Korean Job Discussion Forums

[travelingfool]

This was awhile back but I thought you might this interesting. The US state department had an 'ask the ambassador' forum so I thought I would pose this question. Here is a copy of my question and the Ambassador's response:

�Ask the ambassador� question:

I worked in Korea as a teacher in Seoul. There seem to be quite a few people there who simply don't like the U.S. and want our military to leave. I saw signs that read "Yankee go home." We are obviously not welcome there to say the least. The only people who seemed to want our military to stay were people who had lived through the war. My question is why are we still there? I think the South is quite capable of defending themselves.

Ambassador Vershbow:

Actually, recent polls show that a solid majority (60%) of South Koreans have an overall favorable opinion of the United States, with an increased majority (65%, up from 56% in 2006) also saying that the ROK-U.S. security alliance is in good shape.
Even larger majorities (75%) support the maintenance of U.S. troops on the peninsula, with 68% also saying that South Korea should maintain the security alliance with the U.S. even after reunification. I think those numbers clearly speak for themselves.
That being said, we and the South Koreans agree that they should shoulder more of the responsibility for their own defense, and this is taking place as we update our military Alliance.

*Interesting numbers for sure.

[anyway]

Bollocks! Didn't even quote the source. Excellent example of how 'public opinion polls' are used to justify anything and everything...

[RACETRAITOR]

It is a pretty smart reply. I get the impression that any anti-Americanism you perceive is more just general xenophobia. They did just elect a pro-American president, don't forget.

[definitely maybe]

[travelingfool]

How does the saying go? There are lies, and there are statistics.

I never asked where those numbers came from. For all I know he could have pulled them out of from where the sun don't shine.

I mean, there must be some validity to those numbers. He is a US government official after all, and we know they always tell the truth

[spliff]

I don't know a single Korean person that is anti-American. Are there any?

[Scotticus]

[anyway]