[Opinion] Withering Patriotism

Jin-suk was a high school student in Seoul preparing for the college entrance exams just before North Korea started the Korean War in 1950. As the war broke out, he and his shoeshine brother took their ill mother and sought refuge, but he was forcibly drafted at Daegu Station. Jin-suk’s older brother tried to take him out, but was thrown into the army himself and the brothers found themselves on the battlefield.

The movie “Tae Guk Gi: Brotherhood of War” begins in this way, with even a high school student forced into a war. To youngsters these days, the past just seems no more than a legend, but history is still alive.

“Friends! The fate of our nation depends on you.” When the war started, many students ran to the forefront. The Bisang and Uiyong student national defense corps merged into one in Daegu on July 19, 1950 and was called the Daehan Student National Defense Corps. The young combatants died for their motherland in droves: 171 students from 40 schools in Seoul alone.

The Korea Institute for Youth Development asked 2,939 students in Korea, China, and Japan, “How would you respond if a war broke out?” Forty one percent in Japan, 14 percent in China, and only 10 percent of youngsters in Korea replied, “I would fight immediately.” On the other hand, Korea came in the lead for the answer “I would seek refuge abroad” with 10 percent, China with 2.3 percent, and Japan 1.7 percent. It makes us think twice about Korean kids, who grew up in a divided nation.

Perhaps society has passed on to Korean youth a withering patriotism. The attitude of their parents and government officials who speak of patriotism, but whose sons shy away from mandatory military training, has influenced them. In the survey, 70 percent of Chinese students, 13 percent of Japanese, and 9 percent of Korean students responded in the affirmative to the question, “Is the government always right?” The government may just be the reason for Korea’s lack of patriotic youth.

Han Gi-hong, Editorial Writer, eligius@donga.com