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Center for Confucian Science |
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Publications |
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1. Why the North Koreans behave as they do? By Thomas Hosuck Kang, Ph.D. 1994. 129p. ISBN 0-9643668-0-0 Price: $8 each. Shipping & Handling: $2.50 1st class; $2.00 media mail. Available at Amazon.
This article was originally sent: TO: The Washington Post CC: Hon. Tony P. Hall, House of Representatives CC: Korean Affairs, The State Department
Why the North Koreans Behave As They Do by Thomas Hosuck Kang, Ph.D. © 1994
(Compare two extremely different cultural genes, North Koreans and Americans. These two extreme poles of cultural genes are both dangerous and not desirable to a new healthy cultural gene for the world in the coming 21st century. See the Cultural Gene Section.)
Since the beginning of the fall of the Stalinist states, "The Stalinist state, North Korea," it has been saying for seven years, "will fall soon, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow," but is still there. How long it has to be repeated the outdated cliche "Stalinist" regime for North Korea? What a nonsense! If it is a "Stalinist" state, it would not be exceptional. The reason to send this message to your office again (My book was sent to your office three years ago, there was not a response) is: The observation of The Washington Post is lately very closer to North Korea's reality. The editorial of October 13 described North Korea as a "Dynasty", but more accurately the Kim Family Dynasty. The article by Keith B. Richburg in North Korea on October 19 reported North Korean society as (quoted below), which is exactly the heart of the content analyzed in my book. This book may be a bible of the North Korean behavior. We cannot judge North Korea from appearance, but we have to look deep into the heart of the North Koreans. In short, North Korea in the beginning was "the Japanese Confucianism (outward aggressive) wrapped with communism," later it has been gradually changed to "the Koreanized Confucianism" (inward competitive) wrapped with communism.
No one is predicting that the hardships will lead to any kind of popular disaffection with the regime -- and in fact, many here believe attitudes will only harden. The personality cult built up around Kim Il Sung remains deep and pervasive, and now officials seem to be trying to transfer some of the popular affection from father to his son. (Quoted from the Washington Post, 10/19/97 p.23.)
At the end of the World War II, when Korea was emancipated from Japanese rule, the Korean personality which was exposed to the Japanese indoctrination was dual: the Korean Confucian familialism for the elder and the Japanese Confucian nationalism for the younger. Kim Il-sung backed by Stalin returned to North Korea from outside with an ambition to establish a communist state in the North. The North Korean people quickly offered him the ready made Japanese emperor's mask by transforming themselves to his subjects, but faced a strong resistance to communism from the Korean familial nationalism, and found an exit to the Korean War to strengthen his position.
PART ONE, 1956-1967 handles North Korea's survival during Sino-Soviet ideological dispute. Kim Il Sung established his one-man rule in the beginning with the help of the Soviets and China's Stalinism. After Stalin's death, his regime sandwiched between the Leninist Soviets and Stalinist China dispute, the battle of two giant whales fortunately not only escaped from the breaking of its back but survived to get a freedom from them, Kim declared the church's ideology (self-reliance, neither relying on Stalinism nor Leninism!), succeeded in building the nation-state, but completely isolated North Korea from, and closed to the outside world.
PART TWO, 1945-1980 analyzes the process of North Korean mind in the making. The Korean traditional cultural gene was Confucian family oriented. Under Japanese rule, it became dual: filial to family at home, and loyal (forced to be nationalistic) to Japanese emperor in the organizations outside home. After the liberation, Kim took over the Japanese emperor's position, but failed in converting Northern society to communism, because of the strong familial national climate among the people. During the Koran War families in North Korea dispersed. At the end of the war, while Kim mobilized on the spot to the national reconstruction works all the people who were searching for their home in the ashes, children were deposited at state nurseries which is the factory to produce human dollies, where all the children were growing with food, clothes, toys, music, language given by their 'great, generous father and leader Kim Il-sung'. Thus the traditional Confucian five relationships in the North were procrustean bed to make into one relationship, Kim, as Confucian father-ruler exemplar at the top and the people as children loyal to him at the bottom. Through this human engineering Kimilsungism became Kim's family dynasty cult. Everybody in the north was supposed to fight and die for him to the last man. This mentality was indoctrinated by Japanese and further Koreanized by Kim.
