Momentum for Improving Inter-Korean Relations

 

The 'Catholic News Here Now' Catholic site features an article by a PhD in Political Science and Chairman of the Catholic Northeast Asia Peace Research Institute, titled "Momentum for Improving Inter-Korean Relations."

The president of South Korea is struggling to improve the worsening inter-Korean relations. Inter-Korean relations have been consistently hostile and confrontational throughout the previous term of the past president's government, with all lines of contact severed. This is because North Korea's Chairman Kim Jong-un has defined inter-Korean relations as "two belligerent countries at war," leaving no room for change. Furthermore, North Korea has expanded its external position through close ties with Russia, making it less inclined to improve inter-Korean relations.

Why do we need to talk, exchange, and cooperate with the North Korean government? This question is essential in a situation where the extreme right-wing forces' anti-North Korea hatred and incitement of inter-Korean confrontation are rampant, and one-third of voters agree with this. The '2024 Unification Awareness Survey' by the Seoul National University Institute for Peace and Unification Studies clearly shows the weak domestic support base for inter-Korean exchanges and cooperation. 

According to the survey results, 31.6 percent said that inter-Korean talks are not necessary, 40.9 percent said that North Korea is an enemy that we must be wary of and threatens our safety, and 73.6 percent said that the North Korean regime is not capable of dialogue and compromise. This survey was conducted at a time when the atmosphere of confrontation between the two Koreas was at its peak due to the Yoon Seok-yeol government's breach of the "9.19 Military Agreement," the resumption of loudspeaker broadcasts toward the North, and the distribution of leaflets toward the North via drones, but it is shocking.

In the present situation, exchange and cooperation between the two Koreas are essential steps toward unification. If the two Koreas, who share the same language, exchange and cooperate with each other, they will be able to communicate and empathize at a profound level, which will lead to a strengthened sense of national community, and this will serve as a driving force for unification. The "national community unification plan," which has been the unification policy of the South Korean government since the Roh Tae-woo administration, is also a gradual method of building a national community through reconciliation and cooperation and moving toward South-North union and complete unification. 

However, exchange and cooperation between the two Koreas are not smoothly achieved, as they repeatedly start and stop due to political and military conflicts. The relationship between the South and the North is one of antagonism and hostility. As one people, the two Koreas will inevitably be unified someday, so a fight for the initiative in unification is inevitable.  

Examining history, countries with superior national power have been actively engaged in exchanges and cooperation. In contrast, countries with inferior national power have been passive out of fear of absorption or unification. 

In the East-West German relationship, West Germany, with its strong national power, was actively engaged in exchanges and cooperation with East Germany. In the case of South and North Korea, when North Korea was superior in national power in the 1960s and 1970s, North Korea took the lead. Since the late 1980s, when South Korea was more advanced, it has been more active.

What is unique is that the conservative governments were reluctant to engage in exchanges and cooperation between the South and the North. This was because they believed that the funds flowing into North Korea through exchanges and cooperation projects would keep the North Korean regime alive. Since the early 1990s, they have consistently argued that we must pressure and isolate North Korea based on the theory that North Korea will collapse. Even though the extreme confrontational policy toward the North that the Yoon Seok-yeol government pursued for three years resulted in the strengthening of the North Korean regime rather than the collapse of North Korea, there are no signs of change in the conservative camp. 

As of 2025, South Korea's GDP is expected to be 60 times that of North Korea, and its military budget is expected to be 1.5 times that of North Korea, indicating a significant lead in terms of national power. There is no reason for the South Korean government, which has the upper hand in national power, to refuse exchanges and cooperation between the two Koreas.

On the 11th, President Lee Jae-myung announced that he would stop broadcasting through loudspeakers toward the North as of 2:00 p.m. that day. He said, "I hope that this measure will help the South and the North ease military tensions and rebuild trust in each other." 

Blessings of Agri-culture

In the Catholic Peace Weekly column on Faith and Science, the writer recalls that in January 2016, at the World Economic Forum (WEF) held in Switzerland, German economist Klaus Schwab, then chairman, introduced the concept of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. 

