Ten commandments for today’s South Koreans

Time to change tactics: Brief shows of amity to North Korea were followed by further deterioration of bilateral relations and ever-heightening nuclear blackmail, says the writer. – AFP

TEACHINGS from ancestors, dead or alive, are worth taking seriously because they are absolutely unselfish pieces of advice for a successful life of posterity. In family gatherings on occasions like Chuseok that we celebrated earlier this month in South Korea, teachings are passed down from the older to younger generations.

Parents will want to deliver to their children the advice they have received from their own parents with some modifications they feel are necessary out of their lifelong experiences. Meanwhile, their sons and daughters should listen and not openly raise objections. As children grow older, this kind of communication, often in the form of one-way traffic, goes on to form a family tradition.