South Korea: The Price of Efficiency and Success – Second Edition is an admirably clear account that aims to show the country in all its complexity, inspired as much by tragedy as by understanding and affection. Authors Dr. John Gonzalez and Young Lee write with empathy and knowledge, and their account sheds light on facets of South Korea that tend to go underacknowledged.

The book begins with Dr. Gonzalez explaining how it is that a trip to South Korea led him to call it home for five years. His writing reveals a deep fondness for the country, an initial curiosity that later grows into a sincere love for its beauty and for the welcome of its people, and indeed, the way he writes about the changing colors of the landscape, from cherry-blossom pink in spring to autumnal ginkgo leaves, is a remarkably elegant and moving part of a book which otherwise tends towards the factual.

Yet, keeping in mind the dedication, which the very beginning of the introduction returns to, and the book’s title, it is evident that this is not a work of uncritical praise, for it opens with a reminder of the terrible Sewol ferry accident that claimed three hundred lives and with Gonzalez reflecting that he and his students might easily have been among them. What this book sets out to do, in other words, is to show readers the real South Korea: the country in which such a tragedy was possible, yes, and also the country which Gonzalez grew to love. In the wake of that terrible disaster, there was no shortage of responses that aimed to illuminate the reasons behind it, and all too many simply relied on stereotypes and generalizations. Gonzalez is honest about his biases, and the book feels grounded in a desire to show South Korea as it truly is. The question it predominantly seeks to answer, then, is this: what risks are being lost or overlooked through an emphasis on technological development?

The world that Gonzalez and Lee lay out is one of quantification; people are transmuted into data. Such thinking risks turning morality into a balance sheet: as long as the outcome is desirable, what does it matter how one gets there? The first several chapters lay out several facets of Korean culture in broad strokes: values, behaviors, and everyday life. From there, we move to education (and with it testing and evaluations) and then to larger-order questions like regulation, accident rates, cost-reduction measures, and how the relationships between corporations, subcontractors, and the public influence the prior categories.

Gonzalez and Lee return to their opening questions from chapter seven, the title of which asks bluntly, “Why are there so many man-made accidents?” The answers to this are many; they hasten to add that they are not singling out South Korea, as man-made disasters are a reflection of increasingly technologized societies, but they return time and again to the question of efficiency. When all that matters is the outcome, then it becomes possible to justify harming innocent lives: so long as the consequences for such harm are less than the profits gained, the problem is likely to persist. And given how many of those affected are temporary workers, it is difficult not to see the issue as one of class as well.

The interdependent relationship between the government, major corporations, and the public points to what appears to be a separation consciousness, which calls for each entity to have different motivations, goals, and objectives. With only a few exceptions, each body works toward its own goals and objectives, which may not align with those of the other two players. What is needed for all three entities to work effectively in concert for the benefit of all is the adoption of a unity consciousness. This would create an environment where success is not only measured by corporate profits but also by a significant reduction in safety-related accidents because of strict adherence to safety regulations that generate stiff penalties for those who choose to disregard them.

Readers curious about South Korea will find Gonzalez and Lee’s work to be a well-researched and somber reflection on the dangers of a country whose impressive technological development may have outpaced its society’s ability to properly regulate man-made disasters. The picture that this book paints is one of a country on the precipice of great change – and if it can balance its remarkable growth with humanitarianism and greater safety regulation, with corporations, citizens, and the government all participating in the shared project of building a better South Korea, it has the potential to grow into a remarkable place indeed.

SOUTH KOREA:

THE PRICE OF EFFICIENCY AND SUCCESS

BY JOHN GONZALEZ AND YOUNG LEE

RELEASE DATE: MARCH 24, 2024

An absorbing analysis of the social discontentment that plagues South Korea’s economic success.

South Korea is a wealthy and technologically advanced country, but its citizens are anxious, stressed, and headed toward demographic collapse, according to Gonzalez and Lee’s book-length study.

Gonzalez, an American educator who’s taught high school in South Korea, and Lee, a South Korean financial analyst and professor, have conducted a wide-ranging survey of the titular country’s manifest virtues and nagging problems. On the plus side, they note, is a culture that values hard work, competitiveness, self-sacrifice, and efficiency; society demands instant solutions to every problem and employs all manner of time-saving gadgetry, from restaurant call buttons that instantly summon waiters to self-service medical kiosks. The authors have found much unhappiness beneath the bustle, however. Several chapters discuss South Korea’s preoccupation with education: In the struggle to score well on the all-important exams that govern admission to elite universities, parents supplement their kids’ regular schooling with expensive “cram schools” and private tutoring, both of which strain family finances and leave students exhausted from the pressure. (An unexpected consequence, the authors note, is degree inflation: 69% of young Koreans have postsecondary degrees, which devalues educational credentials in the job market.) The authors also spotlight high rates of fatal accidents—capsized ferries, building collapses, deadly fires, workplace mishaps—stemming from lax safety regulations, corner-cutting, and corruption. They investigate what they see as a widespread soul-sickness that manifests in the corrosion of traditional norms and the younger generation’s sense of being stuck in a materialistic rat race (as in the Netflix series Squid Game, which depicts a South Korean game show in which players risk sudden death for money). The book also confronts a truly existential risk for the country in the form of extremely low fertility rates.

