“Did you see the movie Black Hawk Down?” I was asked by a young ROK Army
Sergeant. His English was impeccable to the point that my first instinct was to change
the subject to “where in the US did you go to college?”. “Georgia Tech. I had to come
back to Korea to complete my military service then I am going back to the States for Law
School.” Then he brought me back to the original question; did I see Black Hawk Down?
I had, in fact, just days before seen this movie and as I didn’t know why he was asking, I
didn’t know really how to answer. I started with comments on the acting, special effects,
action and added that the book it was based on was supposed to be pretty accurate but
since I wasn’t there, and my knowledge of Somalia was limited to news stories on CNN
about the troubled country, I couldn’t comment on the book’s, or the movie’s historical
accuracy.
It turned out that his reason for asking was focused on his curiosity about the movie’s
portrayal of the willingness of US soldiers to go into harm’s way to help fallen comrades.
He asked me if that is true. My reply was that this is such an ingrained part not only of
the US Military Culture, but of America itself, that it is not something we even thing that
much about, just something we take for granted. If I fall I know my comrades will come
for me; just as they can expect from me.
His reply shocked me.
Gesturing to the other soldiers and particularly to the officers he said “These guys would
never do anything like that. In Korea we don’t risk ourselves for others.” I told him that I
couldn’t comment on that as I am not Korean and, thankfully, have not yet needed
anyone, Korean or American, to save my life. But I did tell him that I found it hard to
believe that none of his comrades would come to his aid when needed. It is not an
exaggeration to say that the Korean officers that I worked with during my three years
there as well as the civilian friends I made were among the finest people I have ever
known. He simply said for me to trust him because he spoke the truth. For the record, I
don’t share his view but I have often thought about his opinion.
My only advice to him was to stay close to the US soldiers, because when we come to
the aid of a fallen friend it doesn’t matter if he is Korean or American, we will come to his
aid. Then as an afterthought I also offered the advice to not be quite so free with his
feelings in the presence of the Korean officers and NCOs he works for as they might not
share my appreciation of his candor.
Fast forward about 6 months or so…. This conversation is about half a year old now but I
have often thought about it. Maybe this was just a disgruntled soldier, angry for being
compelled to leave the casual life of an American (at least temporarily American) college
student to serve his mandatory service in the Korean military. Perhaps he had recently
gotten into trouble and wanted to cast aspersions toward those who were simply making
him do the hard right over the easy wrong. But maybe, just maybe there is something
more…..
So, why write this down so long after the fact? This week the Korean people witnessed
one of the greatest tragedies since the Korean War when a fire in a subway station in
Daegu, Korea’s third largest city, resulted in the deaths of 310 people. What does this
have to do with my chance meeting of the curious Korean Army Sergeant? It appears
that the lack of any sense of selfless service that he talked about might be the cause of
most of these deaths.
As the news is currently reporting on this tragedy it seems that only about 40 of the
people who died were actually in the train where the fire started after a deranged man
set fire to a milk container filled with a flammable liquid. 4 minutes after the fire started a
second train entered the station, which should not have happened had the subway
station personnel who are supposed to be monitoring everything in these stations been
doing their job. After entering the station where the first train was burning one might
expect the driver of the subway train to drive on to the next station, taking his
passengers to safety. There passengers were not, after all, simply strangers to him and
people of no concern to him. He had an implicit responsibility to see to their safety
before his own.
What did he do instead? He fled to safety, leaving the doors of the subway cars locked,
thus causing the deaths of an additional 100 or so innocent people.
In fairness to the Korean people, this story retells the opinions of one Korean Army
Sergeant, and the actions of one subway driver. I cannot argue that this is indicative of
the character of the average Korean. The kindness I have been shown by the vast
majority of Koreans I have met makes me thing otherwise. Also, as stated earlier, I have
been blessed in that I have never been in a position that required heroic acts of anyone
to come to my aid. I have personally found the Korean people to be both warm and
generous and there are many aspects of Korean society we might do well to emulate in
the United States, such as an extremely low violent crime rate just to name one.
This is something that I have been thinking long and hard about as we hear increasing
rhetoric and saber rattling from a recently admitted Nuclear North Korea. Hopefully the
need will not arise put to the ultimate test the courage of either Korean or American
soldier as we hear daily ranting about the ultimate destruction of the United States while
living adjacent to a country where the value of truth can be seen in the museum exhibit
of a 20 foot tall model of the space shuttle (complete with Hangul writing in the side),
with a caption talking of the glories of North Korean science that made it all possible. A
failed state with millions of starving citizens ruled by a dictator, who was not elected but
inherited his position, who spends almost three quarters of a million dollars a year on his
personal stock of expensive foreign liquor. A regime that has threatened to pull out of
the 1953 armistice agreement because of alleged violations on the part of the United
States yet violated that same armistice agreement days later by flying a MIG-19 fighter
jet across the Northern Limit Line. This is the same Northern Limit Line that North
Korean Navy crossed just months before that resulted in a naval engagement that
caused the deaths of almost 30 South Korean sailors.
Regardless of differences over such issues as the Status of Forces Agreement, which is
seen as fair by many Americans and unfair by many Koreans, and many other political
points of contention, we should keep in mind that the strength of the ROK/US alliance
has assured not only relative peace on the Korean Peninsula but has also served as a
catalyst for one of the most amazing economic marvels Asia has ever seen. Perhaps the
time is nearing for the US military presence to end in Korea; that is not for me to decide.
But that time is not, in my opinion at least, not here yet.