How similar are Korea and Germany?

I saw many young soldiers at Korean airports and train stations

……which is very familiar to me from when I was a conscript myself in the 70s. I had to serve 15 months, Koreans 21 months. Half my high school mates got away with not serving – not so easy in Korea. Good! Military service in Germany was dictated by the cold war, which was most evident in a divided Germany, with a deadly border just like Korea’s today. Germans and Koreans created their own post-war economic miracle – unprecedented growth and prosperity created by industrious, inventive, resilient people. Today Korea is not only among the top nations measured by GDP per person, but was recently awarded the title of the world’s most innovative country (Germany was in third place). Germans and Koreans can be very proud of their countries! What will be a deja vu for many Germans is that the young generation in Korea are now asking their parents: “What now? Only work, work, work is not what we want. Democracy and quality of life are important to us.” This value crisis is now unfolding in Korea. Good – because Germans got through it and so will Koreans. Here are some German impressions:

The smokestacks are from the largest cluster of power stations in Germany – near Düsseldorf (my former hometown), fired by soft coal which is quite controversial these days. The steeple is in the small town of Neukirchen, where I also shot the sunrise during an early summer walk with my wife – jet-lagged from our flight from Vancouver 🙂