A CULTURE OF OPTIMISM–SOUTH KOREAS CULTURE- MAY HAVE ASSISTED IN THE SEWOL TRAGEDY–CONSIDER PREVIOUS DISASTERS REFLECTING THE CAUSE OF DISREGARDING RULES AND REGULATION–DESENTISIZED TO THE RISKS–A FATALISM THAT PREVENTS A PROACTIVE SAFE GUARDING OF FUTURE CRISES THROUGH BETTER PLANNING IN ANTICIPATION OF A DISASTROUS EVENT–BUT THEN THAT IS WHAT IS UNIQUE ABOUT THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA THEIR SENSE OF SELF -EXCEPTIONALISM

In fact, failure to stick to the rules has been a major contributing factor in most of Korea’s man-made disasters. The Seohae Ferry disaster in 1993, which claimed 292 lives, the 1994 Seongsu Bridge collapse, which took 32 lives, the Sampoong Department Store collapse, which killed 502 people in 1995, the Daegu gas explosion in 1995 that claimed 101 lives and the 1999 Sea Land fire which resulted in the deaths of 23 people, including 19 kindergarteners, are but some of the accidents that could have been foreseen and prevented had the relevant rules and regulations been observed.

As Koreans ask why the country ― the 13th-largest economy in the world ― remains vulnerable to man-made disasters, some point to the process of rapid industrialization of the ’60s to the ’80s that saw Korea rise from the rubble of the Korean War to become the thriving economy it is today.

The culture of “ppalli ppalli,” or “hurry hurry,” is a byproduct of the era which saw economic development as the overarching goal. The whole country was in overdrive, disregarding rules and procedures if necessary, as it pursued accelerated economic development. Following decades of such circumvention of laws, Korean society became desensitized to the risks it was taking.

Park Gil-sung, a sociology professor at Korea University, notes a number of unique cultural cognition factors that may be at play that elevate risk: Unfounded optimism which leads to thinking that everything will go well, adventurism that views acute reaction to danger as cowardly behavior, and exceptionalism or thinking “I will be alright.”
“Together, baseless optimism and adventurism heighten the explosiveness of potential risks,” Park observed. “Add self-exceptionalism to the combination and this leads to insensitivity to risks,” Park said.

Fatalism, or the view that man has no power to influence the future or his own action, may explain why Koreans do not act proactively in anticipation of future danger or a crisis situation. In a 1996 book on abnormal psychology, Kwon Seok-man, professor of psychology at Seoul National University, writes about the passive fatalistic view that permeates through Korean culture. Fortunetelling and feng shui enjoy widespread popularity here because of the pervasiveness of fatalism, he noted.

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