South Korea in the Year of the Tiger

 

 Chinese New Year wishes: Many South Korean nationalists contend that the peninsula resembles a tiger; hence this Year of the Tiger, it should exude the same strength and ferocity.

ACCORDING to the Chinese zodiac, the year 2022 is the Year of the Tiger. Although the younger generation in Korea is perhaps no longer interested in the zodiac, it still counts for the older generation. The zodiac says that those who are born in the Year of the Tiger are bold, courageous, and confident. At the same time, however, they tend to be impetuous, overindulgent, and unpredictable.

The shape of the Korean Peninsula has invited some interesting debates. Some people argue that the shape of the Peninsula resembles a rabbit. Others maintain that it looks like a shrimp. Yet there are also those who contend that the Peninsula resembles a tiger.
`
The rabbit is the image of a weak, docile, and peace-loving animal, and the shrimp may have the connotation of being a victim in the midst of a fight between whales. On the contrary, the tiger is the image of strength and ferocity.
`
Those who lived through Korea’s turbulent history over the last several decades support the rabbit or shrimp theory, whereas nationalists prefer the tiger image.
`
Lee O Young, South Korea’s former Culture Minister, presents an interesting theory. He contends that the Korean Peninsula resembles a trophy that strong nations want to possess. Since competitors constantly arise to challenge each other to win the trophy, Korea has always been vulnerable to the rise of a new power in the international community.
`
In the Year of the Tiger, South Korea should be “bold, courageous and confident,” when dealing with neighbouring countries when and
`
if they act like bullies or are hostile and threatening. At the same time, Korea should not be “impetuous, overindulgent or unpredictable,” in her relationship with friendly nations.
`
If we stand up to bullying nations, they would not dare to offend us anymore. When we are consistent and predictable to friendly nations, they will remain our faithful allies. If we act otherwise, we will be hopelessly bullied by hostile countries and lose respect and trust from friendly nations.
`
Some time ago, a group of Korean political science professors gathered at a roundtable meeting to discuss the future of Korea in the ever-intensifying conflicts between China and the United States. They unanimously insisted that South Korea should not choose one of the two. Disappointingly, however, they did not come up with any specific tactic of managing this dilemma.
`
Perhaps, not choosing a side is what “politics” is all about. Nevertheless, we expected some concrete guidelines from them in dealing with the compelling issues that will directly affect the future of Korea.
`
In the Year of the Tiger, the final hours for Korea to choose between the two options will come. We can no longer defer our decision and continue an opportunistic posture between the two. This Tiger year, we sincerely hope that our politicians choose wisely, so our country will continue to prosper and thrive. If our representatives make a wrong decision by any chance, our country would suffer the consequences and the future of our country would be grim. Besides, South Korea would lose respect in the international community. That would be equally fatal for the future of Korea.
`
The problem is that it is extremely difficult to find a solution to the dilemma we are now facing. Perhaps one way to get out of the quagmire is that we build a nation that is strong and has precious things the two conflicting countries urgently and desperately need.
`
Among others, semiconductors and electric batteries come to mind. Then, the two rival countries would treat us with greater respect. Currently, Samsung and Taiwan’s TSMC manufacture 70% of semiconductors of the world. Since Samsung’s main strength lies in semiconductor memory, which occupies a relatively small portion of the market, it should expand its manufacturing capacity to other semiconductors.
`
In the Year of the Tiger, the Korean people will have to make another choice. In March’s presidential election, Koreans will choose the person who will run the country for the next five years. It will be a choice not only between conservatism and progressivism, but also between capitalism and socialism, or liberal democracy and a people’s democracy. Our choice on that fateful Election Day will decide the destiny of Korea.
`
Indeed, Korea will be at the crossroads in the Year of the Tiger. If we choose the wrong road, we will be lost and doomed. If we choose the right road, however, our future will be bright and prosperous. Therefore, it is imperative for us to choose the right leader who can steer our country in the right direction in a perfect storm.
`
In the Year of the Tiger, we wish South Korea to become the tiger that poet William Blake described in his celebrated poem, “The Tyger.” It begins with, “Tyger Tyger, burning bright,/ In the forests of the night;/ What immortal hand or eye,/ Could frame thy fearful symmetry?”
`
We hope South Korea will emerge as a healthy, strong tiger roaring loudly and proudly on the peak of a mountain, not as a wounded, depressed tiger hiding in the jungle. – The Korea Herald/Asia News Network

By KIM SEONG-KON Kim Seong-kon is a professor emeritus of English at Seoul National University and a visiting scholar at Dartmouth College.
` 

 

Related posts:

 

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN JAPAN, KOREA AND US

 

Appointing the right people in South Korean Cabinet

Facing polls: Incumbent President moon Jae-in and his Cabinet saluting the South Korean flag before a meeting at the presidential blue Hous...