The authors construct their panorama of South Korea’s fortunes by combining illuminating statistics and graphs with an intimate, deeply observed account of cultural aspects, from the intense popularity of K-pop and plastic surgery to the warm tradition of sharing food with strangers. (Their vignette of a South Korean dinner paints a vibrant portrait of Confucian values in everyday life: “Everyone digs in with zest, enjoying every bite while being careful not to appear too eager or selfish or eat faster or larger quantities than the rest of the group.”) The lucid, workmanlike prose adds psychological resonance to the sociology (“Young Koreans are devastated by and frustrated with the economy’s inability to create sufficient, well-paying permanent jobs to accommodate the number of university graduates”), and it’s supplemented by revealing interviews: “Employment is… It’s like a big wall and trauma for me,” observes one young job seeker. “As soon as I graduated, I felt like an unnecessary [piece of] garbage in society, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t even get an interview.”

Readers interested in South Korea’s paradoxical tensions will find a wealth of insights, but the authors offer a larger lesson about the trajectory of modernity that could apply to many other countries that, having dedicated themselves to economic growth and material abundance, find themselves mired in a frustrating spiritual malaise.

An absorbing analysis of the social discontentment that plagues South Korea’s economic success.

Self-Publishing Review

SOUTH KOREA: The Price of Efficiency and Success, 2nd Edition

Uncovering the complex truths behind one nation’s remarkable transformation, South Korea: The Price of Efficiency and Success by Dr. John Gonzalez and Young Lee is a probing and edifying read.

A nuanced dissection of Korean culture and the factors influencing its renaissance as an economic leader on the world stage, this engaging portrait of a complex nation will appeal to a wide audience – travelers, business professionals, economists, and history buffs alike. Backed by research studies and citations from reputable sources of print and digital media, the majority of the text focuses on contemporary developments and conflicts, with some historical background provided for context, for an impressive, fair, and comprehensive assessment.

Peppered with poignant moments illustrating the country’s humanity and generosity, the text reveals a proud country at a crossroads of its evolution, clinging to its traditional values, while also being pulled into the 21st century by technology, globalization, and capitalistic influences. The text examines the economic and political shifts that have led to this tension, as well as the intrinsic qualities and tenets of Korean culture that affect the balance, such as unity/conformity, the relationship of customers to workers, a growing wealth gap, religious observation, fashion, medical access, community structures, generational divides and more.

The regular comparisons between Korea, the United States, and other nations highlight the stark differences in ideology and governance across many realms of life. For readers unfamiliar with Korea, chapters like “The View from 30,000 Feet” can help frame the mindset and cultural paradigms of Koreans more readily. As the title suggests, the drive for greater efficiency is a significant engine throughout Korean society, which manifests in ways that are simultaneously remarkable and worrying, from simple tools that deliver top-tier customer service to high-pressure expectations for perfection in educational and professional performance.

The deep dive into failures related to public safety is a chilling chapter and exemplifies how the rapid expansion of capitalistic enterprises in Korea has made regulation a perennial challenge, one that directly impacts the welfare of its citizens in myriad ways. While the authors’ veneration for South Korea is clear, their criticisms are well-defended and seemingly justified, as they attempt to objectively explore the compromises that governmental leaders and average citizens have had to make in order to catapult the country to economic prominence and geopolitical clout.

Transcending the often superficial depictions of travel writers and tourists, the authors’ time as residents in Korea not only granted them a cultural reverence that permeates these pages, but also intimate access to the people, opinions, and everyday realities of the nation. On a technical level, the book is meticulously structured, formatted, and edited; the tone is consistent and conversational, but confidently knowledgeable from start to finish. Although Gonzalez and Lee are able to explore a vast range of topics, their prose never feels lost in the weeds or inaccessibly dense, so while the subtitle of the book may make it seem like a dry business manual, the prose is engagingly readable, even if the subject matter can be heavy.

All told, this is a kaleidoscopic review of Korean culture in the modern age – a detailed analysis of intrinsic motivations within the population, a philosophical manifesto on efficient thinking, and a relentlessly honest exposé on the inherent conflicts that exist and persist in this powerful Asian nation.