William May
Here is the first
of two articles I have written for the local Korean Magazine sent to every
Korean resident of Hong Kong.
Cheers
Bill May
POSTCARDS FROM KOREA
Spic and span
The plane from Hong Kong was buffeted by strong winds over China but once
on land calm prevailed. The international airport at Inchon was modern,
spacious and efficient.
Sunday traffic to Seoul moved smoothly on the highway. The city downtown
was very clean -- no garbage in the streets, no graffiti. The sidewalks
were wide and many streets were tree-lined like the boulevards of Paris.
Two days later when we were bussed six hours to Kyungju City the countryside was equally immaculate. Neat farms dotted the landscape and nowhere to be seen was the detritus of modern urbanized living such as abandoned cars or rusted machinery.
Noise pollution in Korea was minimal. When the 26 participants were walking in a group in narrow lanes, the drivers of cars wanting to pass us never honked. In fact, I only heard a car's horn three times in 10 days and that was during traffic jams when patience finally expired.
It was all a pleasant surprise -- but what had I been expecting?
New Korean Image? Most Westerners do not know the national origin of many Korean products.
It seems that companies such as LG Electronics and Samsung have deliberately downplayed their "Made in Korea" label as part of their brand marketing strategy around the world.
Successfully co-hosting the World Cup has enhanced Korea‚s national image abroad and alerted foreigners to the country's achievements in information technology.
Will we soon see more "Made in Korea" labels outside Korea?
Hiddink's leadership
style
In many ways the success of the Korean football team was not traditionally
Korean.
Coach Hiddink, himself a foreigner, chose players on their ability, not because of their age or personal contacts or what school/university they attended.
It will be interesting to see if Korea can move further towards a meritocracy in the future. To compete globally in competitive markets Korea must appoint "the best and the brightest" to its leadership positions regardless of gender and age.
Americanization
Korea has stoutly resisted foreign invasions from the north, west and
east but will it be able to resist the cultural advance of the USA?
In addition to the American fast food restaurants that prevail in all foreign countries, Korea seems to be preoccupied with all things American.
Some examples the
prices of goods advertised in the duty free shops at the airport were
advertised in American currency only, not Won; the present crisis over
the appointment of the Prime Minister-designate is partly driven by her
choosing of American citizenship for her son when he was four years old;
nearly all the faculty at Postech (Pohang University of Science and Technology)
were trained at American universities; every secondary student I met in
Seoul aspired to an American post-secondary education -- all of this
in the context of American troops stationed in Korea and their Armed Forces
tv station broadcast widely.
Interesting enough, Hyundai annually exports hundreds of thousands of
cars to the USA but I did not see one American import on the streets of
Seoul.
National flag
In Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and the USA the national flag
is seen on a variety of products available to tourists; for example, t-shirts,
headbands, towels, bikinis, bags, neckties.
This does not show disrespect. Rather, by incorporating the national flag in modern designs the manufacturers of this fashion apparel and accessories encourage patriotism and improve the nation‚s image.
I saw many "Be the Reds" T-shirts while in Korea but I was surprised by the absence of the "Taegukki" -- especially on the national parliament building. In contrast, my homestay family proudly displayed a large Korean flag in the living room next to the television set.
Who will take the lead in "Taegukki" marketing after the World Cup?