Hurry Hurry Culture

Guus Hiddink, former head coach of the Korean national football team, once said, ¡°The first Korean words I learned were ¡®ppalli ppalli.¡¯¡± Not only foreigners but also local Koreans list ¡®ppalli ppalli¡¯ meaning ¡®hurry hurry¡¯ as a symbol of Korean traits.
When top scientist Hwang Woo-suk fell from his lofty perch amid a wave of allegations questioning his research in 2005, the country¡¯s competitive culture of always hurrying was partly to blame. The Hwang Woo-suk case is a good example that in Korean society there still exists remnants of the past experience of fast growth. It is a problem of the Korean social system that desires fast results. In that kind of rush to be the first, people tend to cut corners. Sometimes the end justifies the means with such a culture. In addition, things that get in the way like sticking to the rules are annoying and seen as secondary.

Such an ¡®always hurrying spirit¡¯ is symbolized in everything from the hellish traffic in most cities in Korea to Koreans¡¯ love of quick-hit coffee and downing shots of alcohol in a single gulp. Many citizens have a penchant to crowd in front of subway cars and not let exiting passengers leave before trying to push inside. The ¡®always hurrying spirit¡¯ makes people impatient.

The ¡®hurry hurry spirit¡¯ sometimes leads to deadly effect. In 1995, a department store in Seoul collapsed, killing 501 people, in an accident blamed on faulty construction because of illegal design changes made after bribes to officials, which were referred to as ¡®hurry-up¡¯ money. A bridge also collapsed in the city in 1994 for similar reasons, killing 32. Korea¡¯s ¡®ppalli ppalli¡¯ syndrome makes every thing fast, but not safe. The work safety culture is not very advanced in Korea mostly because of the hurry hurry culture.
On the other hand, the dynamic culture has its merits. The rushing spirit has helped Koreans build the country from the ruins of the Korean War into the world¡¯s 11th largest economy. For example, companies like Samsung Electronics are leaders in production of memory chips, flat-screen displays, chips, and mobile phones. Such corporate achievements are regularly feted in local media as a source of pride for all.

In addition, Koreans might not have got to where they are today without hustling. That speed will also help the country recover quickly from any national hardship and keep up its breakneck development. The fast recovery from the IMF bailout crisis in late 1990¡¯s is a good example. Several countries collapsed financially around the time when Korea was struck by a fatal financial plunge, but Korea was the only and the first to bounce back from the damage. The hurry-up culture encouraged citizens to reclaim its position more quickly than any other country.
The ¡®hurry up culture¡¯ is one of the features Koreans have. This culture is obviously good from the productivity perspective. Fueled by this ¡®ppalli ppalli¡¯ culture, individuals and companies can achieve their goals before the time they set. Once the achievement contributes to further prosperity, this unique virtue, the hurry hurry culture, should not be blamed but to be encouraged.

Increasingly, however, less time is spent on matters that require reflection, without which moving forward may become just spinning wheels.