[Letters] Regarding the Oct. 19 editorial ‘Correcting facts about Korea’

In my opinion, correcting facts about Korea is essential for the future of Korea. I really agree with your proposal to increase the budget and hire more personnel to correct wrong information. Also I welcome the suggestion to establish a system to check the facts before the foreign textbooks are published. Furthermore, I agree that we need the cooperation of private sectors.

The first reason is that our country’s value as a brand will become more important and worthy in the future. Almost all the wrong information about Korea is negative, for example, some people think Korea is just one part of China and Koreans speak Chinese. Based on these ridiculous and wrong ideas, Korea cannot have any political influence and economical advantage.

Second, the most important thing is that there is no meaningful achievement without steady and gradual efforts. An agitated attitude and response cannot bring about considerable corrections. We need to start this project by correcting facts about Korea based on a long-term plan and arise nationwide sympathy by sharing efforts and achievements. A sufficient budget and all kinds of support will result from sympathy on the issue.

Finally, it is time to try to prevent wrong information from being created, not just to react and fix it. We have a lot of human resources in almost every country and we can call them the members of the Korean diaspora. They can carry out some actions as cultural agents. It is more efficient to check before each country’s textbook is published than to fix errors after the fact. Also, educating these members on Korean culture and history as cultural agents is the first step for a successful outcome.

We are living in a period that improving a country’s value is regarded as important. For this, Korea spends a lot of money to help developing and some poor countries. However, this is just like pouring water into a cracked pot. To achieve efficiency, one thing must be done first: we must fix the crack. Straightening out wrong information about Korea would be the first and essential step for it.

Kim Sook-hee, suki0126@hanmail.net