Just about a year and half ago, in early January 2016, I did a blog called "Vengeance is Mine" Romans 12:12. In that blog, I talked about the importance of vengeance, i.e., seeking vengeance for wrong doing, and its role in the mentality and culture of Koreans. This, of course, is not unique to Korean culture but to Asian culture in general. Possibly the most famous and certainly one of the most popular Japanese historical events involved the act of vengeance as played out in the "Ako Incident" better known popularly as the story of the "Forty Seven Ronin". Everyone is familiar with this story as it was made into several movies in Japan as well as more recently by Hollywood. There are many similarities in this regard between Japanese and Korean cultures when it comes to the subject of vengeance. It is, for the most part, considered a point of honor to seek vengeance for wrong doing or perceived wrong doing!
The modern Korean (South Korean) pop culture has capitalized on this subject in their immensely popular TV soaps better known as K dramas. Majority of K dramas, whether set in historical past or modern society, involve the subject of vengeance. By Western standards, the Koreans appear to be obsessed with vengeance. Naturally, the K dramas are somewhat exaggerating this particular aspect of Korean culture, after all, they are made for entertainment! But, as the saying goes, where there is smoke, there is fire, and there is no doubt that the Korean culture places more importance on vengeance than the Western culture. Don't get me wrong, our own American culture too has that element of "righting the wrong," i.e., seeking vengeance. Our own pop culture has its share of stories involving retribution and what American Western does not have some of that element? The launching of our war in Afghanistan in response to the 9/11 attack was an act of retribution, pure and simple. The hunt for Osama Bin Laden was again and act of vengeance. But in general, our attitude and obsession over seeking vengeance is not anywhere near what it is in Korean culture.
If we are to successfully meet and negotiate with North Korea about the nuclear issue, we must remember their attitude and mentality in this regard. They definitely do not see the world through the same looking glass and their attitude about seeking vengeance is also quite different from ours. They have, since 1950, literally fed off their hatred for us. They have used the hated United States as a reason to rebuild their country after the war and establish a strong military. Their entire goal in building up the nuclear program is focused on using these weapons against us! South Korea may be their enemy as well, but not quite in the same league as the United States. South Korea is simply thought of as the puppet of the United States, the "running dogs" as they like to say. The United States of America is the main focal point of their hatred, the main target for their nuclear weapons! If we go back to 1945 when the division of Korea first took place, they have had more than 75 years to develop hatred for us! That is an awful long time to develop a culture of hatred for one country!
When dealing with North Korea, we must remember that they have very deep rooted hatred for us, that they blame all their problems on us! For them, the destruction of the United States is top priority, something that will restore their "honor" and, of course, give them more power and influence in the world! It may be completely unrealistic for a tiny country of less than 26 million people to think in those terms, but that is how they think! We, on the other hand, may not like them, may think they are whacko, but we don't hate them with such passion and we are not seeking any sort of a revenge or retribution! This makes for a very different mentality and one of the reasons why the two sides can't seem to have a meeting of the minds! How can they, when they have such polar opposite minds!
Unfortunately, although there may be brilliant minds advising our government how to deal with North Korea (at least I hope there are some smart folks!), none seem to really take into consideration the revenge factor. It is not quite the same thing as dealing with the Iranians. Iran may call us the "great Satan" and indeed not care for us, but their hatred for us is not quite as deep as that of North Korea. Iran has not had a devastating war with millions of its people killed in the war for which they blame us. Not quite the same situation. Besides, we just gave them billions of dollars in that Nuke Deal!
If we are to deal successfully with North Korea, we will have to capitulate in some way. I think it is not only too late in time but also inappropriate to offer any sort of an apology. A sincere apology is one way that a wrong can be corrected. This is true in Japanese culture as well as in Korean culture. If you sincerely offer your apology, show that you are really sorry, then your sins can be forgiven. However, we did not commit any wrong doing against North Korea. We came to help South Korea when North Korea invaded the south in June of 1950. Sure it was a civil war, but we were committed to help South Korea, it was our responsibility. So, there is nothing for us to apologize. Since that avenue is closed, that leaves only one way that we can appease North Korea, and that is to offer economic help! Yes, if we give them money as we gave to Iran on that Nuke Deal, North Korea will back off, there is no doubt about it. But will they stop their nuclear weapons development? Will Iran? Probably neither country will stop all together and will continue their nuclear program secretly. Iran is doing it now, not so secretly, claiming that their nuclear development is for peaceful purposes!
I have a feeling that is the route that the Trump administration will take, i.e., lift sanctions and help North Korea economically in exchange for stopping their nuclear weapons program. Is that a good thing? Can we really trust North Korea? Well.......let me put it another way. Do we want another Iran Nuke Deal....this time with North Korea? But then, what is the alternative besides going to war? With Iran, we didn't have to go to war, Iran was really not in a position to attack anyone, despite all their threatening rhetoric. So the so called Nuke Deal was a real puzzle! North Korea is a different story, a very difficult, different story!
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