- Join CSI as an associate member to receive the newsletter
CSI
Special Features
Web Columns
Center for Inquiry
Resources
|
Home
: Skeptical Briefs newsletter
: March 2000
A Korean Skeptic's Report:
New Ager-Occupied Territory
Gun-IL Kang
A deep attachment to tradition and an aspiration to wealth are cherished values
of the modern South Korean. As the nations of the world become increasingly
interdependent in the emerging information age, the cultural bonds of tradition
can be the foundation of stability and resilience in aquickly developing nation
like Korea. The desire for economic prosperity is a powerful motive for a
massive technological and societal transformation, and Korea is quickly
becoming a fully developed industrial nation despite the recent economic
setbacks.
However, tradition has also been a detriment to Korean skepticism and
scientific literacy. For example, Koreans are born believers in qi
(pronounced "chee") the foundation of traditional Asian philosophy and
medicine. In the context of culture and philosophy, belief in qi does
not itself constitute scientific illiteracy. There is however a strong,
uncritical trust in the powers of traditional medicine based on qi, at
the expense of good medical science.
1. Propagandized Medical Science
Out of the admiration of Western affluence, emulation was the obvious starting
point, fueled by a patriotic competitive spirit. Because of this, most of the
pharmaceuticals currently produced worldwide are also produced in Korea; and
for a decade or so, Koreans were surprised by the simultaneous achievement of
wealth and health.
The fact that Korea does not itself develop new pharmaceuticals seems to be a
natural consequence of competition by emulation. There is current discussion in
Korea about progressing to pharmaceutical research and development, but
unfortunately, this has heavily focused on the development of unique
breakthrough drugs from traditional Korean herbal medicines. The idea is, in
effect, to excavate the wisdom of our ancestors to build the foundations of
Korean medical and pharmaceutical research.
Needless to say, this attitude has coincided with poor medical science
education associated with traditional sectors. Outmoded traditional therapies
have been conserved, and education is devoted mostly to memorizing facts in
books. This attitude can be compared to the medieval European monks who used to
faithfully hand-copy the medical treatises of Galen. Traditional medical and
pharmacology students must still memorize antiquated medical doctrines to earn
their degrees. No one questions whether these traditional dogmas are valid to
teach or learn.
Traditional Korean Medicine (TKM)-acupuncture and herbal therapy-is not very
much different from traditional Chinese medicine, in terms of its principles of
yin-yang and the five elements theory. If there is anything native in TKM
beyond minor modifications, it is the theory of physical constitution
formulated by the nineteenth century philosopher and traditional doctor, Je-Ma
Lee.
According to Lee's theory, human beings can be classified into one of four
categories according to the size of their lungs, liver, spleen and
kidneys. Each category or "form" is specific in its temperament, propensity to
disease, suitable diet, and particular herbs for maintaining health and curing
disease. Ironically, the great modern promoter of this pseudotheory is
Dr. Myung-Bok Lee, former professor of anatomy at the School of Medicine, Seoul
National University.1
2. Retrograde Medical Policy
Corruption and a reckless pursuit of in-group interests are deeply ingrained in Korean society from industry to the public sector. Educational institutions are not at all immune to this phenomenon. There are a few who recognize that Korean problems can be cured only by the spirit of science, rationality, objectivity, and honesty.
In Korea, there are two accreditations for medical doctors: the WMD for doctors of Western medicine, and the TMD for doctors of traditional Korean medicine. All doctors are trained for six years. In addition there are Western Medicine Pharmacists (WMP), who are trained for four years.
In 1996 a separate "Traditional Medicine Pharmacists" (TMP) was also established. The creation of the TMP accreditation, circumventing WMPs' discretion in dispensing traditional drugs, was the result of furious conflicts between TMDs and WMPs beginning in 1993. Both sides staged mass demonstrations and threatened the shutdown of their clinics and pharmacies. Student boycotted classes, and at least two Ministers of Public Health and Welfare were forced to resign after arraignment for their misadministration.
