Korea did well during COVID but needs a change going forward
Korea has been one of the few countries that are being praised by the media to have handled the COVID-19 better than the most. The media paints the picture by emphasizing on the methods that Korea adopted to flatten the curve (such as drive-through tests and contact tracing…etc) but the real secret isn’t in the methods but its the culture of collectivism.
Collectivism does exist in western culture as well but it is taken to a different level in Korea and is much more deeply rooted in Korean society than in western society. To understand better on why collectivism is so deeply rooted in Korea, we need to go up a few decades and see how Korea started its rise after the civil war ended in the summer of 1953. Shortly after the war ended, the two largest agenda of the South Korean government was to 1) unite its citizens against North Korea’s communist propaganda and 2) outgrow North Korean economy with US and Japan as a benchmark model. These goals sound strange today but in the 50s and 60s, the North Korean GDP was higher than that of South Korea’s, mainly due to economical support from the Soviet Union.
To achieve these goals, former President Park Chung-Hee (served from 1963 to 1979) introduced two government policies: the New Village Movement and feeding growth through creating giant conglomerates called Chaebol (such as Samsung, Hyundai, and LG).
The New Village Movement was a tool to enlighten the citizens from their traditional and rural way of living to a modern and urban lifestyle. The Korean government attempted this movement under the banner of “We can all be better off” and all citizens were asked to take part. Waking up early and starting the day by exercising “the Citizen’s Stretching” routine and sweeping your front yard was as common as drinking a coffee every morning. Anyone refusing to participate was frowned upon and were taken as a selfish person, putting self-interest above the nation’s unified goal to grow and nurture prosperity. While there were downsides to the policy too, it largely worked well and is now considered as one of the reasons behind Korea’s rapid economic growth.
The Chaebol system was to nurture Korea’s own heavy industries via protectionism and subsidies to the Chaebol companies which, despite creating skewed wealth distribution and crony capitalism, produced global companies such as Samsung and Hyundai. During its massive growth period in the 70s until 2000s, many Koreans, especially the boomer generation, were employed by the Chaebol companies. An interesting point to note is that once a person was employed by one of the companies he/she was considered to be employed by the same company until retirement and switching jobs was not only rare but was considered a betrayal. Even today, there are lingos such as ‘Samsung man’ or ‘Hyundai man’ indicating that the person is a loyal employee of the company for decades. Similar to how the New Village Movement was encouraged, the employees were encouraged to sacrifice for the good of a common goal in growing a world-class company thereby contributing to the nation’s prosperity. For instance, anyone asking to leave the office before his/her boss or requesting for overtime pay was considered selfish and to some extent a traitor against the group’s common goal to grow and prosper.
Luckily, the hard works of the citizens paid off and the country grew to become the 14th largest economy in the world over ~50 years. This is an astonishing achievement considering that Korea was in a devastating condition (its GDP after the civil war was top 5 from the bottom) and virtually an entire baby boomer generation worked tirelessly to rebuild the country and put it on its track for prosperity. In essence, the nation bet an entire generation’s life in exchange for economic prosperity and such collectivism culture worked, fortunately, and to many who experienced and witnessed such collectivism-at-work, is accustomed to sacrifice their personal life over a common and united goal.
This is why methods such as the drive-through testing sites and contact tracing were rolled out much more efficiently and effectively in Korea under a common goal of flattening the curve.
There is, however, a downside to all upsides and I think Korea is at its peak and needs to graduate from practising the collectivism and prepare the next phase by nurturing creativity and individualism. This transition would allow the country to spread the likes of K-Culture boom (such as BTS and Parasite movie) into other industries and forever erase an image of being an excellent copycat. Despite having handled the COVID-19 situation better than the most, Korea is at an inflection point and the need for creativity is important more than ever.
