Ugly Korean people

Author: [Japan] Jin Wensheng, translated by Song Yishu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: Excerpt from the preface in Japanese: "The Koreans who read this book will certainly hate me to the extreme, wishing I were dead. Where did this bastard come from, talking nonsense! In truth, I did not write this book out of personal preference, but rather because I could not bear to see the current state of my grandparents' homeland—Korea. I am the third-generation Korean born in China. I have spent nearly a quarter of a century in China. After graduating from university, I came to Japan for academic research, while visiting Korea multiple times. During this period, I made continuous efforts to explore the roots of the Korean ethnicity in my grandparents' homeland—Korea, but all attempts ended in vain. While deeply feeling the bond of blood, I also sensed an inexplicable estrangement and unfamiliarity. Why is this? I have a considerable gap from mainstream Koreans. Despite this, culturally speaking, calling me Chinese is inaccurate, and although I have lived in Japan for a long time, I cannot be Japanese. On the contrary, because I culturally belong to none of the three countries—China, Korea, or Japan—I can modestly say that I possess a unique advantage in objectively observing the three nations. That is, I can speak frankly about any of the three countries—China, Japan, or Korea—without any bias. This is my advantage.
Korea has yet to surpass Japan and cannot become a major power like China. The many reasons why Korea is looked down upon and discriminated against worldwide, but the main reason for its distant separation from the world is the narrow-minded "Uri" (our) spirit. "Uri" means "we," the opposite of "Namma" (they), which signifies "outsiders." This strong sense of kinship has turned Korea into a major discriminator, making it a global orphan. Yet, few Koreans are aware of this. Even during the World Cup football tournament jointly hosted by Japan and Korea, Koreans viewed it as: "an excellent opportunity to showcase the passion of our nation and promote our history and culture, which are older and richer than those of Japan." They see it as a national cultural activity that celebrates the excellence of Koreans to the world. At its core, internationalization for Koreans is merely a campaign to boast about their own nation. They fail to realize that this excessive "we" consciousness has become the greatest obstacle to internationalization.
Korea, deeply intoxicated by this world-rare sense of kinship, will welcome the 21st century as a dropout in globalization and internationalization. Perhaps this overly inflated "we" consciousness will turn Korea into a pariah in the international community, facing the brink of self-destruction. Thinking about this, as a descendant of the Korean people, I feel heartbroken and cannot help but weep. I wrote this book to eliminate all corrosive factors in Korean society, specifically the overly inflated "we" consciousness, to dispel the ugly and false inherent notions that, and to address all the ailments of Korea, praying that Korea may be reborn through this. I wrote this book with both a fervent love for Korea and a deep sense of sorrow.