Looking at this conflict, it is clear that its cause was the government's misleading policy. In the 1960s there was only one traditional medical college. The government increasingly permitted new colleges, beginning with two in 1970s. Korea now boasts eleven such colleges, producing 750 TMDs each year. The new TMDs are now so accepted and influential in the mainstream, that it was inevitable for them to fight to limit the influence of WMPs in the prescription of traditional drugs.
It is truly amazing that in a nation where Western health professionals and modern pharmaceuticals are in ample supply, a policy promoting TKM was adopted. Few seem to realize that the policy caused not only the TMD-WMP conflict, but has also led to serious national health problems.
Few in Korea are aware, even in this day and age, of the fact that acupuncture,
folk remedies, and herbs are mostly neither effective nor safe. Amid the
propaganda of TKM professionals, the government's assurance of special
consideration, and the public's uncritical belief, Korea is seeing an
unprecedented boom period of acupuncture and herbal remedies. The Korean
government even dispatched a special team of dignitaries to China to learn from
that nation's medical policies. Korean policy makers then took the retrograde
step of emulating these policies.2
3. The "Scientification" of Pseudoscience?
Korea is in critical condition because traditional medicines are promoted-in
addition to official government recognition-by scholars and scientists who
regard the defense of TKM as a sign of national pride in Korea's cultural
heritage. They insist that it is an irrefutable science, and even defend it in
the name of science.
The following is an editorial from the widely read Korean newspaper,
ChosunIlbo. The writer clearly makes no distinction between Western
medicine and Western cultural influence.
The government should not overlook the fact that Western medicine
and pharmacology is, needless to say, growing in importance with the trend of
growing globalization; traditional medicine and pharmacology should also be
esteemed. As long as the responsibility for traditional medicine rests on us,
and demand for such medical treatment still exists, more vigorous policies
should be adopted. One possible way is to establish a traditional medical
college at Seoul National University.3
An influential medical historian, Sang-Ik Whang of the School of Medicine,
Seoul National University, stresses that science existed prior to the dawn of
modern science, although its institutions and methodology were somewhat
different from those of modern times. He expanded this idea to say, in effect,
that the holistic medical doctrines of past eras, whether Hippocratic humors,
Indian Ayurveda, or Chinese qi, are all true sciences.4 He has obviously given full sway to Thomas
Kuhn's relativistic view of science.
There is a paradoxical belief in Korea that although traditional medicine
already is true science, TKM nevertheless needs to undergo "scientification."
The goal of scientification is to give scientific validity to traditional
medical dogmas like yin-yang and qi force. The Pharmaceutical Society
of Korea openly announced studies in this direction, rather than discarding and
burying the old supernatural doctrine.
The attempt to find scientific proof for acupuncture is particularly
noteworthy, since a principle researcher-Zang-Ho Cho-is also a renowned
scientist. In his investigation, he inserted needles into acupuncture points of
the foot that are theoretically connected to the eye and the visual centers in
the brain through the meridian. He then measured blood flow and oxygen levels
on the visual region of the cortex by MRI. It was reported that there was a
plus/minus 5 percent change observed with the acupuncture, compared to
controls. It seems suspicious, however, that whether the percent change is plus
or minus is explained by assuming the influence of an untested tenet of
traditional medicine: yin-yang constitutions.5
4. New Age Boosted by 210 Ph.Ds
In 1986, a book entitled New Science Movement, dealing with the
thoughts of those who were arbitrarily called "New Age scientists" (including
Fritjof Capra, David Bohm, Ilya Prigogine, Roger Sperry, et al.), was published
by the New (Age) Science Study Group. This organization is a group of eleven
prominent scientists and scholars sponsored by the DaeWoo Cultural
Foundation. Although the book generally presented skeptical opinions from a
scientific viewpoint on holistic claims, they made a blunder by christening New
Age claims as the "New Science," more or less on equal terms with the
achievements of Galileo.6 From then on,
New Science has become accepted terminology widely applied to all New Age
parasciences.
