[Initial Moment] There Is No Global Village

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] There was a time when words like Global village and Globalization spread like a trend. In the 1990s, when the spread of neoliberal economic ideology and active opening of borders made it feel as if all the people of the earth were holding hands. The scene of people wearing traditional costumes of each country on the blue earth, smiling and gathering in a large Ganggangsullae circle, was once a common image on paintings and posters everywhere.

Globalization was real. With technological advancements, people around the world exchanged information quickly without the constraints of time and space through wired and wireless networks, becoming mutually dependent. Now, one can know the news of a person living on the opposite side of the huge planet with a diameter of 12,800 km faster and in more detail than the news of a neighbor. Not to mention the cross-border social and cultural activities taking place in virtual worlds like the metaverse.

But does the global village really exist? The concept that the entire globe is like one village community feels like a joke today, after 70 days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The development of the war shows not a community but even stronger boundaries and disconnections between nations, ethnicities, and continents.

John Mearsheimer, the distinguished professor at the University of Chicago famous for having long predicted Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has repeatedly emphasized the illusion and reality of the global village through the realist theory of international relations. One of the biggest characteristics of the international system he mentions is the absence of hierarchy and government?in other words, anarchy. This is the reality we are witnessing now.

Thousands of civilians have died from Russia’s attacks in Ukraine, but there is no higher authority to quickly step in and resolve this situation. No one would foolishly think of international organizations like the United Nations (UN), International Monetary Fund (IMF), or World Bank (WB) as superior bodies that can stop the war.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

How is the Republic of Korea perceiving the Ukraine war? It is hard to deny that as the war drags on, people are becoming numb to the daily horrific scenes of civilian massacres. We do not know much about today’s Myanmar, where the military seized power through a coup and shocked the world with murder and violence. Massacres have continued there for over a year. The majority of the National Assembly members, who represent the consciousness and level of our citizens, did not even attend Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s video speech. This is evidence that the world and Korea are connected only technically beyond time and space, while the sense of community is actually growing more distant.

A book titled War Diary, recently published in Korea, was written by Olga Grebennik, a Ukrainian picture book author born in 1986, who depicted the horrors of war through short texts and illustrations. She is also a mother of two children aged 9 and 4, and the book deals with the daily life she had to endure after suddenly becoming a refugee. The last diary entry was written on March 12, and the book was released on the 7th of last month (for the first time in Korea). Seeing a current tragedy in an Eastern European country become a book within a month and be delivered to our doorstep in Korea makes us realize anew how closely the world remains connected.

Lee Yeonsil, CEO of the publisher Iyagi Jangsu, said that the usual two-month process of manuscript acquisition, editing, and design was hurriedly completed in just half a month. All translation fees and part of the profits from the book will be donated to the Ukrainian Red Cross. The response to this book on social media is intense. It is likely the expression of a heart wanting to care for someone unknown directly. And it is evidence of our lingering attachment to not give up the sense of global community.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.