A blue ribbon commission of Japanese intellectuals, appointed by Japan's prime minister, served up a set of recommendations for the future of Japanese society. The recommendations include, among others, individual empowerment, English as the official second language, racial diversity and computer literacy. The report is available on the Web, but only in Japanese so far! [http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/21century]. It was widely reported in:
The recommendations apply just as well, perhaps more acutely, to Korean society. In this vein, Professor S J Chang of Illinois State University, an Editor of KASTN, wrote the following editorial.
S. J. Chang
Professor of Finance
Illinois State University
Editor, KASTN
sjchang@ilstu.edu
Korea Advised To Open Up To the World
It is by now no secret that Korea's globalization level is one of the lowest among major nations in the world. This means that Korea, although often beautified as the Land of Morning Calm, is still viewed by many outsiders as the Hermit Kingdom, a country that is tightly shut to the outside.
For many years foreigners have been complaining that they cannot do business easily in Korea because of many barriers and walls in trade, capital movement, foreign exchange, stock market, labor market, and so forth. Not only that, they are also critical about "the Korean way of doing business" which is far different from, and far short of, the global standards.
But it is not just this un-open, un-globalized economic environment that keeps Korea from joining the group of advanced nations. Quite possibly, the un-open, un-globalized mindset of Korean people, including political leaders and government bureaucrats, can be the single most important deterrent to KoreaÕs advancement. It is the kind of mindset that judges a thing wrong if it is different from most others. It is the kind of mindset that does not allow Toyota cars to roll on the streets of Seoul. Yet, it is the kind of mindset that believes globalization can be achieved by just going abroad on a backpack trek, golf tour, language training, or filial sightseeing.
Living up to a popular local slogan, "body and soil are inseparable," Korea is yet to get off the ground in terms of promoting its general civility and globalization. Recognizing this difficulty of "globalizing Korea," a local intellectual has once made a suggestion to adopt English as Korea's official language, thereby provoking another round of hot debate over nationalism versus globalism. While such a globalizing view attracts sympathetic nods from some people, the general tone is still heavily nationalism-favored.
Korea probably does not have to adopt English as its official language, but it should understand why it has to be able to use English as a common language, just as it has to have adequate computer literacy. It is sad to note that all these years Korean intellectuals have turned deaf ears to calls for noblesse oblige of globalizing the people's mind. Snuggled in the sticky nationalism and group mentality, they failed to provide the people with right perspective of globalization or much needed individual accountability. Grooved in the uniform mentality, Korean leaders were also unable to provide its people with diversity training.
As repeatedly pointed out in this forum, it takes advanced mentality, cultures, and visions, not the production of DRAM chips, to transform a nation into an advanced one. Korean people should realize that they have no choice but to open their country and their minds because the all-inclusive nature of the ever-expanding global village virtually prohibits any entity from opting out of the system. A nationwide, all-out effort is needed to break out of the hermitage.