KOREAN (1) – VIETNAMESE COOPERATION ADVANTAGES AND SHORTCOMINGS FROM A CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

From a cultural perspective, the paper analyzes advantages of the KoreanVietnamese relation brought about by cultural similarities which foster its development as well as the differences between the two cultures which have caused shortcomings and challenges to the relation. 1. Similarities: · Both the traditional Korean and Vietnamese culture are agriculture-based and full of humanities with distinctive features: sensibility, sophistication, harmony with nature, and the capacity for love and spiritual matters. · Both are peripheral satellites in the sphere of influence of the two great cultural centers, China and India, which leave a profound impact on traditional Korea and Vietnam, namely the centralized feudalist model of state organization, Confucianism, the Chinese language, and Buddhism. These cultural similarities are advantages in the Korean-Vietnamese relation which promote a special development in recent years.2. Differences: The Korea and Vietnamese cultures are both ancient with thousands of years of development in different natural and social contexts, and hence, have different identities. Therefore, the existence of differences in the cultural life of the two nations is common and inevitable. However, the major difference that has hindered the Korean-Vietnamese relation in recent years lies mostly in the discrepancy in the modernity level of the two cultures originating from the unequally developed labor force of each nation. The modern Korean way of life and work culture is an industrialized one with the following features: emphasis on technology, respect for the law, efficiency-orientedness, dynamism, mobility and fast pace. In contrast, the modern Vietnamese way of life and work culture is still tinted with habits and customs of a largely agriculture-based society such as lack of discipline and legal knowledge, ignorance of the law, tardiness, scientific and technological inefficiency, lack of competitiveness, poor foreign language and communication skills, etc. As a result, the most serious shortcoming of the KoreanVietnamese relation during the past few years is failing to shorten the gap between the development levels of the labor force of the two countries, and to successfully transfer the highly advanced Korean work culture and management practice onto the Vietnamese partner. The most important reason leading to this drawback is both sides are still illprepared to effectively support the rapid development in this relation.