The remarkably advanced science and technology of this era, including drones, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, 3D printing, virtual reality, big data, self-driving cars, blockchain, and quantum technology, are driving significant changes in modern civilization. 

There have been several instances in human history when civilization underwent a revolutionary transformation. Alvin Toffler expressed this as three waves in his book, “The Third Wave.” The first wave was the Agricultural Revolution, which began approximately 10,000 years ago, during the Neolithic Age, following the end of the Ice Age. Humans, who had been wandering around hunting and gathering for over 2 million years since the Paleolithic Age, began to settle down and raise grains and livestock, and in the process, civilization began. The development of civilization, which encompasses the material and technological aspects, naturally led to the development of culture, the mental and social aspects of humans, and the wildness of humans gradually disappeared. It may not be unrelated to the fact that the word “agriculture” contains the word “culture”. 

The second wave was the Industrial Revolution, which began in England in the 18th century and spread to Europe, marking a transition from an agricultural to an industrial society. 

The third wave was the information revolution (digital revolution) in the late 20th-century industrialized society. However, among all these changes, the agricultural revolution is the most significant to humanity. The early civilizations that emerged in human history were founded on agriculture. Agriculture is the most fundamental means of addressing the basic problem of human beings' need to eat and live, so if there had been no agricultural revolution, there would have been no subsequent progress in civilization.

Agriculture is the process of artificially manipulating the natural environment of plants and animals that can become food for humans, as well as land and water, to convert and collect the energy of living things into a form applicable to humans. Grains produce organic substances, such as carbohydrates, which convert the sun's light energy into chemical energy that is valuable to humans. This process is caused by photosynthesis, a chemical reaction that occurs in plants. Surprisingly, the materials that plants need to make one molecule of glucose are only 6 carbon dioxide molecules, which exist in the air at a rate of only 0.03%, and 12 water molecules absorbed by the roots. When the sun’s light energy is applied to this, glucose, a carbohydrate, is synthesized by several enzymes inside the plants. This seemingly simple photosynthetic process is the basis for feeding all living things on Earth.

However, photosynthesis—the amazing ability of plants to convert light energy—is something that even advanced science and technology cannot yet imitate. Humans only harvest light energy through plants, and farmers are at the forefront of this work. The agricultural revolution is still in progress in the 21st century.

This third Sunday in July is ‘Farmers Sunday’, designated by the Korean Church. The current situation in rural areas is becoming increasingly challenging due to the decline and aging of the rural population, unstable farm income resulting from agricultural liberalization, and climate change. This is why we must gather our hearts and pray for our farmers, who silently work the land and harvest despite the many difficulties they face. “As long as the earth endures, sowing and harvesting, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease” (Genesis 8:22)

Time for Healing

In the "Preciousness of Faith" column of the Peace Weekly, the priest helps us understand the challenges of health and the importance of healing. 

We spend time without much thought, but time is very important in our lives. If we take proper measures, a wound will heal over time. We want it to heal quickly, but a wounded body needs time to recover its health.

The same goes for our hearts. Our delicate hearts are prone to getting hurt, and they need time to heal and regain their health. We are weak and vulnerable and need time and care to heal our wounds. 

Time also plays a very important role in faith. Jesus began to preach the gospel when the time was ripe. “The time is ripe, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the good news.” (Mark 1:15) Even during his public life, Jesus waited for his time. “Before the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father.” (John 13:1) Only when the time is ripe can something be seen. Especially the will of God.

When a priest in France said that he had only begun to understand the gospel at the age of 80, the columnist did not understand what he was saying. As time passes, life becomes deeper, faith matures, and the depth of Jesus’ words and actions approaches us in a different way than before. Our eyes have been opened to see the truth.

The truth of faith is also often understood after a long time. Jesus’ words to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us seem like unrealistic commandments that are difficult to follow. However, as time passes, our emotions often eventually recover and begin to make sense. And that depends on time. With the Lord’s care that embraces and heals our wounds.

