Juche (the political and quasi-moral philosophy I adhere to) is kind of in contempt with traditional Korean culture, given that under that mindset it is good to be both simultaneously modern (gunsewe) and for obviously some more /fundamental/ Korean values to be upheld (chajusong). But a lot of the things he believed were just bourgeois fuckwittery; however, that was just my opinion and remains so. He was an old style Korean Shamanist (believing in bullshit like the various house-gods; he would actually do the 'ground setting' ritual every time he bought new property) and had always been part of the merchant class (he traded goods in imperial-Japan occupied Korea, and was a shopkeeper of various stores in Edinburgh too; mostly corner joints.) I'm at disgust because he was in support of a regime that forced, what was his people too, to become mere puppets of mad-hat pro-Tojo fascist nutcases, just so he could maintain his profit.
However, I was really upset when he died; I almost felt like committing suicide. Aside from his eccentricities, a very bright man; he learned English largely off his own back and had an honest gift of gab. We did share some taste in classical music, especially from Korean composers like Yun I San.
