Korea has time and again breached agreements reached in bilateral and multilateral negotiations, convincing the United States that it is not trustworthy. A country`s reputation, once established, is hard to change. Both Americans and we in South Korea share the stereotype image of North Korea as a rogue state that does not honor promises. Such a fixed notion needs to be overcome if we are to make a change. But the engagement policy of one side requires a policy of reconciliation on the other side to succeed. If the wind blowing now in the Caribbean is to reach the Korean peninsula, North Korea needs to demonstrate its willingness to depart from its previous handling of negotiated agreements.

North Korea faces the crucial task of improving its people`s livelihood in order to maintain its third-generation hereditary dictatorship. Young leader Kim Jong-un is fretting about “elevating the level of food supply and resolving the problem of eating once and for all” with production drives in agriculture, livestock farming and fisheries. All efforts are poured into the economy, offering farmers the incentive of freely trading a certain portion of their products. International aid is essential for the economic revival. North Korea should first recognize that nothing other than abandonment of its nuclear program can help it in this regard. Pyongyang has to show action instead of words. But, from Kim Jong-un`s dual pursuit of nuclear armament and economic development, no such action can be expected, and its fixed image in the international community can hardly disappear. Obama does not have enough time left in office to allow him to pay much attention to the North Korean question. His primary concerns will be how to overcome the opposition of hardliners in Congress against the Iran nuclear deal and reconciliation with Cuba. So it is likely that Obama will be content with limiting his diplomatic legacy to Iran and Cuba. If we cannot expect Obama`s engagement policies to be extended to North Korea, we should not let ourselves sit idly here watching the changes in the Caribbean and failing to have the wind of change blow into our peninsula. Seventy years have passed since the nation was divided at the end of World War II. There is the hope that North Korea will come to the table once the Iranian nuclear deal has been sealed. If Americans make no move, we should take the initiative. A handshake with North Korea is necessary. Dialogue begins with a handshake and reduction of tension starts with dialogue. [JoongAng Ilbo, April 18, 2015]

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The Day When Korean Diplomacy Fell into a Well

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se meets U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Seoul on May 18.

Park Doo-shik Editorial Writer The Chosun Ilbo

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se is a workaholic. He even goes to his office on a holiday to check on situations. The hard-working man had to leave the foreign office when the Lee Myung-bak administration was launched in 2008. It was because he was recruited to be the senior presidential secretary for national security and diplomacy in the closing days of the Roh Moo-hyun presidency. Then he clinched the chance of advising Park Geun-hye on security and diplomatic affairs in the 2012 presidential campaign. After he became foreign minister, Yun worked seven days a week, staying in his office into the night. Senior staff meetings often were held until 1 a.m. and the minister was seen typing a report to the president by himself with cookies and drinks nearby. He realized the importance of written reports to the president. The minister`s diligence has not always guaranteed positive assessments of his work. The ministry recently drew criticism for the way the government acted on the U.S. move to deploy the THAAD (terminal high-altitude area defense) system in Korea and China`s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank initiative. Then the minister himself took the stage. A few days ago, he made a lengthy speech at the annual meeting of all of the chiefs of Korean overseas missions. What he essentially said was that ignorant people were nitpicking about diplomatic actions

while the quality of Korea`s diplomatic service is at its best level in history. “You don`t have to pay attention to irresponsible criticism produced without excruciating contemplation,” he was quoted as saying. It was extraordinary that a top diplomat trained to not expose personal emotion had such an outburst. In the speech, Minister Yun referred to a newspaper column written by an American researcher who, according to the minister, compared Korea to “a victorious shrimp that tamed the two whales named the United States and China.” He wanted to emphasize that Korean diplomacy was being positively appraised overseas though not at home. But I am afraid he misunderstood the article. The author, Michael J. Green, senior vice president for Asia (Japan chair) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and an associate professor at Georgetown University, advised Korea to take the lead in making new rules and norms rather than reacting to superpower requests if the nation is to be respected by Beijing and Washington. He was actually echoing domestic arguments that Seoul should try to become a “leading state” instead of remaining a “reaction state.” It still remains a mystery why Minister Yun displayed such rash public behavior and his Foreign Ministry colleagues provided no clear explanation other than that he was just expressing his personal views. My impression, regrettably, is that our diplomacy has fallen into a dark “well” called the Republic of Korea. One chronic ailment of our country is that everyone is oblivious to what is happening in the outside world while engaging in mud fights among themselves. Not much change has been made in this regard over the decades of economic advancement and globalization. The ongoing controversy over the “resources diplomacy” during the Lee Myungbak administration, for which the National Assembly has launched a special inquiry, is one example of wallowing at the bottom of the well. Now is a good opportunity for resources diplomacy with international prices of oil and mineral resources down sharply, given that the United States, China and Japan are moving in the same direction. In Korea, though, resources diplomacy has become synonymous with bureaucratic irregularities.

It was reported that the Kurdish Regional Government of Iraq recently sent a letter to the speaker of the National Assembly and the minister of industry protesting a Korean opposition lawmaker`s allegation that the Korea National Oil Corporation won a drilling concession after bribing KRG authorities. The alleged “bribe” that the opposition Assemblyman mentioned was, in fact, a “signature bonus,” an established practice in international commerce. The lawmaker`s remarks put the 500 billion won project into jeopardy. There are numerous similar examples of nitpicking. When the chairman of the ruling party called North Korea a nuclear-armed state, his opposition counterpart immediately labeled the remark as an “act of helping the enemy.” The two major parties have never had serious discussions on the crucial question of North Korean nuclear arms development. I wonder what a piteous view the international community has on this nation and its leadership as it considers the North Korean nuclear capabilities a major security threat. President Park Geun-hye`s well-meaning joke about encouraging many Korean youths to advance to the Middle East, mentioning a “second Middle East boom,” drew acrimonious reactions from critics for her lacking realistic considerations. It was deplorable and uniquely Korean that some even cursed at the president: “You better exile yourself to that place!” The entire Republic of Korea is engulfed with in-fighting inside the deep well insulated from global developments. The Foreign Ministry is one of the state agencies that are responsible for informing the nation about external affairs. I believe that the ministry has tried hard to maximize national interests by pushing the dispatch of military units to Iraq and overcoming leftist opposition to conclude a free trade agreement with Washington. When the minister of foreign affairs personally assumes the role of guarding the ruling power inside the well called the Republic of Korea, our expectations for the ministry`s respectable role could go awry. This truly is the crisis of Korean diplomacy. [April 1, 2015]

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Legacy of the April 19 Revolution

University students pay respects to those who fell during the April 19 Student Revolution in 1960, at the April 19 National Cemetery in northern Seoul, on April 17.

Lee Hong-koo Adviser to the JoongAng Ilbo Former Prime Minister

As the nation faces disturbing and grave developments at home and abroad, a time of introspection is needed to stiffen our posture to cope with the historic vortex. Such necessity arises as we observe the 55th anniversary of the April 19 Student Revolution that prompted the downfall of the despotic Syngman Rhee government in 1960, marking the onset of a full-fledged nation state and civil society in Korean history. In the process of achieving a democratic republic, a number of valiant independence activists fought against Japanese colonialism to restore the nation`s sovereignty and, following the 1945 liberation that led to an ideological anarchy, patriotic leaders joined them in the intricate task of establishing the Republic of Korea. Yet, it must be noted that the “Hangeul generation,” who received elementary school education after liberation, resolutely opposed chronic political disorder that trampled on the constitutional order and prevalent disregard for basic norms of social justice. The April 19 uprising, inspired by the young generation`s compliance with the spirit of the Constitution that provides “all state authority shall emanate from the people,” thus registered the historic starting point for achieving the nation state and civic community.

Although the revolution did not immediately lead to democratization, its guiding spirit remained alive in the veins of the people and the underlying basis of our society throughout the ensuing long spell of autocratic rule. That aspiration played a vital role in checking the conduct of the state authority and, ultimately, achieving democratization through the massive prodemocracy movement of June 1987. Nonetheless, still pending are the challenging tasks to institutionalize a representative democracy that fully reflects popular wishes and to upgrade efficiency in state governance. How to accomplish these undertakings is indeed a burden weighing heavily on the nation today. We now stand at a critical juncture in testing the possibilities of a civil democracy and its limitations by incorporating the spirit of the April 19 revolution and popular wisdom to create a fair society. International politics also faces a precarious transition as major powers are in pursuit of a new balance of power. Noteworthy in this respect are the geopolitical strategies employed by the big powers that exhibit an ominous trend of “nostalgia for imperialism.” Russia, China and Japan, the countries surrounding the Korean peninsula, are all involved, cautioning Korea that it will face harsh difficulties in making choices and decisions. Russian President Vladimir Putin`s intransigent approach in dealing with the Ukrainian issue may well be seen as an action based on the Russian people`s nostalgia for the glory they enjoyed under Czarist Russia and the Soviet Union. On the part of China, Beijing leaders are dreaming of becoming a new superpower by recreating the glory of China`s long dynastic history, taking advantage of the country`s steadily surging national power. Meanwhile, Japan, the first Asian country to have successfully modernized and Westernized, seems to be interposed between obsession with the glory of its imperialist era and reflection on its aggressive militarism in the past, which left itself and its neighbors in ruins with countless victims. The nostalgia for imperialism has not only been manifested in disputes involving the territorial integrity of Ukraine and claims over isles in the East China and South China Seas, but also provided inauspicious implications on the tensionridden Korean peninsula, raising worries about the possibility of war. The Korean peninsula is situated at a geopolitical intersection where the competing interests

of the world`s mightiest military and economic powers ― the United States, Russia, China and Japan ― collide. Under such circumstances, South Korea`s current diplomatic strategy may seem irresolute and vacillating, dependent on the balance of power in the region. But, it should be noted that Seoul is bound to take astute and flexible actions in response to changes that are taking place, an essential requirement that will help make its diplomatic strategy successful. A precondition for flexibility is that it would be valid only when the approach is supported by resolute volition to defend the nation`s basic values. Then, what is the core value that the Republic of Korea must uphold? It is the preservation of a free democratic community based on the democratic ideals affirmed by the April 19 revolution 55 years ago. The ideals manifest that the sovereignty of the Republic resides in the people, providing the cardinal cause on which the top priority of our national strategy is placed. A relevant fact is that none of the three neighboring powers ― Russia, China and Japan ― serves as a model of democracy we are seeking. Therefore, it is never easy for Korea, a small country surrounded by the big powers, to be assured of survival. In this respect, a national consensus is needed as a premise to endure appropriate sacrifices in order to carry out an active diplomatic strategy as a standard-bearer of internationalism, not of nationalism. The courage and self-assurance to choose this lonely and difficult national strategy stems from the wisdom of national survival and concomitant national power, which we Koreans have gained by overcoming a diversity of challenges over the past century. Global citizens today won`t turn away from the commitment of the Korean people to democratic politics and social justice. There is no denying that the legacy of April 19 is a guidepost along our path to the future. [JoongAng Ilbo, April 20, 2015]

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Do We Need a Prime Minister, Indeed?

Prime minister nominee and justice minister Hwang Kyo-ahn responds to the press as he heads to his office on May 24.

Kang In-sun Weekend Editor The Chosun Ilbo

President Park Geun-hye is searching for her sixth candidate to be prime minister. The suicide of former Keangnam Enterprises chairman Sung Woan-jong and the list of politicians that he claimed to have bribed have proven to be so explosive that they have overshadowed who the next prime minister will be. Even so, the names of potential nominees keep popping up. [Editor`s Note: President Park nominated Justice Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn on May 21.] Now in the third year of her presidency, Park`s list of candidates for prime minister to date reads like a cruel joke. The only nominee to take office and serve without incident was Chung Hong-won. Lee Wan-koo got caught up in the Sung Woan-jong scandal and resigned after only two months on the job. Of the five prime ministerial candidates chosen by President Park, three didn`t even make it to the confirmation hearing. At this point when we hear the words “candidate for prime minister,” the next word out of our mouths is nangma (literally “falling off the horse”). The question naturally arises: Do we need a prime minister? A few days after announcing his intention to resign, Prime Minister Lee Wan-koo created a stir when photos appeared in the newspaper showing him walking in the garden of his residence in casual clothes. President Park was out of the country that day, so

it fell to the deputy prime minister for the economy to chair a cabinet meeting. When we experience this singular example of a state leadership vacuum, we must ask ourselves once again: Do we really need a prime minister? Selection of a prime minister usually involves a great commotion in our nation, but after that, the person fades from public view. It seems the prime minister is only needed for ceremonies and diplomatic protocol. Almost no prime minister has ever left a big impression on the public. In the Constitution, the prime minister is the second-in-command to the president in the executive branch. The prime minister has the power to nominate and recommend the dismissal of members of the cabinet. However, few prime ministers have properly exercised those powers to date. That is because there is an inherent ambiguity about the position of the prime minister. Korea`s prime minister is not the head of the parliamentary cabinet as in the United Kingdom, nor a coequal as in France`s premier-presidential system. Our prime minister is also different from America`s vice president. The prime minister is the head of government in a parliamentary cabinet system, but the role of the prime minister is highly ambiguous under a presidential system. So, what does the prime minister mean to us? We can get a good sense of that if we look at the nicknames we have given our previous prime ministers: the protocol prime minister, the proxy prime minister, the bulletproof vest prime minister, and the manageress prime minister are just a few. In essence, this means that the prime minister is used to signal new administrative priorities or to win the hearts of the public in times of political crisis. This suggests that our prime ministers have played the role of taking responsibility for state affairs on behalf of their presidents. Although they are both second-in-command under a presidential system, the role of America`s vice president is different from that of a Korean prime minister. Unlike a monarchy, the United States created the vice presidency to deal with succession in case a president could not serve out his term. The vice president is elected as the president`s running mate, but there are no expectations about the precise role of the vice president. With no actual authority, there is nothing that the vice president can do in place of the president, unless authorized.

I do not think that all this noise accompanying the appointment of a new prime minister means that “the prime minister is useless.” At any rate, without revising the Constitution, it is impossible to have the position of prime minister disappear. Nevertheless, there must be ways to use the office of the prime minister more wisely. President Park needs to think very carefully about her sixth choice. Rather than looking for “a candidate that can make it through the confirmation hearing in the first place,” she has to picture someone who can bear the burdens of governing the country along with her. This is because the president`s choice, no matter who it is, will ultimately show the public how she regards the affairs of state. Eight hundred days into her term of office, President Park should not waste any more time looking for prime ministers. The public also doesn`t want to squander more of their time watching yet another fiasco. [April 24, 2015]

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- Improvement of Income Distribution through Structural Reform

- Frustrating Part-time Work for Young People

- Corporate Tax Should be Removed in the First Place

- Deregulation in Seoul Area, Learn from London, Tokyo

Improvement of Income Distribution through Structural Reform

Participants in a May Day celebration at Seoul Plaza gesture against non-regular employment, on May 1.

