I have been a student of Korean politics, society, and culture for about 30 years. That is a long time — but nothing compared to the task. One thing I remember hearing from several of my close Korean friends is that Korea is among the most Confucian of societies. My research and interviews found this to be true. This is meant, to my understanding, as a comment about the history of Korean culture but also about it in its present or contemporary expression. Certainly, Korea has come a long way from the time of Confucianism’s transmission during the Three Kingdoms period (57 BCE – 668 CE). Nor is it the same society that saw nationalist formation following the 1950-53 Korean War. The liberalist and feminist or womanist components of Korean culture are present and growing and weren’t present at its outset. Korean Confucianism is no longer bound to a landed gentry or to any kind of elite or gentry at all. Of course, I acknowledge that these are claims which require proof. My purpose in this column is to illustrate the argument that Confucianism in South Korea today is expressed thro