Happy/Merry Christmas in Korean is ‘Meri krismas’

Estimates of the number of Christians in South Korea swing between 15% and 25%, and Buddhism is the main religion. Chuseok, the Autumn Eve, is the largest national holiday, but Christmas is observed out of respect for the minority and for its economic value.

The South Koreans are devoted to capitalism and have flourished more than any other nation in the world. “South Korea is famous for its spectacular rise from one of the poorest countries in the world to a developed, high-income country in just one generation. This economic miracle, commonly known as the Miracle on the Han River, brought South Korea to the ranks of elite countries in the OECD and the G-20.” — Wikipedia.

When posted to South Korea, we walked the street in the Itaewon-dong, Yongsan-gu sector in Seoul where you would see folks dressed as Santa ringing bells and chanting “Meri krismas.” Many non-Christians celebrate the holiday, as a time to recognize their non-Buddhist countrymen’s beliefs. Family is a major part of the nation’s ethos and Christmas is a family holiday, so why not celebrate?

We could learn a lot from the South Koreans. Education is revered as much as hard work and loyalty. Family is the bed rock of society and all work is noble. The ingenuity of the Korean people is unmatched; war torn and devastated with the waste of war around them, they collected the brass casings from artillery and small arms munitions and went to work making brass figurines to sell worldwide. The South Koreans have advanced to exporting automobiles, trucks, electronics and ships in just over 59 years.

While I was discussing the South Korean people with an uber liberal friend, he was put off when I said the South Koreans grabbed American capitalism and wrapped both arms and legs around it, the results were a standard of living that in many areas surpasses the Japanese. Medical care and medical research are the best in Asia if not the world, and with 4.463 billion folks in Asia, that is impressive. The progressives will tell us capitalism is a cancer on the earth and is evil, and they have that right, but I disagree.

The two Koreas, split by an agreement between the allies’ post-World War II, were one nation with most of the population coming from three families; The DNA is very similar, as were the customs and history. The North has an abundance of natural resources: zinc, tungsten, iron and the world’s second largest supply of magnesite. The South is relatively poor in natural resources.

A side by side comparison of the two nations’ economic potential gives the advantage to the North by far. The question every student of Government should ask is, what went wrong with the North Koreans? In the North, life expectancy averages eight years less than in the South for men, and 11 years less for women, with nutrition and medical care giving the edge to the South.

If a professor of government or economics or a student of government gave a fact-based comparison of socialist North Korea and capitalist South Korea, they would opine that capitalism is the vastly superior economic system, but will they? Not a chance in hell.

Most of those who teach our young are proud advocates for socialism and will not be swayed by the facts. North vs South Korea is a nearly perfect way to judge the two systems, a petri dish to observe the growth two systems side by side.

The guy dressed in the Santa suit in the shopping district of Seoul is an example of South Korean capitalism. Christmas is a huge reason to shop and spend money. Like it or not, Christmas has an economic aspect to it and the capitalists in South Korea are not going to miss the opportunity to make a buck.

The folks in the South are open to and excepting of others’ religious holidays. The North’s Kim Jong Un is the grinch who stole Christmas and celebrating Christ’s birthday will land you in a gulag. Got to love the North’s socialist’s acceptance of others beliefs.