Cho Yoon-je Professor of Economics Sogang University

The unequal distribution of household income has been worsening at a fast pace during the past two decades. This problem is closely linked to changes in Korea`s business structure and labor market due to international developments, including globalization, technological advances and China`s rise, and domestic developments, such as population aging and inflexibility in the labor market. Since the 1990s, half of the labor force in the world has joined a market economy, with China and India opening wider to the outside world and the collapse of the Soviet bloc regimes and their socialist economic systems. Consequently, international competition has accelerated in manufacturing, trade and many other areas. Technological innovation has created entirely new modes of production, replacing workers with computers, robots and machinery. Meanwhile, globalization has translated into large corporations tapping labor and capital markets wherever their needs are best met in the world. Democratic progress in the 1980s started to give rise to labor-management conflicts and escalating wages. In response, many Korean manufacturers moved their assembly lines to China after Seoul normalized relations with Beijing and other emerging markets. Light industry companies, including textile and footwear 19

producers, were in the first offshore wave and the electronics and auto industries followed later. Their relocation, together with automation, pushed down employment in the manufacturing sector to 3.8 million in 2010 from 5.2 million in 1991. Overall, the sector`s share of the total employment has dropped to 18 percent from 29 percent in the late 1980s. Workers forced out of manufacturing took low-paying jobs in the service sector en masse, which added to underemployment and quickly worsened income distribution. The service sector employed 17 million workers in 2011, or 70 percent of the total employment, up from 50 percent in 1992. But its productivity stood at a mere 45 percent of that of the manufacturing sector. Also aggravating income distribution is a decline in the operating income of the self-employed. So is an increase in the number of aged people with a paltry income, with many of them not covered by the national pension scheme. Households headed by a person aged 60 or older now account for 80 percent of the bottom 10 percent in household income, up from around 10 percent in the 1980s. Most of these household heads are unemployed or underemployed. But the problem is that few of them will be able to land jobs when the economy recovers. It is commonly said that income equality started to worsen when the economy underwent a structural transformation after the 1997 Asian financial crisis. But statistical analyses show the worsening of income distribution, together with a structural change in the economy, started in the early or mid-1990s. As such, a growth-first policy cannot be the best policy for fair income distribution. Instead, worsening income inequality is obstructing growth. A similar conclusion is found in a recent report from the International Monetary Fund. A 2013 analysis of data from the National Tax Service by Professor Kim Nak-nyun of Dongguk University also showed that growth benefits were increasingly accruing to the select few. The concentration of income earned by the top 10 percent in Korea has not only surpassed that in Britain, France or Japan but also is ahead of that in the United States, which has the highest level of income concentration in the world. The rate

of growth in income earned by the top 1 percentile, which peaked in the 1990s, is as high as in the 1960s and 1970s. But income growth has stalled for the bottom 90 percent since the mid-1990s. The majority of Koreans will have few benefits under the current structure of income distribution no matter how much the economy recovers. It will not be easy to correct the widening inequality, but the task is necessary to achieve sustainable economic growth. Under the current conditions, the middle and lower income classes will not benefit and growth could slow down further, regardless of how much money is spent to boost the economy. Korea needs to push for structural reform in areas that have not adjusted to changes brought on by shifts in the global economy. It is necessary to ease the labor market`s inflexibility by improving the dual wage structure for regular and non-regular workers and revise the current seniority-based wage system to help extend the retirement age. It is also necessary to press for systemic overhauls in areas ranging from fair trade, pensions and policy on small business to human resources development and education. With the population aging rapidly, welfare spending will soar. Still, efforts should be made to encourage people in the low income bracket to work harder by offering tax incentives, wider unemployment coverage and more effective delivery of welfare benefits. Tax reform is needed if financial resources are to be secured for those projects. In this regard, the government should be praised for targeting four major areas for reform ― public service, labor, finance and education. It should succeed at least in one area, labor, as a first step toward an improvement in income distribution. Korea will not able to attain social cohesion and vitality for growth if no action is taken to amend its income distribution structure. [JoongAng Ilbo, April 11, 2015]

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Frustrating Part-time Work for Young People

A young man participates in a Labor Day event, calling for better treatment of part-time workers in central Seoul, on, May 1.

Lee Dong-young Deputy Editor, National News Desk The Dong-a Ilbo

Few part-time workers ask anything about their daily, weekly or monthly work schedule. When they get a job, they are ready to do whatever is required of them. This is saddening. On its April 8 edition, the Dong-a Ilbo ran a feature article on “giving a dream to young people with good part-time jobs.” It pointed out that a rising number of young people are turning to part-time jobs as it is increasingly difficult to land full-time jobs and that many of them are often mistreated at workplaces. Young people should be well aware that the working conditions are not so good for temps. But many of them, desperately in need of money, do not appear to pay much attention to wage levels when they seek part-time jobs. Quality parttime jobs are already considered to be “endangered species” and regular jobs are regarded as “natural monuments.” Those preparing for employment tests by public agencies or corporations are seeking part-time jobs either to earn money for living expenses or help defray their tuition fees. It is not those in their 20s or 30s alone that are seeking parttime jobs. One out of every four middle or high school students says he/she has had part-time jobs. But the problem is many of those offering part-time jobs fail

to meet minimum legal requirements. Their exploitation of young people is nothing but infuriating. Let me mention Jeon Tae-il, who may not be familiar to today`s young people. In 1970 when he was 22, Jeon burned himself to death, shouting, “Abide by the basic labor law. We are not machines.” At the time he died, seamstresses had to run sewing machines for 14 hours a day with no break. For them, unjustifiably low wages and illegal firings were just facts of life. Working conditions have improved substantially since then. Do we find a Jeon Tae-il among today`s part-time workers? Many of the employers refuse to sign labor contracts with applicants for part-time jobs, which is one of the minimum legal requirements, and when their shops have no clients, tell their temps to go home. Nor is it infrequent that they beat them or abuse them verbally, damaging the temps` self-respect. Temps can file complaints about ill treatment or ask for consultations. But few choose to do so. As soon as they do so, they will lose their jobs. The working conditions today are much better than 45 years ago. But the stress they feel may be little different. Last month, a young man killed himself, apparently under the weight of living, after doing a string of part-time jobs. Yet, few pat temps on the back with soothing words. I looked up words related to part-time jobs on the Internet. Who would find a bright future or a dream in such words as “short-term part-time jobs,” “qualifications,” “clubs,” “helpers,” “part-time jobs for women,” “part-time jobs at entertainment places,” “nighttime part-time jobs,” “tearooms” and “cafes.” Many would feel frustrated and pessimistic when they read such words. It is not too difficult to understand the government when it tells young people to be a little more patient until things improve. But it will have to keep in mind that no country has a bright future if young people are deprived of a dream. I am not talking about a small number of lazy, incompetent young people. About 738,000 students aged 15 to 29 had part-time jobs last year. Everyone shares anger against ill-considered remarks by children of business tycoons or entertainers. Yet few feel angry when many young people are unduly subjected to

suffering. Hyeri, a member of the Girl`s Day idol group, may be an exception when she knitted her brow in an ad, complaining about a “tiny bit” increase made in the minimum hourly wage. She is said to have resonated with young people doing part-time jobs. Though it did not come up to comparison with Jeon Tae-il`s protest, her ad did appeal to and comfort young part-timers. The government may have its hands full with state affairs. But everyone should pay close attention to the pain young part-timers are feeling and say words of encouragement to them. In this regard, we at the Dong-a Ilbo are launching a campaign for “good part-time jobs,” together with the presidential commission on youth and Albamon, a part-time job portal. [April 9, 2015]

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Corporate Tax Should be Removed in the First Place

The National Assembly passes a revision bill on the Corporate Tax in a plenary session on December 2, 2014.

Kim Ki-cheon Editorial Writer The Chosun Ilbo

Rep. Yoo Seung-min, floor leader of the ruling Saenuri Party, claimed that “the corporate tax was not too sacrosanct” to act on when he addressed the National Assembly as a negotiating group head a while ago. The opposition party welcomed him with open arms when he sounded receptive to its demand for an increase in the tax. When he took the floor the next day, Rep. Moon Jae-in, chairman of the opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy, called for a revision to the corporate tax. He said the highest rate of the tax imposed on large corporations should be raised to the level before the “tax cut for the wealthy.” In response, the ruling party denied Rep. Yoo`s remark on the corporate tax reflected the party`s stance. Debate on the proposed tax increase suddenly stopped when a corruption scandal was triggered by a list of alleged payoffs to politicians a businessman had left when he killed himself. But the opposition party, which has been tenacious in its demand for a tax increase, may renew its call for negotiations with the ruling party anytime. Moreover, it is still possible that the corporate tax will be put on the table before anything else if the rival parties earnestly start a debate on financing welfare

projects with tax increases. It is unusual in the world for a political party to demand an increase in the corporate tax. An increase would be at odds with corporate tax cuts in the United States, Japan and many other advanced nations. In Korea, however, the demand for an increase in the tax by the opposition party and some advocacy groups has been gaining traction. They have denounced the Lee Myung-bak administration for supporting the wealthy when it cut the corporate tax. But the corporate tax is not a tax imposed on the wealthy. It is incongruous to argue whether a corporation is wealthy or not because it is not a person. Moreover, the general public is left holding the bag when corporations are taxed. A case in point is the value-added tax. Though the tax is imposed on corporations, it is consumers who pay the tax. The corporate tax is similar in this regard. An increase in the tax will lower dividends, wages and employee welfare, and raise product or service prices. In other words, the impact is transferred to shareholders, executives, employees and consumers. Actually, it is not entirely wrong to say everyone ends up paying the corporate tax. In this vein, some in advanced nations are consistently demanding that the corporate tax be abolished. They claim the tax is hurting all people. According to a study, its removal would raise gross domestic product and wages by 8 percent and 12 percent, respectively, in the United States. If the tax rate were lowered from 35 percent to 9 percent and various tax favors were eliminated to keep the tax revenue intact, the study went on, it would raise GDP and wages by 6 percent and 8 percent, respectively. In other words, the removal of the corporate tax or a cut in its rate would increase wages, dividends and investments to benefit the entire economy. It is not just business-friendly conservatives that oppose maintaining the corporate tax. Among the advocates are those who suggest raising the tax rate on personal income, capital gains and dividends to offset the loss in tax revenue from corporations. In effect, they want to tax the wealthy more heavily in return for abolishing the corporate tax. Some others suggest that the government

should cut spending by removing subsidies and other types of support for corporations to compensate for the lost tax revenue. All countries find it difficult to give up the corporate tax, given that it accounts for a large portion of their tax revenue. As such, no country embraces a call for its removal. Yet, it should be noted that the tax is so problematic that it had better be removed. It is nonsensical for people to be up in arms against an increase of a few tens of thousands of won in a tax on middle-class wage earners and call for an increase in the corporate tax at the same time. They will have to shed the misconception that the corporate tax is levied on large corporations and their owners. It is not. [April 22, 2015]

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Deregulation in Seoul Area, Learn from London, Tokyo

An apartment complex in Seoul is seen news reports on relaxing mortgage rules in this file photo dated July 15, 2014.

Kim Min-ho Professor, Law School Sungkyunkwan University

Our life is an endless process of choosing. Everything, be it an individual person's decision or a nation's policy, is the result of selections. There is a moment when it is really difficult to make a choice. When it is obvious that your selection means losing all other options, you may want to avoid making a choice, or making a "resolute decision." This is also the case with regulatory policies for the Seoul metropolitan area. It has been more than three decades since most of these policies were put into effect in 1982. No administration has ever dared a serious review of them. This is because they would have suffered collateral damage while falling short of achieving anything meaningful. “Enhancing national competitiveness" and "seeking a balanced development between Seoul and other regions" are both too valuable policy goals for the country to throw away. But, if we must choose, which one should it be? What if we have to sacrifice balanced development between Seoul and other regions as a result of removing or easing up regulations in the Seoul area to enhance the national competitiveness, or what if we have to watch national competitiveness erode because we maintain strong regulatory policies for the sake of balanced development?

The regulatory policies have been in effect for the Seoul area because of the need to resolve the environmental and social problems caused by population concentration and density. But population concentration won't likely be as uncontrollable as in the past, with the birth rate declining and the population aging. Deregulation of traffic and environmental measures will also produce far more economic effects than regulations as they require less social costs thanks to accumulated experience and technology, many studies have pointed out. For similar reasons, London and Tokyo, which used to maintain as many regulatory policies as Seoul does now, have removed nearly all of their regulations. The geographic areas that the past regulatory policies of London and Tokyo covered were far less than the affected area in Korea, which aims at balanced development as well as control of population density. It is also larger than the area under regulatory measures in Paris. London, Tokyo, Paris and Shanghai are all striving to boost their international competitiveness with a megacity strategy. Everybody knows that the central government can enhance the country's international competitiveness if it helps Seoul join the group of global megacities through aggressive investment and development policies in the metropolitan area. But it will be hard to deregulate policies for the capital area, if it leads to weakened regional economies and frozen regional development. Is it a “zero-sum game” to choose between deregulation and balanced development between Seoul and other regions? The answer seems to be dependent upon analysis of the effects of deregulation for the Seoul area on balanced regional development. Many people assume that there has been sufficient analysis of the causes and effects of the 30-plus-year-long regulatory enforcement. But the reality is different. Both supporters and opponents consider deregulation for the capital area and balanced regional development to be a "zero-sum game." On the contrary, they could be a "win-win game." The central government needs to invest heavily in provinces and give them generous support in the form of securing financial soundness through tax reforms; improving the quality of life through expanded educational, welfare and medical services; and removing worries of the future generations through the

development of special regional economic zones and higher employment. These efforts should be top priorities. Â Meanwhile, it is time to conduct a wholesale review of the need, appropriateness and validity of regulatory policies in the target areas, separately from the issue of balanced development between Seoul and other regions; and of the appropriateness of the imposition of regulations on factories, new universities and construction sites, and the levying of heavy taxes. It is also time for all parties involved to engage in constructive discussions for the future of the country, abandoning their destructive way of forming power groups to push selfish agendas. Â To this end, I propose that a consultative body be formed at either the National Assembly or the Regulatory Reform Committee, a presidential commission, so that there will be productive debate on the regulations for the Seoul metropolitan area. I sincerely hope that all parties concerned will sit down together and seek rules of a win-win game, not a zero-sum game, no matter how slowly this process will unfold. Â [MK Business News, April 17, 2015]

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- Give Our Jobs Away to North Korean Defectors?

- Counterattack by Miss Kims

- Legalizing Homosexual Marriage in Korea

Give Our Jobs Away to North Korean Defectors?

Visitors browse job information at an employment fair for North Korean defectors, hosted by Gyeonggi province in Suwon on December 11, 2014.

