Korea is a member of the club of developed nations: OECD. Of these countries, two stand out with a birth rate that catches the eye: Israel and France. An article in the Peace Weekly introduces us to a serious problem in Korea.
In 2014 Israel women had an average of 3.08 children the highest in the list of OECD countries. Korea has a rate of 1.24 the lowest in the list of OECD countries. Continuing this growth rate, Israel with a population of over 8 million will have over 11 million by 2035.
France's rate is the fourth after Israel, Mexico, and Turkey. In 1990 the rate was 1.75 in 2014 it rose to 1.98.
Both countries are members of the OECD but the reason for the increase is different for each, Isreal, from their tradition, has a belief in the sacredness of life and blessings that come from children. The Super Orthodox Tradition is to have on the average eight children which has influenced society.
On the other hand, the old traditional French customs have collapsed and they are bringing in a new system which has increased the birthrate. This is a contract between two adults for their joint life, it is not a marriage but a joint agreement filed at a district office-- a civil solidarity pact known as PACS. Once this is done an allowance is provided for the birth, rearing, and education of the children. 55% of the children are born in these circumstances.
In 2012, 150,000 were PACS' couples and 230,000 were marriages but the PACS had the larger number of children. A French scholar, Jacques Attali sees by 2030 the number of marriages will disappear, and 90 % will be PACS. Korea in 2015 according to Office of Statistics had a little more than 300,000 marriages which are the lowest number since 2003.
The writer agrees that economics is a problem limiting marriages in Korea but he believes those of marriageable age no longer see marriage as necessary but only a choice. We will, he believes, see more non-marriages in Korea. However, he doesn't see Korea going in the direction of France because of the traditional Korean ways and culture. Consequently, without marriage, we will not see Korea going in the way of the French and a continual drop in the birth rate.
According to Gallop in 2014 half of the Korean population has a religion. Religious people usually have a positive outlook on children and marriage. Efforts need to be made to encourage marriage and children, and ways to support marriage and to press for changes. The reason the PACS system has been so successful in France, the writer concludes, is the burden that is felt by the young people in having a Church wedding.
Many a true word is spoken in jest: "daily life is no big deal-- isn't it to eat and live together..." Writing in View from the Ark a religious sister remembers a radio commercial she heard living in Italy that was advertising a restaurant's cooking: "Once you eat at our restaurant you will be able to forgive all your relatives and acquaintances." Returning to Korea she was envisioning such a restaurant and wanting to eat there.
In October we had many events that were celebrating happiness in life. The events were stressing 'dreams', 'meals', 'happiness', 'world's happiness index', 'let's stop considering the production numbers as an index of happiness'. These were the keywords that registered with the writer.
Happiness is what persons experience in life from a variety of social and environmental stimuli. Among these would be food, clothing, and shelter and in our society aren't there those who lack some of these necessities? Some of our sages from 2400 years in the past have told us that 'without the necessities of life people will not be at rest.' 'One has to have enough food if we want people to live a moral life.'
In our society, a person's wealth determines their social position. According to some studies, wealth to a certain degree will determine a person's level of happiness but once that is achieved, no longer important. However, this reality is not understood by our society; consequently, the need for politics, industry, education and religion to show interest.
"When a country is well governed, poverty and a low condition are things to be ashamed of. When a country is ill governed, riches and honors are things to be ashamed of" (Analects of Confucius). The most important task of a government is to secure the equitable distribution of the products of human labor for all the citizens.
Forgetting for the moment that people still want to increase their wealth there is the fear of losing what they have acquired and become more taken up with themselves. More than concern for others we have the building of structures of conflict.
Sister wants us to remember that we participate in the life of the universe. When a butterfly flaps its wings the waves made are changing even if infinitesimally the waves in the universe. South Korea is a small country bordered by oceans and North Korea; the material and wealth of the country is limited. When food, clothing, and shelter are satisfied and we go to extremes than we are hurting the weak in society. When they become sick the whole society is weakened. We are good in closing our eyes to this reality and make believe it is not true.
Precisely because of this reality we have 'grassroot movements', 'change from the bottom up', and 'change from within'. All efforts to bring about change that will not come from the top but from below and the reason we have hope to see change.
This year is the 150th year of the beginning of the Pyong-in persecution. Twenty-four martyrs were beatified in 1968 and 103 were canonized in 1984 on the pope's visit to Korea. Of this number ten were French missionaries, members of the Paris Foreign Mission Society.
During the past month Catholics from the dioceses from which these men came visited Korea on pilgrimage: 66 pilgrims with the head of the bishops' conference, members of the hierarchy and lay people.
In both Catholic weeklies, we had articles on the visit in which they thanked the Catholics of Korea for their kindness in welcoming them. They received the impression of a very vigorous faith life. One of the priest descendants of bishop Saint Anthony Daveluy, gave this advice: "I am looking at a Church that was similar to the French Church of 150 years ago. I earnestly hope that the Korean Church does not go the way the Church of France went and this means they need to live the Gospel life."
