Beyond K-Culture: The Status of Koreans

• Reflecting on our community's weak civic consciousness, hidden behind the bright lights of K-content.
• Learning the true conditions of a "respected people" from the Jewish sense of justice and the Japanese Canadian aesthetic of restraint.
• Hoping to be reborn as a dignified "diaspora" that produces moral value beyond cultural crazes.

Y2K has now become a cultural code, but back in the actual Y2K era—when the world collaborated to avert a technological crisis—the Korea that Canadians knew was merely a country scarred by the Korean War or one that manufactured good home appliances. But now, 25 years later, the world has completely transformed. Hearing BTS songs echoing through the streets and seeing Canadians rave about Squid Game and Parasite, old-timers feel a profound sense of how times have changed. Grown children now proudly answer "Korea" when asked where they are from, fully savoring their cultural pride. However, we must ask ourselves objectively: Do we truly possess the "moral standing" and "civic consciousness" befitting this cultural boom?

To put it cynically, the current K-culture craze is less a reflection of our own inner moral achievements and more a victory for the sophisticated "content" created by artists in the homeland. Are we, as overseas Koreans, simply free-riding under that glamorous spotlight? The fact that people around the world are going wild for Korean movies is an entirely separate matter from whether they come to respect their Korean neighbors. True standing comes not from the "consumption" or "boasting" of culture, but from the "social values" and "modes of behavior" a community produces. Yet, looking inside our own community, shameful scenes remain scattered everywhere.

The embarrassing scrambles for seats of honor and the authoritarianism surrounding community leadership positions are far removed from the sophistication of K-culture. Undemocratic organizational operations, repeated mutual slander and lawsuits, and meetings filled with discourteous language and shouting make us doubt whether we truly qualify as advanced citizens. On the surface, we pretend to foster patriotism by praising BTS, but underneath, we are captivated by outdated hierarchical cultures and vanities brought over from Korea, thereby degrading our community's dignity ourselves. Compared to our cultural influence, our community's civic maturity remains an unresolved task.

Here, we must learn how other ethnic communities, who are deeply respected in mainstream Canadian society, have built their images as "value-producing communities." Many Jewish communities and organizations have actively participated in human rights, social justice, education, and philanthropy under the value of "Tikkun Olam." The history of the Holocaust is utilized today in countries around the world as a crucial example for human rights and democracy education. I believe their greatest influence lies not just in culture, but in the spread of ethical values. Therefore, they possess a moral authority far more powerful than their mere numbers.

The Japanese Canadian community has long been recognized for building trust within Canadian society through civic engagement and community contribution. Even in the process of rectifying the history of their internment during World War II, they secured a national apology through meticulous record-keeping and logical responses rather than emotional appeals. Many historians evaluate the Japanese Canadian redress movement as one of the most important examples of the civil rights movement. The values they produced were "trust" and "order."

The Italian Canadian community is much the same. Beyond simply spreading their food culture, they took the lead in laying down community infrastructure and establishing rational systems in politics and business. Italian Canadians have contributed significantly to the development of Canadian society across various fields, including construction, politics, enterprise, and community organization.

On the other hand, what about our Korean community? We are adept at "showing," but clumsy at "proving." We boast about statistics showing tens of thousands gathering at Korean festivals, but after the festivals end, we still lack the profound action of standing in solidarity with the pains of other ethnic communities. The climate of treating economic success as the highest value and judging our fellow diaspora by "who is wealthier" rather than by social contribution or morality is the greatest stumbling block hindering our path to becoming a "value-producing nation."

I dare suggest that we must now step down from our status as a "cultural consumer nation" and leap forward as a "value-producing nation." Before feeling proud when watching foreigners sing along to K-pop lyrics, we ourselves must first become exemplary citizens of this society. Our standing will only be complete when manners—such as refraining from shouting at meetings—transparency in organizational operations, and a rational debate culture that respects others take root. Leadership blinded by vanity must be rebuked, and a "servant leadership" that silently practices nameless donation and volunteering must become the mainstream of the Korean community.

This is also the core reason why we aim to build a "cyber museum that properly records the immigration history of Korean Canadians." The cyber museum is not simply a place to show what we ate to survive. It must be a place that records our "civic footprints"—what values we aspired to as Canadian citizens and how we tackled common issues like racial discrimination or social inequality. Unrecorded morality cannot be spread, and unrecorded value cannot be inherited.

I also make an appeal to academia and the government. When studying the Korean community, we must no longer be buried solely in population censuses or economic indicators. Through anthropological participant observation, we must study the qualitative changes and how our community is impacting the moral soil of Canadian society. Rather than pouring budgets into promoting K-culture, more attention should be paid to "identity education" and "civic consciousness cultivation programs" that help overseas Koreans be reborn as respected citizens in their countries of residence.

The future Korean community where grown Korean Canadians will live must be far more dignified than it is now. We want the treatment they receive for being Korean to not just stop at the curiosity of "Korean songs are good," but to lead to a deep respect that "Koreans are truly a just and polite people." To achieve this, our first generation must first cast off the shell of outdated customs. We must discard strange prejudices and hierarchical mentalities, and become proactive agents who produce value in the multicultural society of Canada.

The glory of BTS and Squid Game will someday be replaced by another trend. However, the moral assets and high level of civic consciousness we leave on this land will endure forever. As recorders, we will strictly document our community's rudeness going forward, while leaving behind the most vivid traces of dignified dedication. Riding the wave of this cultural craze, the destination we must reach is not a glamorous stage, but a "place of respect" rooted deep in people's hearts. That is the mission of the senior generation who cultivated this land first, and the path of a true diaspora driving mutually beneficial development between the motherland and the country of residence. The time to discuss "K-Citizenship" beyond K-Culture is right now.