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Rev. Do Yo-an Recounts 50 Years of Korea
By Sunny Lee
Contributing Writer
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Rev. Jack Trisolini |
While South Korea is gearing up to get even richer, buoyed by the latest robust economic forecast for next year, someone wants the nation to think about poverty. Strangely, it makes perfect sense.
The voice from the wilderness is Catholic Rev. Jack Trisolini, who is better known here by his Korean name, Do Yo-an.
A resident in Korea for 50 years, he has literally witnessed how Korean society has transformed over the years. As we enter the time of year for reflection, The Korea Times asked Trisolini some challenging questions that can diagnose the society and guide it in a better direction. Despite battling cancer, he graciously took the challenge. What initially started as two visits to his residence, and a follow-up phone interview, later turned into a list of questions, which he carefully thought about and answered in writing. It took him two full days to compose his answers.
Korea Times: You recently wrote a book, titled, "The Poor People Will Always Be With You." Why did you write a book on poverty, when Korea wants to be rich?
Answer: Please remember that I was writing for a target group ― members of the Catholic Church in Korea, and by extension, to Christians of other faith groups as well as those who lean favorably toward Christian ideals and thinking.
I have been turned off by some people within the churches who seem to think that because the churches have become well organized and to some extent rich, they can then do as they please: tear down buildings to build even bigger ones, create monuments to human glory rather than buildings that serve people who want to worship or who need succor in one way or another.
Just as politicians create "New Towns" or "Four River" projects to supposedly stimulate the economy, clergy, church officials and the like tend to build to serve a middle class and upwardly mobile segment of the church-going population. Too often this is done at the expense of poorer people who also believe but whose desires are not taken into consideration.
Urban Removal Project?
Then, not everyone in Korea wants to be rich. Many ordinary people seek a life in which basic needs are met and a certain measure of "uncertainty" is eliminated. Yesterday, I was passing through an area that had been thoroughly cleared of old houses. The hilltop was being bulldozed to make a flatter space ready for the construction of new apartments. on the other side of the street is an area not yet designated for "urban renewal." The driver, a friend, mentioned that he wondered whether people in the apartments to be constructed would have the closeness to each other that people in the old neighborhoods had and, in some cases, still have.
He, himself, lives a middle class life in an upscale apartment complex, so he knows from experience that "New Town" life often fails to recreate communities and can be cold, impersonal and uncaring. When they were doing urban renewal projects in the New York area years ago, some people referred to them as "urban removal" projects. The original residents of areas designated for redevelopment in Korea are seldom the people who benefit from the redevelopment projects.
The major reason for writing about the poor in our midst is that Jesus told us that we would always have them with us and the rest of his gospel message urges us to be attentive and compassionate in their regard. Another reason for writing on the poor in our midst is that when a society becomes more bourgeois and oriented toward getting rich, the poor are forgotten, trivialized, blamed for poverty and forced to bear the burden of progress. Society has a tendency of trying to remove the poor from sight.
Korea Times: What else is still lacking in Korean society despite its recent industrial achievements?
A: Conservationists decry the loss of "hanok" houses in urban areas. Ecologically-minded people speak of the lack of parks and recreation areas for urban dwellers. For almost 12 years, my office was located on the 3rd floor of the Jong-ro Catholic Church next to Jongmyo Park. once the park became a tree-filled reality, it was crowded to over-flowing every day by older people who had no place to go.
80% of Korea Rural in 1958, Now 85% Urban
Rural areas are being abandoned for life in the big cities. Korea was 80 percent rural in 1959 when I first arrived and is now about 85 percent urban. What has been done for people living in the country? Will privatization leave them without hospitals, affordable electricity, utilities and phone service? Will the profit motive abandon the rural populations with all their accumulated knowledge of cultivating food, cooking, basic folk medicine and the like? Will life merely become a homogenized version of urban life as lived all around the world leaving no room for the traditional culture of the country? Will we have many more "Sejong Cities" and "Semangeum?" Many lament that the traditional values of honesty, integrity and generous sharing that rural life inculcated are disappearing.
Korea Times: What do you think about the "loser" comment by a college girl in the KBS Misuda talk show, who said a man shorter than 180cm is a loser and she wouldn't date one, thus creating a national controversy?