Bae Sung-kyu Deputy Political Editor The Chosun Ilbo

A North Korean defector couple runs their own Oriental medicine clinic in Gyeonggi Province. Both the husband and wife are doctors who finished college in the South, overcoming numerous difficulties settling down here after fleeing the North. Their success has been featured in our newspaper. However, soon afterward, an unexpected ordeal came their way. Learning their background as defectors, their patients suddenly began to complain, saying, “Why did you hide the fact that you are North Korean defectors?” They explained that they had never tried to hide it but what they got was only icy stares from patients and neighbors. As it became known that they were defectors, patient visits plummeted. They never mistreated their patients nor made a misdiagnosis. However, that was not enough to overcome the stigma of being North Korean defectors. It eventually became known at their children`s school. Their son, a primary school student, complained, “I can`t stand it. My friends turn me away because I`m the son of North Korean defectors.” The father said, “I don`t understand why they treat us like this. Being a defector is not a crime.” This is one case where our society`s prejudice and duplicity toward North Korean

defectors have left a deep scar in their hearts. Similar incidents are said to happen frequently around rental apartment complexes, where most North Korean defectors live. There are endless conflicts between North Korean defectors and South Korean residents. Residents in these neighborhoods are even afraid of their apartments being introduced in the mass media. They believe it will lower the value of their homes and damage the reputation of the schools in their neighborhoods. We even receive requests that we delete apartment names and their photos in our coverage of North Korean defectors. Young North Korean defectors are not free from uncomfortable views of our society. A defector student, now preparing for employment, said, “I don`t like people using the term ‘special consideration` for us.” His South Korean peers who are also seeking jobs, though not mentioning outwardly, cast unpleasant looks at him, as if saying, “Why are the North Korean defectors given special benefits in college admission and employment?” In reality, he said, it is far from easy for North Korean defectors to get a job interview. As to news reports on North Korean defectors experiencing difficulty in livelihood and employment, a majority of South Koreans in their 20s and 30s responded, “Why should we care about them when we ourselves are out of jobs? We are in trouble, too!” A South Korean college student said, “I don`t think I would be happy if someone, who is less qualified than I, gets a job only for the reason that he is a North Korean defector.” Another young man in his 20s said, “There are a lot of jobless young people and non-regular workers in the South. I think North Korean defectors should also start from the bottom.” Their response is understandable. Since they have worked so hard to prepare for employment, it is natural that they feel anxious about the possibility that somebody may snatch their jobs. This is probably an outcome of the harsh reality created by fierce competition and rampant youth unemployment. Nevertheless, we need to give a thought to what North Korean defectors, or North Korean residents, would make of this situation. Wouldn`t they think that we discriminate against and turn our backs on them while giving lip service about helping them? Then, it would be difficult to deliver our sincerity about national reunification to them. It is neither practically possible nor desirable to indefinitely offer preferential

treatment to North Korean defectors. It is also true that more often than not North Korean defectors` ways of thinking or acting get on our nerves. However, they are a socially disadvantaged group as well as a symbol of South and North reconciliation. They need our thoughtful assistance to settle down and stand on their own. Â The path to the unity and integration of the North and the South will open when their small successes accumulate. At times, their presence may make us feel uncomfortable or they seem to be taking away our share, but our society needs to display a more mature attitude of enduring and embracing them, looking ahead into the future. Â [April 3, 2015]

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Counterattack by Miss Kims

Participants in the international Women's Day ceremony at Seoul Plaza watch a performance on March 8.

Chung Woo-sang Deputy Political Editor The Chosun Ilbo

It was rather simple for boys to win the hearts of girls when I was a student. They only needed to be tall and athletic. If you did not fit this category, your next chance was to take a bet on studies. So, back then, it was either “good looks” or “good brains.” Today, things are much more complicated and other qualifications such as coming from a good family or being rich come into play as well. There are actually few middle-aged men who are tall and good-looking in the successful ranks of government, legal and academic professions, all requiring good brains. This shows what I mean. Things are different now. These days, there are more particular qualifications for men to have, as suggested by such household words as “eomchina (mom`s friend`s son/daughter),” “chadonam (cool urban guy),” “hunnam (charming and handsome guy), “jimseungnam (muscleman)” and the brand-new “noesaengnam (man with a sexy brain).” Whenever I hear these words, I just feel heavy in my head and heart. They say you need a refined speaking ability, a kind heart and a good sense of humor in addition to a good brain, to become a noesaengnam. So, I think it is completely impossible to become such a man just with your efforts. You may think this has nothing to do with you because you`re already middle-

aged and most of your friends are bald or fat. You never know. Actor Cha Seungwon, who is also in his midlife, has earned the affectionate nickname, “chajumma” (a parody of ajumma, meaning “a married or middle-aged woman”), creating a new category of men, called “yosaengnam (a sexy man who also cooks well).” Reaching this point, I just cannot but throw up my hands. One reason that this “such-and-such man” series is in fashion is because women`s standards for men have greatly heightened these days. Gone are the days when you can attract women either with your good looks or good brains. To go on the market, at least you need a modifier such as “a handsome judge,” “a muscular professor,” “a CEO with a sexy brain,” or “a diesel lawmaker.” About such a trend, young men complain, “women of today are going too far,” or “they are considering men as commercial items.” To counter such a trend, some men create a “such-and-such woman” series. Yet, what they get in return is only the titles like “nerd” or “loser.” It is a total defeat. In some ways, this looks like karma that men of today are getting in return for what men of previous generations did to women by asking them to be perfect. In those days, men demanded that every woman be “a good wife and wise mother,” or a “superwoman” who takes good care of children and earns a lot of money. Also, with regard to women`s appearance, men didn`t hesitate to make a variety of unmentionable assessments. Ninety-nine percent of women fell short of the standards set by men for “beautiful women,” and simply were referred to as “female teachers” or “female journalists.” Countless “Miss Kims,” who lost their names in companies and society, couldn`t find anyone to talk to about their problems and only shed tears in silence, since in those days even a word like “sexual harassment” didn`t exist. Various derogatory nicknames attached to men of today might be a massive counterattack by the daughters of women who survived the oppression of men. [April 6, 2015]

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Legalizing Homosexual Marriage in Korea

Film director Kim Jho Gwang-soo, left, and his partner Kim Seung-hwan call for legal recognition of their marriage in a performance in Seoul, on May 21, 2014.

Robert J. Fouser Former Professor, Korean Language Education Department Seoul National University

“The Structure of Scientific Revolutions,” a book written by Thomas Kuhn in 1962, was a great sensation. In this book, Kuhn proposed a theory that a change in the history of science is due to a “paradigm shift.” When scientists study within one paradigm for a long time and the paradigm is prolonged, things gradually get to lose vitality. In the meantime, society and technology continue to change to bring about new discoveries and theories so the existing paradigm collapses at one point and a new paradigm emerges. The same applies to politics. As a generation grows into adults with new values and the older generation sticks to their own values, a major change occurs at one point. One example is same-sex marriage. Looking at the issue in detail, we get to see that there was no single country that recognized a same-sex marriage until 1999, the last year of the 20th century. With the advent of the new millennium, the Netherlands recognized a homosexual marriage in 2001 and the neighboring Belgium also legalized it in 2003. As Canada and Spain joined the movement in 2005, the legalization of same-sex marriage gained momentum. Beginning in the 2010s, the legalization started to spread even further. In the United States, only two states had legalized homosexual marriage by 2009, the

year when President Barack Obama was inaugurated. However, as of April 2015, homosexual marriage is legal in 38 states, which account for 70 percent of the U.S. population. Despite the objection of conservatives, legalizing homosexual marriage has become a new paradigm in the early 2000s. The trend continued in South America too, with Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and a couple of states in Mexico legalizing the marriage of same-sex couples. In Europe, the U.K. and France also legalized it and Germany is in discussion. Amid this trend of change, Korea`s response is slow and clumsy. During the era of prolonged military dictatorship, homosexuality was considered a symbol of decadence of Western society societies and social “heresy.” As democratization progressed after the 1980s, people became more interested in the human rights of gays and lesbians. However, many politicians stuck to their conservative view. With the start of the 2010s, while Christian groups have raised their voices opposing same-sex marriage, civic organizations are also increasingly asserting their support for the human rights of sexual minorities. A typical example of the conflict is the controversy over the “Declaration of Human Rights of Seoul Citizens” in late 2014. With the legalization of homosexual marriage becoming a new paradigm, Korea would also get affected. At the core of this issue is the basic right of individuals. As the preamble to the Korean constitution provides “affording equal opportunities to every person and providing for the fullest development of individual capabilities in all fields,” homosexuals should be allowed to have the same opportunities to marry as heterosexuals do. Also, Article 10 of the constitution says, “All citizens shall be assured of human worth and dignity and have the right to pursue happiness.” In this regard, it is actually the violation of the constitution not to legalize same-sex marriage. Another problem is the international image of Korea. If Korea keeps opposing or ignoring the legalization of homosexual marriage, Korea may look like an outdated, conservative country. This stands in contrast to the image of “Cool Korea,” which has formed since the 2000s mainly through its IT power, Korean Wave (hallyu) and K-pop. In 2015, many “cool” countries legalized same-sex marriage and the trend will further accelerate in 2020 and 2025.

From the 1990s up until now, Korea has made a lot of efforts through “globalization” to overcome its negative and closed image from the era of dictatorship. However, if Korea does not legalize same-sex marriage, the nation`s improved image may be dented. For example, the “global competitiveness” index, which the Korean government and media take so seriously, would give Korea a negative image when the index includes whether or not a country has recognized homosexual marriage. Also in the competitiveness of major cities in the world, Seoul will gradually fall behind as a place where homosexuals are not able to marry. What should Korea do in this situation? As in other countries, objections to samesex marriage come from the older generation and religious organizations in Korea. In time, the older generation will naturally shrink and religious organizations are also expected to grow old as more of the younger generation avoids joining them. Since more than 50 percent of people in their 20s already support legalizing homosexual marriage, legal marriage of homosexuals will be just a matter of time. Good leadership acknowledges the fact that a certain paradigm has already collapsed, and calls for reforms based on a new paradigm. Same-sex marriage has certainly become a new paradigm, but it is an unfortunate reality of Korea that there are no leaders yet who can implement the reform befitting the new situation. [Dong-a Ilbo, April 25, 2015]

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- No Era of Cultural Prosperity without Reading Books

- Useless Art

- Food and Liquor Go Together Like Flowers and Butterflies

No Era of Cultural Prosperity without Reading Books

Children read on a Line 3 train on May 3, the start of Seoul Metro's month-long "Fun Fun Metro" to promote reading.

Lee Tae-dong Professor Emeritus, Department of English Sogang University

When President Park Geun-hye took office in 2013 she proclaimed that she would open an “era of cultural flourishing.” That reminded us of the modern-day Renaissance, which was initiated by the late French President François Mitterrand and his faithful ally and minister of culture, Jack Lang. However, the meaning of “cultural flourishing” remained elusive for many Koreans because the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism failed to present a concrete blueprint to achieve it. The administration and the presidential office have paid a lot of attention to the youth-oriented pop culture, including the game industry and K-pop, and the content industry which is associated with information technology (IT), as part of their initiative to achieve cultural flourishing. Still, whether the expansion of youth-oriented pop culture can usher in an era of cultural flourishing remains questionable. That`s because cultural flourishing requires art with universal value based on high-level aesthetic experiences that can touch the human soul, as witnessed during the Renaissance when art became history. Unlike popular culture and arts characterized by their fleeting nature, culture and the arts that can enrich people with deep resonance transcending time and space can only bloom in an appropriate cultural climate. John Dewey said that what distinguishes a civilized man from a barbarian is the culture in which the former is

involved. The arts serve as the yardstick of culture. Our nation`s present cultural climate appears to be far different from that of advanced countries, which can produce high artistic standards capable of spreading their cultural values. Culture defines the elements of language and is also its product, but the representatives of our people are addicted to foul and vulgar speech, indulging in mutual slandering and mudslinging, as they wallow in ideological disputes that blur their understanding of “freedom of expression.” The National Election Commission of Korea had to submit a bill to the National Assembly, which is intended to prevent such unethical and barbarous behavior from spreading to our young people so that they would not be affected by the poisonous regionalism widespread among the politicians. What is even more regrettable is that young people who are the pillars of our nation`s future neglect to read books that are the repository of imagination necessary for cultural creativity. Most of our children and youth are engrossed in smartphones and those who read books are considered weird. It is a sad phenomenon attributable to the misguided trend of blindly pursuing the convenience of machines and hollow, pleasure-seeking lifestyle, as well as the cutthroat competition for college entrance which deprives our children of the time to read. This lamentable trend is partly due to teachers who focus on preparing students for the college entrance examination rather than discovering and nurturing the gifts and potential of individual students. They don`t seem to recognize how important reading skill is for improving learning abilities, not to mention personality development. Unlike the simple games, reading offers rich experiences that enhance cognitive understanding, so it improves learning abilities and increases wisdom and knowledge as well as creative spirit. Our immature society and universities have long ignored the humanities and liberal arts education. It is a natural consequence of such myopic views and prejudices that our young people will shun reading books as they shoulder the future of the nation, which is eager to join the ranks of advanced societies.

Consumer-oriented education lacking a human-centered approach cannot be the panacea for social development. If the government genuinely wants to usher in an era of cultural flourishing, it should embark on enhancing the intellectual standard of the public and getting their imagination to bloom by reading books, thereby improving our rugged and backward cultural environment. Though invisible, the cultural value of dignity and refinement that reading brings to us cannot be compared with that of K-pop and games. In the knowledge and information society of the 21st century, an era of cultural flourishing will remain out of reach without reading books. Â [Seoul Shinmun, April 6, 2015]

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Useless Art

Guests at the opening of a Mark Rothko retrospective listen to an explanation by philosopher Kang Shin-joo, at a gallery of Seoul Arts Center on March 23.

Kim Gyu-hang Publisher Gorega Geuresseo (The Whale Did That)

Although I lean toward hard rock, I have been listening to music of all genres, ranging from classical to jazz and traditional Korean music, for so many years. But I have rarely enjoyed contemporary music. So, I must say it is quite unusual that minimalist music by Terry Riley, Steve Reich and Philip Glass, and works of Olivier Messiaen, György Ligeti and Iannis Xenakis have recently taken up most of my favorite repertoire. I have always believed that “good writing makes the reader feel uncomfortable.” In this malicious and deceptive world, writing that is devoid of discomfort is nothing but opium to eulogize the system and pacify the rutified life. My taste for music came under the influence of this thought at one point, making me feel skeptical about tonal harmony and voluntarily encounter the discomfort of contemporary music. Some 30-odd years ago, I fell for traditional Korean music (gugak), particularly the classical court music (jeongak), not the folk music of commoners (minsogak) or farmers` music (nongak). It was utterly unfitting, and useless as well, for a leftist young man immersed in revolution and class awareness to indulge in and learn the music that was used for meditation of the ruling class, such as

Yeongsan hoesang (The Sermon on Vulture Peak), or performed for the king long ago. However, if I had not known the useless music or if my time spent on the useless music had been devoted to learning to play the drum or gong, I would have become different from what I am today. The non-leftist music that a leftist young man deemed useless has helped him maintain his ideological orientation for a long time. Art is such an intriguing thing that it reveals its real power and value in a state of uselessness. “The paintings that Steve Jobs loved,” the advertising slogan for the Mark Rothko retrospective, highlights the usefulness of art. In this phrase, Steve Jobs is no longer a capitalist but an artist. For the artist Steve Jobs, artistic creativity and innovative attitude merge with industry, rather than the world. Art is a key factor in creating value added and profit in ways far different from the existing industry. Steve Jobs also preached that the humanities provide the base for creativity and innovation. The IT guru`s statement spawned a craze for the “CEO humanities,” and successful advertising copywriters dubbed themselves “humanities mentors,” creating the weird phrase “Ads change the world.” All these happenings stemmed from an utter ignorance of the two most significant things the human spirit has created ― the arts and the humanities. The inherent power and value of the arts can be exposed in their “distance from usefulness,” not its usefulness. The power of the humanities does not lie in extracting maximum usefulness through thinking and insight but in keeping man from devoting his enhanced spirit solely to usefulness or feeling compelled to do so. In short, the arts and the humanities enable people to live for non-profitable work, rather than profitable work, their minds focused on things more valuable than money, and to courageously pursue such things. In ancient Greece, a humanist way of life was a free citizen absorbed in such useless things as philosophy or art, leaving practical work to slaves. With the advent of capitalism, the slavish attitude of devoting one`s entire time and ability to useful things only emerged as a desirable attitude toward life. In late capitalism, slaves armed with such a manner of life came to be hailed as heroes reigning as the ruling class. Eventually, the arts and the humanities turned into a

tool for boosting the efficiency and competitiveness of such a slavish attitude of life. Korean society, as it faithfully follows such a trend, has added shabbiness as a cultural colony. A star philosopher who was commissioned to write a book tailored for the Mark Rothko exhibition made an irrelevant remark that he hoped “non-regular workers would find consolation in the paintings on exhibit,” and ultimately a threatening slogan was put up in the gallery, proclaiming, “Not just a painting but consolation!” The star philosopher said that he had not known about Rothko before he was commissioned to write a book about him. A minimum amount of time is needed to prepare oneself physically to write a book about an artist. It might be possible to write a book on an unfamiliar subject with dazzling writing skill and sell it to unsuspecting readers, but humanist spirit means an attitude to reject such usefulness and maintain minimum dignity in the realm of uselessness on one`s own. When it comes to the usefulness of art, few would deny that hallyu, or Korean Wave, has demonstrated tremendous power. Raising objection to the value and direction of hallyu or criticizing it is a shortcut to be condemned as a dumbheaded cultural conservative. However, the young entertainers performing on gorgeous stages amid rapturous cheers of fans are not the only faces of hallyu. The opening ceremony of the Incheon Asian Games last year, which featured a large contingent of big-name hallyu stars, ended up as a devastating failure as the whole world watched. And right at this moment, Psy, who is hailed as “cultural president,” is using an eviction service company to drive out young artists running a studio in his building with the adorable name “Takeout Drawing” in order to lease the space for higher rent. We are witnessing more vividly than ever the shameful scenes that display how art is devastated by attempts to emphasize its usefulness and turn it into a tool for usefulness, leaving our lives in a world of shambles. Steve Jobs said long ago that Apple would show people with creativity and innovative attitudes change the world. However, what he and Apple changed was not the world but just profits. [Kyunghyang Shinmun, April 21, 2015]

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Food and Liquor Go Together Like Flowers and Butterflies

A typical table laid out with local-style food for makgeolli drinkers, served at a tavern in Jeonju, a UNESCO City of Gastronomy.

