Final thoughts about my stay in South Korea

The Doors would say „the end“, Michael Jackson maybe „this is it“ – regardless of your preferences in terms of music: all good things come to an end! However, I’d like to use this moment to share some thoughts about my five months in South Korea. I’d like to say that this is my personal opinion and view on things – as always, everyone sees things slightly differently. And I’m sure that my view as a foreigner differs in some points for sure compared to the one of Koreans. But as there is no right or wrong and never one single solution and opinion, I’d like to share my thoughts nevertheless.

What an interesting time it was to get to know more about this country, which is in my opinion still not very well known by most people. Of course, most know about the Korean War and the still ongoing conflict with North Korea. However, there is more… On the one hand side there is more about how Korea turned into the war, what happened in the past and how things emerged into this economic miracle. And on the other hand there is also way more to get to know the people, in this case the Koreans, and how they live, what they do and what they think.

Korea – a development that is as weird and sad as also impressive at the same time

One of the things I encountered is the fact that this country was always somehow a plaything and influenced by other countries. After the Joseon period, Korea was colonized by the Japanese and after their surrender in World War II, Korea was under a trustee-ship of the US and the UDSSR. Actually, the US plays a very crucial role in the development of the Korean peninsula. And where most people think that South Koreans should be very happy and thankful about what the US did for them, especially General McArthur and the Incheon landing is one of these hero-like moments in history, I became way more critical during this semester – especially due to my Korean history course that provided me with new insights and background information and let me to start questioning things and the common view.

And when looking into the political development of South Korea, it was sometimes almost unbelievable for me to see how things have developed here. E.g. South Korea had its first democratic elections in 1987 – the year I was born, so not a very long time ago.

This somehow feels unreal as from today’s perspective South Korea seems so modern and developed in my opinion. But I guess this is just another proof of how fast this country changed itself and developed from a poor after-war country in the 60s without hardly any resources to the 15^th biggest economy in the world today with one of the highest growth rates among the OECD countries. And this is something that will for sure stay in my memory as it is deeply impressive. And a big factor that made this possible are the Koreans itself, who based on Confucian rules, work very hard, strive for the best education and somehow stood together very closely in terms of crisis – and there were many in political, military and economic terms.

The other side of the medal

However, to reach the place where South Korea is today, sacrifices had to be made. On the one side, there was also a quite brutal dictatorship by President Park that is related to the beginning of the economic development between the 60s and ‘79, followed by another military rule and dictatorship-like presidency with President Chun who followed in the 80s until 1987.

And then, of course the Koreans itself had to make huge sacrifices by working extremely hard to build this country up from the ashes. And as stated before, a big reason why this was possible lies in the deep roots of Confucian values. And as hard as this generation of Koreans was working, as hard is the current one focusing on education, which plays a very crucial role in terms of both, future outlook in terms of employment as well as social status. It was deeply impressive to see how hard working the Koreans at SNU are and how much time and dedication they put into their studies. However, sometimes it seemed more like they are busy and work long hours, but could maybe be a bit more efficiently.

And then there’s this thing about social pressure. South Korea is a very competitive country, which is of course a good thing. But in terms of social life, it may also sometimes be a bad one. I guess a rate of women that have undergone surgery of approx. 50% is a clear sign that being pretty and looking good, is very important. Furthermore, getting the best education means studying at the best universities of the country, like SNU, Korea University or Yonsei, and thus, high school students study extremely hard for a year or more to pass the test – needless to say that such a year could be more fun with a bit less studying. And when they get accepted at a hopefully very prestigious university, it’s not over yet – as the next step is to get a well-paid or prestigious job, e.g. working for the government. And when that is reached, there has also the right wife/husband to be chosen – and better get married before 30 as otherwise, you could be seen as a “leftover” by the rest of society.

And to give an example about how competitive it is here in Korea, a little anecdote a Korean once told me at SNU: He was applying for Samsung Electronics, I guess the most admired company to work for in South Korea – thus, it is extremely hard to land a job. Now, let me put this into figures to make it even more impressive for you: For 300 jobs they offer to graduates every year, 360’000 apply! Of these 360’000, approximately 90’000 get selected for a computer-based assessment and out of this, approx. 10% move on to the second round of assessment, then group interviews and if you made it among the maybe 900ish last, one-to-one interviews… pretty impressive and competitive, isn’t it?!

