Metaphorically speaking, North Koreans frequently act like kindergarteners. For example, North Korean politicians often badger their South Korean counterparts with impossible demands, and when those demands are not met, they tend to resort to threats or violent provocations such as bombing Yeonpyeongdo Island or deliberately crossing the Northern Limit Line. North Koreans look like kindergarteners when they eagerly wave flags to express their loyalty and dedication to their dear leader. Besides, North Korea is highly unpredictable, just like a wayward kid, and thus we have to be constantly alert of its every move.

Likewise, one might also say that South Koreans often act like teenage boys whose emotional IQs are not yet fully developed. When provoked, for example, South Koreans easily turn emotional and thus are prone to anger and violence. Like young boys who are still in puberty, most South Koreans seem to be a bit emotionally unstable, highly sensitive to criticism and easily enraged. Just hurt their feelings, and you can see a huge crowd immediately gather at Seoul Plaza in front of City Hall to let loose their fury. On becoming an adult, one should learn to control one’s temper and emotions. Like Peter Pan, however, Koreans, whether in the North or South, never seem to grow up.

Generally speaking, Americans appear much more mature and generous. In that sense, one can compare Americans to college students who exhibit mellowness and bigheartedness. They seem to know how to control their emotions and act reasonably, like adults. Americans are also known to be logical and rational, instead of being emotional and sentimental.

However, college students invariably have one problem in common. Living in the Ivory Tower, it is likely that most of them do not know what the real world is like. In that sense, America can be compared to a serene college campus bustling with adolescent students. As idealists, college students are essentially innocent and untainted. They perceive the world from their own romantic, idealistic perspective so their perceptions can be arbitrary and naive, out of touch with the harsh reality. That is why Americans sometimes do not comprehend things happening in other countries.

We know America was founded on the ideals and dreams of the founding fathers such as Washington, Jefferson and Franklin. Robert Scholes once said that Americans “live in a country which was itself a fabulous dream that grew in the minds of men like Columbus, Hudson and John Smith before they found it and founded it.” The problem is that dreams can be fragile and easily shattered or debunked.

A few weeks ago, the controversial Korean-American Shin Eun-mi was forced to leave South Korea following a deportation notice from the immigration office. According to the Korean government, Shin was deported because she went on a pro-North Korea campaign tour in major cities of South Korea. It was reported that the U.S. State Department issued a statement that freedom of speech should be respected and Korea’s National Security Law should be reviewed accordingly. It was only natural that the State Department was concerned about the deportation of a U.S. citizen.

Nevertheless, one can see the uniquely American innocence in that statement. South Korea is unlike any other country because it has the ever-threatening, trigger-happy North Korea for a neighbor. Technically speaking, the Korean Peninsula is still at war because what we signed in 1953 was an armistice and not a termination of war. Another problem is that we have numerous North Korea sympathizers in the South. Under the circumstances, we cannot afford the luxury of abolishing the National Security Law, or allowing political activists to praise North Korea in public, yet. If North Korean leaders misjudge the situation, they may wage another war on the Korean Peninsula.

As for freedom of speech and press, the South Korea of today is a veritable paradise. These days, you can say or write virtually anything you want. Although some government officials may fear the spread of leftist ideology, South Koreans no longer live in the age of right-wing military dictatorship. Obviously, however, some Korean-Americans and the State Department do not seem to be well aware of the radical social changes that have taken place in South Korea over the past few decades.

The United States, too, has had the National Security Law since 1947 and the Patriot Act since 2001, which severely limit the freedom and rights of the detained. Moreover, I do not imagine the FBI in the Cold War era would have simply stood by as mute spectators if a pro-Soviet Union activist had gone on a campaign tour of major cities in the States to praise the Soviet Union. If the person was a foreign national, the U.S. government would definitely have had him or her arrested and deported. Unfortunately, the Korean Peninsula is still in a state of Cold War.

The innocence of college students is an admirable virtue, and yet it can easily turn into naivete. The world looks different on a college campus. We need to take off our rose-colored glasses and perceive reality as it is, warts and all. 

By Kim Seong-kon

Kim Seong-kon is a professor emeritus of English at Seoul National University and president of the Literature Translation Institute of Korea. ― Ed.