OVERVIEW

WHAT IS THE REPUBLIK KOREA? IN AN ARTICLE ON KOREAN SOCIETY IN STADTBAUWELT-MAGAZINE (36.08) THE ARCHITECT AND WRITER KONG CHUL THINKS OF THE REPUBLIK KOREA AS A "QUICK QUICK" TYPE OF CULTURE. KONG LOOKS AT THE DUAL CONSEQUENCES OF THIS "QUICK QUICK" CULTURE: ON THE ONE HAND THERE IS DYNAMISM, BUT ON THE OTHER THERE IS IMPATIENCE. THIS DICHOTOMY OF THE "QUICK QUICK"-TEMPERAMENT LEADS TO BOTH PRAISE AND CRITICISM. WHEREAS TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENTS LIKE THE INCREDIBLE SPEED OF THE KOREAN INTERNET ARE IMPRESSIVE, THE ABANDONMENT AND DESTRUCTION OF TRADITIONAL CULTURE IS MOST OF THE TIME DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND. ACCORDING TO KONG THE "QUICK QUICK"-TEMPERAMENT CAN BE DATED BACK TO THE ERA OF JAPANESE COLONIZATION AND ALSO THE KOREAN WAR, WHERE IT EVOLVED AS A PREREQUISITE FOR SURVIVAL. THESE DAYS THOUGH, ACCORDING TO KONG, THIS MINDSET IS FOUND IN MOST MODERN SOCIETIES THAT ARE FOCUSED ON QUICK (ECONOMIC) GROWTH. KONG CONCLUDES: "WE KNOW THAT WE LIVE IN A TIME OF ALTERNATION. SPEEDY PROGRESS WILL BE REWARDED." - I SUPPOSE, A STATEMENT AS AN INCONTROVERTIBLE FACT BEYOND ANY CULTURAL BOUNDARIES.