The delegation led by Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard of Bordeaux visited the many pilgrimage sites of the Pyong-in persecution. They were able to see the places where the bishops and priests of the Paris Mission Society worked in Korea. The missioners had in mind the education of priests to follow them. St. Kim Tae-gon, Andrew was the first Korean priest and the second was Thomas Choi Yang-eop.
The Paris Foreign Mission Society from its beginning was entrusted with the mission work in Asia. They promoted evangelization in the territories from Thailand to China. Attentive always to the necessity of finding local candidates to the diocesan priesthood. They did an admirable job in Korea with the loss of many lives and great suffering.
Finally, in 1886, a treaty with the French government guaranteed the status of French missionaries, and the freedom of religion was finally established. The persecution for almost a 100 years finally ended and the work of the missioners became easier.
An editorial in the Peace Weekly mentions the delegation was kept busy with celebrations, events, exhibition halls and elements which brought praise but prayerful time or time devoted to remembering the martyrs was limited. There was a lot of activity but the living of the Gospel life was missing.
If the Korean Church is not to follow the way of the eldest daughter of the Church we need to change the way we do pastoral work says the editorial and even before we fine tune our structures the community members have to start living the Gospel and practicing the virtues.
After 70 years of separation, a red light is seen in the national security of Northeast Asia. Solving the North Korean problem: opening up of the North, human rights, dealing with a dictator, moreover, sanctions and pressure against the North and our response with the Missile Defense System is boomeranging-- destabilizing security. With this introduction, the chairperson of the Saeurinuri Peace Corp. begins her article in the Catholic Times.
Up until now both the North and South have been working to implement different policies for unification. In Dec. of 1991 both the North and South became members of the United Nations. Both working for reconciliation and hoping to live in peace came to a basic agreement on a non-aggression pact and interchanges between the North and South along with dialog and negotiations.
During this time they agreed on two occasions to keep the peninsula a nuclear free zone at a summit of the two parties. 20 meetings of the divided families, sightseeing at Kumgangsan, Kaesong factory with a free economic zone were the results. There was the agreement to talk about a great many pending questions that would change the situation between the two. However, the nuclear development of the North and the South's military maneuvers with the United States has stopped this.
The present government sees the policies of dialogue of the past as the reason for the obstacles to the unification of the country and the nuclear development of the North. Others, on the other hand, see the last 8 years with its policies and its pressure on the North as the reason for the development of their nuclear capability and also the militarization of the South. This one-sided pressure policy has not helped the solving of the problems between the North and South and has left citizens with great sorrow.
The present policies which are not what are expected by the times we live in have rather become a fuse for a greater conflict among the neighboring powers.
It is time to disassociate the unification of the country from ideology and politics. The country, industry, religion, public social organizations need to visit the North for informal meetings with their counterparts in the North, find ways of working together and ways of cultural interchange between the two. We had for a decade non-official interchanges, learned a great deal about each other and will be helpful for the future.
Unification means the search for areas of agreement and finding where our sympathies are similar. The Unification Ministry has from Oct. 21-25 scheduled many events to awaken our desire for unification. We can't help but be sad that it is only a solitary work of the South without any response from the North.
According to the parliamentary audit of 2016, the Ministry of Unification has only used half of the allotted funds received. Open for business but with little to show for its efforts. The present policy is not one of dialog and negotiations but using military and economic power seeking to absorb the North.
In order to show that the Ministry of Unification is not only a name but has some influence it has taken a lead with a proposal to reduce armaments. The ministry sees this as a necessary premise to achieve peace on the peninsula and has moved it over to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The writer hopes that the Economic ministries will show leadership in laying the foundation for peace initiatives.
Recently Korea noticed a slowing down of the rate of alcoholic addiction. Cigarette smoking among men has also gone from 80% to 40%. However, an article in the Seoul Diocesan Bulletin by the head of a center for alcoholics mentions how this has now moved over to women and a young peoples' problem.
Internet games, gambling, drugs and the like are now making their appearance. The writer mentions that a few years ago a middle school student came with a problem with a new herbal drug that he was taking. He couldn't forget the boy. He had the appearance of an exemplary student and asked how he got the drug. He found the drug on the internet and out of curiosity ordered it and came to the house by home delivery service.
Nowadays if a person has a mind to get drugs there's no problem in achieving one's goal. This is also true of illegal gambling as we have seen in Korean society with those in entertainment and sports. One high school student came for help who was addicted to Sports Toto (online illegal gambling). The writer was flabbergasted when he heard that half of his class participates.
