Last week, I met a new post-doc researcher in the laboratory that I was working. She is now the second Korean scientist in our laboratory and the third one to have visited since I started working last year. Her addition to our lab team made me think that the Koreans are cool people: they are smart and proud of who they are. What makes Koreans awesome is that they have a strong sense of their identity. What is more fascinating is that this identity was built by knowing who they are not. The Koreans had many pressures from its history. Countries such as Japan and the United States had so much influence with the Korean culture but the Koreans managed to distinguish themselves from other cultures. In addition, they were able to completely distinguish themselves from North Korea’s communist government. I think one of the reasons why I like having a conversation with Koreans is because they know who they are. They are flexible in the sense that they know when to draw the line of being culturally colonized. Koreans have a strong cultural identity.
Today Koreans have strong cultural identity, but with the continues ties formed by the Korean government and the United States, how long can they firmly hold their cultural identity?
Bibliography
Yim, Haksoon. "Cultural Identity and Cultural Policy in South Korea." International Journal of Cultural Policy 8.1 (2002): 37-48. Web.
Photo: http://www.slideshare.net/angelacimperial/reporthow-colonial
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