A Perspective on Promoting South Korean-Canadian Relations

A Perspective on Promoting South Korean-Canadian Relations

Transnationalism is at the heart of any current effort to make progress in improving cross-cultural relations. The drive to develop the permanent integration of multiple identities across boundaries based on distinct national cultures is a fundamental part of multinational struggle, but the results can be inclusive; multiple identities can be added rather than subtracted from each other. Transnationalism is well-known scholarly approach to studying the increased influence nationalities have on one another as an essential part of the globalization process, but here it is meant to shed light on the enhancement, rather than the integration of Korea and Canada. Domestically, this synergistic phenomenon is referred to as the cultural “mosaic” in Canada, as it includes a multiplicity of cultures, but here the specific relationship between these two far flung nations will be discussed. The discussion here of how individuals and groups coming from their own cultural milieu approach each other, how they mix and how they understand each other is, out of necessity mostly limited to the perspective a Korean-Canadian might have of Canada, rather than the perspective a Canadian-Korean might have of Korea, but it also includes general reflections on Canadian culture, both domestic and international. To this end, the paper has been divided into sections based on three concepts: comparison, emphasis and commonality. This is meant to be an analysis of and a reflection on the positive, which presents a general blueprint for the continued development of international relations and the accruement of cultural knowledge between South Korea and Canada.