 

South Korea pardons disgraced ex-president Park Geun-hye who was misled/cheated by her close friend Choi Soon-sil with the Church of Eternal Life

Choi Soon Sil, the 'female Rasputin' at centre of South Korea's political scandals

Turmoil in Korean Peninsula 

 

Benefits of Korean unification likely to be internal

  US-S.Korea must take blame for North's nuclear move; provocation heightens insecurity, sabotages stability 

 

 

5,000 Malaysians are illegals in South Korea, lured by higher pay, living underground !

Hard choice for Malaysians working as illegal labourers in South Korea

 Hard choice for Malaysian in South Korea - Nation | The Star Online

The former flight attendant used a tourist visa to enter the country and work illegally in a steel factory, where she met with the accident. Sally (not ... “I received treatment, monthly expenditure and some compensation, but only after I got help from a Malaysian activist who fights for the rights of workers like us.

 

Tips from a tiger

.Learn Common prosperity plan to build a fairer society in China

 

AH, it’s my turn in the Chinese zodiac to make my presence felt in the world of humankind.
`
Some of you have treated me in a negative light – fierce and dangerous, a beast that stalks in the night, a fearsome icon.
`
I am so glad I do have fans who see me as a symbol of strength, with sturdy leadership, as the king of the jungle. You can learn a lot from me if you can spare the time ... yes, time for the tiger to teach you a thing or two!
`
Let’s start with times when you feel a bit down, when you lack confidence: Now picture yourself as a cat looking into a mirror and seeing the image of a tiger there. That’s it, straighten your posture, give a stern look from the eyes, radiate power from the body. Then get up, stride steadily out, and face the world!
`
There may come a time this year when someone tries to bully you with a word or act. Well, just picture the tiger’s majestic look in your head and stay nonchalant, show you have no time for such company and walk away with your head held high.
`
I heard someone say “A tiger doesn’t lose sleep over the opinion of sheep” – so discerning! My leadership qualities are validated! Yes, do not be misled by those not qualified to participate in your projects or aspirations.
`
Mark your territory and guard it well – keep pretenders and parasites away! You don’t want delaying distractions (though you should not leap into action too hastily either).
`
When things are not going well, someone may say or imply you are a loser. Remind them it’s the year of the tiger – let my fiery energy rub off on you and persevere. With new challenges there may be pain and hardship – just accept it, learn from it, lick your wounds and keep moving. We tigers are known for our survival skills.
`
Unlike lions and some others in the wild, we tigers are known to share our kills with other tigers. Likewise, when you do well, be quick to share with and care for those less privileged. You will be enriched by a grateful heart that exudes a generous spirit.
`
Last but not least, tigers do know how to enjoy life too – we love to swim and play in the water. So you too should occasionally take time off from work. Relax in a peaceful setting, have more time for a good sleep, leisurely meals, with good company or none at all, as your mood moves you.
`
Even if you were not born in the year of the tiger, be inspired by my courage and strength. With the strong attitude of a tiger (tigritude?!), you should have a roaring tiger year! I’m with you, tiger!
`
(Perhaps this is a good time to make a plea for a greater effort in saving the Malayan tiger, our national animal, which is on the verge of extinction. Tigers appear on the country’s coat of arms, on emblems of private companies and logos of clubs and societies, in folktales and proverbs, and even the national football team is named Harimau Malaysia. We should actively campaign for more publicity and support for protecting the tiger.)
`
TAN LING SUAN, `Kuala Lumpur

Related Stories

The Star

Here's to a roaring Year of the Tiger

 

New Straits Times Roaring 'Year of the Tiger' at Sappers Swing

 

Let's hope the Year of the Tiger will be a rip-roaring one

More news

 

 

Related posts:

 

 

Who are the world good leaders?

. Learn Common prosperity plan to build a fairer society in China  Who are the world good leaders? Illustration credit: Wuheqilin)    

 

 

 

US Racist Dirty trick plots departure of staff from embassy in China ahead of Beijing Winter Olympics

;  Everyday in Everyway: US Gov's Racist Propaganda War Against China A recent exchange in the US Congress helps illustrate how Americ.

 

The problem is NOT China, but the US: Mr Blinken really had ' blinkers on ' by Vijay Prashad

Who are the world good leaders?

