Though the yangban system was consigned to history following the royal court’s weakening and eventual surrender to Japan in 1910, the belief in the power of education and examinations as a way of improving one’s lot remained. Following the partition of Korea, and the resulting civil war of 1950–1953, South Korea briefly became a very egalitarian society. Apart from those who were closely allied with the corrupt regime of President Syngman Rhee, South Koreans were united in poverty. The country had only bombed-out infrastructure and precious few natural resources and suffered from one of the lowest GDP per capita figures on the planet.
Once again, the main way of getting ahead was via education. South Korea’s desperate state led to the realization that the only true resource the country had was the brains of its people—which, as Confucianism taught, could, and should, be improved via education. Successive governments pursued a policy of making schooling available to all, regardless of parentage, relative wealth, or gender. Until the 1980s, the way for a poor young person from a small village to improve his lot was to grasp that educational lifeline and study around the clock to gain entrance to institutions like Seoul National University, Korea University, or Yonsei University (collectively, “SKY”) and graduate with a degree in a subject like medicine. Such an individual could become a well-paid doctor in Seoul and support not just himself, but his parents, and siblings too. In a country as poor as South Korea was then, this would have been no less of an achievement than passing the civil service exam in the Joseon era.
Even today, a SKY degree is considered a ticket to the best job opportunities, the best human networks, and the best marriage prospects. SKY schools are similar in stature to the Ivy League in the United States or Oxbridge in the United Kingdom, but even more powerful: seven out of ten CEOs of the largest Korean firms are SKY graduates, as are eight out of ten appointees to the judiciary. To enter SKY, one needs to pass a grueling examination, the suneung, a day-long test given to third-year high school students. Tales of excessive pressure on suneung takers by parents and teachers are legion. It is common for those preparing for the test to wake before six a.m., spend the whole day studying, with breaks only for food, and collapse into bed at around midnight. Some parents start putting such pressure on their children years prior to the suneung period. The Gangnam area of Seoul is famous for its private institutes, which provide extra after-school instruction at exorbitant cost. The stereotypical Gangnam mother is renowned for forcing her children to attend such institutes until well after dark, no matter what their age.
Those who teach lucky SKY entrants are near the very top of the social ladder. In South Korea, professors from elite universities are easily able to enter politics or business or become public intellectuals whose voice is welcomed by the media, regardless of whether or not their comments relate to their area of specialization. Consequently, the title “Professor” is much sought-after, and cases of bribes in the hundreds of thousands of dollars being paid to secure tenure are not unheard of.
Today, the top-level civil service exam is the godeung goshi. Though the existence of better-paid jobs in business means a civil service career is relatively less attractive than it used to be, working in the higher ranks of the government still confers excellent social status and near-bulletproof job security. Open to all since its creation in 1949, the exam is a playing-field leveler for those with the fortitude to sacrifice all of their time studying to be the one student in forty-one who gains a passing grade. There are special private halls of residence called goshiwon, which are located near preparatory institutes and offer cheap accommodation and cooked meals for those preparing for the godeung goshi or other tests like the bar exam. Living near the institute saves commuting time and thus allows more time for study. Districts with large numbers of goshiwon are known as goshi-chon, “goshi villages.” Life in a goshi-chon is bleak, but success on the goshi exam brings a lifetime of stability, and respect.
Chapter 4
Christianity
The view from the hills above any South Korean town, particularly at night, will reveal a striking sight: red neon crosses dominate the landscape. The crosses are so commonplace there are popular songs about the phenomenon. Christianity has had a relatively short period of contact with this country, but what it lacks in history, it has made up for by the force of its appeal. Apart from the Philippines and East Timor—both ex-colonies of Christian Western countries—South Korea is now the most Christian country in Asia by percentage of the population who subscribe to it. In achieving this level of adherence, Christianity has been transformed from outlaw sect to establishment faith.
The Arrival of Catholicism
Today Christianity edges out Buddhism as the most popular religion in Korea, but it got off to a slow and difficult start. The first known Korean Christian was the wife of Konishi Yukinaga, a Japanese commander who came to Korea in the 1590s during the Imjin Waeran invasions. The young woman, who took the name Julia, eventually accompanied her husband to Japan. Further attempts to introduce Christianity to Korea during the period were not successful; one missionary, Gregorious de Cespedes, preached to Japanese invaders but was not permitted to do the same to Koreans.
In 1603, a diplomat named Yi Gwang-jeong returned from Beijing with texts written by Matteo Ricci, a Catholic missionary to China. These texts began to attract the attention of intellectuals, but conversions did not result. Ricci’s works were read largely by Confucian scholars, who were curious for knowledge but ultimately rejected the Christian worldview.
It was not until the late eighteenth century that Catholicism began to gain a serious foothold. The religion had been outlawed in 1758 by King Yeongjo, a strict Confucian, in response to the discovery of believers in provinces such as Gangwon and Hwanghae. Nevertheless, in 1784, a young man named Lee Sung-hoon, who had traveled to Beijing with his father, returned to Seoul and began actively proselytizing in defiance of the ban. He created the first organized community of Catholics in Korea, who called themselves the “believing friends.” Unlike in other Asian countries, the early growth of Catholicism happened not via missionaries (who had reached China and Japan but not Korea, despite several attempts throughout the 1600s and 1700s) but from Koreans who had come into contact with the religion in China and returned to preach it to fellow Koreans. It was a grass-roots movement, with very little involvement from foreigners.
Kim Beom-woo, the owner of the house used by Lee as a makeshift church, became the first Korean Catholic martyr, after he was arrested by government officials and tortured to death in 1786. Members of Lee’s group, which included prominent scholar and philosopher Dasan Jeong Yak-yong (1762–1836), began acting as unordained priests against the wishes of the bishop in Beijing. In 1795, the bishop finally sent a real priest from China, Zhou Wenmo, to administer to the group, which by then had four thousand members. Zhou slipped into the country secretly and was provided with safehouses by Korean Catholics. He was the first foreign priest in Korea.
Lee and Zhou were later beheaded in the 1801 Sinyu Persecution, a purge that reportedly would also have claimed the life of Dasan, had he not renounced his faith. In total, over three hundred were executed. Catholicism was perceived as a threat by the regime for several reasons. This foreign religion held that all people were created equal in the eyes of God, clearly threatening the social order and contravening the tenets of neo-Confucianism, which called for absolute obedience to social superiors, particularly the monarch. Many Catholics also refused to perform the ancestor ritual of jesa, out of a belief that it was ancestor worship