Revelational reflections on life on this land

The Republic of Korea is setting new records in 2016 and 2017 as it is setting records since our ancestors settled in this land. Coincidently, in the year of a red hen meaning abundance and fecundity, 33 million chickens and ducks, or 25 percent of poultry in Korea, have been culled. It is the largest culling ever on this land. On top of this, cattle have been killed since early February this year again due to the outbreak of the foot and mouth disease.

All of us need to reflect on the horrible killing of life and the civilization that destroyed the law of nature. Korea shamefully failed to learn a lesson even after killing 3.54 million cattle and pigs in 2011, and 14 million in poultry in 2014 and witnessing the outbreak of MERS in 2015.

The first reflection is that convenience and prosperity of modern civilization, and particularly, safety, can be won at a cost. It is impossible to prevent accidents like the disaster of the Sewol ferry and the outbreaks of the foot-and-mouth disease and the avian flu only with the current expenses paid by the government, customers and corporate farms. They should be increased to three or four folds from now to meet the safety standards equivalent to Denmark, Norway and Japan. Given the heavy reliance of livestock feeds and social and economic expenses for the environmental impact from muck, one would raise a question if a livestock business is ever possible in Korea.

The second reflection is about the supply of food and energy, the basic requirements for life and life resources. All developed countries in the West are self-sufficient in food and energy production. They have surplus in food and energy mostly or at least meet the energy demand. Korea and Japan are the only developed countries that import over 90 percent of energy and over 80 percent of food (excluding rice) except for Singapore and oil-producing countries. While China was an oil exporter until the early 1990s, it has become the world’s largest energy, rice and bean importer.

Korea, Japan and China are in the same condition in terms of life resources. The focus of Northeast Asia cooperation should be around life security or the supply of life resource, safety and peace. Life on this land and around it is at the center of the problems of the world in the 21st century. Northeast Asia is the main culprit of modern problems in safety, environment and global warming. Now, we need to set new standards beyond old common sense and practices on life, safety, security and peace. It is about changing our standards on safety and peace, not prosperity and affluence, our life style, and our country system. The revelations in 2016 and 2017, and the records of candle lights and historical records are creating new standards going beyond modern and present times.