In 1994, New Agers rose to higher prominence when the Korean Society of Mind
(Psychical) Sciences was founded. The founding ceremony opened with a
demonstration of a fourteen-year-old girl's "eyeless vision," and a declaration
to investigate similar paranormal phenomena. The society consists of over 800
members: professors, research scientists, students, and others-including 210
Ph.Ds. One of the society's projects was to also study the various types of
folk medicine and phenomena in three "sections": I Ching in the
Traditional Thoughts Section; qi and spirits in the Bio-Qi
Energy Section; and clairvoyance and telepathy in the Potential Ability
Section.7
It is futile to detail the contents of the Society's regular symposia: their
topics are anything but skeptical inquiry. They have been providing TV stations
and newspapers with all sorts of paranormal claims in the name of the New
Science. One such claim is that discrete radiation from an ancestor's remains,
if damaged by water vein radiation, would pursue descendants and permanently
injure them.8 In spite of this kind of
"science," no one seems to suspect that the Society's staff, because of their
backgrounds, are simply New Agers worshipping parascience.
A board member of the Society, Gun-Woong Bang9 published a book entitled New Science Will
Change the World. In this book, he discusses various New Age topics such
as qigong, morphic fields, auras and Kirlian photography, homeopathy
and water-memory, vibrational therapy, cold fusion, perpetual motion,
biological transmutation, Mesmer and subtle energy, teleportation, etc.
The book has been widely read even by young students, becoming a
bestseller. Bang was asked to give a talk before the National Assembly Members'
science study group. According to the press report, the chairman of the study
group concluded that New Science research should be strongly supported by the
government, since the potential of such research promised to change the world
economic map. Afterwards, they even held public hearings-the step prior to a
government enactment to support New Science research.10
The scientists belonging to the Society received a hefty grant from the
government for a feasibility study. They concluded that underlying evidence of
pyramid power, music agriculture, and vibrational therapy are based on
reasonable science, and that they could be the foundation of working hypotheses
for scientific investigation.11
Apparently they have not referred to the numerous articles and papers of
skeptics on these very subjects.
5. The Role of Korean Skeptics
With a patriotic attitude toward traditional medicine in the public and wide
media coverage, profit-motivated New Agers are thriving and given full respect
in Korea. Koreans at large, regardless of educational background are attracted
more and more to superstition, and are recoiling more and more from good, solid
science and reason. This trend has actually been promoted by influential
scholars and government policy-all in the name of science.
A response to the pseudoscience trend in Korean society has only recently been
organized. A newly established organization, Korea Pseudo-Science Awareness
(KOPSA), promises to be effective. In order to fight back, organization,
intelligence and the right tactics will be indispensable. Sympathizers to
reason and science will be called on as a group force. But KOPSA also needs
advice and assistance from accomplished skeptics abroad.
Notes
- Dr. Myung-Bok Lee wrote in 1993 a bestselling book
entitled If You Know Your Constitution, Your Health Is
Guaranteed. He even taught this concept in an educational TV
program. His method of reading the constitution is based on the muscle
testing of applied kinesiology. No one knows he is simply teaching a
sympathetic magic. [Return]
- The Western versus Traditional dualism of the Chinese
medical system is unique but far from ideal. In Japan, traditional doctors
were not trained after 1885. When chairman Mao Zedong took over mainland
China in 1949, he inevitably and politically emphasized TCM. China, in
fact, has made efforts to augment the western system up to the point that
about 15 to 20 percent of patients become TCM-dependent (B.L. Beyerstein,
and W. Sampson. 1996. Skeptical Inquirer 20(4): 18-26). [Return]
- The editorial titled Traditional and Western
Medicines Should Be Complemented appeared in ChosunIlbo on May 18,
1996. The tone is nothing different from that of most Koreans who regard
Western medicines as inroads of Western culture in their
territory. Naturally they believe that in Korea something modern and unique
should be created corresponding to the Western one. They are not going to
accept that science is an universal way of thinking and finding the
truth. [Return]
- Dr. Sang-Ik Whang expressed this view in the book review
of Modern Drug Discovery Stories, which appeared in
