Some time ago, I heard a funny joke from one of my colleagues. When I was about to enter the women’s room on campus by mistake, a professor warned me solemnly, “If you go in there, you will be arrested for carrying an illegal weapon.” Then he added teasingly, “If you are over 50, you will be arrested for carrying a defective weapon.” Since “illegal weapons (bulbeob mugi)” rhymes with “defective weapons (bulyang mugi)” in Korean, it made a fine joke. 

With newspapers filled with reports of sex crimes these days, we come to realize that there are too many men carrying “illegal weapons” at large in our society, ready to threaten or attack women at any time. It is appalling and unnerving that we helplessly watch as our daughters and wives live among potential sex criminals on the loose, all carrying “illegal weapons.” It is a shame to think of women as sex objects. But it is even more shameful and deplorable that our society has been degraded by these men’s disgraceful behavior. Men’s penises are by no means meant to be weapons that destroy women’s lives and careers. Unfortunately, however, they are often misused as lethal weapons against women.

In order to build a civilized society, we should teach our young people that it is cowardly to attack someone who is weaker and more vulnerable. Indeed, a noble knight or a gentleman would never attempt to take advantage of the weak. We should also teach our young people how to control their selfish desires and to strive for spiritual and altruistic values instead. As humans, we should have compassion and reason. If we cannot control our bodily desires, we are no better than beasts.

Yet we are much too generous to those guilty of sex crimes in Korea. Following other countries, we, too, should maximize the penalty for sexual assault, and make it a capital crime, especially when the victim is a child. Often sexual assailants blame the victim by saying, “She seduced me by wearing a miniskirt, so it is not my fault.” But why do you care about her exposure in the first place? It is none of your business. Besides, if you cannot suppress your bestial desires, how can you call yourself human? And what is your education for?

In Korean society, there are other kinds of people who are also threatening us with illegal, defective weapons. These deadly weapons are extreme political ideologies that have divided our country in two. These ideologically charged, cutthroat weapons, though invisible, have inflicted serious wounds and left indelible scars in our minds.

On the Internet, for example, there is a notorious website run by right-wing extremists who mercilessly attack left-wingers. They do not hesitate to cross the line by calling the people of southwestern province “commies,” and labeling the Gwangju democratic uprising a “riot.” Often, they use vulgar language under the pretense of humor and wit. They say that their right-wing site was founded as a reactionary movement to extreme left-wing sites that have manipulated people by disseminating false rumors about things like mad cow disease.

However, if right-wingers do the same vulgar things and make the same mistakes, they are no better than the extreme leftists they attack and criticize, and the vicious circle of antagonism between the left and the right will continue. Reading the mean-spirited, lowbrow postings on the right-wing site, we cannot help but feel just as deeply disappointed and disillusioned as when we read the cheap propaganda espoused on left-wing sites a few years ago. When can we overcome and transcend the binary positions that have sharply divided our country for the past few decades?

Such old-fashioned ideological weapons are defective and obsolete in other countries. In Korea, however, we are still carrying age-old defective weapons to threaten and hurt others. Figuratively speaking, at a time when others skillfully operate high-tech missiles, we are still wielding heavy M1 rifles, remnants of World War II, not realizing the age of the M1 is over. It is lamentable that the Cold War is continuing on the Korean Peninsula.

Today, South Korea is having a deja vu moment. When Roh Moo-hyun marched into Cheong Wa Dae in 2003, extreme leftists who had kept a low profile during the Kim Dae-jung administration triumphantly came out as if they were conquerors.

The same thing seems to be happening now. Extreme right-wingers, who were frustrated during the Kim and the Roh eras, and stayed quiet during the Lee Administration, seem to be coming out of the cave triumphantly. And they insolently exhibit regional discrimination, racial prejudice and anti-communism. Such an attitude is obviously against President Park’s policies, which try to transcend polarity and embrace differences.

Now we should put down our “illegal, defective weapons” and instead, try to heal each other’s wounds that we may have inflicted inadvertently or intentionally. Only then will the future of Korea be bright. 

By Kim Seong-kon

Kim Seong-kon is a professor of English at Seoul National University and president of the Literature Translation Institute of Korea. He can be reached at sukim@snu.ac.kr. ― Ed.