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Korea's  Attitude of Selective Acceptance

	The approach advocating a selective acceptance of Western ways begins with the Confucian scholars of the late-Choson period. These thinkers held that the East was proficient in the "so" (Way) while the West had technical know-how. This view was particularly developed by early progressives such as Yu Kil-chun (1856-1914). Adherents of this view, believed that Eastern spiritual values were superior, but that Western technology and institutions were more advanced; therefore, the East should only accept those things which it lacked. This attitude represented a transitional approach, and was soon pushed aside by an approach calling for full-scale acceptance of Western culture. Even so, in Korea, this attitude of selective acceptance is still a common intellectual position.
	As seen before, this kind of cultural-specific attitude towards the acquisition of foreign culture is apparent when looking at the wall paintings of Koguryo tombs. The Koguryo people accepted the expanding classical Chinese culture along with its mythology; however, they expressed this mythology according to their own aesthetic sense. This approach signifies the beginning of a critical attitude towards culture. This critical and independent stance is also clearly evident among the Neo-Confucian scholars of the Choson Dynasty. These scholars, noting that the classical spirit of Confucianism had already disappeared in Qing China and thus only remained in Korea, referred to Korea as "Small China." While accepting the fact that Korea was militarily under the influence of the Qing, they proudly maintained that Korea was culturally at the center of East Asia. Thus, an attitude of selective acceptance is a legacy that has endured since Koguryo times, through the Choson period to the present. Yet, this attitude has not been able to shield Korea from the turbulent waves of history. Korean society has thus been caught up in the currents of world history until now. Even so, Koreans have managed to carefully assimilate the world's cultural heritage within the context of their own cultural sentiments and traditions.

From the above discussion, we have seen how a diverse range of religions and value systems, including Korea's unique sense of identity, classical Asian religions such as Confucianism and Buddhism as well as Christianity and modern ideologies from the West, have coexisted in Korea. Thus, since ancient times, Korea has thus been a multi-religious society, but it was only in the 20th century that this took on any great significance.

One more aspect of Korea's multireligious society that deserves mention is folk beliefs, including shamanism. Korean folk beliefs still exist in many diverse forms, and thus have a strong influence on everyday life. For example, many people travel on dates that are traditionally held to be auspicious, with the result that big cities often become chaotic during this time. These folk beliefs are still very much alive in farming and fishing villages. Among folk traditions, shamanism is the most prominent. Nobody knows the number of shamanist devotees in Korea, but at present, there are well over 50,000 fee-paying members of shamanist organizations throughout the country. In other words, the number of shamans in Korea far exceeds the number of Protestant ministers. Moreover, Korea is a country in which dazzling shaman rituals still take place. Yet, religious surveys typically fail to include the shamanist population.

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