Jesus was well aware of our weaknesses and limitations. However, Jesus never takes back His commandment to love our enemies. He just waits. Because there is no other way to health and growth. True happiness cannot be experienced without forgiveness and reconciliation. However, as time passes, clues will emerge and a way to live will become apparent. That is why we can continue to move forward while waiting for time to ripen.

It will be the moment when we reach the threshold of wisdom. That time is the time needed for our love to ripen, and that distance is the reminder that there is a path we must walk, and that we must continue to move forward with courage, despite our weaknesses and limitations.

Time is the medicine. Little by little, we gain the wisdom and courage to let go. The generosity and magnanimity that allows us to wait, understand, and embrace will liberate our souls.

This is how time teaches us. How to accumulate wisdom, how to wait, and how to receive generously. That's how we mature. If you're feeling unsettled and shaken right now, tell yourself that time will solve everything. And that time belongs to God.

Overcoming Despair

In the Philosophical Counseling column of the Catholic Peace Weekly, a Jesuit professor shares his thoughts on overcoming despair— the need to restore distorted relationships with oneself.

Life is a series of numerous adversities and trials. People often despair when they lose sight of a better life and hope for the future. The number of deaths due to alcohol, drug overdoses, and suicide, desiring to forget one's desperate reality, increases every year.

Economist Angus Deaton (1945~) calls them 'deaths of despair'. Despair, which is emerging as a new social problem, refers to a kind of ‘social death’ in which the poor, exhausted from life amidst the widening gap between the rich and the poor, end their lives by suicide, drug addiction, or alcoholism due to accumulated psychological pain.

It goes without saying that securing an economic and social safety net, as well as devising countermeasures, are urgently needed to prevent such deaths. However, the key point to consider here is whether we can truly escape despair simply because external problems are resolved. People try to resolve despair by connecting it to external obstacles. However, despair is a more fundamental existential phenomenon of humans, and it cannot be wholly overcome just by removing external obstacles.

The philosopher who examined despair as a fundamental phenomenon of human existence is Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855). He diagnosed the modern era as an ‘age of despair’, and in “The Sickness Unto Death”, he considers despair as a significant opportunity for ‘becoming oneself’ to acquire one’s original self. 

Despair is a synthesis of the ‘relationship with oneself’, the imbalance that comes from relating the soul and the body, the finite and the infinite, the temporal and the eternal, freedom and necessity in one’s life. It means ‘self-destruction’ that exhausts oneself to the point where one cannot do anything, and a ‘sinful situation’ that comes from the severance of one’s relationship with God. 

Kierkegaard defines the despair from this ‘disorder as a ‘disease of self-relationship'. However, the important fact is that despair is so painful and dangerous that one can die, and no one can avoid it, but no one dies because of it. Despair is a ‘disease that leads to death’, but unlike a disease of the body, it is a disease of the soul, an ‘existential disease’ that leads to a state where one dies but cannot die, that is, one cannot even hope for death. Nevertheless, Kierkegaard argues that 'despair never erodes one’s eternity under any circumstances'.

Despair is not a disease that only a select few people experience, but a phenomenon that all existing human beings experience. Humans are fundamentally in despair, but they often fail to recognize this despair and usually avoid it or rebel against it. 

It is a failure in not relating to oneself properly. An unconscious self-sabotaging behavior because of some unresolved trauma from the past. And the need to actively confront this improper relationship with oneself.

The restoration of a misaligned self-relation lies in standing alone before God with 'existential conscience' without hypocrisy. Existential conscience is based on 'authenticity' and 'self-responsibility' that sees oneself transparently without self-deception or pretense.

For those who genuinely pursue their true selves, life is not a calm sea but a fierce storm, and the truth is suffering. Therefore, philosophical counseling plays the role of helping those who bear the heavy burdens of life, especially when they are in despair due to pain, to cultivate the capacity to make their own decisions about their lives through self-reflection and to embrace their unique existence.

Life In Old Age

A professor in the welfare department of a university, in the Catholic Peace Weekly's Diagnosis of the Times column, gives the readers some thoughts on 'Life in Beautiful Old Age'.