Lee Byeong-cheon Writer

It would be impossible for a town famous for its food to not have its signature liquor. The two must go side by side as good food and a good drink are as inseparable as flowers and butterflies. Korea had three famous local liquors, according to famous historian, writer and independence activist Choe Nam-seon (1890-1957, pen name Yukdang). They were Gamhongno of Pyongyang, Leegangju of Jeonju and Jungnyeokgo of Taein. Apart from one now in North Korea, there are no vicinity where the fine spirits are produced. One the liquors from this area had been loved around Makgeolli gained fame. For those whose mouths

other places but Jeonju and its could easily imagine how long the country long before Jeonju are already watering, I want to

offer a sip of these three famous liquors. First, as the Chinese characters gam (sweet) and hong (red) in the name imply, Gamhongno is a sweet drink that resembles red dew. The red color is naturally derived from the roots of red-root gromwell (jicho), which is also used in producing Jindo Hongju. Pear and ginger go into Leegangju but as is often the case with food made in Jeonju, the ingredients may vary and sometimes cinnamon, turmeric and honey can be added to create a golden color that is very appetizing. People are 48

surprised at how this drink leaves no hangover even after heavy drinking. It is a spirit that has been passed down by the family of Cho Byeong-hui (1910-2002, pen name Jakchon), a Confucian scholar widely respected in the area, for five generations. The eldest son of Jakchon, Cho Jung-hyung, has successfully commercialized the home-brewed liquor. An oil-like substance, jungnyeok is extracted with heat from bamboo stalks. Jungnyeokgo is a kind of soju where this substance is added in the distilling process. Sometimes fresh Rehmmania (saeng jihwang) roots or ginger is added but the drink itself has no color. A record by Hwang Hyeon (1856-1910) has it that when the peasant rebel leader Jeon Bong-jun (1854-1895) was severely battered from torture, he took three glasses of Jungnyeokgo the villagers had given him, and he was able to sit up straight. Song Myeong-seop of Taein is the artisan designated for production of this famous liquor. Now, let`s move on to the world of makgeolli. All roads lead to a tavern. At the end of the road lie taverns called Yetchon Makgeolli, Dajeongjip and Hongdo Jumak. These three places are famous for their unique dishes. The dishes served at Yetchon Makgeolli are what the Jeonju people call Jeonjustyle table d`hote. Boiled pork slices, chicken soup with ginseng, boiled pork feet, live octopus, mussel soup, crabs marinated in soy sauce, grilled shrimp, fermented skate and pork slices with kimchi, and grilled fish are served back to back. It was once featured in the New York Times blog which praised Jeonju with the following, rather paradoxical comment: “Bad food or restaurants do not exist in Jeonju. It`s the place Koreans warn you not to go if you love Korean food because you`ll never love it quite so much anywhere else again.” (The New York Times, February 20, 2013) Hongdo Jumak in Hyoja-dong serves the side dishes Seoul style. Since not many people can finish the dishes, only three to four basic dishes are served free and the rest of the dishes on the menu, which fill up an entire wall, are available for order. The couple who runs the tavern used to run a sashimi restaurant, which is no wonder why their seafood dishes are on a par with those from famous sashimi restaurants. This place is the watering hole for writers who belong to the Jeonbuk (North Jeolla) Writers` Association.

Dajeongjip in Samcheon-dong serves the side dishes in the most traditional manner. As you order more makgeolli, pricey dishes keep coming and the popular dishes on the table get refilled. Dishes that are unpopular get taken out of the menu immediately so only the most delicious dishes are left on the menu. Â These are the taverns we must visit. These are the taverns that are waiting for us. Â [Saejeonbuk News, April 14, 2015]

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- Comparison of Korean and German Efforts to Secure Foreign Talent

- South Korea’s Participation in the AIIB and its Benefits

Comparison of Korean and German Efforts to Secure Foreign Talent Jeon Hai-young Senior Researcher Hyundai Research Institute

I. Outline There are growing needs to attract foreign talent to cope with demographic changes and enhance growth potential. This study compares the efforts of Korea and Germany to acquire foreign talent and makes policy suggestions. Foreign talent refers to international students and professional expatriates that have “specialized knowledge, technology and skills” required by a nation. Such human resources increase knowledge and strengthen corporate competitiveness by helping internationalize domestic companies and their products. Also, the inflow of foreign professionals is regarded as a means of offsetting low birth rates and population aging, which shrinks a nation`s workforce and growth potential. Accordingly, major industrial countries are stepping up efforts to secure foreign talent. For example, the United States, Germany and Japan have been pushing measures to relax entry barriers of foreign professionals. In Korea, too, the issue of attracting and using outstanding foreign talent is emerging as an important policy task. The Korean government announced a “Three-Year Economic Innovation Plan” in January 2014 in order to realize “creative economy,” and presented a set of policy tasks that included boosting foreign direct investment and sharpening the global competitiveness of small businesses and universities by attracting internationally renowned scholars as well as outstanding young researchers from abroad.

Â Despite the importance of luring foreign professional manpower, Korea`s 53

performance in this area has fallen far short of expectations. The nation became an “aging society” (in which people aged 65 or older account for 7 percent or more of the total population) in 2000, and its total fertility rate in 2008 was the lowest in the world at 1.19, reflecting the accelerating trends of low birthrate and population aging. Meanwhile, foreign professionals accounted for only 3.8 percent of total foreign workers in the country as of 2011. Moreover, foreign professionals represented a mere 0.5 percent of the nation`s total professional manpower, including Koreans. In contrast, Germany, which is similar to Korea in many respects, has been proactive in bringing in foreign professionals. Germany, like Korea, has a manufacturing-oriented business structure, a social atmosphere that emphasizes ethnic background, and a closed immigration policy. However, Germany has a drastically different approach when it comes to accepting foreign talent. Results have been fast as shown by the introduction of Blue Card in August 2012, which helped to attract 17,157 foreign professionals as of July 2014.

This study attempts to grasp the institutional and environmental factors in Korea and Germany that influence their efforts to attract foreign talent. It compares the conditions, by stage, in Korea and Germany with respect to attracting and using foreign talent. Entry stage: The focus of comparison in this stage is on how the two countries differ in overall programs to attract foreign talent, immigration policies, qualification requirements, and employment and living accommodations. Settlement stage: In this stage, the study mainly compares the sizes of foreign talent, social attitudes toward foreign talent, and factors concerning their social integration. Activity stage: In this stage, the study deals with how the working conditions and status of organizations (businesses, universities and research institutes) in which foreigners work affect their life satisfaction and decisions to stay for a long time.

This study is significant in that it attempted to compare Korea with another country with similar social and economic characteristics by performing a comprehensive analysis of legal and institutional aspects as well as social and economic conditions. However, there were limitations due to differences in the operant definitions of foreign talent resulting from different policies and institutional practices as well as omissions of specific types of foreign talent.

II. Process of Foreign Talent Acquisition 1. Entry Stage 1) Qualifications for Foreign Talent The two countries are at similar levels in most aspects, but Germany has a more 56

detailed classification system of foreign talent and offers relatively more flexible conditions for permanent residency. Definition: Korea and Germany classify foreign talent they require by related laws and visa systems, and provide immigration benefits accordingly. • German categories of foreign talent are “high quality manpower (Hochqualifizierte)” comprising scholars and others engaged in high-level academic activities; and “professionals (Fachkrafte)” referring to people who have an educational background and capabilities at certain levels or higher. • Korea has no explicit legal definitions of foreign talent. Generally, foreign talent refers to “foreign manpower equipped with specialized knowledge, technology or skills the country requires” and thus accorded benefits of immigration. Included in this category are professors (E-1), study/research instructors (E-3, E-4), professionals (E-5), those engaged in designated activities (E-7), businesspeople and investors (property buyers excluded). Both countries permit the accompaniment of family and employment of spouses. They also include international students in the category of foreign talent in view of their potential as future professional manpower. Qualification requirements: Both countries require foreign talent to present evidence of livelihood, pay standards and academic qualifications. • Evidence of livelihood: Both countries require applicants prove they have a means of supporting themselves such as a work contract. • Elimination of labor market test: Both countries have discontinued demanding employers give priority to locals over foreign professionals in filling job vacancies. • Pay standard: Germany demands foreign talent receive at least 44,800 euros annually (as of 2013), while Korea requires them to earn minimum monthly wage of 1.5 million won (as of 2014). • Academic requirement: Both countries define foreign talent as people who have finished higher education or those occupying jobs that only those who have completed higher education can perform. Korea also requires an undergraduate degree or higher if a foreigner wants to start his/her own business. Requirements for permanent residency: Germany has adopted an open-door

policy in issuing permanent resident cards for foreign talent. • Germany: Generally, foreign talent can acquire permanent residency after 48 months of stay. For high quality manpower, there is a system that shortens the waiting period to 21 months. • Korea: Foreigners generally have to stay in Korea for five years and then another three years (eight years in total) before applying for permanent residency. Under a point system, however, they can apply for permanent residency after staying in Korea for one year and additional three years (minimum four years) by switching to resident status.

2) System for Foreign Talent Acquisition The German government operates a system designed to develop demand for foreign talent and secure them, and conducts public relations activities. Survey and research on demand: Germany, based on periodical surveys on industries that experience labor shortages, attempts to secure foreign talent for the right sector at the right time. • Germany: The federal labor office compiles the results of periodical surveys on manpower supply and demand, identifies jobs suffering from a low labor pool, and reflects them in policies to attract foreign talent. • Korea: There are no surveys specifically on labor shortages with respect to foreign talent. Provision of information for foreign talent: In Germany, public agencies operate Internet portal sites that provide comprehensive information to foreign talent who want to work in Germany. • Germany: Information portals, such as “Research in Germany” (run by the German Academic Exchange Service, or DAAD) and “make-it-in-germany.com,” provide comprehensive information on jobs open to expats and living conditions. • Korea: Seoul Global Center (global.seoul.go.kr) and other agencies provide information on staying in Korea, but there are no comprehensive information portals regarding job opportunities and settlement. Foreign talent acquisition programs: Both countries operate programs to secure foreign talent through cooperation between government and various other institutions. • Germany: Humbolt Research Fellowships is the most representative case. • Korea: The government conducted the World Class University (WCU) Project in 2008 and the Brain Return 500 Project in 2012, and has been operating “Contact Korea,” to assist job-seeking foreign talent.

2. Settlement Stage 1) Size of Foreign Talent Foreign professional manpower: The numbers of foreign professionals are increasing rapidly in both Korea and Germany, but their proportion in foreign workforce is lower in Korea. • Germany: The number of foreign professionals increased from 199,000 in 2002 to 259,000 in 2011, recording an annual growth rate of 2.9 percent. This marked a faster increase than the 0.6 percent rise in the number of total foreign workers (simple laborers plus professionals) in the country during the same period, from 1,854,000 in 2002 to 1,950,000 in 2011. Accordingly, the share of professionals out of total foreign workers expanded from 10.7 percent in 2002 to 13.3 percent in 2011. *Foreigners` share out of the total number of professionals also grew from 3.7 percent in 2002 to 4.5 percent in 2011. • Korea: The number of foreign professionals increased from 10,561 in 2002 to 27,090 in 2011, an annual growth rate of 11.0 percent. However, the total number

of foreign workers (simple laborers and professionals) also increased by an annual rate of 9.3 percent during the period, from 318,000 in 2002 to 708,000 in 2011. Therefore, the share of professionals out of the total foreign workers edged up from 3.3 percent in 2002 to 3.8 percent 2011. *Foreigners` share out of the total number of professionals climbed from 0.3 percent in 2002 to 0.5 percent in 2011. Â

Foreign students: Around 10 percent of all students in Germany are from abroad. In Korea it remains at 1 percent level. • Germany: The number of foreign students studying in Germany amounted to 265,000 in 2011, accounting for 11.1 percent of all the students attending institutions of higher learning in the country. The number of foreign students attending institutions of higher learning increased from 227,000 in 2002 to 265,000 in 2011, an annual growth rate of 1.7 percent. However, the total number of German students grew more rapidly, from 1,712,000 in 2002 to 2,116,000 in 2011, slightly lowering the share of foreign students to 11.1 percent from 11.7 percent over the cited period. *The number of foreign professionals in Germany increased from 199,000 to 259,000 during the same period, and the proportion of foreign students to foreign professionals fell from 114.0 percent to 102.6 percent. • Korea: The number of foreign students studying at Korean institutions of higher education, including two-year colleges, stood at 64,000 as of 2011, accounting for 62

1.7 percent of total students attending these institutions. The number of foreign students rose from 5,759 in 2002 to 63,653 in 2011, growing by 30.6 percent annually on average. Accordingly, the share of foreign students out of total students soared from 0.2 percent to 1.7 percent over the cited period, but still remained at a far lower level compared with that in Germany. *The number of foreign professionals increased from 11,000 to 27,000 during the same period, hence the rising proportion of foreign students to foreign professionals from 54.5 percent to 235.0 percent. Â

Â 2) Social Attitude toward Foreigners Koreans tend to set conditions of citizenship relatively strictly, with their openness and positive perception of immigrants remaining rather low. Â National identity: Koreans set conditions of citizenship more strictly than Germans. As many as 86.5 percent of Koreans said it is important for Korean citizens to have Korean ancestors, while only 48.4 percent of Germans made similar replies. In addition, Koreans said it is important for Koreans to be born in Korea (82.7 percent), live in Korea (77.8 percent) and have Korean nationality (91.5 percent), showing far higher frequencies in such responses than Germans and applying far stricter conditions to becoming Korean citizens. Â Attitude toward immigration and immigrants: Korea`s level of openness toward and positive perception of immigration and immigrants is lower compared with Germany. In terms of policy, 70 percent of Koreans support enhanced 64

immigration controls, while 66 percent of Germans have such an opinion. Koreans who think immigrants contribute to cultural diversity and national development accounted for only 31.2 percent and 49.8 percent, respectively, far lower than the corresponding ratios among Germans. Particularly, the share of Koreans who embrace immigrants as their neighbors stood at 44.2 percent, far lower than 78.1 percent of Germans. Â

Korea shows a higher frequency of discrimination against foreigners and its antidiscrimination devices and relevant legal institutions are relatively insufficient. Experience of discrimination: Discrimination against foreigners exists in both countries, but Korea shows a higher frequency of such cases. • Germany: About 25 percent of the members of ethnic minority groups complained about discrimination due to their ethnicity, and 17 percent of immigrants said they had experienced difficulties in finding jobs due to racial discrimination. • Korea: About 34.5 percent of foreign workers and 41.3 percent of marriage immigrants said they had experienced discrimination or felt ignored because they were foreigners. Legal institutions: Even if foreigners suffer from discrimination in Korea, it is hard to punish perpetrators because there are no legal provisions prohibiting discrimination in daily life, employment and vocational training. In Germany discrimination based on racial difference and other reasons is prohibited. Germany grants political freedom to foreigners so they can join political parties and engage in political activities, while Korea allows foreigners to engage in political activities only to a limited extent.

