What makes a Korean-- Korean?

Does globilization mean the death of Korean identity? Is that the price that Korea is being asked to pay for becoming a member of the world community? Koreans are proud of their culture, history, and language; traditionalists stress this identity, and downplay the importance of peripheral areas of life, but they see a gradual weakening of this identity.

Do Koreans accept their Korean dignity and identity? For some, Korean identity is more important than the number of exports, the GNP, power in sports etc.. Koreans have a particular identity that is given at birth, if that is lost the country is lost: Koreans are returning to a time under the Japanese colonial rule --a vassal country ruled by others.

A person's maturity, his way of seeing life, and values are what forms character and personality, not how much money or how famous the person is. When we talk about the character or personality of a country similiarly, we are talking about what makes a Korean a Korean.

The article that I am using for this blog is taken from the Catholic Times and written by a novelist, so we know his interests.The article makes clear the writer is not happy with the direction Korea is going as a nation. The use of language is the yardstick: love and attachment to the mother tongue determines his 'Koreanness'. France and China are good examples of countries with love for their mother tongue. Love we have for Korea is determined by love we have for the Korean language.

When a Korean misspells an ordinary Korean word there is little concern, but when it is an English word, great embarrassment. Love for our mother tongue, the written and spoken word is missing. Many times the language is butchered; the the mass media does this on a grand scale.

Why is it that we have such a love for foreign words? We change the names of our companies from a Korean name to a foreign one. We name our apartment buildings with foreign names-- does our Korean language bore us?

The writer may be exaggerating to make a point, but there is some truth in his observations. Persons without roots are not sure who they are. A person with a sure identity has the strength to move out and accept what is good, not only because it is considered good but because it is good. All truth is to be accepted but accepting something merely because it is popular is not helpful to oneself or the country in which we live.

Korea, presently, does not see how globalization and Korean Identity can coexist. Korea has over a million foreigners living in the southern part of the Korean Penisular. Multiculturalism is part of the present and the future. There are many of non Korean descent who live and even choose to die here, will they ever be considered "one of us"? How is this going to be done is work for the future, but it can be done without losing Korean history, culture and language.