Travelling to countries that have witnessed partition and wars and managed to move on from that trauma is always an introspective experience. One ends up drawing parallels and experience a sameness of sorts. I visited South Korea last week as an invitee of the Cultural Communication Forum. For three days, 16 delegates from around the world were taken to museums, restaurants and high-tech offices to experience Korean culture.

For journalists like me, the image of Korea was of a divided nation that defeated poverty and became an economic giant. Samsung, Hyundai, high-speed Internet, efficient and dependable technology and design, kimchi and K-pop: these are most representative of the South East Asian nation that became independent from Japanese occupation in 1948, just a year after India.