Â 3) Systems for Integration of Foreigners Comparison of systems: Both Korea and Germany operate programs for social integration of immigrants. 67

• Germany emphasizes “language” and “integration into German culture” as major requirements for foreign residents, and demand immigrants finish the social integration courses named “Intergrationkurs.” The program is designed to help immigrants learn the German language and acquire basic knowledge about German society. It consists of 45 hours of orientation about German history, culture and civil rights and obligations, and 600 hours of German language lessons. A total of 1,302 organizations throughout Germany provide the program to support immigrants. • Korea provides a social integration program for foreigners, which is short, nonbinding and not easily accessible compared with its German counterpart. The program, intended to help foreigners understand Korean society and acquire Korean language ability, consists of a total of 465 hours. It is provided by 278 organizations.

Comparison of participants: Thanks partly to its coercive nature, Germany`s integration program has enrolled 2 percent of total foreign residents in the country, while the comparable ratio in Korea stands at a mere 0.9 percent.

• Germany: Participants in the Intergrationkurs increased from 145,934 in 2009 to 167,516 in 2013, while the number of foreigners in Germany grew from 7,186,000 to 7,770,000 over the same period. Accordingly, the share of foreigners who attended the integration courses out of total foreign residents inched up from 2.0 percent to 2.2 percent. • Korea: The number of participants in its integration program for foreigners rose from 1,920 to 14,014 during the cited period, which remained at one-tenth of Germany`s. The number of foreign residents in Korea rose from 1,168,000 to 1,576,000 during the period. As the number of participants in the program increased faster than the total number of foreigners, the share of its participants rose from 0.2 percent of total foreigners in 2009 to 0.9 percent in 2013. The share of foreign residents who knew about the program remained at 29.8 percent, indicating a low level of awareness.

3. Activity Stage Corporate competitiveness: Korean companies are largely regarded as having lower global status and less attractive working conditions than German companies. Only a small number of Korean business firms are known worldwide, and even the nation`s top corporations are getting relatively poor ratings. According to the global corporate rankings announced by three leading institutions, including the Fortune magazine, 20 German companies are included in the Global 500 list, while only 10 Korean companies are on it. According to Glassdoor (www.glassdoor.com), an employment information site, employees at the six Korean and 14 German companies that were on the lists of all the three ranking agencies gave their companies an average of 3.2 points (out of 5 points) and 3.6 points, respectively, putting Korean businesses in lower slots. Korea was rated as inferior to Germany in various aspects, such as the ability to attract and retain foreign talent, innovation capacities and corporate staff training. According to the World Economic Forum, Germany got 4.7 points and 5.1 points (out of 7 points), respectively, in national ability to attract and retain foreign

talent, while Korea got 4.2 points and 4.4 points, respectively. Korea`s innovation capability stood at 4.7 points, compared to Germany`s 5.6 points, and the levels of employee training by businesses marked 4.2 points, also lower than Germany`s 5.0 points.

Competitiveness of universities and research institutes: Korea has fewer globally ranked universities than Germany, and is also inferior to Germany in both the quality of universities and research institutes and the level of industry-university cooperation. In terms of the universities` status and quality of educational system, Korea falls behind Germany. According to THE (Times Higher Education) and QS (Quacquarelli Symonds), which survey and announce global university rankings every year, four Korean and 10 German universities are on the top 200 list, and 13 Korean and 37 German universities are on the top 500 list, respectively. In the three key areas ― educational system, mathematics and science education, and quality of business schools ― Korea marked 3.6 points, 4.7 points and 4,2 points (out of 7 points), respectively, compared with Germany`s 5.2 points, 5.1 points and 5.0 points, ranking in the medium range among some 140 countries. As a whole, Korean research institutes have considerable room for qualitative improvement, possibly limiting their opportunities for research. According to the WEF, Korean research institutes` quality levels got 5.0 points, compared with their German counterparts` 5.8 points. In the level of university-industry cooperation, too, Korea received only 4.6 points, compared with Germany`s 5.3 points, indicating that researchers run into limitations in scales of research and opportunities.

III. Conclusion and Policy Implications 1. Conclusion Korea`s incentives to attract foreign talent as a whole, in all stages from attracting to helping them settle and conduct activities, are deemed relatively insufficient. Attraction stage: Korea provides inadequate preferential benefits for high-quality foreign manpower, which the nation ought to secure out of strategic needs, and its relevant systemic completeness remains inferior to Germany`s. In order to attract world-class talent, Germany operates an effective system immediately granting permanent residency and providing comprehensive information service. Korea also offers preferential benefits to foreign talent, but still falls short of providing sufficient information and operating stable programs. Considering that

its incentives are notably inferior to Germany`s, the nation needs to ease the qualification requirements for foreign talent and improve its talent acquisition programs. Settlement stage: Particularly, Korea shows a wide gap with major countries in the overall scale of foreign talent, and is also insufficient in openness toward foreigners and effort for their social integration. The size of foreign talent staying in Korea is tiny compared with that of average foreigners residing in the country. With respect to their attitudes toward foreigners, Koreans tend to doubt the inflow of immigrants can positively influence their national development, showing a rather low level of openness toward foreigners. Also, Korea`s integration program, which is intended to speed up foreigners` adjustment at the early stage of their stay and increase their life satisfaction, is provided to only those who want it, leading to unsatisfactory results (the participation rate remains at one-tenth of that in Germany). Activity stage: Competitiveness of domestic businesses and research institutes in attracting foreign talent has also turned out to be significantly low. Korean businesses` global status is lower than that of German companies, and particularly foreign talent have given low scores to Korean companies in terms of their attractiveness as workplaces. The global status of Korean research institutes was also found to be inferior with their quality rated low. 2. Policy Implications The government and other concerned institutions are required to develop shortand long-term plans to upgrade their performances in securing foreign professional manpower and exert more efforts to improve the related infrastructure. The government should set national goals to attract foreign talent, including international students. Particularly, it ought to make strategic efforts to secure high quality manpower the nation needs by offering them more preferential benefits. International students face less difficulty derived from linguistic and cultural differences in their host countries, with their qualifications already proven to certain extents. Hence they are emerging as important immigration targets in

major countries, including Germany. The government, in cooperation with universities and overseas institutions, should attempt to attract more international students by ensuring job placement and life support programs after they finish their studies. In the long run, the government also needs to expand social infrastructure and push systemic changes to improve the living conditions of foreign professionals. In addition, it is necessary to improve the related legal institutions to help facilitate the social integration of Koreans and foreigners, and encourage their participation in educational programs. The government should educate Koreans about how to live alongside foreigners. It also ought to revise laws and systems to prevent discrimination against and unfair treatment of foreigners, while continuing to conduct public relations activities toward that end. Along with these measures, the government will need to promote integration programs for foreigners who are expected to be long-term residents in Korea and subsidize their education expenses, in order to help them better adjust to Korean society in the early phase of their stay and enhance their satisfaction about life in Korea, as well as provide necessary assistance to extend their stay. Various related institutions, such as business enterprises, universities and research institutes, are required to work out plans to sharpen their respective competitive edge. Businesses should strengthen their abilities to attract foreign talent by boosting investment and enhancing their competitiveness. Businesses and research organizations also should improve their office culture to meet global standards and create a working environment that respects cultural diversity. They also need to identify difficulties facing foreign manpower. All related institutions ought to increase efforts to carefully select foreigners who are interested in working in Korea and attract them successfully by strengthening networks with their overseas counterparts.

[Appendix] Methods for Counting Foreign Professionals in Korea and Germany ● Korea

Operant definition: Holders of visas for 1) managers, 2) experts, and 3) engineers and quasi-experts, as classified by the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO), are defined as “foreign professionals.” Statistics used: “Annals of Immigration Statistics” (of each year), compiled by the Korea Immigration Service, is used as basic data for tallying the number of foreign professionals staying in Korea.

● Germany Operant definition: According to the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO), Germany defines “foreign professionals” as 1) managers, 2) experts, 3) engineers and those who engage in jobs equivalent to quasi-experts. Occupational classification referred to the classification system of the Institute for Employment Research (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt und Berufsforschung). Statistics used: “Foreign professionals” were tallied on the basis of the statistical information provided by the Institute for Employment Research.

Â [VIP Report, April 6, 2015, Hyundai Research Institute]

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South Korea’s Participation in the AIIB and its Benefits Lee Jung-hoon Senior Research Analyst Woori Finance Research Institute

The South Korean government submitted its application to the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) on March 27. The new international financial institution is designed to finance infrastructure projects throughout Asia, and Korea`s entry is raising expectations of direct and indirect benefits. It would likely offer increased opportunities for Korean companies to participate in AIIB-led mega-projects. And Korean exports to neighboring Asian countries are expected to increase with the help of enhanced economic growth and cooperation within the region, thus helping to reinvigorate Korea`s domestic economy. In order to maximize these opportunities, the Korean government needs to secure a voice in the mid- to long-term decision-making of the bank and establish a strategic and consistent system designed to help domestic companies win contracts for projects commissioned by the AIIB.

Seoul`s Application for Membership The establishment of AIIB was proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in October 2013. Xi said that a new international bank was needed to provide sufficient capital for investment into the development of the Asian region. As of April 6 this year, 53 countries have applied for AIIB membership and final membership will be approved on April 15. The share ratio for each founding member country will be determined by the end of June (Share ratio estimates will be modeled after the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank). The official launch of the bank is scheduled for the end of 2015.

Background of Establishment of the AIIB Investment demand for infrastructure in emerging Asian economies will reach US$8.2 trillion and 8.3 trillion during 2010-2020, according to estimates by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the OECD, respectively. However, there is not enough capital available from international financial organizations, including the ADB, to meet the demand. About 800 million to one billion people in the Asian region suffer from infrastructure shortages such as insufficient water supply, power and paved roads, according to Infrastructure Journal and Project Finance Magazine. The ADB is the only multinational financial institution that is directly involved in infrastructure investment in Asia. In reality, however, the ADB is more focused on

providing financial support to poor countries within the region, rather than financing infrastructure projects which is a more effective way of reducing poverty. The ADB invested a mere $25 billion into intra-regional infrastructure projects from 2010 to 2013. The bank also had admitted that existing multinational development banks can meet only 5 percent of the total investment demand for infrastructure development in Asia. The United States, Japan and Western European countries dominate the governing structure of global financial institutions. China wants to reform the system with new international organizations that will replace the roles of the IMF, the World Bank and the ADB. The United States holds the largest share of votes at the IMF (16.8 percent) and the World Bank (15.9 percent) and the second-largest at the ADB (15.6 percent). Moreover, the advanced nations monopolize the leadership of these international organizations: the governor of the World Bank is from America; the managing director of the IMF is from Europe; and the president of the ADB is from Japan, respectively. China attempted to raise its share in the IMF, the ADB and the World Bank, but was rejected. It then started pushing ahead with the creation of alternative institutions such as the New Development Bank (NDB) and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA), as well as the AIIB. Although China holds the world`s largest foreign reserves worth $3.8 trillion as of the end of March 2015, it is now facing an imperative need to diversify its investment routes due to low returns on its investments and increasing exchange losses that stem from the fact that more than 30 percent of its holdings is tied up in U.S. Treasury bonds with interest yields of less than 2 percent. Considering the immense size of its foreign exchange reserves (estimated at $1.6 trillion by the Chinese Development Research Center), Beijing is expected to put a cap on future increases while actively investing the reserves in domestic and overseas projects. The Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange also maintains that reduction and diversification of the foreign exchange reserves is consistent with the core policy directions referred to as the “New Normal.” This trend will continue.

Inter-regional Economic Expansion and Chinese Influence

China is expected to capitalize on the AIIB to realize the “One Belt, One Road” initiative ambitiously carried forward by the Xi Jinping government. It is also likely that a mega-economic bloc will be made up primarily of the countries situated in the coverage area of the initiative. The “One Belt, One Road” plan is based on two main components: the land-based “Silk Road Economic Belt,” which will link China and the Central Asian region, and the oceangoing “Maritime Silk Road,” which will connect parts of China, Southeast Asia, through the Indian Ocean, to Europe. The combination of these two components is referred to as the “New Silk Road,” or the “Chinese Marshall Plan.” The Chinese government announced its plans to create a $40 billion development fund for the ambitious initiative, separate from the one to finance the founding of the AIIB. If the influence of the AIIB gains traction, the internationalization of the Chinese yuan is expected to speed up, beginning with the Asian region. The Chinese government, in the wake of the latest global financial crisis, has taken great pains to accelerate the internationalization of its currency as a means of trade settlement and issuing yuan-denominated bonds. As of December 2014, yuan trade settlement accounted for 2.17 percent, beating out Canadian and Australian dollars to ascend to fifth place among global currencies. When increasing numbers of state-run Chinese companies take part in infrastructure construction projects led by the AIIB, the Chinese currency`s share of trade settlement in the global market will automatically grow. Chances are that with the establishment of the AIIB, competition between G2 nations in the international financial sector is likely to intensify and, in the long term, shake up the U.S.-dominated global financial market order. Based on its powerful financial muscle, China has begun to threaten the dominant superpower status of the United States that it has enjoyed since the end of World War II, by persuading major countries, including the UK and Germany, to join the AIIB. It is also more likely that progress on China-led trade agreements, including the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and a South Korea-ChinaJapan free trade agreement, will pick up. In addition to the AIIB, when the New Development Bank (NDB) and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA), other initiatives driven by China, are successfully established, China`s influence is expected to considerably expand in the international financial market.

Korean Companies Likely to Benefit from Infrastructure Projects

As the Korean government decided to take part in the proposed infrastructure investment bank, Korean companies are likely to have more opportunities to win orders for infrastructure projects taking place in the Asian region. The existing international financial institutions such as the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the ADB are providing greater portions of their financial resources for fighting poverty, improving education and protecting the environment, whereas the planned AIIB will focus its capital power on the construction of infrastructure such as roads, railways and ports. Korean construction companies have more contracts in Asia than they do in any other region, except for the Middle East. Therefore, Korea`s participation in the proposed AIIB will possibly serve as a boon for these Korean companies that have carried out various construction projects within the region. Although the establishment of the AIIB is being led by China, given that the planned bank will be realized in the form of a multilateral development bank, it is expected that equal opportunities will be offered to member countries to win contracts. If the launch of the AIIB leads to greater investment into regional infrastructure and also regional economic expansion in the long term, Korea`s exports to the Asian region stand to benefit significantly. As of 2014, South Korea exported goods worth $324.2 billion to Asian countries, accounting for 57.9 percent of the nation`s total exports. Korea`s exports to the Asian region excluding China constituted 31.9 percent of the nation`s total exports, valued at $178.4 billion. When the operation of the AIIB begins in earnest and mega infrastructure investments in the region proceed to the implementation phase, oversupply problems in the areas of materials and industrial materials, including steel and chemical products, are expected to be eased considerably. In addition, Korea`s participation in the multilateral development bank is likely to further consolidate Sino-Korean economic cooperation. As a result of increased bilateral economic cooperation, the inflow of Chinese capital into the Korean market is expected to rise; Korean companies` entry into the Chinese market will also increase and their management risks will go down.

