Confucianism: A Social Virus in the Way of Progress

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In the past 90 years, Korea has lost its sovereignty, fallen victim to colonialism for 35 years and suffered a devastating civil war in 1950-53. It is now engulfed in an economic crisis that at one point brought the entire nation to its knees.

A number of answers can be given that address these incidents from social, economic and geopolitical perspectives. However, when viewed from a domestic perspective says one outspoken critic, there is a common factor that never fails to show itself: Confucianism.

``The evils of Confucianism are always at work in the center of all these watershed incidents that have drawn back Korea's development process,'' said Kim Kyong-il, 40, a professor of Chinese Literature at Sangmyung University in Seoul, in his recent collection of essays entitled ``Confucius Must Die if Korea is to Survive (Pada Publishing Co., 327 pp).''

As indicated by the title, his writing style is sensational and provocative with a piercing, if not acid quality to a …