Xenophobia. You gotta love it.
The above scenario may be a tad hyperbolic, but the sentiment is not. I returned last week from a trip to China (more on the trip in the next post) only to enter into another sort of hiatus from work--what I like to call my "Quarantine Vacation."
You see, one week before my scheduled departure date to the People's Republic, my boss approached me, and the following conversation ensued:
-I really don't think you should go to China.
- . . . ?
-The swine flu is really bad there.
-I could get swine flu in Korea, too.
-But there is more of the swine flu in China.
-Uh huh.
-[Long sigh] I really don't want you to go.
-Hmm.
-I wish you wouldn't go.
-Well, everything has already been paid for . . .
It went on like this for a while, until eventually he conceded, but ONLY on the grounds that Angela and I would not return to work for an entire week after we returned from Swineland and that we would get checked by a doctor before returning to work.
Hence: Quarantine Vacation!
Good for me, not so good for Korea's PR. Apprehension over swine flu is a reasonable reaction, but Korea has taken its fear to an unreasonable level. Swine flu has been cast as a "foreigner's disease," a thing of evil carried into the country by the outsiders. Kind of like the Europeans bringing smallpox to the Native Americans, but without all the maize and beads.
On some level, this is true. Considering the fact that the most heavily fortified border in the world sits on its shoulders, South Korea is essentially an island nation. What comes in must come from elsewhere.
The more troubling aspect of the Swine Flu Reign of Terror is that much of Korea doesn't seem to believe that a Korean could bring the flu into the country--only foreigners. The reasons for this are complex, but one of the biggest ones, honestly, is kimchi.
That's right. KIMCHI. The traditional Korean dish made of pickled vegetables and red chili peppers. Other than being extremely healthy for you, kimchi helps boost grades, improves Taekwondo skills, maintains youthful looks, and prevents homosexuality. Oh, and it protects you from diseases like SARS and swine flu. Or so many Koreans would have you believe.
A while back, a woman whose son I was tutoring told me, "The reason swine flu has not come to Korea is because kimchi has special property that stops it."
That was back in May. As of August 9th, over 1,700 cases of swine flu have been reported in South Korea. Many of them Koreans.
All kimchi superstitions aside, what the fear really boils down to is the Korean aversion to admitting that there could be anything wrong with their country, even if that "something wrong" is the uncontrollable force of a pandemic.
Maybe it has to do with the fact that for such a very long time, Korea was a nation dominated by other countries, and now, despite having quickly evolved into a prosperous country in the past few decades, it still sits in the shadow of its neighbors, China and Japan. A very competitive nature exists in the big-name Asian countries, each claiming to be superior to the others, and South Korea longs, perhaps somewhat hopelessly, to be crowned king. Kimchi is a prize that, throughout all of Asia, only Korea can claim as its own.
Coming from the wealthiest, most powerful country in the world, gaining an understanding of this mindset took some time. It doesn't excuse the finger-pointing and the widespread concern that the foreigners here will bring about the destruction of Korea through what is really just a bad strain of the flu. It does offer, at least, an explanation. If Korea really wants to become a global force, however, it needs to stop perceiving foreigners as the enemy.
I'll keep eating my kimchi, though. Just in case.
1 comment:
I love reading your posts, especially since I lived in Japan for several years many moons ago! I'll miss reading these when you leave. Val L.
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