Need for Phased Effort to Raise Korea`s Stake

In the short term, the Korean government needs to make vigorous efforts to increase Korea`s share ratio in the AIIB during the negotiation process, since its share is projected to be lower than expected due to higher-than-expected participation of major countries in the planned bank. China has originally proposed an equity structure where a 75 percent share will be allocated to the Asian region and the remaining 25 percent share to other regions. However, the possibility has been raised that the proposed 25 percent share ratio is likely to increase to 30 percent since the participation of countries outside the region, including the UK, France and Germany, has been higher than expected. In the long term, however, Korea`s membership in the AIIB does not guarantee local companies winning project orders, so more systematic and effective strategies to obtain orders must be devised with support from the government. The past cases of ADB project contracts show Chinese and Indian companies are strong at low value-added projects, while European, U.S., Australian and Japanese companies dominate high value-added ones. With European countries and Australia participating in the AIIB, Korean companies will be pushed into fierce competition to win orders in high value-added projects. In response to such a possibility, strategic action needs to be taken. For example, in order to help their domestic firms win ADB projects, the United States and Australia have stationed ADB project officers at their embassies in the Philippines, where the bank is headquartered, to gather information on ADB projects and network with concerned ADB officers. [Issue Briefs, Vol. 5, No. 8, April 8, 2015, Woori Finance Research Institute]

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- Hanji to be Used in Restoration of Globe at Vatican Museum

- Joy of Living Together toward ‘Small Reunification’

Hanji to be Used in Restoration of Globe at Vatican Museum

Ezio Bolis, right, director of the Pope John XXIII Foundation, announces that traditional Korean paper will be used for restoring a globe cherished by pope, in a press conference on May 14.

Lee Je-hun Staff Reporter The Seoul Shinmun

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on April 2 that traditional handmade Korean paper, hanji, will be used for the first time in restoring a cultural asset owned by the Vatican. This is a significant departure from washi, traditional Japanese paper, which has been the overwhelming choice of art conservators so far.

The Globe`s Role with Visitors to the Pope The planned restoration work will be carried out on a globe housed at a museum dedicated to Pope John XXIII in Bergamo, Italy, beginning on April 27. The kind, warm-hearted pope appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1963, a first for a pontiff. He was canonized as a saint in 2000. Placed in the papal audience room, the globe has a circumference of more than four meters. It was a cherished item of Pope John XXIII. The pope used the globe to entertain foreign guests who visited the Vatican during his papacy. He received the globe as a gift from the Society of the Divine Word, a Catholic order for missionary work, in the 1960s. One notable point is that the globe depicts the

Korean peninsula before its division. In particular, the globe is considered a priceless cultural asset in that it shows in detail the global distribution of Catholic parishes when it was produced. The scheduled restoration work, supervised by world-renowned art restorer Nella Poggi, is expected to revitalize the market for handmade paper used in the restoration of cultural properties. In restoring European cultural assets, Japanese washi has primarily been used. However, there have been signs of changes. Beginning last year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as part of its public diplomacy activities, has held a series of promotional events for art restorers to introduce hanji as an excellent material for restoration of ancient documents and paintings. In terms of durability, Italian experts assume that hanji can last up to 8,000 years whereas washi lasts for around 3,000 years. In addition, it is widely known that compared to Japanese washi, hanji is more compatible with original paper artifacts and less likely to blur the image on hand. On top of these merits, hanji is less expensive.

Less Blurring and More Affordable The market for the paper used in restoring cultural properties is worth tens of millions of dollars annually. Accordingly, as hanji production for cultural heritage restoration has just begun to gain ground, Korean hanji producers will be able to post two or three million euros in exports a year, according to MOFA officials. The Foreign Ministry will continue to promote the excellence of hanji and support its entry into other European markets that are regarded as repositories of cultural heritage such as the U.K., Spain and France along with Italy. As part of its effort, the ministry is planning to present hanji next week in London, at an international conference on the papers used for the restoration of cultural assets. Last December, a Korean hanji producer reached an export deal with one of the largest Italian companies handling products for the restoration of cultural properties, the first agreement of its kind in Korea. South Korea`s Consul General to Milan Chang Jae-bok said, “Hanji`s earning a slot in a market dominated by Japan is meaningful in itself. However, Korean traditional paper producers fall behind their Japanese counterparts in terms of their numbers. So an effort to overcome such a challenge is required.”

Â [April 3, 2015]

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Joy of Living Together toward ‘Small Reunification’

Won Jeong-ok, far right, and her colleagues prepare lunch to be delivered to people in need, at a neighbor's home in Busan on March 28.

Yu Wan-jun Staff Reporter The Dong-a Ilbo

“Who is this from?” “This is from North Korean defectors…” “Do I look like a beggar? Why should I eat things from North Koreans?” The elderly person who had appeared to receive a lunch box slammed the door. This happened in December 2012 when Won Jeong-ok, 45, had just created a service group named Parangsae (Blue Birds), consisting of North Korean defectors, and started to deliver lunch boxes to elderly people who lived alone and disabled people in Saha district of Busan. Won stood in front of the slammed door with a blank expression for quite a while. “Even those who have difficult living probably think that North Koreans die of hunger and have worse life than them,” said Won, who lives in a permanent rental apartment in Saha-gu, Busan. She said she couldn`t reveal she was a North Korean defector while she was delivering lunch boxes to help those in need. Then one day in 2013, she mustered up her courage and confessed to a severely disabled person who was always receiving her with a bright smile, saying, “Actually I`m a North Korean defector…” “What if this person also drives me out?” Won briefly worried. But the person said, “Because of your accent, I thought so.

That doesn`t matter. I just appreciate you coming here for me.” “What the person said really gave me a big enlightenment,” Won said. While delivering lunch boxes to each home, she began telling them that she was a North Korean defector. Surprisingly, everybody welcomed her. “One person asked me to stay for a cup of coffee, another told me his father was originally from North Korea, and yet another even shoved a pear in my pocket.” Only then did she realize that she was wrong to assume that everybody would be discriminatory just because a few people had rejected her. The Blue Birds service group provides lunch delivery service twice a month. After temporary suspension in February, the group resumed its service on March 28, when I visited Won for an interview. After the interview I went on to meet Jeong, who had encouraged Won. Jeong, 59, suffering from rheumatoid arthritis on his whole body, gave us a big smile as he received a lunch box that contained egg roll, dried anchovies and beans. “The first day Ms. Won came to see me with a lunch box in her hand, I was so thankful that I received it with tears in my eyes,” said Jeong. “At the time I was totally at a loss as the home helper had just stopped coming.” He went on, “I think it`s great that North Koreans help others when they must find it tough to adapt to a new life here.” Bang Jeong-seon, 74, who participated in the lunch delivery service on the day, said, “Since I got help from this country while settling down here, I think I should also help others before I die.” Won was born in Pakchon County, North Pyongan Province. She fled the North in 2008. While working for a company after settling in the South, she suffered a shoulder injury when her boss assaulted her in 2012. She was fired and suffered from depression, staying in her home and meeting no one for months. Then she found a new job. She was elected the leader of her neighborhood in June 2012, the first time a North Korean was chosen for the role. At first, there were a lot of objections, some complaining, “Wasn`t there any other candidate than her?” However, watching many notable changes brought about by Won, such as transforming the dingy front of the apartments into a flowerbed and solving problems like loud singing, bad drinking habits and noisy quarrels between neighbors in a peaceful way, the residents began to open their hearts to

her at last. When she attentively listened to what they said, the residents also began talking from their hearts. Won said, “As I get to know more about people while doing little good things, I`m growing more confident that I am really getting along with others in my community.” She earned a bachelor`s degree in social welfare this year and is now dreaming of launching a social enterprise in the concept of a village community, looking forward to an even better tomorrow. [April 1, 2015]

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- Both Koreas Resemble in Gender Inequality and Competition in Education

- Why are Myeong-dong Streets Inviting to Pedestrians while Gangnam Streets aren’t?

Both Koreas Resemble Competition in Education

Gender

Inequality

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"Youth of the Two Koreas: A Human Rights Report" written by Heo Dayeon et al., and published by Hantijae Books

Han Seung-dong Senior Reporter The Hankyoreh

“Youth of the Two Koreas: A Human Rights Report” By Heo Da-yeon et al., Hantijae Books, 256 pages, 14,000 won Can you guess how many North Korean defectors live in South Korea? According to the book “Youth of the Two Koreas: A Human Rights Report,” there were some 28,000 by the end of 2014. It is a huge number. If we take into account North Korean defectors in China, where there are many ethnic Koreans, the number would be much bigger. Behind the official façade of hostile division the two Koreas may be heading toward a rapid unofficial integration and creating an indivisible system. If the quiet merging owes to South Korea`s tolerance and acceptance, it would be considered good news. However, if it is progressing under a discriminating and derogatory tone where the defectors are dismissed as “the cloddish” and “the needy,” and their voluntary or involuntary silence, such integration will not only fail but also end in a greater tragedy with bigger problems. According to this book, the average salary of a North Korean defector was 1.41 million won in 2013 (statistics of the Foundation for North Korean Defectors, a.k.a. 95

Korea Hana Foundation), about half the average salary of South Koreans, which was 3.23 million won. More than 70 percent of the defectors work in the unskilled labor market and they are treated even more harshly than the ethnic Koreans from China. Defectors as well as their siblings and children hide the fact that they are from North Korea. Traumatized and not quite healed from their troubled memories of North Korea, departure from family and friends, and harsh experience of escaping, the North Korean defectors face South Korea in total isolation and shock with no emotional buffers. Many of them struggle with their identity and have difficulty figuring out whether they should go on with their lives as South Koreans or remain North Koreans. This is a serious problem. “Youth of the Two Koreas: A Human Rights Report” is notable for its unique approach, valid diagnosis and a fresh solution to the issue of North Korean defectors. Six people from the South and the North in their mid and late 20s, including two women and a man who had left North Korea in their teens, a writer in his early 30s and a worker in a defector support group in his 40s, wrote the book. Heo Da-yeon (alias), a native of Hoeryong, North Hamgyong Province who majored in Chinese literature in college, wrote on the “Human Rights of Women” in the two Koreas; Choe Il-hwa, from Musan, also in North Hamgyong Province, and currently attending college as a major in international trade, on the “Human Rights of Children and Youth”; and Roh Min-u (alias), also from Hoeryong and studying business administration in college, on the “Human Rights of Sexual Minorities.” What are the differences between the North and the South? The authors contend that although North Korea, a totalitarian society, is far more oppressive and distorted in dealing with these issues, South Korea is not free from problems, either. For example, the two Koreas are quite similar in that they are both patriarchal societies that discriminate against women. The two Koreas are also similar in that parents obsess about their children`s education and pressure their children, although the South faces more serious problems. Readers of this book will conclude that as long as South Koreans continue to

rebuke the “hellish” human rights conditions in the North, they will be unable to face up to their own human rights situation because the human rights problems on both sides are closely intertwined. “Human Rights of Migrant Workers” as discussed by an electronic engineering major Kim Jong-hyon, “Human Rights in the Military” by a philosophy major Kim Seung-yeong and “Human Rights of the Disabled” by an economics and finance major Kim Eun-yeong shed fresh light on the issues. More importantly, this book is an outcome of intensive discussions and exchanges among the authors. They met every Sunday from March to November in 2014, watching movies, reading books, attending lectures, and sharing and debating the results of their respective interviews with relevant people. This endeavor was part of the “Todak Todak Publishing Project” supported by the Center for North Korean Defectors, a non-profit organization operating in the Daegu area under the umbrella of the NK People. Currently, some 850 North Korean defectors reside in Daegu. We must pay attention to the process of how this book was assembled. The book is different from memoirs that expose, testify and report the cruelty of the North Korean system, the brutal process of escaping and the shocks experienced in South Korea. In his remarks of recommendation, Choi Wan-kyu, co-chair of the Korean Sharing Movement, said this is not a book that compares the “superior and better-off South” with the “inferior and laggard North.” This is “a story about people” in which “hierarchy and power relations” have been put aside as much as possible. It is quite interesting to learn what the young men and women in their 20s from the North who have rather successfully adapted to their lives in the South and their peers in the South had to say about human rights. What`s even more interesting, though, is how they have become good friends while undertaking this long-term project. Their friendship formation provides an important lesson for solving the problem of North Korean defectors and the future integration of two Korean populations, which will be an imperative issue in the process of reunification. [April 17, 2015]

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Why are Myeong-dong Streets Inviting to Pedestrians while Gangnam Streets aren’t?

"What Do cities Live On?" written by Yu Hyeon-jun and published by Eulyoo Publishing Co.

Ahn Jin-yong Staff Reporter The Munhwa Ilbo

“What Do Cities Live On?” By Yu Hyeon-jun, Eulyoo Publishing Co., 391 pages, 15,000 won “Where do you live?” is a commonly asked question but an insensitive one because the place of residence says much about a person`s economic status in Korea. However, the implications extend far beyond economic power. For example, the modus vivendi of city dwellers and rural residents differ. Cities are not easily grouped together under one category but change into different shapes. Although both the Gangnam and Gangbuk areas lie within Seoul, albeit divided by the Han River, they have distinct features that are easily recognized. The author who studied architecture at Harvard and MIT and is currently teaching at Hongik University`s Department of Architecture unravels many tales about cities; some of them we already know about, yet others we either don`t know about or have failed to realize. For example, why are the streets in Myeong-dong inviting to the pedestrians whereas you seldom feel like strolling through Gangnam, although the latter has straighter byways that are better paved? The author answers with the notion of “event density,” which refers to the 98

number of entrances along a given street. The Gangnam streets are lined with tall buildings with one big entrance and there are few shops compelling enough to prompt unplanned visits. It is different in Myeong-dong where the streets are lined with various shops and more possibilities await pedestrians at every corner. The book offers more interesting analyses. What is the difference between a hotel and a motel? Guests staying at a hotel do not feel awkward when they run into one another inside the building and there are a lot more facilities in a hotel but not in a motel. It is important for a hotel to command a fine view and thus it has large windows, but a motel where “secrecy” is a key element has very small windows that allow minimum ventilation. The penthouse-rooftop comparison is no less interesting. The penthouse situated at the topmost part of the building commands the finest view, lending the owner another form of power. The same logic applies to the king looking down on his ministers from the throne. The rooftop room is also high up, but why isn`t it expensive? The author explains this with the “ease of access.” In order to get to the penthouse, you need to go through several identity checks, but the rooftop allows free access. These details are the basis of differences in property value. People build buildings and create cities. Each building is built differently to serve its purpose. Such buildings make up a city, and the city with a certain orientation affects the lifestyle of the residents. To parody the line from the recent movie, “Kingsman: The Secret Service” ― city maketh man. [March 27, 2015]

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- Gong Ro-myung, Living Witness to Korea’s Diplomatic History

- Huseyin Kirdemir: “It’s my calling to promote a proper understanding of Islam through books.”

- Lee Kang-woon: “Insects Have Evolved Lifestyles.”