The future looks bright I’d say

In my opinion, one doesn’t have to worry for South Koreans future development. With such a dedicated and well educated younger generation - Koreans also represent the highest percentage of foreign students abroad, especially the US, Canada and Australia - one doesn’t have to worry about the competitiveness of their future work force. One thing they can improve in my opinion though, is promoting women into “good” and leading positions. I think this is a big advantage of foreign companies in Seoul/Korea who are more open to hire women than the Korean Chaebols who might miss this opportunity due to hierarchical and heritage concerns. E.g. the percentage of women on the board is less than 1% among Korean companies. 

But I’m really curious how South Korea will develop in the future. Will Samsung be able to maintain its impressive speed and market growth and establish itself as the leading producer of TVs, smart phones and maybe also computers, wash machines and energy saving systems one day? Will there be enough creativity in South Korea and its corporate culture to establish a generation of innovators instead of rather imitation-focused workers? And will there be a start-up culture among young Korean students who strive to become entrepreneurs and challenge the big power of the Chaebols and one day break-up the current hierarchy and monopoly-like status of them?

What am I going to miss?

Well, there are many things that come to my mind. From the more obvious one like the people I met, such a great and big city to live in, the 24/7 mentality (even the ski resort stays open till 2.00am everyday so people can ski after work!) and then of course the sunshine (Seoul has more than 320 days of sunshine a year), but also the more subtle ones like the calm in the metro, where people are talking so silently on the phone (even though in Taipeh it’s even more calm). And then I will miss Gwanaksan for sure. I love nature and having the campus located so nicely in the city but somehow still outside, was always nice for me – and walking to university seeing a mountain makes a Swiss always happy. I hiked up there at least six times and the view on the city was always amazing – I guess this might be the picture I will miss most. And in general, I enjoyed hiking a lot in Korea, as one the one hand, it lets you enjoy the beauty this country offers, and furthermore it was always funny to see all the Koreans in their colorful clothes and equipped like climbing Mount Everest or any other big summit in the Himalaya, even though just going for a two hour hike. But, I guess I proved to be a good Korean in terms of hiking, as I climbed quite a couple of mountains: Hallasan on Jeju, the highest one, then Gayasan, Seoroksan, Suraksan, Junbuksan, Dobongsan, Baegunbong, Bukhansan NP and around six times at least Gwanaksan (from August, when it was very hot and humid until mid December when it was snow covered).

And then I will furthermore miss all the Koreans of course. The ones I was fortunate to make friends with, the students taking a nap in the library, the ones totally wasted at Hongdae, all the pretty girls with S-line curves and just this very friendly atmosphere I encountered in South Korea day in and day out. I felt incredibly safe, almost never saw an argument or a fight and was always treated very friendly I’d say.

In general, for everyone who thinks about travelling Asia and is looking for something else than Thailand or Vietnam, where almost everyone is going, I can definitely recommend a trip to South Korea. The countryside is by far not as touristy as the surrounding countries, which of course offers benefits but also disadvantages. However, Seoul is an amazing city, thus if you have the chance to visit while being somewhere in Asia, it's definitely worth a stop - but I might be a bit biased on that, haha.

Oh, and one more comment at this point: Who ever calls South Korea a developing country is definitely wrong! Unfortunately, still many articles and people do or at least think of it like that. However, if you do so, you have to call Italy, Spain and some other European countries 'developing countries' as well for sure as a consequence... 

My last advice and words

Well, this is it. As I said, I had a great time in Seoul. It was an impressive time and I've learned a lot about a new culture. And if I had to name something that I'd implement in Switzerland that we can learn from Koreans, I guess it would be this unbelievable hard working attitute we can take a slice. But contrary, what would be my advice to the Koreans after experiencing five months there?

A quote from Richard Branson, my most favorite entrepreneur, comes to my mind: “Don’t work harder, work smarter”. I think that’s true for Korea in some way, as they are working so hard and long hours. But sometimes, they might achieve more in a shorter time – and would have then more time for doing other things – and being happy while enjoying the great sides of life, regardless of social pressure.

But thank you Seoul and South Korea for letting me having such a great time. I will miss you for sure every now and then...

Reference:

For everyone interested in getting to know more about Korea, I can highly recommend the book of Daniel Tudor, a journalist of the Economist. I share a lot of his thoughts in his book and while reading it and living there at the same time, I understood way more about why things maybe are the way they are. 
http://www.amazon.com/Korea-Impossible-Country-Daniel-Tudor/dp/0804842523