[KS] Walker's Professorial Memoirs of Korea (long finale)
Frank M. Tedesco
tedesco at uriel.net
Tue Jul 14 23:53:00 EDT 1998
> [Walker's Memoirs] Korea and
> Opportunities for Enrichment in Life
> 07/12
> For more than half a century, as a university professor I
> have urged my students to immerse themselves in another
> culture in order to better to appreciate their own and to
> gain some perspective on how they fit into a shrinking world.
> I know that my own life has been abundantly enriched by
> having lived in countries of East Asia which have been part
> of Confucian tradition.
>
> For the past year _ every week for fifty-two weeks _ I have
> been recalling my experiences with Korea since the start of
> the Korean War in 1950. I have been grateful to the editors
> and staff of the Hankook Ilbo and The Korea Times for their
> thoughtful and accurate handling of my weekly
> ``Remembrances.''
>
> Certainly I have been gratified by the many letters and
> comments from friends in Korea and in the United States who
> have found my writings of value for them. For some of them a
> vignette which I have written recalls a vivid memory; for
> others there have been occasions when I have been able to
> supply background material about events which at the time of
> my service were not discussed openly in the press. A few have
> thanked me for providing some insights into an important era
> in Korean-American relations.
>
> Those who have been reading this series over the past year
> will have gathered that in the Confucian tradition I have
> learned to set great store in the international equation.
> This is, in the long run, I feel, more important than legal
> documents or contracts. And as I bring my ``Korean
> Remembrances'' to a final set of observations, there are, I
> believe, a few important points worth making.
>
> First, in giving attention to some of the movers and shakers,
> I have been privileged to encounter on my Korean journey, I
> have hardly scratched the surface and may have neglected so
> many friends who have been so close. For example, I should
> have given attention to our wonderful Embassy Driver, Kim
> Seung-youn, with whom my wife Ceny and I developed bonds of
> respect and affection. He was a part of our family throughout
> my tenure as ambassador, with a kinship-type relation. Driver
> Kim had an unsurpassed dignity and was always checking into
> aspects of our security and comfort. I should mention that
> although he was not a rich man, when my wife tragically died
> in February of 1990, it was Kim who led embassy employees in
> making a large memorial gift in her memory.I was saddened to
> learn of his death only a couple of years ago. There were so
> many Koreans, at all levels, with whom I interacted and who
> became an essential part of Korea's role in enriching my
> life.
>
> Second, I have, as an outside observer moving in and out of
> the Korean environment, been able to appreciate the strength
> of the Korean culture. Koreans are acutely aware that their
> history has been studded all to often by difficult encounters
> with foreigners. The Korean people have suffered great losses
> of life and at times deprivations of elements essential to
> their national dignity. But all of us have known and admired their
> capacities for overcoming hardships. I am one of the
> commentators in the United States who is urging that the
> financial crisis of 1998 be put into long-range perspective.
> It is something which the Korean national character will
> surmount. The blitz of world-wide media hype tends to
> overplay this crisis, which though obviously serious, may in
> a few years time be but an unpleasant memory.
>
> How can I make such a statement? I draw on decades of
> watching Koreans surmount graver situations. In the Republic
> of Korea today there is an unmatched level of education, a
> solid structure of one of the world's most sophisticated
> industrial establishments, an infrastructure of energy and
> transportation which has knit the country tightly together,
> and most of all, there is the ``can do'' attitude of the
> Korean people which will not accept defeat. The financial
> difficulties of 1998 tend to bring out what I have, along
> with a number of others, called the ``uri syndrome.''
>
> Koreans, conscious of their own unique long individual
> historical tradition, pull together. ``It is `uri' (our) duty
> to give up personal gold across the land for the national
> cause.'' This was the initial response to the financial
> crisis. The ``uri syndrome'' has helped the Koreans to join
> and work together in times of difficulty.
>
> Third, Korea remains set in a crucial geostrategic position
> in a part of the world which is gaining in strength and
> importance. Increasingly, Seoul is regarded as a critical
> player in the game of great power relations. An active role
> for modern Korea is preferred by China in any potential
> rivalries with Japan or Russia. Russians would rather have
> Koreans in joint undertakings related to Siberian mineral and
> energy resources than Japanese or Chinese. Japanese regard a
> strong Korea as a buffer or safeguard in its relations with
> continental powers. And the United States has had its close
> alliance with Korea viewed as a stabilizing factor by other
> three powers in the area. All of this argues that in the
> great power equation all four of the great powers involved
> are interested in insuring a stable future in Korea.
>
> Of particular importance for Korea's future are its relations
> with China. Korea was a former ``tribute bearer'' to the
> Middle Kingdom, and the Chinese have long regarded Korea as
> an area over which they exercise``suasion.'' The current line
> from Beijing is that while the alliance with the United
> States is all right for Korea, in the long run America will
> not be involved; Korea's ultimate future lies in an
> accommodating relationship with Beijing.
>
> Korea's return to normal relations with the PRC may be one of
> Seoul's most significant moves in the final years of the
> twentieth century. It indicated that Seoul would be striking
> out on its own when it came to making long-term strategic
> policies. I do not believe this is anything that should alarm
> Washington. Rather, it can be viewed as an indication of our
> understanding that it is in our long-range interest to
> encourage peoples in that area of the world to have open and
> cooperative relations with each other. The U.S. will continue
> to play an important role in the region, but Korea's
> relationship with China marks a significant shift in Seoul's
> perception of Korean future, and it provided a first step in
> new methods of exerting pressure on Pyongyang.
>
> It is necessary to bring up a fourth point, though I do this
> with some trepidation. Korea's history, which has helped to
> create the ``uri'' syndrome, has also led to a pattern of
> behavior and thought which can prove troubling to its allies.