If the atom bombs were not used in Japan from outside at the end of the War, Japanese were assumed to fight and die to the last man. If the North Koreans have the same mentality as the Japanese, they might fight and die to the last man. Even without Kim Il-sung, are they ready to starve to death to the last? The best to handle North Korea is to find whether the North Koreans are as loyal to the young Kim as to his father even after Kim's three year mourning period in 1997. To understand 90% of the North Koreans' subconsciousness analyzed in this book is more useful than the superficial observation of a few percents of the ruling class.
The United States perhaps can solve this problem to open up the closed Kim family dynasty by means of the humanitarian sock by mobilizing the world opinions.
This small book may help the serious scholars and policy makers of the United States to understand North Korea. This was prepared while the author, Korean specialist was working at the Korean Section, Library of Congress.
2. Confucius and Confucianism: Questions and Answers By Thomas Hosuck Kang, Ph.D. Confucian Publications, 1997. 280p. ISBN 9-9643668-2-7 Price: $15.00 each. Shipping & Handling: $5.00 1st class; $2.50 media mail. Available at Amazon.
The author, Thomas Hosuck Kang, born a Korean Confucian came to the United States in 1958, studied at Georgetown and American University, specialized in Confucian studies with Ph.D. and established the first Confucian church and mission in the United States as a nonprofit organization.
While he was working at the Library of Congress as an Asian information specialist, he surveyed Confucian studies in the West and compiled A Bibliography of Confucian studies in the West in 15 Western languages on a PC data base with 62,00 entries and ready for publication. He published a short history of Confucian studies in the West, 1662-1990. Through this forty years work on this subject, he discovered not a single comprehensive book which can answer to what Confucianism is as a reference tool as well as a general reading.
Arthur Waley as one of the outstanding Confucian scholars, one of the translators of the Analects, wisely said both with wit and humor, one could could construct half a dozen other Confuciuses out of the Analects by tapping the legend at different states of its evolution. Therefore, with regard to Confucius we have to be careful for which Confucius we are talking about. He has many different faces such as religion, philosophy, ethics, sociology, etc.
As for Confucianism, it is an Oriental heritage, a cultural gene which has been transmitting Confucian culture from generation to generation and from nation to nation for 2,500 years to make the Confucian cultural zone. The people of East Asia now constituting nearly one-fourth of the world population behave according to Confucian influence whether they believe or not Confucianism as a religion. This Confucian culture is the unique nucleus of the orientation of people's behavior in East Asia, just as Christianity is for that of the people's behavior in the West.
In addition, the term, "Confucian" can be labeled for anything, e.g., deistic, atheist, educational, familialistic, nationalistic, dictatorial, authoritarian, conservative, progressive, aggressive, regressive, retrospective, and at the present time democratic, modernistic, humanistic, of an alternative capitalism, and of a pattern of new civilization.
From the end of the 19th century the people in Confucian cultural zone have devoted with single-heart to the introduction of Western scientific and materialistic culture and owe it a great debt of gratitude. Now it is a turn to repay its indebtedness with Confucian spiritual heritage to create a new East-West heritage for mankind. As a matter of fact, it has already shown the American people's enthusiasm for children's education.
In order to cover the main aspects of such as broad subject, the CONTENTS of the book are divided into 21 subjects as follows: 1. Confucius; 2. Confucian classics; 3. Confucianism; 4. Neo-Confucianism; 5. What is the Dao? 6. Religion; 7. Rites and Ceremonies; 8. Philosophy; 9. Ethics; 10. psychology; 11.Education; 12. Economy; 13. Confucianism in East Asia; 14.Politics and government; 15. Legal aspect; 16. Sociology 17. Science; 18. Arts; 19. Confucian bridge between East and West; 20. Criticism on Confucius and Confucianism; 21. Prospects. Epilogue.
This timely book represents an outstanding and indispensable text to further understand the East Asian heritage, culture, social institutions and the people which comprise one-quarter of the global population. -- Dr. Chang Shub Roh, Professor Emeritus, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. For a Confucian reference work from A to Z and for general readers, highly recommended. -- Professor Tsung Chin, University of Maryland. The catechism for Confucian church, syllabus for classes, reference book for libraries, and general reading for the public. -- Dr. Jubong Kim, Korean specialist, Library of Congress. |
