While friends back home in the US set aside, for a day, their ever-expanding political differences to celebrate Independence Day, I am working in a high-rise above an Incheon business district with a birds’ eye view of Costco and Home Depot. It’s a literal and figurative opportunity to look at the American capitalistic spirit from afar, through the lens of Korean society.
America’s post-war industrial influence is evident here; the 10-lane wide highways are labeled with familiar red, white and blue badged interstate signs. While familiar US brands are present, America’s most invasive species of fast-food burger chains and sugar bomb coffee shops have yet to displace Korean barbecue and ramen shops; their tasty banchan still dominate the streets and palates of foreigners and locals equally.
Korea and Koreans have prospered splendidly since the Korean war- rising, in just under a century, from one of the poorest Asian countries to one of the richest. Thankfully this economic prowess has not come with many of the symptoms of rabid capitalism and consumerism.
Daily Korean pace is not angered and despaired like it has become in so many major American cities; it also is not chaotic and frenzied like in most Asian countries. Men and women look healthy, are of normal size, and move with a sense of self-generated energy; not lumbering around lethargically. People still walk here to get around. There is no opioid crisis here or price gouging of medicines. (Korea spends just 7 percent of its GDP on health care compared to the 17 percent spent by the US.)
But make no mistake, Koreans espouse an industrious work ethic -- so much so that President Moon recently passed a law to limit working hours to 52 per week; the standard 40 plus a cap of 12 overtime hours. Companies in violation face jail time and fines. While not everyone here is happy about the regulation, and corporations are worried about rising costs and productivity losses, I commend the foresight of Korea’s political and social leaders in seeing the detriment of an overworked population.
America’s runaway corporatized society has resulted in a dependent population, not an independent one. Americans spend hours commuting to work, eight or more hours at work, and then even more hours connected to work via their mobile devices. That’s just the first stage of the disease. Even outside of work Americans are bombarded with corporatism -- a constant barrage of in-your-face marketing and absurd advertising -- in a call to consume more products, amass more debt, and be further subservient to employment.
That Korean politicians can forsee the pitfalls of creating such a society and are willing to pass regulations to ensure a healthy, happy and productive lifestyle for all Koreans is something that America should learn from.
Happy American Independence Day, Korea.
From Chirag Asaravala
Op-ed contributor to San Francisco Chronicle