According to the Korean Gambling, Problem Management Center about 30,000 young people are addicted and surmised that 120,000 are in danger of addiction. The dangers continue to increase. In 2013 a law was proposed for the management and treatment of problems associated with gambling. However, an uproar ensued because of the inclusion of internet games and the whole movement stopped. Many who came for treatment even refused to acknowledge their addiction.
Our society is so taken up with consumerism that we refuse to see the problems that follow from it. "Internet games are not addictive." Forbidding certain types of advertising is not the way to go." "Gambling is a form of industry' is what is being said.
Whether we like it or not our society is losing the happiness we should have in life. The writer is daily dealing with children who engrossed with the computer their school work suffers. Heads of families are addicted to drugs, have committed crimes, and because of gambling have incurred great debt. Women have been abandoned by their family because of addiction.
In 2014 the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs reported that over 6 million citizens have addiction problems. These problems are capable of being addressed like any sickness and we are all exposed to the dangers. The problem is not only personal but a social one. We are not to blame the addicted but to understand and show concern. We need to discuss the problem and find solutions and ways to treat those who are dealing with addiction.
Louann Brizendine a scientist, and neuropsychiatrist is quoted in an article in the Kyeongyang Magazine. A member of the Seoul Diocesan Pastoral Committee, working in family matters, uses her book on The Female Brain from which the writer draws some interesting conclusions for his readers.
Men, he says, speak about 7,000 words a day which is a tedious task for many. Women, use about 20,000 words and if she doesn't succeed she is stressed and upset. "Women with one word speak a hundred; men with a hundred words speak one." Phrases like this just don't come to light without reason.
Relating this to family life the man at work speaks his 7,000 words and returning home wants to rest. The wife on the other hand whether in the home or at work has not succeeded in speaking her 20,000 or more words and gazing at her husband wants to talk. Consequently, this is a reason for some family conflict. Should they take turns one day with quiet and the next with talk? No, and proposes his suggestion to the readers.
He tells husbands to looks warmly at their wives, nod their heads and respond with the following words: "Is that right?" "That's Surprising?" "How come?" "So what did you do?" "Ha,Ha Ha, That's interesting!" These and similar words do not take much effort and will make the bond between the spouses stronger.
Listening is more difficult than talking. This may not seem the case but the reality is that more energy is expended in listening. Why should this be the case? We have to lower ourselves and raise the other; give our attention to the other which requires effort.
We have to refrain from interrupting, changing the subject, and refrain from giving advice, and looking away. Listening requires that we give up these thoughts and give our attention completely to what is being said which takes energy. Consequently, when the husband is listening, the wife should remember he is expending more energy in listening then she is and thank him.
He concludes the article with a breakdown of the Chinese character for listening:
On the left top, you have the character for Ear below that you have the character for King. On the right top, the character for Ten, below: Eye--One and Heart. You are being asked to give your complete attention as if you had 10 eyes, hearing with your ear and heart and considering the other person like a king. This can be tiring.
This is the way we should listen to God in prayer and to those in the family. We have been given only one mouth but two ears which should mean something. To love with words is easy but to live with a loving heart requires that we listen in the way the Chinese character shows us.
In the Peace Column of the Peace Weekly, the columnist mentions his time as a tour guide for pilgrims to Europe. Most Europeans are not able to distinguish the Asians but the sightseeing bus drivers have little trouble. Whether they are groups of tourists or pilgrims they quickly know where they are from.
When they experience a noisy group it's from China. In contrast, the quiet group is from Japan and the splendidly clothed group is from Korea. The columnist says they are invariable right.
With the Korean group, they also add 'hurry hurry' cultural traits they recognized. He mentioned a story of a group of bus drivers who were eating together. One of the drivers was silent. The other drivers were curious and asked why he was so quiet. He responded that he had a group of Koreans and had to get back to the bus quickly.
There is nothing wrong with nice clothes and being in a hurry but when related to some other concrete action than we have either a positive or negative nuanced situation. An example of this would be some work that was done very quickly: could mean industry and capability but also at the same time that they were sloppy and negligent.
In our situation, the columnist sees this mostly as a negative.The splendid clothes are not just beautiful but ostentation and vanity. The 'hurry hurry' trait is not only overlooking precision but concerned only with results. These are not naturally good traits but avarice. Having high motivation is a good but when it develops into greed we have problems.
Within 50 years Korea has gone from a per capita economy of 100 dollars to about 27,000 dollars.It has joined the wealthy countries of the world. These traits have helped to make it the miracle of the Han River. At the same time, there has been substance missing from this outlook on life and we have some serious consequences.
When attention is only on results we are overcome by extreme competition and discrimination. We have to be better than the other, better than our predecessor. We are mesmerized with results. Something is missing from inside of ourselves.
This is not true of all society. However, it is part of our reality. What is possible is that we will throw good money after bad. What we need is the wisdom to learn from the old and go to the new. This is not only true for the country and society but also for the church.
