Korean Job Discussion Forums

[GoldMember]

The Discovery Channel is screening a documentary about the KTX.
It looks to be a Korean made documentary, with an English speaking voiceover/narration.
During this documentary I didn't see any mention that the "Korean" high speed train is actually a French train, nor any shots of French people.
Some interesting "Facts" about the KTX.
1. Required a workforce of 11 million people (wow! 20%+ of the population!)
2. UNPRECEDENTED 98% punctuality (No mention of 160 breakdowns in 3 years!)
3. Korea is only 1 of 5 countries that have "developed" high speed trains.
4. Project was accomplished with "Typical Korean Industriousness"
5. Train from Seoul to Busan transports 6 times as many people as the train from Paris to Lyon (both have smaller populations than Seoul and Busan-Duh!)
6. Because of Korean safety measures a safe ride is "guaranteed".
7. Korea's (or is it French) unique wheel design prevents accidents.

Basically the documentary gives the impression that the whole project was 100% Korean.

Even the programs about big engineering projects in China feature Western engineers!

What's next a documentary about how Television, Radio and the Computer were invented in Korea.

[justaguy]

Large corporations all over the world have their PR departments write articles for publication or brodcast by "reputable media." They write it, and pay the reporter or media company to put it out there. No work for the reporter, no research necessary and everybody makes money.

What the Koreans are doing is no different than what foreign corporations are doing.

Take what you read, see or hear with a grain of salt.

[Stevie_B]

[ajgeddes]

Dude, you are BITTER!! If you watch the whole documentary, it mentions that the first 12 engines came from France and the production was in working with the French.

[RyanInKorea]

I watched it last night and they CLEARLY said the Korean designers were working with French engineers in France. The first twelve trains were manufactered there.

Why would they not mention the KTX carries more than the French counterpart? It's based largerly on the French TGV system and was designed in France. It's a huge train. I didn't even realize how much bigger it was until the show last night.

The wheel design is meant to avoid similar accidents to the one that occured in Germany when they were testing the KTX. I think it happened in the late 90's, though I am not sure. I am going off what I remember from last night.

You just angry at Koreans or life in general?
Ryan

[justaguy]

In fairness to the Koreans, I'm glad that they are working with experts from other countries.

They are learning how to make better, safer and more efficient things.

That benefits everyone.

[the ireland]

gotta agree with ryan, they clearly stated they were working with the french, they even showed the designers in france, and said that the ktx was a french train with modifications made....they then went on to talk about how they changed the wheels on the train to allow them to work on ice and make them safer by having less part to avoid them breaking off and flipping the train.


they did talk about some of the bad points such as the high speed lines stopping in daegu and the train continuing on normal lines.

if you are going to make comments about about korea being a propaganda nation then go ahead, but at least watch the show properly first, cos i don't think this was one of those shows, if it was it would have been on arirang

[legalquestions]

I met one of the Europeon project engineers/consultants in Pusan a couple of years back, and he refuses to ride on it. What does that tell you? It's a ticking time bomb just waiting to explode!

[eamo]

[IncognitoHFX]

[ajgeddes]

[CentralCali]

[Hobophobic]

[The Grumpy Senator]

I always have to look twice at it because I always think the little map of England is a turd!!!

[Yaya]

I will say, however, that the Discovery Channel has no balls when it comes to hard-hitting documentaries. It's too busy kissing China's ass.