A: The girl who made that comment was saying more about herself than about Korean males. I wonder what kind of marriage that kind of girl and others who think like her will enter into if they judge only by the physical externals of the males they meet and date? I know of Korean women who married Korean men who were shorter than themselves or who had physical deformities. These women chose the men they married for other qualities and have lived with them very happily. one person's "loser" is often another person's "winner!" The less time spent on this topic the better.
Korea Times: What was the one thing that disappointed you the most about Korea?
A: I began my life in Korea 50 years ago as an English teacher in a Korean high school. one of the first things I noticed was that the only thing that interested most teachers was getting their students into Seoul National University, Korea University or Yonsei University. I was so disappointed by that mentality in a country like Korea where so much emphasis was put on education. I developed an aversion to returning to the classroom in a typical Korean school environment. I think that's the mentality behind the crisis in education that has plagued the country for many years.
Korean Education Hampers Creativity
Firstly, this mindset is devastating to the students. They lose confidence in their ability to learn. It hampers the good learners in their emotional growth. They spend childhood and their teen years memorizing and preparing for tests rather than enhancing creativity. Koreans are very creative. In the end, it puts the teachers' and schools' reputation ahead of the students. Who was it that said there is no waste more destructive than wasting a person's mind? I see wasted minds around me every day! I meet talented people who don't read books or newspapers because educators and parents turned off their minds at an early age simply because they were slow learners or poor memorizers and they tried to shove education down the throats of children. This has to stop!
Korea Times: What makes you most happy about Korea?
A: Ordinary people make me happy! The ones who know how to break through barriers of difference and welcome others into their midst! Most foreigners have negative impressions of Korea because they don't have a sufficient knowledge of the language to be able to make friends. Friendships in Korea are wonderful!
Korea Times: This is not a question usually posed for a priest because it sounds political. But one of Korea's key issues is how to deal with its other half, North Korea. What is your perspective in terms of how the situation can be solved?
No Lost Decade
A: North Korea lives a hermetically sealed existence. The North Korean people have little contact with the outside world. Making as much contact as possible seems the only way to resolve the present situation. People-to-people and person-to-person is the way to go. A lot has been done in this area over the past 10 years. In that sense, the last 10 years have not been the "lost decade" some personalities in the present administration like to say it has been.
Korea Times: Recently, mistreatment of foreign workers made headlines in Korea. How can Korean society improve on this?
A: Migrant workers are and will be a constant in the life of any globalized country. People move around in a globalized economy. Multicultural marriages are an important part of Korea's demographic future. Education has to focus more on the beauty of differences than their strangeness. The xenophobia mentality has arisen when various races, colors and creeds immigrated to other advanced countries around the world as well. This is not a strictly Korean phenomenon. Unfortunately, due to the government's attitude of strict adherence to the law, too little is being done too slowly to combat negative and the so-called "pure race" attitude. The rights of people from every minority have to be recognized and respected. This is a human rights issue!
Rights of Foreign Workers
Korea Times: What is the most pronounced problem of Korea's religious culture?
A: Even though I am a member of the clergy, I am not an expert in religious anthropology. Could it be that Korea's underlying "shamanistic" religious foundation has caused all religions to veer off into "Ki Bok Sin Ang" or a religion based simply on trying to persuade God, or whomever, to give me what I want or think I need.
Korea Times: Are there any regrets in your life?
A: Everyone regrets not having been a better person! It takes trial and error to learn how to do this.
Korea Times: What advice would you give to young people?
A: Advice to young people is better given on an individual and customized basis. To say otherwise would be to fall into a moralistic or ambiguous posture.
Korea Times: How has faith helped you, guided your life? Some say religion is not relevant to contemporary society.
A: Faith is the core element of who I am.
Korea Times: Finally, in Korea, the Catholic Church and the Protestant Church don't enjoy a good relationship. Is there any way for the two to narrow their differences?
A: There has been too little contact between the Protestant and Catholic clergy. Ecumenical discussions are done at a top level with not much else trickling down to the base. Perhaps the churches are all too successful at the moment and don't feel the need to cooperate for the benefit of all. Protestant ministers and Catholic priests ministering to the same neighborhood seldom or rarely get together to discuss relevant issues. Many Protestant ministers openly say that Catholics are not Christians - even on TV! I am friendly with some Protestant ministers and Protestant "elders" but this kind of relationship is too rare at the moment. As I already mentioned, ecumenical dialog in Korea doesn't get down to basic issues and common stands on problems facing society.
sunny.lee@koreatimes.co.kr 12-11-2009 |