Korean Job Discussion Forums

Real Reality · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Location: Seoul

Authorities: American tourist killed in Beijing
Yahoo! News (August 9, 2008)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080809/ap_on_re_as/oly_china_american_killed

Ya-ta Boy · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994

This is not good.

No report yet on motivation. Could just be a mugging gone bad. A mental case. Something with a political motive. Too soon to tell. But still.

matthews_world · Joined: 15 Feb 2003

Yata,

Even you've been here long enough to know that the attack could have been politically charged, for lack of a better word.

Probably some poor guy angry that he hasn't yet received compensation for the government bulldozing down his home.

Julius · Joined: 27 Jul 2006

saw6436 · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Daejeon, ROK

Just the first negative event to occur. There will be others.

Pooty · Joined: 15 Jun 2008 Location: Ela stin agalia mou

At least the Chinese guy killed himself afterwards though.

Ya-ta Boy · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994

mindmetoo · Joined: 02 Feb 2004

NBC news noted the guy wasn't wearing anything to ID himself as an American, so however did the Chinese guy know?

A questioned posed by someone who has never spent any time in Asia.

Real Reality · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Location: Seoul

Relative of US Olympic coach killed in Beijing
By ROHAN SULLIVAN, Associated Press Writer
http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=ap-china-americankilled

bewolff · Joined: 07 Jan 2007

The first assumption at seeing a white person in Asia is that they are American, until the person opens their mouth and announces to the world that they are Australian or some other commonwealth nation. It is difficult for most Asians to even distinguish well between British and American accents.

I doubt seriously that this thing is politically motivated. And I really HOPE it is not. It is tragic, but not political. Interestingly, there is another (much smaller) issue that American's are claiming is politically motivated. In the first two gold medal wins by the United States, the Chinese royally botched the playing of the National Anthem, starting it late and ending it early. This was done at two different venues. If the US ever wins another gold we will see if there is any truth to this.

bewolff · Joined: 07 Jan 2007

The man that committed the crime, Tang Yong-Ming, was 47 years old, originally from Hangzhou. He came to Beijing on August 1st. A factory worker, he had been divorced five years ago, and lost his home due to resale of his building in 2006. Authorities said he had no recorded place of residence or employment after 2006.

Authories have no explanation of Tang's motives. Barbara Bacham was airlifted back to Minnesota with her daughter and is in stable condition. Todd Bacham's wounds were fatal. The injured tour guide is reported as recovering.

Tang Yong-Ming jumped to his death from the second floor of a nearby building after the fatal attack. With what has been reported officially by police it would seem that Tang was at his end, or is at least being painted so. Perhaps he came to Beijing hoping to find some work, perhaps he was offended by a tourist, perhaps he was denied work. All this is speculation.

hubba bubba · Joined: 24 Oct 2006

Not to be insensitive, but do you really die from a second story fall?

Well, obviously you do I guess, but it doesn't seem too bad to me. Maybe I've been living in the Korean one rooms too long.