It’s funny, but we all know so much about a select few of our Asian neighbors (a self-delusional term in its own right as we are pretty much part of Asia ourselves) . There are the big two China (voted most likely to knock the USA off its pedestal in the next few decades), and Japan (famous for cut-throat businessmen, comical ninja’s, and buying most of coastal Queensland).
Even Vietnam and Indonesia register, the first as the last place that the American military got their pizza guzzling posteriors handed to them in a ‘non-war’, and the later as voted “most likely to invade Northern Australia as their cities slip underwater due to Global Warming”. So what about poor little South Korea?
For the most part South Korea doesn’t get much of a mention, and it certainly isn’t sitting in the front of our thoughts when someone talks about Asia. To be fair, despite a rich history and a massive population, I can see why. Historically Korea’s international role appears to have been “that place everyone seems to invade”. In fact the anti-Japanese sentiment is still strong in some students, a legacy of the last occupation.
In the modern age Korea seems to be the vanilla flavor of countries, its still there and still strong, but doesn’t get much of a look in. Its industrial base is slipping with manufacturing often moving to India and China where wages are so much lower, and there is practically no environmental protection. It barely registers in the minds of travelers as a tourist destination, and even the Korean language is under assault from a push to promote English as the language of commerce and international communication; and considering the unique history of Hungul its loss would be a sad thing indeed.
