If you found yourself assigned to a post in Korea at the turn of the millennium, regardless whether the assignment was as a journalist, diplomat or an executive posting its highly likely that the only information you could find about Korea and its people was a very outdated Lonely Planet Guide to Korea and a book by an author called Michael Breen suitably titled "The Koreans".
Breen's book was welcome respite from the confusing signals and difficult business meetings that would often be the norm in Korea. His insight and deep understanding of the Korean people was a must read for anyone whom landed upon its exotic shores. Since writing the book, Korea has transformed into one of the most sophisticated and forward thinking countries in the world. The change has been so fast that it's often been dubbed the "Miracle on the Han". Breen's book "The Korean's" remains a important artifact that captures the mindset of the Korean people just as they burst onto the world stage as an export powerhouse. Breen also penned one of the most detailed and informed biographies of Kim Jong Il and North Korea and now consults for companies looking to invest in Korea. As Breen ponders whether the time is right for a new book on Korea or a somewhat updated version of "The Koreans" we caught up with him in Seoul, where he was made an honorary citizen in 2000.
IBR: Your first book on The Koreans was published in 1998, you talked about Koreans exposure to the world and how few of them actually had passports, that’s really changed, has it surprised you how well Koreans have taken to travel and outward immigration?
Michael Breen: Yes, at that time, passengers on Korean Air and Asiana were still bursting into applause when their plane landed, as if they really hadn't expected to make it, and there were stories of fires in hotels caused by Korean tourists cooking up ramyeon in their rooms. Logically, I knew that Koreans were going to become the new Japanese and start touring everywhere but it was hard to imagine.
IBR: Koreans were once considered a homogenized race of people, is that still applicable or have they changed?
Michael Breen: The stats suggest it has change – something like one in eight marriages is international and there are all sorts of efforts made to assimilate “multicultural children.” But the stats are confusing and your regular expat punters might tell you that nothing has changed, that Koreans remain homogenous and still view foreigners as “frogs in the well” and behave unnaturally around them. They see it like that because they live in the city where the non-English speaking parents of their girlfriend still don’t approve of them. But in the countryside, it really has changed. There’s an astonishing openness and comfort with foreigners in the villages because that’s where most foreigners who make up the stats are going – as wives of Korean farmers.
IBR: People would often talk of Seoul as being an ugly and extremely foreign city, even as recently as ten years ago. Compared to the Seoul of 2000 it's almost unrecognizable, what's surprised you most about its rapid and extreme change?
Michael Breen: I don’t think Seoul has changed that much. Yes, there are a nice spots – café areas, the big boulevards downtown are now better for pedestrians than for cars. But those second-rate apartment complexes and grotty backstreets with electric wiring criss-crossing the road and running up the outside of buildings still make up most of the city. What’s changed is how we feel about it all. It’s the perception of Korea that has changed, among Koreans as much as among outsiders. I think that change has come about because movies, dramas and music made by Koreans – as distinct from traditional Korean art forms that people care little for. This change astonishes me. I’ve spent my life having to justify why I chose to live in what was seen as the grim periphery of Asia and now I feel the world is catching up to how I have long felt about the place. I always felt it would happen but never thought that the agents of change would be androgynous male singers with mascara and blond hair who say “yo!”
IBR: Korea's hostility to foreign business operating in Korea is the stuff of legend, is it still a problem companies must face when trying to enter the Korean domestic market or have attitudes changed?
Michael Breen: The difficulties remain, but these are not – and never really have been – restricted to foreign companies. It’s business in general that the bureaucracy feels it has a right to interfere with, rather than let the law take care of things, at a level that is unacceptable in other markets.
IBR: The big Chaebol now dominate the global consumer electronics and auto industries, in your opinion what has been the main driver of this success?
Michael Breen: The driver of Korean growth was a handful of these chaebol. Their domestic market was protected and their loan needs guaranteed provided they met one criterion – success overseas. So they learned real competition. That plus the militaristic corporate culture that makes executives frantic to succeed.
IBR: Where do you see Koreas corporate future, will it be usurped by China or will it continue to find its place in the world, not just in consumer electronics or automobiles and heavy construction but perhaps other industries?
Michael Breen: For now, I think they will go higher end in the face of competition from Chinese firms. But - what sectors will they end up specializing in? Your guess is probably better than mine. The seeds must be there but I’m not good at spotting them.
IBR:Throughout the 1990's there was a real softening of attitude amongst Korea's youth in regards to North Korea, and hardening of views against the American presence in Korea - what are the youth of today thinking about in terms of the US presence and North Korea?
Michael Breen: Much less interest about both.
IBR: You wrote one of the most comprehensive portraits of North Korea's Dear leader, Kim Jong Il, a lot has happened since the release of that book, what's your view on his sons rise to power?
Michael Breen: Back in the day many South Koreans – including Kim Dae-jung, who I recall discussing this with - were big believers in the idea that unification would be better while Kim Il-sung was in power. I felt the opposite that Kim had to go. When he did, my hoped-for glasnost didn’t happen. I was stupid. Kim Jong-il had already been in charge for years before his father died. Now the kid is running the show. I still think nothing serious will change until the Kims are gone and that could take another 70 years. The positive note for this for Koreans is that I’m always wrong.
IBR: What's been the most surprising aspect of the change in North Korea?
Michael Breen: The lack of it
IBR: Will China ever be ready to have a pro western democracy on its doorstep? Is that the key to reunification?
Michael Breen: No, but I think one key is for China to become more of a democracy itself. Step one for North Koreans is for China to stop sending them back. Step Two is for the regime in Pyongyang to lighten up and let them leave.
IBR: Do you have any plans to update both "The Koreans" and "Kim Jong Il" books?
Michael Breen: I updated Kim Jong iI a couple of years ago. I’m working on a major overhaul of The Koreans now. I’m not sure yet whether to call it an update or a new book with a new title.
IBR: You were made an honorary citizen of Seoul in 2000, Korea is now your home, are you surprised to still be there when you look back at your first time arriving in Korea?
Michael Breen: Yes, I only went for a short while. I didn’t unpack my suitcase for five years. Now I think it’s about time I learned the language.
Publications:
Michael Breen (1998) 'The Koreans, Who They Are,
What They Want, Where Their Future Lies'
St. Martin's Griffin; First Edition,
Revised and Updated edition (January 17, 2004):
ISBN: 0312326092
Michael Breen (2012) 'Kim Jong-Il, North Korea's Dear Leader: Who He is, What He Wants, What to Do About Him'
Wiley: ISBN: 1118153774
Links:
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