> Some Americans characterize this as the Korean
> ``zero-sum-game'
>
> approach. Dealing with invaders and oppressors has tended to
> make our Korean allies unwilling to work toward middle
> ground. A good Korean friend of mine frequently says, ``There
> is no real term in Korean for `compromise.' `Compromise'
> means surrender.'' Editorials in the Korean press frequently
> comment on this aspect of the Korean character, and that is
> deemed all right for them, but if an outsider makes the
> point, then the ``uri'' syndrome spins into effect, and there
> can be flashes of resentment. Well, we all tend to pull
> together against critics from outside the family, but Koreans
> will admit that the reaction is more intense in their
> culture.
>
> The Korean novelist, Lee Chang-rae, author of ``Native
> Speaker,'' writing in``The New York Times'' early in 1998
> expressed some concern that the patriotism which came in the
> initial phases of the crisis that year might turn sour. He
> noted, ``One wonders how long this sense of national unity
> can last. After all, the next stage of reckoning is only
> beginning...the hope is that immediate and sufficient world
> support will allow the nation to right itself again. But the
> dark wonder is there as well: whether any solidarity can hold
> if the splendid ship sinks, if the same glittering South
> Korea is no longer here to return to.''
>
> Of course, I have argued that it is of primary interest for
> the United States that the Korean ship of state return to
> positive patterns of development. I share with that wonderful
> economist and former prime minister, Nam Duck-woo. The view
> that the crisis of 1998 for Seoul will prove a healthy
> encounter for straightening out a financial system which had
> become skewed, for bringing about the necessary openness to
> banking practices, and for helping Korea to continue to be an
> effective player in the world trade system.
>
> Within this framework, all of us watched Korea's new
> President Kim Dae-jung's visit the United States in June
> 1998. It was an occasion for a leader whom many in the world
> regard as heroic and who has endured personal crisis in the
> land which he leads, to provide the mature interaction with
> Korea's most important ally. Kim will try to persuade those
> who have the power to join in a financial rescue of Korea.
> Kim's goal has been a potential new policy which can help to
> bring down the last significant Cold War wall which
> bifurcates the Korean peninsula.
>
> President Kim's important trip to the United States
> constituted yet another reminder that life with the Koreans
> will never be dull. But it can prove remarkably rewarding.
> President Kim Dae-jung over the years had experience around
> the world which was broader and more intense than any of his
> predecessor . Although he came to Chong Wa Dae facing as
> serious a situation as could be imagined, his initial moves
> indicated that he indeed had the necessary intellectual
> acumen and enough of the Korean ``can do'' spirit to tackle
> it. In the United States he had built a number of foundations
> for support. But he was also carrying through the global
> engagement which had been so effectively pursued by some of
> the predecessors with whom he contested.
>
> One of my successors, Ambassador Donald P. Gregg, commented
> frequently during his tenure that American knowledge and
> appreciation of Korea was inadequate and frequently skewed.
> He has devoted much of his energy after leaving Korea to
> helping change that. Gregg, much appreciate by Koreans, heads
> up the Korea Society in the United States, and I have been
> happy to work with him as a member of the Board.
>
> We have found that American interest in Korea, its arts, its
> products, as well as its problems, has been growing apace.
> With the inauguration of the Korean War Memorial in
> Washington that is no longer the ``forgotten war,'' with the
> expansion of Korean language and area programs at campuses
> across the United States, we have been able to witness
> significant academic interest in Korea and its culture. At
> our Institute of International Studies at the University of
> South Carolina, over recent years we have been holding annual
> conferences on Korea which bring together outstanding
> leaders, writers and thinkers who deal with Korea. I would
> not have been devoting energy and time to these gatherings if
> I did not share a belief in the importance of Korea in global
> affairs and, as the title of this final essay indicates, for
> enrichment in life.
>
> When my wife and I left Korea at the end of October 1986, Dr.
> Nam Duck-woo hosted a farewell dinner for us. It was probably
> the most moving moment in my long series of farewell
> functions, at which Koreans can be so warm, hospitable, and
> sometimes emotional. I treasure Dr. Nam's speech on that
> occasion as one of the most moving moments for me and my
> wife. He said,``I have no doubt that Professor Walker will
> continue his efforts in behalf of better understanding
> between America and Korea, though in the scholarly rather
> than diplomatic arena. Thus, as a forceful and articulate
> advocate of U.S.-Korea partnership, Dr. Walker is by no means
> lost to us. He has simply been transferred to a different
> theater of action.''
>
> In the dozen years since then, I have tried to live up to
> Prime Minister Nam's expectations. The Korean entry ad exit
> stamps in my passport, my work with the Korea Society, my
> activities on behalf of the Council on Korea-U.S. Securities
> Studies for their annual conferences, speaking and writing
> commitments including these ``Korean Remembrances,'' and
> other activities have indeed indicated that Korea is of
> critical importance in my life, a life immeasurably enriched
> by that connection.
>
> In my ``Korean Remembrances'' it is my hope that I have been
> able to demonstrate: (1) my deep affection for Korea and its
> talented people, (2) the vast variety of opportunities which
> are there to be discovered in the land and its culture, (3)
> the intensity of a commitment to co-equal partnership between
> our countries which I feel is so necessary, and (4) the
> significance of the changes in the past four decades and how
> remarkably Korean culture has persisted in this age of
> cyberspace and radical world implosion. I suspect readers
> have grasped the depth of the attachment my wife Ceny and I
> feel for Hankuk.
>
> * * *
>
> This concludes the series ``Walker's Remembrances.''
>
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