the blemished Korean image
Here are my two cents:
Seoul National University is supposedly the top school in Korea, yet it acts more like a 3rd rate by-mail institution.
This state-backed institution reportedly makes millions off the pain and laborous scientific/research work conducted by its professors/researchers and graduate students. What I don’t get is how quick this academic institution will turn its back on its own and attempt to reap in the benefits of a breakthrough research (e.g., Prof Hwang’s stem cell study) and outright claim the cloning procedure(s) for itself (in case it is ruled authentic and can once again bring in the dough). Don’t get me wrong, I’m not here to defend Dr Hwang or that apparent liar of a professor from Pitt, I’m writing about the rather politically-charged and economically-driven enterprise such as Seoul National.
Another catalyst to spoiling the Korean brand/image is the sick nature of Korean media and its ever pessimistic faithful. There is no such thing as ethical conduct for journalists, they’ll go to great depths to fraudualently deceive the public or obtain news leads. But here is the key point, where do you draw the line between real journalism (traditional) versus new journalism (bloggers)? Another is what is journalism versus tabloids? These are the questions and answers that falls in the gray area. In Korea, it is very difficult to evaluate whether a certain news item is authentic due to the very nature of how it is conceived and delivered. This is a serious flaw particularly in the lax control and restrictions afforded by the expanse called the internet and powered by technology. Taking into account how quickly and frightfully a potential fraudulent news item can spread among the masses in Korea, the results can be awfully staggering. For those of you who are not in the know, this nation has the highest per capital broadband penetration in the world with 76% of households having access, a very significant statistic when compared to the US with just 30%. The media as we know in it is ever-morphing and ever-influencing as seen with the presidential elections that was influenced by the bloggers of the 3-6-8 Generation (Koreans who are currently in their 30’s, who were born in the 60’s, and were college students in the politically-charged 80’s), or the success of Ohmynews.com as being considered mainstream media.
Korea is a great study for all the successes brought on by technology as well as the very evil that can bring it down. I believe, Korea will decide its very identity in the years to come, in how it conducts itself on the global stage.
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