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Gong Ro-myung, Living Witness to Korea’s Diplomatic History

Fomer foreign minister Gong Ro-myung at his office at the East Asia Foundation

Jang Gyeong-deok Editorial Writer The Maeil Business Newspaper

Our interview with Gong Ro-myung, former foreign minister of Korea, was held on April 20, two days before the Afro-Asian Summit, which commemorated the 60th anniversary of the Bandung Conference. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe were expected to meet again at the gathering of Asian and African states, and Gong couldn`t quite finish his sentence when he said, “China may seem like it is willing to form a common front with us in dealing with historical disputes with Japan, but….” With a career in foreign affairs spanning 60 years, he had the foresight to predict that historical issues would likely put Korea in an even tighter situation. Two days later, Prime Minister Abe issued an apology that did not contain any expression of remorse for Japan`s aggression and colonial rule. Xi and Abe were pictured together with smiles on their faces. In his knowledgeable opinion, when Prime Minister Abe addresses a joint session of the U.S. Congress on April 29 — the first Japanese prime minister to do so — chances of an apology that meets our expectations are probably slim to none. It won`t be much different when he issues a statement around August 15, marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. In that case, what should we do? 101

If we maintain the simple-minded, rigid approach we have been taking, we could be prey to Abe`s tactics. The foreign affairs veteran was thinking a few steps ahead. He said his greatest concern was the “possibility of Abe openly condemning the Korean government on the global stage for its narrow-mindedness.” Gong gave a realistic assessment of current conditions, which was very different from our expectations. Q. America and Japan are concerned that Korea is veering toward China. A. President Park Geun-hye has held several summit meetings with China, but has not met once with the Japanese prime minister. She speaks Chinese, and the leaders of the two countries are viewed as being on amicable terms. Washington and Tokyo are already saying that Korea is leaning closer towards China. This is likely to put a strain on our diplomatic relations with America. A summit meeting does not necessarily have to yield results. Leaders of European countries hop on a plane, have talks, and come back in two or three hours. We shouldn`t give the impression that we are too fixated on a legitimate cause for holding talks. Q. The Korean government is urging the Abe administration to show a true commitment to improving relations. A. History and sovereignty of Dokdo islets have been an ongoing cause of contention between Korea and Japan, but the primary source of friction at the moment is the “comfort women” issue. High-level meetings between the two countries are under way, so there is a good possibility that some sort of compromise will be reached. When it comes to territorial issues, it`s only natural for both governments to take a nationalistic stance. It`s not something that can be resolved easily. Since we effectively control Dokdo, I think it`s better to adopt a more low-key approach. Q. When he gives his speech to the U.S. Congress on April 29, do you think Prime Minister Abe will unveil a change in his historical views? A. When Mr. Abe addressed a joint session of Australia`s parliament in July last year, he received a standing ovation. He said Japan had moved on from its past and made a fresh start since the war and that he was deeply moved by the

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generous forgiveness the Australian people had shown. He was tactful in his use of language to protect his country`s national pride. He will take the same approach in America. His speech is like high-level mathematics, whereas our response is more like grade-school arithmetic. We should be more cautious in our dealings with Japan. Q. Without a sincere apology from Japan, the already chilly Korea-Japan relations could freeze. A. This will further limit President Park Geun-hye`s room for diplomatic maneuver. Prime Minister Abe, on the one hand, is meeting with President Xi Jinping. (Gong claimed that China`s diplomacy is probably more pragmatic and focused primarily on practical benefits than any other country in the world.) What`s worrying are other countries` critical views that Korea-Japan relations are still stuck in the past. U.S President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have urged Japan to face up to its past, but have also stressed the need to move forward. Rather than merely taking offense at the comments made by U.S. Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman (that “it's not hard for a political leader anywhere to earn cheap applause by vilifying a former enemy”), we should try to “read” the underlying thoughts. Q. Then what do we need to do going forward? A. Both countries should return to the spirit of the 1998 signing of the joint declaration for a new Korea-Japan partnership. We also need the wisdom and courage to move forward toward the future. (Former Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi said that he “humbly accepted the historical fact that Japanese colonial rule inflicted unbearable suffering and pain on the Korean people,” and expressed remorseful repentance and heartfelt apology, and South Korean President Kim Dae-jung expressed sincere appreciation and acknowledgement.) Q. When elder statesmen from the two countries met with Prime Minister Abe on March 23, what did they say? A. That it will be a lasting regret if the leaders of the two countries fail to meet this year, which marks the 70th anniversary of Korea`s liberation and the 50th anniversary of the two countries` diplomatic relations. Also, that we need to

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create conditions conducive for a summit, and the full backing of political leaders is vital. Q. Cozy relations between the United States and Japan could create a crack in Korea-U.S. relations. A. Korea experts in Washington are also experts on Japan. We need to move in tandem with the U.S. government`s strategy for Asia, so when Japan keeps saying that Korea is leaning toward China, we should consider it is a matter of grave concern. Trust is of utmost importance in the Korea-U.S. alliance. I don`t understand our government`s actions or lack thereof with regard to the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and deployment of the THAAD missiles when it is so obvious how things will pan out. If we allow ourselves to be swayed by China, our national security could be threatened. Q. Do you think there are signs of “Korea fatigue” or “Korea passing (or exclusion)” in Washington? A. It`s sad, but we need to consider how Washington will act when the chips are down. Until now, the Pentagon (U.S. Defense Department) has come to our aid. During the Asian financial crisis in 1997, Lim Chang-yuel, the deputy prime minister of Korea, went to Japan to ask for aid only to return empty-handed. Robert Rubin, the U.S. treasury secretary at that time, also said that we should seek the help of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). That`s when the Pentagon and the State Department stepped in and argued against it. We need to seriously ponder whether they will be willing to side with us again when the situation calls for it. Q. The U.S. government seems more concerned with strengthening the U.S.Japan alliance. A. American writer and Nobel laureate Pearl Buck pointed out that historically America has betrayed Korea twice. The two countries signed the Korea-U.S. Treaty of Amity and Commerce in 1882, which stipulated mutual support if either came under unjust oppression from other powers. Yet, when Japan forced Korea to sign the Protectorate Treaty in 1905, America turned a blind eye. Also, there was the Taft-Katsura Agreement in 1905, whereby Japan recognized America`s control

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over the Philippines and America recognized Japan`s establishment of a protectorate in Korea. At the time of the Korea-Japan Annexation Treaty in 1910, marking the official start of Japanese colonial rule in Korea, America just stood by and did nothing, and when the San Francisco Peace Treaty was signed in 1951 between Japan and the Allied Powers, last-minute demands made by Japan were heard, which led to ambiguity in some of the provisions. So who will America ultimately side with when there is conflict between Korea and Japan? Until now, it was Japan. We have to be extremely cautious. Q. There are views that the days of U.S. hegemony may be drawing to an end. A. It`s true that America`s international status is not the same as it was at the end of World War II, but I don`t think it`s apt to say that its days as a global superpower are fading. The rise of China is perceived as a threat to America`s status, but China lacks the will and capacity to become a global power. America will continue to play an important role, particularly in Asia, for quite some time. I don`t envision any major change for at least a half century. Q. On what grounds do you say that? A. America is one of the youngest countries in the world whereas China is grappling with the problem of an aging society. No country can survive in the international arena on its own. America has many allies, but China doesn`t. A quarter of Korea`s trade volume is with China, but this should be a mutual relationship. It would not be prudent to rely too much on China. Our values are fundamentally different from theirs. We can`t follow the Chinese way. Q. Shouldn`t we try to maintain a balance between the G2? A. We export many products to China, but where does the technology come from? From America and Japan. I acknowledge that China is a country with great potential. The Chinese people possess formidable power. They invented gunpowder and made the compass, which was used to navigate before the age of GPS. Despite all this, we shouldn`t forget what the nature of our relationship with China had been for centuries. It was mostly a subservient, subordinate relationship. We need to protect our independence and national pride.

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Q. Do you think North Korea under Kim Jong-un will be able to shift towards reform and openness? A. We shouldn`t be too optimistic when it comes to the North. All the North Koreans I`ve met had a great antipathy toward the South. There was anger in their eyes. What I wish for the North is that they remain faithful to their instincts for self-preservation. I urge them to think about the fact that an all-out war would also lead to their destruction before they do anything rash. We should never for a moment let our guard down when it comes to North Korea`s military strength. If the worst-case scenario should happen, the consequences would be so disastrous I don`t even want to think about it. We should be cautious so that North Korea doesn`t resort to self-destructive acts driven by a “Let`s all die!” state of mind. Q. Do you think China will accept a South Korea-led unification? A. Lee Kuan Yew, the former prime minister of Singapore who passed away recently, knew more about China than anyone else. He said that China would not discard the North Korea card. Because, in essence, China enjoys a symbiotic relationship with North Korea; it secretly wishes for the continued existence of North Korea, which it knows will never point a gun at them. What do you think is more in their interests: foreign troops deployed right at their border or North Korea serving as a buffer zone? Q. Korean diplomacy is easily swayed by public opinion. A. Public opinion is like a drifting cloud; it does not stay anchored in one place. That is why political leadership is important. Leadership comes from foresight. We need to establish a long-term national strategy and lead public opinion. Foreign policy officials should do more to win the support and understanding of the Korean people. Q. What was the biggest diplomatic dilemma you faced during your career? A. That would be during times of conflict with Japan. There were times when we confronted them head on when looking back. I think it would have been better if

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we had been more cool-headed and flexible in our approach. During the Kim Young-sam administration we didn`t have a good relationship with Japan, and so when the Asian financial crisis broke out in 1997, we didn`t have the means to persuade Japanese financial circles whereas before we had the lobbying power in Japan to do so. Q. You worked with Ban Ki-moon, the secretary-general of the United Nations, for quite a long time. A. He left a deep impression on me when we worked together at the SouthNorth Joint Nuclear Control Committee. I was the chairman and Mr. Ban, vice chairman. When his father passed away suddenly from a car accident, he told no one, not even me. After work he went to the funeral home in the country to greet guests who had come to pay their respects, and then returned early in the morning and attended meetings. He was very strict in putting public affairs before his private obligations. Q. What`s your advice for young people who want to become a diplomat? A. My senior colleagues always used to say that even when you`re doing menial paperwork, you should always think like you`re the president. You need to be equipped with the mentality that you are representing our country and working to protect our national interests. It is a profession that requires continuous study and self-development. Q. You must have traveled extensively. Do you think Korea is past its prime? A. Korean people have a strong, distinct individuality. This collective energy can become the driving force behind the nation`s continued growth in the 21st century. Korea is not old yet; it is still in its middle-age phase. Public demonstrations are also an expression of energy. You don`t see that in Japan, and not in China either since the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989. ■ Former foreign minister Gong Ro-myung was born in Myongchon, North Hamgyong Province, now in North Korea, in 1932. He graduated from Kyunggi High School and entered Seoul National University in 1951 to study law, but due to the Korean War it took him 10 years to graduate. He served in the army as an

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interpreter and began to work part-time at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1958. He served as the ambassador to Russia and Japan before becoming the 25th foreign minister of Korea (1994-1996). He is currently the chairman of the East Asia Foundation and chair professor at Dongseo University. He authored a book titled “My Diplomacy Notes” published last year, which records the past 50 years of Korea`s diplomatic history. With regard to Korea-Japan relations, he often quotes the saying, “Everything changes but geography.” He believes that the survival strategy of a country like Korea that is surrounded by four strong nations lies in a solid national security system, level-headedness, a balanced view and a future-oriented perspective. [April 25, 2015]

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Huseyin Kirdemir: “It’s my calling to promote a proper understanding of Islam through books.”

Huseyin Kirdemir says he founded a publishing company specializing in Islam-related books to promote a proper understanding of Islam among Koreans.

Kim Seong-ho Senior Reporter The Seoul Shinmun

There are many people in this world who are taking their own striking paths in life. Turkish-born Huseyin Kirdemir (Korean name Jang Huseyin), 44, a famous figure in the religious scene, has been living in Korea for 21 years. After studying Korean language in his home country, he came here to do his master`s and doctorate degrees in Korean language and literature at Seoul National University. Taking it as his calling to promote a proper understanding of Islam, he became a naturalized Korean citizen and three years ago established a specialized Islamic publishing company to play a bridging role between Korea and the Islamic world. We met Kirdemir at the Seoul Central Mosque in Hannam-dong. Q. It seems the movements of the Islamic State (IS) have become one of the greatest concerns of the global community. Almost every day IS seems to be accused of being involved with terrorist acts, looting and massacre. What kind of organization is IS? A. I don`t really know either. Like Osama bin Laden, who was little known before September 11 attacks, the IS has suddenly come to the world`s attention. Most Muslims are disconcerted. Although the political forces behind IS and their arms

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supply routes are still unknown, it is only a matter of time before they are revealed to the world. What`s certain is that their behavior is unthinkable for a Muslim. IS is not an organization based on the Islamic faith but an armed organization linked with political interests. Q. When IS carries out terrorism and other violent acts, they claim to act under the banner of Islam and call themselves an Islamic organization. A. All 1.6 billion Muslims around the world, including myself, are following their movements with great concern. Their deeds go completely against the Quran and the Hadith, the words of the prophet Muhammad. The Quran says, “Killing one person is the same as killing all humanity, and saving one person is the same as saving all humanity.” The Hadith contains a passage that depicts a person riding a camel taking a detour to avoid fatally trampling a dog. These are the things Muslims were taught and continue to be taught. I can say for certain that a person who brutally kills others just because they think differently is no Muslim. In Islam there are certain rules for battle: Only the person one is fighting is the enemy, and women and children and other civilians are never killed unless they are armed with intent to kill one first. We are also taught to respect the bodies of the enemies, so how can we burn and slash the body of a civilian? Q. The attitude of people around you has surely changed as IS runs rampant. A. I`m afraid that a lot of people will get the wrong idea as they watch the violent acts of IS, which keep appearing in new reports, and perceive Islam to be a frightening religion. Islam as seen on television news is not representative of all Muslims. Just as you cannot say all Christian organizations are like the Ku Klux Klan, the secret extreme right organization in America founded on the idea of white supremacy. Q. What is the definitive value that separates IS from orthodox Muslims? A. I would have to say it is “peace.” If you take just a little bit of trouble it is easy to find evidence of Islamic nations living peacefully with their neighbors. Islam is misunderstood in the Western world, which has led to the prejudices and misunderstanding of today.

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Q. Why is there an endless string of terrorism and war in Islamic countries and the Arab world, which claim to value peace? A. One of the major reasons is the political dynamics surrounding resources in the Western world, particularly Europe. Another reason is the increasing number of Muslims who are moving further away from Islam, including those coming under strong European influence with the increase in educational opportunities and overseas travel. The problems of Islamic nations must be fundamentally solved in the Islamic way, but rather than their own nations and their own people leaders tend to be swayed by the Western nations that support them. That`s why, despite the wealth of resources, they live in poverty and domestic trouble is never-ending. In Egypt, 40 percent of the population lives on one dollar a day. Fortunately, in the Muslim world there is a growing perception that “we must return to the origins of Islam to live in peace” and greater efforts are being made to put things right. The Western world must work together with us. In many cases, Muslims in Europe live in separate areas like the Jewish people in the past, who were isolated in the ghettos. An Arab name alone brings disadvantages in employment. These things are happening in nations that purport to teach us democracy. Q. Are misconceptions of Islam and incorrect use of terminology common among Koreans? A. The two most common mistakes are found in use of the terms, alla sin (meaning Allah God) and hoegyo for Islam. Allah is the name of the one God of Islam, and therefore “Allah God” is a tautology. Also, while Muhammad is often referred to as the founder of Islam, he is not the founder but a prophet. He did not write the Quran but many people think that he did. As in the phrase “a sword in one hand and the Quran in the other,” the Western world has described Muslims incorrectly by distorting Islamic militancy. Polygamy, a system that emerged to protect women who were left alone after war, is another good example of the misconceptions. Hoegyo, commonly used among the older generation to mean Islam, is rooted in the fact that the Hui (Hoe in Korean) people of old China were a predominantly Muslim ethnic group. Q. Many people are curious about the Islamic jihad and suicide terrorism. Are these concepts actually condoned by Islam?

