A couple of peices in today’s Korea Times point to the growing impact of Internet technology on Korean society. (Even on the remote Dokdo islets, seven hours by boat from the mainland, broadband has been installed.) The first is on the withdrawl of Sony Pictures from Korea, due to slumping sales caused by the nation’s high rate of broadband Internet acces and p2p downloading.

It is often said that Koreans, regarded as one of the most tech-savvy people in the world, live two or three years ahead of everyone else. However, the movie industry is certainly hoping that the country isn’t representative of the future of film distribution.

I used to shrug at those little clips that appeared before a film asking the audience things like, “You wouldn’t steal a car… piracy is theft!” I have a freind here who works for Sony and just might be out of a job because of this. Very sad.

Sony was the last among major movie studios to grind it out in the difficult Korean market. Paramount, Universal, Buena Vista and 20th Century Fox packed their bags in 2006 and last year.

It really is indicative of how technology is redrawing life here. According to the artcile even once ubiquitous video stores are fast disappearing, replaced by street side vendors selling pre-release DVD’s for pennies on the won.

Even Korea’s traditional Thanksgiving holiday, called Chuseok, is being affected. Once a time for families to return to their rural roots to pay respect to ancestors, many are now simply logging on to send the equivalent of an e-card to their revered predecessors.

As per the article

Last weekend, most highways were jammed with those trying to pay an early visit to their ancestors. But even ‘smarter’ holidaymakers opt out of congestions by using ‘beolcho,’ or (online) grave weeding services.

Similar services exist for food preparations, once a time consuming task for young women who are obliged to prepare a traditional feast as offerings for the departed, is now a simple click of the mouse.

Harkening back to Korea’s Confucian spirit, a folklore professor at the end of the article bemoans the diminishing “sincerity” in these virtual gestures of respect.

The holiday is also a time for families to gather and learn about their roots. The changing trend simply shows materialism and expediency.

In his Analects, Confucius advised China’s rulers that besides food and weapons, in governing one must strive to “make the people sincere.” Perhaps the Internet is Korea’s own 21st century version of the Cultural Revolution.

Peter Schurmann blogs at Korea Dispatch