The Base National Korean Mind is Utterly Incomprehensible to the Japanese
By HUANG WENXIONG,
Abstract
Abstract: The Base National Korean Mind is Utterly Incomprehensible to JapaneseAt one point, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak spoke of improving relations with Japan. The Japanese welcomed Lee’s statements with optimism, as a dramatic shift in attitude compared to previous South Korean administrations, which were stridently anti-Japanese, anti-American and pro-communist. However, President Lee’s recent actions, his visit to Takeshima and calling on the Emperor of Japan to apologize to those who died for independence, while highly distressing, should not be entirely unexpected to level-headed Japanese.
Taiwanese author and commentator Kou Bunyu (Gao Wen-xiong) explains that such conflicting behavior is indeed inevitable, given Korean denial of their own history and of their tendency to fawn to those who are of greater military and political strength. Because such behaviors are deeply ingrained in the Korean psyche, especially within the youth (the “Hangul generation”), Mr. Kou expects that irrational behaviors, such as virulent anti-Japanese protest and repeated demands for apologies, will persist for some time.