Shortcomings of Korean Nationalism

Prof Shin Gi-wook (pictured) argued that Korea's deeply rooted ethnic national identity can be seen in the reaction of the Korean community in the aftermath of the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre.

After the massacre, Koreans and Korean-Americans "nervously responded with a sense of collective guilt."

Many first-generation immigrants apologized for the actions of gunman Cho Seung-hui "on the grounds that they all share the same Korean ethnicity (meaning blood)."

South Korea's ambassador to Washington Lee Tae-shik even suggested that the Korean-American community needed to "repent", suggesting a 32-day fast, one for each victim killed. The South Korean government also offered to send an official delegation to the funerals of the victims.

"This episode may seem bizarre or perplexing to non-Koreans since most ethnicities ... don't have that strong sense of collective responsibility," Shin wrote. (Korea Faces Challenges of Multiethnic Society, in Insight Into Korea, Herald Media 2007)

Pioneer of Korean literature Yi Kwang-su once said that bloodline, personality and culture are the three fundamental elements defining a nation, and that "Koreans are without doubt a unitary nation in blood and culture."

Even as Shin point out that Japanese rule had reinforced Koreans' claim to a "truly distinct and homogeneous ethnic identity", he also noted that such a blood-based ethnic national identity had often become a totalitarian force in politics, culture and society.

Individuals were considered only as part of an abstract whole, and citizens have been asked to sacrifice their freedom and civil rights for the collectivity.

"Nation was also used as a trump card to override other competing identities as well as to justify violations of human and civic rights in both Koreas in the name of the "nation." The power of nationalism has thus hindered cultural and social diversity and tolerance in Korean society."

Shin also argued that this belief in ethnic unity has produced tension and conflict between the two Koreas over the last half century, especially in provoking contention "over who truly represents the Korean ethnic nation versus who is at fault for undermining that Korean unity."