 

Trustworthy friends; good brothers; sincere partners. These phrases are frequently found in Chinese President Xi Jinping's phone conversations, letters, messages and talks with leaders of various countries.

This is not just formulaic politeness, but the truth. Over the last seven-plus decades, the number of countries having diplomatic relations with China has increased from 18 in the early days of the People's Republic of China to 181 today.

 .Boris Johnson, Scott Morrison and Justin Trudeau.

Illustration credit: Wuheqilin)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's a topsy-turvy world out there. The world cries out for leaders who can steady the ship of state. Instead, we have a parade of fools like Boris Johnson, Scott Morrison and Justin Trudeau.
`
Boris is, undoubtedly, a gift to the entertainment world, but he doesn't belong in government. Previously, he has parlayed his non-seriousness into his personal brand, from which he can wriggle out of any scandal. But this time, with "partygate", the party is over. Like a kite dancing in the hurricane, he is crashing to earth. No one can trust a single word coming out of his mouth. With zero interest in the mundane business of government, he only comes to life at parties or in front of the camera.
`
Every time, when he opens his mouth, only hot air comes out. This time, not even his unruly, carefully curated, tousled hair can save him. Clueless about how to govern, and callous to the sufferings of others, he ordered the evacuation of pets over endangered people in the chaotic withdrawal from Kabul. Who knows what lurks in his dark heart? To him, life is just a game, to be played by his rules. He is the living embodiment of Etonian entitlement.
`
In foreign affairs, he is a one-trick pony, his sole role being a docile US stooge. He follows at his master's heels into potential armed conflict where Britain has no business to be. He has forgotten the shame that has been visited upon Tony Blair in Iraq and looks likely to repeat that folly. Having decoupled from the EU, Britain's most important partner, unfriended China, the world's major rising power, and betrayed France, he now faces a country that demands its pound of flesh. What kind of drug-addled leader would send his country's newest aircraft carrier out to the South China Sea, looking for trouble, in a region that has long ceased to be Britain's sphere of influence, endlessly burning precious dollars his country can't afford—all for the sake of reliving Britain's imperial past?
`
Boris, you were born two centuries too late!
`
Without an ounce of common sense, or an iota of strategic sense, the best that can be said about Boris is that he is never dull. He is unprepared to govern, and unfit to lead. Woe betide any nation that picks Boris as helmsman. He has no clue where Britain is heading, only that he wants to go back to the past. But Winston Churchill he is not, with no idea about the future, no heart for the present and only an obsession with the past. I nominate Boris the geopolitical clown of the world, an expensive joke that Britain can ill-afford, good for boozy parties, but not for party politics.

`Sitting one notch below Boris in the totem pole of fools is Canada's Justin Trudeau. Despite his lineage, his CV is alarmingly thin. Trading on his name, this former bar-room bouncer has become top leader. For once Trump was right, calling the Canadian prime minister "weak and stupid", allowing his country to be played like a pawn and dragged into a prolonged tug-of-war with China over Huawei's CFO, whereas his father had studiously cultivated China as an ally. Under Justin, Canada has become the 51st state of the US, with none of the rights, and all of the complications of union. Under his father, neutral Canada refused to live in the pocket of the US, and had a moderating influence on its neighbor's China policies. With his son's total tilt towards the US, not a scintilla of that influence remains. It's gone with the Trumpian hurricane. Foolishly, Trudeau signed up for 5-Eyes to contain China, sending Canadian naval vessels to the most combustible region in the world, the South China Sea. The US has an agenda on containing China which Canada ostensibly doesn't share. No good can come out of this. If you go looking for trouble, you will find it, sooner or later. All it takes is an accidental cannon and you will find Canadian ships at the bottom of the ocean. And for what?
`
Trudeau's one weapon is his good looks. But looks don't amount to a hill of beans in building relationships. Yes, his looks can charm the pants off the wives of foreign leaders, cuckolding buffoons like Trump. Maybe that's why Trump has a visceral dislike of Trudeau. But the world needs global leaders with brains, not political 'gigolos' with brawn.
`
Where Boris is funny, Trudeau is weak. Despite being a former bouncer, Justin is seen by Trump as a soft bullying target. Both Boris and Justin share a disinterest in the future, devoid of vision, of strategic awareness, of long-term planning. Both gravitate to photo ops. For this duo, style trumps substance. They are exemplary shallow leaders.
`

