K.C. (Kyung-choon) Hwang, undisputed doyen of international journalism in Seoul, stays healthy at 92, frequently writing for an online circular of retired journalists, diplomats, professors and others who like to share their thoughts on contemporary affairs here and abroad.

“Seolmaga Saram Japneunda” was the title of a piece the former Seoul bureau chief of the Associated Press in the 1970s wrote in Korean right after the Brexit vote. It means “‘Seolma’ kills you” or, more mildly, “‘Seolma’ can put you into a disaster.” He argued that the 52-48 decision of the Britons to leave the European Union was the outcome of what he dubbed “seolma” mentality.

Many Brits in the street told BBC and CNN in interviews that they regretted their votes for “Leave.” They did so in the belief the Brexit would not get majority support. This is how the seolma sentiment worked in Great Britain, Hwang noted.

“Seolma” is one of the many Korean words that have no exact matching word in English and perhaps in most other languages. It is an interjection used to express doubt about the happening of something undesirable with the nuance of a negative wish. In casual conversations between friends, it goes like this: “You don’t really believe that, do you? Seolma!” It is sometimes roughly translated to “no way.”

In the Brexit referendum, we can suppose a Londoner who basically wants his country to remain an EU member but voted the opposite, counting on the collective force of others to supersede his own choice. He does not want a big change while he is not wholly satisfied with the status quo, hence the contradictory behavior. Just as there were a number of Englishmen who were caught in this kind of ambivalence on June 23, many Koreans felt the same during the April 13 general elections.

Hwang said he himself thought the ruling Saenuri Party would not, seolma, lose to the opposition, but the result was surprising. The tables were turned because far more people than expected cast their ballots not to the first and second parties, but to the People’s Party, giving it 38 of the total 300 National Assembly seats. Had anyone predicted the nascent opposition party would collect 13 seats out of 47 allotted for proportional representation to beat The Minjoo Party in the separate vote to parties, no one would have believed them.

Hwang is concerned that Americans this November could be tested by the seolma psychology. Many people are attracted to Donald Trump’s protectionist and isolationist calls on trade and security and are agitated by his anti-immigration diatribes, although they knew he lacks in overall qualifications for a national leader. If the seolma thought takes hold, the U.S. could produce a president embarrassing to both Americans and the rest of the world.

Our sage Hwang’s warning goes on about North Korea’s Kim Jong-un in connection with the seolma mentality. People in South Korea read how the North is improving its missile and nuclear capabilities and watch the videos of rockets launching over there almost every day, yet they live like they are oblivious to the possible danger of the young dictator in Pyongyang using the extreme weapons on the South anytime he decides to.

That South Korean society, the political community in particular, is so deeply in schisms that further aggravates in internal disputes day by day in the face of the apocalyptic threats from the North proves how much our national psyche is infected by seolma, the wrong kind of optimism.

Many here still choose to believe that “Pyongyang will not dare fire its nuclear missiles at us, we being the same Korean nation.” The harsh language and extreme words Pyongyang TV announcers use these days in their conveyance of “declarations” by the North’s various authorities show the Korean national identity has long been ditched into the gutter along the path to dynastic dictatorship there.

It we learned anything from the Brexit, the people and the government of the Republic of Korea, the newly elected 300 representatives included, should get rid of the seolma sense in our awareness of external and internal realities. We need to make a fundamental review of where we are and what we should do to take on new challenges. Irresponsible optimism that the worst will not happen should be rejected in private as well as governmental decision-making.

One question is whether our president can change her style of governing from the hitherto detachment and aloofness from pressing national issues and her seeming obsession to maintain her political influence on the powers that be. Instead of reading her notes containing abstract instructions for Cabinet members, Blue House secretaries and industrialists at perfunctory conventions, she needs to engage in intense, exhaustive discussions with them and plunge herself into action to tackle real problems.

Newspapers and online outlets nowadays are packed with stories of continuing factional strife in parties, managerial irregularities at public enterprises and conglomerates, feared collapse of shipbuilding and shipping industries, unjust practices in the legal profession, corruption in arms purchase, widespread youth unemployment and struggling small industries. The social maladies of increasing divorces and suicides and the rapidly aging society can hardly share news space. Oh, one more thing: the eternal woes from the April 2014 Sewol ferry tragedy.

Compared to other regions far and near, this country may still belong to the brighter side: Night streets are relatively safe, welfare benefits are spreading wider, corrupt officials are prosecuted and punished, military officers remain depoliticized, workers are guaranteed payments for their labor, rights of the underprivileged are protected and our students study hard -- rather too hard actually. Yet, the future looks dimmer and dimmer, and we dearly need to see a true change, this time from top to bottom. 

Brexit showed the smallest possibility can transpire into reality with the accumulation of irresponsible choices. While experts here are assessing fallouts from the splitting European Union and studying ways to minimize damage, we are still surprised at the apparent seolma mentality of Englishmen, supposedly the more reasonable people of the West.

And we are now worried about the direction the American people will choose in November, some possibly trapped in the same mentality as their brothers across the Atlantic.

By Kim Myong-sik

Kim Myong-sik is a former editorial writer for The Korea Herald. He can be reached at kmyongsik@hanmail.net --Ed.