Last updated on November 29, 2021
The massive earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on March 11, 2011 left 10,800 dead as of the latest count. Another 16,240 are missing, thousands are injured, and a quarter million are in temporary shelters.
A large stretch of the Pacific coast in northern Japan is in ruins; many of the rural communities that were inhabited mostly by senior citizens may never be rebuilt. An accident at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex has exacerbated the situation by sending high levels of radiation into the air and water. Now, more than two weeks after the disaster, the death toll continues to climb and the situation at the nuclear complex remains precarious.
The earthquake has caused a wave of sympathy for Japan. Campaigns to raise money for the victims have spread around the world, including many poorer nations that have in the past benefited from Japanese aid. The effort is particularly noticeable in Korea where organizations and the news media have moved quickly to start collections for Japan. Korea was also the second country after the United States to send rescue teams to Japan after the earthquake hit. The outpouring of sympathy in Korea is amazing considering the recent history of harsh Japan colonial rule over Korea from 1910-1945. Koreans should be proud of their gentlemanship.
On another level, media coverage of the earthquake has become an endless editorial on domestic political divisions far removed from Japan. In the United States the left-leaning “New York Times” has reported heavily on the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power station. Headlines such as “Old Science on Tsunami Risk Guided Japan’s Nuclear Rules” (March 27, 2011) suggest culpability for the crisis while advancing the argument that nuclear power is inherently dangerous. Right-wing media, by contrast, have focused more specifically on news relating to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex, suggesting that the complex and earthquake are the problem, not nuclear power itself.
To its credit, the Korean media have reported more objectively on the nuclear crisis and have refrained from debating about the future of nuclear power. In the early days after the earthquake, the Korean media reported heavily on the sense of order in Japan. Reports commented on orderly lines and the lack of looting. They noted the sense of community that binds Japanese together in adversity even in a huge city like Tokyo.
Some commentators suggested that the stoic orderliness is something that Koreans should learn from the Japanese. The idea that Japanese orderliness is something that Koreans should learn made its way to the street. In discussing the earthquake, average Koreans were quick to praise the Japanese people, often commenting that Koreans would not be so orderly and cooperative if a similar crisis struck Korea. Perhaps so, but the idea raises questions about why Koreans still do not believe that they are an orderly and cooperative people.
To be sure, Korea does not have to face the types of natural disasters that frequent Japan. The greatest tragedy in modern Korean history, the Korea War, took place when Korea was a poor rural nation. This leaves us with little more than instinct about how Koreans would react to a major disaster.
Oddly, the best evidence comes from the strong sense of cooperation that swept across the nation in 1997 when the economy neared default. During the darkest days of the crisis in 1998, KBS TV and the Korea Housing and Commercial Bank launched a campaign to gather gold to raise money to help repay the IMF loans. Thousands of people contributed their jewelry and wedding rings in the hope of saving the nation. In the face of a historic national crisis, Koreans sacrificed and banded together just as the Japanese are doing today.
The large gatherings in center of Seoul to cheer for the Red Devils during the 2002 World Cup offer additional evidence. As Korea moved up in the rankings, the size of the crowds grew, reaching into the millions. People cheered wildly, but in an orderly way, for Korea; there were few drunken brawls and little trash left over. The same pattern appeared during large politically oriented candlelight vigils in the 2000s. Sporadic violence between vigil participants and riot police occurred, but the vigils themselves were peaceful and orderly.
The upshot is that Koreans are indeed orderly and cooperative. Whether they are more or less so than the Japanese is not important. Comparisons with other nations are equally uninteresting, though certainly Koreans would rank very high in such a comparison. What is important, however, is that simple fact that Koreans face adversity together with great strength. They share and they cooperate; average people become heroes. And, as the current wave of sympathy for Japan shows, they are forgiving. All this leads toward to optimism that Korea will handle unification ― a political earthquake on a grand scale ― far better than most people, including Koreans themselves, suspect.