What about the leader Down Under? Oh well, this one takes the cake for suicidal stupidity. One word sums up Scott Morrison: pig-headedness. Previously, Australia enjoyed a comfortable relationship with China, its largest trading partner, a relationship that had been enormously beneficial to both. But, without provocation, Morrison decides to buy into US accusations of China's abuse of human rights in Hong Kong and Xinjiang. As a Hong Konger, I can tell him he is dead wrong about my city. Hong Kong is a misgoverned place, yes. But that is because Beijing has given local leaders too long a leash for 23 years, letting US-funded activists run amok: It was a total abuse of freedom, not lack of freedom. For nine months, chaos and violence raged. They are Hong Kong's Trump-like rioters.
`
As for Xinjiang, it is imported terror. The US response to 911 attacks was to invade Iraq on false pretenses, killing over a million innocent civilians. Where was Australia's moral outrage then? China did not invade any country, only rounded up perpetrators for reeducation and job-training, then released them back into the community. Morrison swallowed CIA propaganda whole. Then he doubled down and demanded a US-inspired push to investigate China as the source of the coronavirus. By upping the ante, Morrison has derailed Sino-Australian relations, to the detriment of both. Worse, he is committing billions to building nuclear submarines to counter China's military rise.
`
Didn't he know that China must arm itself to fend off aggressive US containment? What has China done to earn Australian enmity? The militarization of the South China Sea islands is a matter of life-and-death struggle against US encirclement. In the history of the world, have you ever heard of one country, trying non-stop for 70 years to encircle another country? Should China fold its arms and wait for strangulation? What would Morrison do if Australia were in China's shoes? Australia would be entitled to the right of self-defense.
`
With trade dollars dwindling, with billions siphoned off into building unneeded nuclear submarines for a non-existent conflict, where is mad Morrison taking Australia? China and Australia have never been at war. If war breaks out between them, Morrison can take full credit.
`
The Taiwan affair had long been a sleepy affair, until America nudges Taiwan separatists into poking the dragon's eye. As a Pacific country, Australia should do its part to cool the tempers, not fan the flames. So far, what has Australia gained from being a US pawn? Increasingly, Morrison looks like Australia's Iraq-tainted Tony Blair. Instead of reaping the benefits of the Pacific Century, Australia is swaggering its way into a major needless conflict. I cannot think of an act of geopolitical stupidity more stupendous and suicidal than this.
`
Western reporters have baselessly and reflexively called President Xi of China "authoritarian", misjudging him on how he handled the Hong Kong and Xinjiang unrest. They are too blind and biased to see that US judgments are nothing more than anti-China propaganda. Do you deny a sovereign nation's right to quell imported riots? Bye-bye Boris, so long Morrison, au revoir Trudeau. You have been proven unfit for office. As for Trump, this serial liar has been caught spouting over twenty thousand falsehoods during his four years in office, with over a thousand lawsuits under his belt. He may be out of office, but not out of the picture. With over 70 million Americans voting for a narcissistic madman, why are Australia, Britain and Canada still licking America's boots?
`
By his competence in coping with Covid-19 alone, China's leader, hands down, deserves an avalanche of accolades. No other leader has acted so decisively in "leveling up", which Boris boasted but never delivered, smashing up monopolies and ending oppressive profit-making after-school tutoring, promoting "housing for living, not for speculating", while lifting 800 million out of poverty and building the world's biggest network of high-speed trains. If you go by achievements, there is only one clear winner in good government. If you call massive and unceremonious sacking of corrupt officials and keeping streets midnight-safe "authoritarian", then give me "authoritarian" any day. With so many failed states littering the globe, only one leader thinks long-term and promotes "common prosperity"---and he lives and leads in China.Learn Common prosperity plan to build a fairer society in China

 Source link

by Philip Yeung | School of Education | University of Leeds London

Read more articles by Philip Yeung:

Opinion | Hong Kong gets a second bite at the cherry

Opinion | China in a Kangaroo Court

Opinion | The world owes China an apology

Opinion | "No jokes please, we are Chinese"

 

Related posts:

 

Learn Common prosperity plan to build a fairer society in China 

 

The problem is NOT China, but the US: Mr Blinken really had ' blinkers on ' by Vijay Prashad

Vijay Prashad Warns Biden Is “Doubling Down” on Trump's ...   Beijing has accused the U.S. of perpetuating a Cold War mentality as Pre...

 

US Racist Dirty trick plots departure of staff from embassy in China ahead of Beijing Winter Olympics

;  Everyday in Everyway: US Gov's Racist Propaganda War Against China A recent exchange in the US Congress helps illustrate how Americ...

 

.Learn Common prosperity plan to build a fairer society in China

 

 

Beyond the submarine feud, contains China's rise