As we age, we become increasingly familiar with more and more things. This is because our brain's memory creates a ‘cognitive schema’, a kind of interpretation framework based on the common characteristics of repetitive experiences. 

Of course, cognitive schemas can be modified at any time. However, most people do not readily change cognitive schemas once they are created. This is because modifying and forming new cognitive schemas requires time and effort. Cognitive schemas help us quickly understand situations and respond to them, but they also have a negative aspect, making us stubbornly act and become obsessed with stereotypes.

As familiar and repetitive things increase, new and novel things in life decrease. Familiarity provides comfort, but it also takes away the joy of life. Today is like yesterday, tomorrow is like today, and ordinary daily life speeds up. 

However, as the late Pope Francis said, “old age thirsting for wisdom, peaceful, devout, fruitful, and joyful old age" requires boldly cutting off this familiarity, which is a natural result of aging. Familiarity can bring us comfort and stability, but it can also hinder growth and wisdom.

In his book “The New Organon,” Francis Bacon presented three types of humans by comparing them to insects. First, ‘ant-type’ people who look at the ground, 'people' who are diligent and stick together well. Second, ‘spider-type’ people are ‘selfish people’ who do not work but build spider webs and wait for their prey to get caught and suck their blood. Lastly, ‘bee-type’ people are creative and make honey by transferring pollen. They are ‘altruistic people’ who share the honey they make with others and are essential to society. They seek out new flowers and collect honey; that is, people who reject familiarity and constantly grow and create.

Breaking away from familiarity means living a life of learning without rest. It is a life of using experience as material, but rather than simply repeating the same thing, creating and growing anew with the insights gained from the experience. And isn’t a life of sharing the results obtained through that challenge and growth with others, and giving back to society, a creative, altruistic, and beautiful old age like the life of a bee?

Do you want to live your old age as a time of decline and endless waiting, immersed in familiarity? Or do you want to live a life of creation and wisdom, where you break away from familiarity and use the wisdom you have gained as ingredients to create sweet honey, and share that honey with the next generation and society?

If in your youth you had to inevitably become accustomed to familiarity for social success, your family’s livelihood, and your children’s education, shouldn’t you break away from familiarity in your old age, free from all of that, and return to a beautiful and wise form that most resembles yourself, the original self that God created? Isn’t this the beautiful old age that God wants for us?

Openess to Savoring of Life!

In the View from the Ark column of the Catholic Times, a university professor provides some background to a change that came to him in middle age.

When he turned forty, he realized that music, art, and physical education were true friends and companions. In his 40s, he experienced several physical and mental problems, and realized he was not taking care of himself, and changed his attitude towards life. He worked less and spent more time caring for himself. 

Looking back, he realized he had lived 'savoring' life from childhood. On Sunday mornings, he woke up to his father's songs or movie scores, which helped him develop a close relationship with music. He learned to play the guitar in middle school and now plays guitar and sings with his son. He loved drawing and was in the art club in middle school, thanks to living in a neighborhood with comic bookstores. He joined his elementary school's baseball team and played soccer, table tennis, and tennis. The trumpet he picked up by accident was a great help in passing the years with delight. He lived 'savoring' without knowing the meaning.

Savoring is the capacity to attend to, appreciate, and enhance the positive experiences in one's life. It is the appreciation of the positive things in our lives and the decision to conscientiously enjoy them for as long as possible. Savoring is a great way to develop a long-lasting stream of positive thoughts and emotions. It has been linked to increased life satisfaction, including among individuals living with health issues.

He hopes that savoring life becomes a daily routine in schools, workplaces, churches, villages, cities, regions, and the entire country. Let’s create a 'cultural powerhouse, South Korea, not to compete and win but to learn and enrich together through the experience of savoring. Life is an experience! The nation is an experience! The path to happiness is savoring!

He recommends 'savoring' to his students and juniors who are working. He advises them to immerse themselves in the 'savoring' to 'delight, relish in what they do' for about an hour before work and then start their day.

You can’t live just working. You must rest and appreciate the good things in life that are given to delight us. The many aspects of our culture, arts, and 'physical activities’ in the 'savoring' make our lives happy.