MunwhaIlbo on April 23, 1997. The title of the review was "An
Argument Against Determining Statement that Traditional Medicine is
Unscientific." The book, written by me, was simply an account of drug
discovery stories but it was stated in the author's introduction that
modern drugs created from the 19th century by applying scientific method to
the finding of efficacy and safety are valued different from traditional
ones. Open supporters for my views are rarely encountered. [Return]
- This appeared in JungangIlbo on June 12,
1997. Dr. Zang-Ho Cho presented the result at the National Assembly special
guest lecture. Later, it was reported (MunwhaIlbo, March 5,
1998) that the result was published in PNAS-USA (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA
95, 2670-2673). Kyung Hee University informed me that the press expression
of yin-yang constitutions was erroneous and yin-yang in the paper simply
denotes two separate groups of opposite signals. Additionally, it was
reported that the reproducibility of their work had not been tested and
proved by other researchers. [Return]
- The publisher of New Science Movement,
Sung-Bom Lee, is also a member of the New Science Study Group and an
arduous promoter of various New Age publications, including those of
Fritjof Capra and James Lovelock. Strange enough, those New Age books in
his New Science Series were found to be mixed with orthodox science books
such as Ever Since Darwin by Steven J. Gould and Anatomy
of a Scientific Discovery by Jeff Goldberg. In Korea around thirty
translated books of new age authors were published and those books have
been widely promoted and recognized as the twenty-first century advanced
science. [Return]
- These were found in ChosunIlbo (October 20,
1994 and May 6, 1997). The Korean Society of Mind Sciences is a legitimate
science association registered at Ministry of Science and
Technology. President Dr. Choong-Woong Lee of the Society, electronics
professor of Seoul National University, expressed his having special
interest on telepathy communication (MunwaIlbo, April 16,
1997). There is another new age scholar group called "Future Foreseers."
The key member of the group appeared in the newspaper is Dr. Jun-Sik Choi,
professor of religious studies of Ewha Woman's University. According to the
press report (ChosunIlbo, April 29, 1997). Dr. Choi organized
an international new science symposium inviting authorities on UFO, cold
fusion, superefficient machine breaking the second law of thermodynamics
and human special ability. [Return]
- The article was written by two members including a board
member of the Korean Society of Mind Sciences in one of the series of
"Water Vein and Health" in ChosunIlbo on August 25, 1996. In
another article of the series (September 1, 1996), they cited Rupert
Sheldrake's morphic field and Lyall Watson's "The Hundredth Monkey Story."
[Return]
- Dr. Gun-Woong Bang, one the most popular New Age
promoters in Korean earned a Ph.D. in materials engineering from
Northwestern University, U.S.A. and presently a senior researcher of Korea
Research Institute of Standards and Science. He is well versed in Korean
philosophy classics. When I contacted him asking for a detailed story of
the girl's eyeless vision, he telefaxed me seven pages of the story
including some of his philosophy. [Return]
- According to ChosunIlbo (July 23, 1997),
Rep. Sang-Hee Ri, former minister of Science and Technology invited
Dr. Bang to the seminar. Dr. Bang informed me that Rep. Ri is presently
less positive and another Rep. Ho-Sun Chung is active enough to organize
the public hearing on April 16, 1998. Detailed setting of the hearing was
known to be made by Dr. Min-Yong Park, Yonsei University engineering
professor. Dr. Park told me that the New Science discussed in the hearing
was not specific but the one broadly embracing contents of Dr. Bang's book
New Science Will Change the World. The Naeway Economic
Daily (April 16, 1998) reported that the law would direct to the
promotion of Ki related researchers and practices including qualification
standards of qigong therapists and special (super) ability
holders. [Return]
- Reporting this with a title of "Mysterious Space
Energy" (MunwhaIlbo, June 30, 1997), the newspaper inserted a
big photograph of pyramid in which sat two researchers including principal
investigator Dr. Mun-Cho Chung of Korean Institute of Science and
Technology. It is obvious for them to believe as well as pyramidology
Backster effect, unnaturalistic vibrational therapy and Robert Jahn's
PK. Although Dr. Chung promised to send their research report on my
request, it did not reach me. [Return]
Gun-Il Kang earned his Ph.D. degree from the University of
British Columbia, Vancouver. A former pharmaceutical chemistry professor at
Sookmyung Women's University in Korea, he wrote ten science related books.
Related Information
|
|