Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Lawrence]

Thank you weatherman and kiwi. I can't help some of the others. To
understand this slightly complex series of events requires some perspective, reasoning ability, and life experience. The Korean part:

a) The workers' mercenary attitude, and apparent ignorance at rushing
in to the world's number one hot spot FOR MONEY ALONE AND WITH
THE FEELING THAT NOBODY WOULD HARM A KOREAN.

b) The willingness of the entire group to quit at the first bad result (when
all others have stayed) and BREAK A VITAL CONTRACT thus setting
back the overall effort.

c) The Korean managers disregard for established security standards
that other international workers are afforded. The easy willingness
they have to @#$% their own.

d) Abducting, throwing food, and crying when it all goes south....

e) There is obviously more, if you passed Mrs. Hendick's first grade
reading class then it is all there to enjoy and consider. If you didn't,
you can always get work in Kwangju..

But the kicker is the contrast this provides to the 50 PLUS YEARS
OF COMMITMENT THE US HAS MADE TO SOUTH KOREA. WE WOULD
NOT BE HERE TODAY (teachers) , NONE OF US, IF THE US FOLLOWED THIS PATHETIC EXAMPLE AND CUT & RAN ... It is
amazing to me that Sec. Rumsfeld even spent the time to come here
to ask for the participation of Korea.

[Lawrence]

PS The article was written by a Korean.

[Dan]

hehe, the last couple of paragraphs were funny in a sick way

[Swiss James]

Lawrence you make me angry, sad, and amused all at the same time.

If you're talking about the 'typical korean' behaviour of the mangers- I see what you mean now. But if you're still trying to say that the workers shouldn't have quit I think it's you who needs some perspective. Are you incapable of seeing the difference between civilian contractors and army personnel?

Imagine you accept a teaching contract in what you're told is a safe area of New Zealand, but within your first couple of weeks there 2 of your fellow teachers are shot by guerillas. Would you stay around because NZ helped out America in the Vietnam war, or you felt some compulsion that you'd be letting the side down by quitting?
I'd be on the first plane out of there.

BTW the letter writing has been a part of korean culture for a long time. If someone makes a mistake they have to put it in writing before they're forgiven so that they can't deny it later.

[Mr. Pink]

[Lawrence]

Swiss,
Before taking that hypothetical job in New Zealand, I would do a little
research on where I was going, conditions, etc. The net makes that
easy, doesn't it? Those workers arrived Nov. 11. In today's paper,
one of the victim's daughters says "Roh should insure the gunmen who killed her father should be brought to justice.." Don't hold your breath.
Actually, the US Army is already after the gunmen. That's what allies do.....
I realize alot of this is advanced thinking for this board.
As I said in the beginning, some people are amused by this kind of thing. To me ,all so predictable, like ajummas on the subway.

[Len8]

Their paye was sure low for their jobs. The korean army volunteers are payed 100 times what they would have been earning in Korea. The ggrunts or those soldiers doing their mandatory two year thing who were lucky to get a posting over there are earning W1,700,000 a month.

Bechtel engineers get $1,500 a day, and they're in Basara. I'd say the employees of that company were really getting ripped off.

[matthewwoodford]

[Butterfly]

[raytownloc]

If I were one of the Korean engineers I would have done the same thing.

In fact when I read the article I was happy that those Koreans decided to get the hell out of there. They stood up for themselves and their rights in a way I thought was very unKoreanlike (if that is a word).

Plus who cares about "the overall effort"? What is the overall effort anyways? Is it to get the Iraqi oil pipeline up and running so we can offset the cost of "liberating" the Iraqi people?