U.S. Election Week: A Brief Update from the South Korean Front

“So… Donald Trump is winning the election, right?” Thus began several conversations with our acquaintances here circa Wednesday (EST). As I write this post, ballots are still being counted in a number of key states, and the results of the U.S. Presidential election are unknown. Despite living 14 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, we were disappointed to discover that we are not privy to learning election results any earlier than the rest of the world. We have been following the news closely this week and feel justified in all our efforts to ensure that our ballots would reach Pennsylvania in time to be counted. In other words, I didn’t research overseas voting, cut and paste envelopes, and walk to the U.S. Embassy twice for nothing!

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First let me clarify: the United States is not the center of the universe. We’ve spoken with many people here who don’t express any strong feelings about the U.S., its policies, or even its president. With the exception of this week, U.S. issues usually are not headline news in South Korea. Having said that, we’ve had many conversations over the past couple of weeks with people from all over the world currently living in Seoul. It has not been our practice to raise the topic of U.S. politics with new acquaintances, but a number of folks have asked us about the election and have wanted to understand more about the political process. These conversations always have been interesting and often have been surprising.

Several times, we have written about South Korea’s paradoxical relationship with the United States. On one hand, there are Koreans (especially the older generation) who still revere the United States for its participation in the Korean War and its intervention on behalf of South Korea. Our understanding is that politically, many in this camp do not have a desire to engage with North Korea. Therefore, they were disillusioned by Donald Trump’s open discussions with Kim Jung-Un, as well as by the Trump administration’s pressure on South Korea to pay a much larger than usual amount to maintain the U.S. military presence in the country.

Conversely, there are Koreans who still blame the United States for its role in dividing the Korean Peninsula along the 38th parallel at the end of World War II. Normally, this group would not be inclined to support a political platform that emphasizes increased military spending or military engagement outside of the U.S. However, many in this camp favor more direct engagement with North Korea, so they supported Trump’s talks with Kim Jung-Un, only to be disappointed when those talks led no closer to Korean reunification and denuclearization.

Both Koreans and citizens from all over the world have asked us questions about how American politics play out in our everyday life in the U.S. Many times now I have been asked, “Do you feel safe there?” Sometimes this curiosity is related to U.S. management of COVID-19, and sometimes it is related to perceptions widespread gun ownership, gun violence and violent crime. I have explained that when I walk down most streets in Seoul at night, I feel very safe. When I walk down most streets in the U.S. at night, I do not feel safe. Some we have met have shared that although they wanted to travel to the U.S. in the past, they no longer want to visit. This may have nothing to do with their political opinions but a general sense that the U.S. reputation in the world has been tarnished.

Acquaintances here mostly are incredulous about the lack of COVID management in the U.S., although some are from countries whose governments have been almost equally lax in their management. With these folks, we usually end up commiserating and reflecting how relieved we are to be in South Korea right now.

We have also spent some time explaining to many international acquaintances here about the complex dynamics that led to the Black Lives Matter movement. Many with whom we have spoken were not really aware of the ongoing history of racism in the U.S., and so they are confused about why there have been widespread protests in the country over the past months. Some initially classified all the protests as “riots,” and so we have needed to explain not only that all protests are not riots, but also the need for action in the face of systemic racism and violence perpetrated against Black Americans.

Many younger Koreans with whom we have spoken honestly don’t pay that much attention to U.S. policies or politics at all. Much of their knowledge is based on Korean media, which seems to present a pretty limited view of U.S. political dynamics. Not to mention, the U.S. understandably is not headline news here most of the time. Only during this election week have Korean newspapers consistently displayed headlines relating to U.S. news. Much of the news has focused on how a Biden versus an ongoing Trump presidency would impact South Korean policies and world relationships.

The electoral college is universally baffling to our international group here. Of course, this is hardly surprising as a lot of Americans barely understand the system. Even the South Korean media was declaring that a Trump win was inevitable at 3am EST on November 4. I was yelling at the TV, “you don’t understand the electoral college!” Peter’s colleagues had understood on Wednesday (EST) from Korean media that Trump was expected to win the presidential race, so he had some explaining to do at work. Of course, it soon became clear that all votes had not been counted and that a victor could not be declared, so the media here is now content to report just that. There is a lot of speculation about whether a Biden presidency will be better for the South Korean economy (informal media survey says yes) and whether Biden will be better for relations with North Korea (informal media survey says no).

Despite not being overly familiar with U.S. politics (in general), our friends and colleagues here have been very kind and supportive this week. I’ve had multiple texts from new friends in Seoul about how we are holding up under the election uncertainty, and every group I’ve interacted with this week has asked about the election. Peter’s colleagues at the university have been similarly curious and supportive. We’ve also been reminded that the citizens of some countries don’t have the right to vote and still look to the U.S. to be an example of working democracy. On Saturday, November 7 (KST) we hiked with an international group who suddenly were very interested to hear that we are from Pennsylvania. Typically, no one we meet knows about Philadelphia, which we have to describe by our proximity to NYC or Washington, D.C., but now everyone knows all about us!

While we have not often felt the need to apologize for the United States, we have felt the desire to be the best ambassadors we can for our country. We are aware that while the U.S. is not the center of the universe, we also don’t live in a bubble. Our policies do affect other nations, and others often are watching to see if the U.S. will set a good example for the rest of the world. May it be so.