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A. Jihad is commonly thought to mean a holy war, but this is an idea that originated in the West. The idea of a holy war was emphasized when recruiting soldiers for the Crusades, which were a quest to regain the Holy Land. In Islam, jihad originally means “to strive,” “to work hard,” or “to struggle.” In other words it means a student who studies hard, without always looking up the answers first, or a leader who rules the country properly. Of course, it also refers to defense against one`s enemies. The prophet Muhammad, returning from battle, told his followers that it is easy to fight but it takes greater effort to follow the path of God, thus referring to the lesser jihad, which is the physical battle, and the greater jihad, which is the inner struggle. In regard to suicide terrorism, the Quran is clear on that point. As the body is given by God, Muslims believe that they have to look after it till the day of death. Naturally suicide is also forbidden as the soul cannot be taken without the permission of the one who gave it. They say that in hell one is subjected to the same kind of pain as in this life. There being no death in hell, one cannot take one`s own life in this world. In many instances the suicide bombings are carried out under the threat of powerful forces or for the sake of their families` livelihoods. Q. Korea is often referred to as a religious heaven where many different religions coexist in peace. But in some quarters there are worries that the peace has already been shattered. Has religious conflict in Korea become so serious? A. Conflict between religions is not so severe that it is noticeable to everyone. However, the excessive evangelism of some Protestants makes some nonChristians very uncomfortable. Not only myself, a Muslim, but most Koreans frown upon their activities. Q. Islam is noticeably spreading in Korea. What is the current situation? A. An estimated 100,000 foreign Muslims live in Korea, and recently the numbers have been rapidly growing. I keep seeing new faces at the mosque, especially young people. At the supermarket, I often run into Southeast Asian women or Arab women wearing a hijab covering their heads and upper bodies, and the Korean locals don`t seem to be at all fazed.

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Q. The name of your publishing company, Jenna Mumin Books, is unusual. Why did you start a specialized Islamic publishing company? A. It`s named after my primary school age daughter Jenna and her younger brother Mumin. For a long time I have thought it was necessary to promote a proper understanding of Islam. People make their own choice whether to believe in Islam or not, but whatever the case it should be properly understood. If you understand Islam then you understand about a quarter of the world`s population. Relations between nations should be perceived without prejudice to benefit from them and maintain relations for a long time. But 95 percent of the Islam-related books in Korean bookstores are written by non-Muslims. So I acted on the belief that to spread proper knowledge of Islam it had to be done in accurate Korean and based on accurate information. In 2013 and 2014 we participated in the Seoul International Book Fair. They say we are the first Islamic publishing company in Korea. Q. What kind of books have you published? Are they selling well? A. Most of them are guides to help people easily and accurately understand Islam, and the response has not been bad. We have published five books so far and all of them have gone into a second printing. Orders also come in from overseas. “Forty Things that Koreans Ask about Islam,” which came out last year, has been doing surprisingly well. Q. How do you think Koreans perceive Muslims and Islam? A. In “The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty” (Joseon wangjo sillok) there is a description of King Sejong standing in front of the pavilion named Gyeonghoeru at Gyeongbok Palace, with his officials standing in rows before him left and right, closing his eyes in contemplation as he listens to an Islam elder reciting from the Quran. Koreans have had contact with Islam for a long time but they still find Islam to be an unfamiliar religion and culture. But what is needed are people like me who can play a bridging role. Compared to when I first came to Korea, there has been a palpable change. It seems the people no longer find the Islam religion to be so strange. Q. You are a naturalized Korean citizen. What do you want to do in Korea in

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the future? A. I would like to build a place like a mosque in Paju where people who want to learn about Islam can freely come and go. The number of Muslim children needing an Islamic education keeps growing but there is nowhere to teach them. I want to create a multi-purpose, school-like place incorporating religious, educational and cultural functions. Of course, my priority is publishing works that will give correct information on Islam. I have a dream of building a big publishing house in Paju Book City, which I hope will come true. ♦ Who is Huseyin Kirdemir?

Huseyin Kirdemir was born in the city of Yozgat, Turkey, the youngest of children in a multi-generational family of bakers, which operates a famous bakery. He grew up watching Korean animated films and documentaries and graduated from the department of Korean language at Ankara University with high marks. As a Korean government scholarship student, he completed his master`s degree and doctorate course in Korean language and literature at Seoul National University and is now preparing to write his dissertation. His mastery of high-level Korean is more accurate than that of most native Koreans. Starting with the publication of a guidebook to Islam for the Korea Muslim Federation in 2005, he was in charge of publicity and media relations as well as interpretation and guide services for foreign and Korean visitors at the Seoul Central Mosque for seven years. He became a naturalized Korean citizen in 2006 and with his Korean wife has two children, daughter Jenna, 8, and son Mumin, 6. The family lived near the mosque in Itaewon, Seoul, but moved to Paju in 2012 when Kirdemir founded Jenna Mumin Books, Korea`s first publishing company specializing in Islam-related works. The company has released five books so far and has joined the Seoul International Book Fair for two consecutive years. Considering it his calling to promote a proper understanding of Islam, he is a genuinely original character who vows to “be buried in this land after a lifetime playing a bridging role between Korea and Islam.” [April 17, 2015]

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Lee Kang-woon: “Insects Have Evolved Lifestyles.”

Lee Kang-woon and insect specimens displayed at the Holoce Ecosystem Conservation Research Institute in Hoengseong County, Gangwon Province.

Choi Bo-sik Senior Reporter The Chosun Ilbo

Known as “Korea`s Fabre,” Lee Kang-woon, 57, director of the Holoce Ecosystem Conservation Research Institute, lives in the mountains, dedicated to the study of insects. "I studied history at college. And I finished my MS and doctoral courses on insects here,” Lee said. “If history is a record of human stories, my job is to compile stories of insects. We can kill 100,000 harmful insects with a spoonful of pesticides. But we can fail to kill a single such insect with 100,000 kg of pesticides, if we don't know about their lifestyle or their physiological features."

Dedicated to the Study of Insects While talking with Lee in his sitting room, I peeked through a crack in the door and saw a tent set up in his bedroom. I thought he liked to sleep in a tent as if he was outdoors, absorbed in the study of insects. He ushered me into his room. I saw a few weak butterflies and plants in pots inside the lit tent. Q. What are they? A. Butterflies, whose scientific name is Luehdorfia puziloi, have lain eggs prematurely. They would be frozen to death, if left in the wild. The ones on those

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leaves that look like green pearls are their eggs. They're really bright and translucent, aren't they? The tiny eggs are barely visible. "These butterflies lay eggs only on wild-ginger plants, because their larvae eat only these plants,” Lee explained. “Larvae of different insects feed off different plants. Different insects lay eggs on different plants, just like silkworms eat mulberry leaves and pine caterpillars pine needles. This is their way of letting their larvae survive without their parents' help. Adult insects eat pollen and sap of plants. Insects and their offspring never compete with each other for food. They're leading a more evolved lifestyle than us." Q. How did you find out these butterflies lay eggs only on wild-ginger plants? A. After 10 years of study, I've identified the dietary habits of the larvae of 600 insect species (He showed me a notebook filled with details about insects that he had collected and what plants they eat.) It dawned on me that larvae are the natural enemy of plants. Plants give off various chemical substances to repel larvae. Wild edible plants of early spring taste and smell bitter because of such substances. In a sense, we could never gain such taste and flavor from wild greens, were it not for insects. Q. Then what happens to those butterflies after they lay eggs? A. They live about 10 days after laying eggs. This period is nearly identical with the entire life cycle of adult butterflies. They live just to "breed" from the moment chrysalises become adults. Male larvae become adults first, then wait until female larvae become adults, then mate with the females and die. His institute sits in Hadae-ri, Gapcheon-myeon, Hoengseong County, Gangwon Province. I came for a visit after I happened to hear a few days earlier about "a man, who once worked for a newspaper, now living with his family in the mountains in Gangwon Province.” I saw the gate to the Holoce Ecosystem Conservation Research Institute decorated with a large butterfly replica at the foot of a mountain. It was hard for me to identify the buildings and the size of the institute. I later found that it covers 75,900 square meters. Land for cattle, the main building, a laboratory and a museum are scattered across a mountain slope.

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Lee showed up in a worn-out shirt soaked in sweat. He was digging when he was told that I had arrived. "It's impossible to bring a hydraulic shovel here. So I've done everything myself, including shoveling and hoeing. Over the past 10 years, all my family worked together to build these facilities. The road was built here three years ago and paved about six months ago." Q. I didn't know that your institute is such a huge ecosystem lab. A. I'm raising about 900 insect species, presumably the largest number in the world. There are specimens of about 4,300 insect species on display and in storage at his museum. Their population stands at some 150,000. Especially, the display showing how different larvae become different moths attracted my attention. "There's nothing like this kind of display in the world. We see 'creepy' larvae on trees in the mountains. But only a few know how they grow. I've kept track of such things for 10 years. With a subsidy for my project from the Environment Ministry, I'm going to publish an illustrated book about 500 insect species, including larvae and moths." Q. Did you name your institute "Holoce" because you're doing your job alone? (Holo means “alone” in Korean.) A. Everybody's saying so. The period from 15,000 years ago up to now is referred to as “Holocene,” or the fourth period of the Cenozoic era. I christened my institute that way, mindful of the contemporary ecosystem in danger. Q. I understand that you once worked at a newspaper. A. I worked at the Special Projects Department of the Dong-a Ilbo for 14 years. At the time, I handled ecosystem exploration programs for secondary school teachers. I became infatuated with insects. I was so preoccupied with insects that I even raised butterflies and dragonflies in my apartment living room. In 1997, I told my friends I would quit the job and leave for the mountains. They didn't show any surprise. They seemed to know I would do so.

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Q. It must have cost a lot of money to buy 75,900 square meters of land and forest. A. I was kind of lucky. When I was working for the newspaper, I bought stocks on the advice of a friend who was working at a securities firm. Their prices jumped by 60 to 70 times. I was worried as if I had done something wrong because I had earned so much money. When everybody else was selling their house to buy stocks, I sold all of my stocks. I then bought an apartment and a store, which were estimated probably at about 4 billion won at today's value. I sold all the properties and poured the entire money in building these facilities. Q. How did your family accept your decision? A. My wife, who was a chief nurse at a university hospital, reluctantly came with me. But my children, who were a third and a fourth graders, loved the idea. It`s because they had traveled with me to collect insects and on exploration trips since they were very young. They attended a small school that had only eight students. Then they went out to Wonju, where they attended high school. They now live in Seoul." Q. What was your idea of building and operating a large ecosystem lab in the mountains? A. I just liked to live this way rather than having a specific goal. I was introduced on a TV program, maybe because I looked weird, about six months after I arrived. To my surprise, many people who had seen the program trekked all the way to see the site. I opened a two-day ecosystem school and 30 people arrived at a time, which drove the number of students to about 200,000 a year. Q. Is your ecosystem school still popular? A. At the time, my wife really had a hard time preparing meals for 30 students every day. She did it all alone because there was nobody to help her. She does it about six times during summer and winter vacation seasons now. He took me to see “butterfly chrysalises in hibernation.” Each glass case in front of the main building contained 100 chrysalises of butterflies with the scientific

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name of Sericinus telamon. "The time of chrysalises becoming adults has something to do with the temperature. This is where we can do research on changes in the ecosystem as a result of global warming. This kind of research takes a long time. Making progress is slow. The Environment Ministry, which gave me a subsidy in the first place, took its hands off only two years later, saying there was 'too little progress.' But I couldn't stop. I've kept watching them for eight long years." Q. Oxford University did similar research in the past. A. After observing the breeding time of titmice for 30 years, they found that the higher the temperature was the closer such a time moved up. Do you know why? It`s because the hatching time of the larvae of geometer moths ― the food of young titmice ― has moved up. Titmice had to breed earlier than before so that their young can eat larvae of geometer moths. Q. What does this kind of research mean to our life? A. If you understand the insect ecology, you can see huge changes that global warming will bring. For example, the life cycle of harmful insects like flies and mosquitoes lasts 20 days from birth to death. Such a life cycle happens about 15 times a year, excluding the winter. What if the winter becomes warmer and they are given one more chance of breeding? Each fly or mosquito lays 2,000 eggs, which will increase exponentially ― like 2,000 to the power of 2,000. He then showed me glass cases in front of the breeding building. Black larvae that looked like pine caterpillars were wriggling inside. "They are larvae of Parnassius bremeri bremers. I grew orange stonecrop separately in the middle of winter to feed them. I have to clean them every day, because they eat and shit a lot." Q. Why are you raising simple butterflies so hard? A. They are an endangered species around the world. If you poach them in Korea, you'll be fined 30 million won. With special permission from the Environment Ministry, I collected two pairs of them. They would have vanished in this country if I hadn't collected them and started to raise them.

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Q. How many of them do you have now? A. I now have about 500. What's more important is their ecological features. During cold winter three years ago, I saw something wriggling in an insect collecting case. The mercury fell to around minus 27 degrees Celsius. One larva hatched out from the egg. I found out later that there is an intracellular freezing substance in the butterfly species that is active even at minus 48 degrees. I'm sure that this substance, which is like antifreeze, will be used beneficially in human life some day. About 800 kinds of eggs were kept in separate cases in the breeding room. They were hibernating. Giant water bugs were in a water tank in another room. "They're an endangered species in the country. They can't live in the wild, because farmers irrigate their rice fields and spray pesticides. These bugs are more venomous than snakes. People know little about insects. Do you know why birds and bats can't catch and eat fireflies even though they fly so slowly? Q. Well, is it because of the light they give off? A. Fireflies are also very venomous. Any predator will be killed if they catch and eat fireflies. This kind of study on substances insects have will lead to a bioindustry. This is why we have to protect biodiversity. Lee is raising two head of cattle in the compound for the sole purpose of breeding Gymnopleurus mopsus. "We can no longer find Gymnopleurus mopsus, the bug that we used to find everywhere in the wild. They almost went extinct because cattle, which used to eat plants, are now eating industrial feed." The sun set early in the mountains. I felt chilly. I had toured only part of the institute by then. "It costs tens of millions of won every month for the upkeep. Until recently, I've managed to maintain this institute thanks to a government subsidy and my own income from books and lectures. But honestly, I'm reaching my limit." Besides Lee and his wife, six young researchers are staying at the institute. For them, the lab was not only a workplace, but a living community. The researchers

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go out to cities once every two weeks, just like soldiers go on furlough, and their families and friends sometimes come for a visit. Â [April 6, 2015]

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COPYRIGHT Korea Focus is a monthly webzine (www.koreafocus.or.kr), featuring commentaries and essays on Korean politics, economy, society and culture, as well as relevant international issues. The articles are selected from leading Korean newspapers, magazines, journals and academic papers from prestigious forums. The content is the property of the Korea Foundation and is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. If it is needed to reprint an article(s) from Korea Focus, please forward your request for reprint permission by fax or via e-mail. Address:

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