My name is Daniel. I was an English teacher in Seoul, South Korea, and am now a writer who has

published three books including South Korea: Our Story by Daniel Nardini.

                               Before I had stated that Korea does not have a written history of 5,000 years. Ten

countries: Bolivia, China, Egypt, Greece, India, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Mexico and Peru, do have a history of at

least 4,000 years or more. These countries contained the oldest and earliest civilizations known to humanity,

which Korea does not. But as I said before, this is not the whole story. Being the oldest known countries

does not mean that these countries provide a good quality of life for their people. The over-whelming majority of

people in both China and India are poor, and worse may own no more than the clothes on their backs. Greece

is in near-economic collapse and most of its people are now poor. Bolivia is more or less stable, but even

here country is experience economic stagnation and a high poverty rate. Both Egypt and Iraq are politically,

economically and socially unstable, and Iran has one of the most repressive governments on earth. Mexico and Peru are doing economically better than they were ten years ago, but Peru is trying to rebuild itself after a

20 year leftist insurgency, and rid itself of corruption from the regime of its President Alberto Fujimori. Mexico

is still fighting a vicious drug war against cartels that have killed so many Mexicans. While poverty is not

everywhere in Mexico and Peru, both countries do have many areas where poverty is a major problem. 

Only Italy seems to be political, economically and socially stable compared to the other nine countries. While

South Korea may not be among the oldest countries on earth, there is so much more going for South Korea

compared to the nine countries I have mentioned. The average Korean has a good standard of living,

South Korea is a democracy, has highly developed economic and physical infrastructure, can and

does provide more than enough food for its population, and most Koreans live better than at any time in

their history. In my view providing a better quality of life is more important than being an old country. Being

the oldest civilization does not mean being the best.