Although the new government has much to do, he hopes it will also consider ‘the daily life of savoring' and the daily life of culture and the arts as critical national tasks. Savoring will make the Republic of Korea an advanced country with happier and healthier citizens.

One of the things he dreamed of as the Dean of Academic Affairs was to change the liberal arts education for freshmen to humanities and 'Savoring'. Suppose freshmen who have gone through the hell of entrance exams for a long time and come to college put down all other studies for just one year and spend their days learning humanities, music, art, and sports. In that case, they will be reborn as young people who are refreshed and invigorated as if they have taken a shower in culture and arts. If they learn an instrument and participate in a concert and choir, draw a picture and make something with their own hands, move their bodies and dance, run, and fly, there is no better liberal arts education than that.

There is a country that loves singing and dancing as much as our country does. It is the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. With a strong will to become independent from the former Soviet Union, 2 million people from the three countries formed a 620-kilometer human chain in August 1989. They sang: “Rise, Balts” in unison, and achieved independence two years later. The ‘Song and Dance Festival’ is also held every 4 to 5 years, with participation from the entire nation. The military dance and chorus, featuring tens of thousands of people, were designated as a World Heritage site in 2008, making them shine even more.

Historical Significance of Blood Types

In the Catholic Peace Weekly's Science and Faith column, a science teacher discusses blood types and their significance in our history.

In 1901, Austrian Karl Landsteiner classified human blood into three types: A, B, and C (now O) through the agglutination reaction when blood from different patients was mixed. Then, in 1902, AB type was added, completing the current ABO blood type classification system. 

The method of determining blood types uses the agglutination reaction in which red blood cells clump together due to the agglutinogen on the surface of red blood cells and the agglutinin in the liquid component of blood (plasma). In the past, doctors in the 17th century attempted to transfuse animal blood into humans, with fatal results. This was because there was no medical knowledge that human blood is not one type and that animal and human blood are different. The discovery of the ABO blood type classification system made it possible to transfuse blood between people of the same blood type, which saved the lives of many soldiers, especially during World War I, and Landsteiner was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1930 for this contribution. 

Currently, there are 31 methods of determining blood types, including the ABO blood type, Rh blood type, and MN blood type. Blood types vary by country and race. In the case of Koreans, type A (34%) is the most common, followed by type O (28%), type B (27%), and type AB (11%).

In China, 48% of the entire population is type O, in the US, 45% of whites and 49% of blacks are type O, and in France and Russia, type A is the most common. What is unique is that the blood type of the indigenous people of Peru, the Indians, is almost 100% type O. The percentage of type O among the Mayans is also 98%. This is due to genetic factors and the heartbreaking historical background they experienced.

According to a study by scientists at University College London, 60 million people, or 10% of the world's population at the time, lived in America around the 15th century. However, due to the cruel colonial rule of European conquerors, the population of Native Americans decreased to 5-6 million. In the case of Peru and the Maya, the biggest reason is the infectious diseases spread by the Spanish conquerors. Natives who had no immunity to European diseases such as smallpox and measles were helplessly infected and suffered death.

The analysis suggests that type O has a somewhat superior immune system compared to other blood types, which would have led to a higher survival rate from these diseases. This part explains why the Peruvian and Mayan natives only have type O blood. As a result of the long colonial rule, the Peruvian natives still have not been able to escape poverty and underdevelopment.

Pope Leo XIV, born in the United States and a Peruvian citizen, served the poor in the slums for 20 years. It is said that the locals loved the Pope, who had a deep interest in social justice and environmental issues while working with them. Poverty refers to a lack of access to basic necessities, including food, clothing, and shelter. Helping those in such situations is the attitude of a true believer who practices the teachings of Christ. Poverty also means not being obsessed with unnecessary things. Emptying your heart of material desires and adopting a frugal lifestyle is the attitude that believers should strive for.

Thinking back to Pope Leo XIV, who worked as an apostle to the poor, let's look back at the meaning of the Sermon on the Mount, where Christ said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:3).