|
Korean Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
|
 Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2005 7:50 am Post subject: |
 |
|
| Quote: |
On the other hand wrote:
What 's odd though is that despite all this warm feeling toward NK, NOBODY seems to question the need for mandatory military service. You'd think that if the whole North-South conflict were all just a US-created mirage, that South Korean men(plus their families) would be beaucoup cheesed off about having to spend three years of their lives doing grunt work against a non-existent enemy. Yet I think I've seen maybe one newspaper article in the past four years in which someone was quoted as suggesting that mandatory service be abolished. And that person was arguing on general libertarian grounds, not from the premise that NK is no longer an enemy.
Although anecdotal my experiences with Korean friends and their associates suggests otherwise. Many Korean men I have spoken with believe that military service is a waste of time, and that US troops should move out of Korea in order to enable a "magical reunification" which has been blocked by an evil Japanese/US alliance. One Korean I spoke with even suggested that Japan should be divided! More than a few have ventured to suggest that Japan would be bombed by North Korea should a war break rather than those bombs falling on Seoul. Many of these Koreans were graduates whom I otherwise regard as pretty intelligent guys.
|
I was referring more to the abscence of any widespread organized opposition to the draft. As far as I know, the only anti-draft activity afoot is to get Jehovah's Witnesses and the odd hallyu cutie exempted. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Nowhere Man
Joined: 08 Feb 2004
|
| Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2005 9:09 am Post subject: ... |
|
|
Things to think about:
Has there been any significant resistance to conscription in other Asian countries? I'm thinking of Taiwan and Thailand, to name those I'm most familiar with.
By this I mean that I don't think that Koreans associate the draft specifically with North Korea. It's been around so long that I think it's seen as a kind of rite of passage. Likewise, I'm 99% sure Thailand has a draft, but on a smaller scale.
Similarly, it's difficult to say for sure how the balance of power among the US, Japan, and the Koreas affects relations, so it's premature to say that they are wrong about who wants what. It's also convenient to comment on the whole thing as a spectator.
I'm not saying that I support some "magic reunification", but the dynamic would be very different if it were only up to to the two Koreas.
On the other hand, I find it hard to believe that the South would reunite with the North to get the bomb. It's far more likely that the South already has it. Same for Japan.
On the other other hand, to go to the movies and see shorts brazenly insulting Japan is a bit over the top.
Still, it wasn't my country that was severely stepped on by the Japanese early last century. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mithridates
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
|
| Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2005 9:24 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Whether they split ways after WWII, North Koreans are still the only people Koreans can talk to in the world without needing a translator. Go to Baengnyeong-do for a few days and you can see N Korea just across the strait - even though there's a huge amount of navy there and naval conflicts on both sides ask the people what they think of N Korea and they'll tell you that N Korea is the country where grandma lives. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Nowhere Man
Joined: 08 Feb 2004
|
| Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2005 9:46 am Post subject: ... |
|
|
| Agreed. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Privateer
Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Location: Easy Street.
|
| Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 2:40 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Summer Wine wrote: |
| Quote: |
1) They're all Koreans. Koreans are one people first, two countries a distant second. Why on earth does nobody seem to get this?
|
It seems from the reading that I did on thier history, that when they haven't been under the thumb of an occupier, they have been quite willing to kill each other. It seems that it has never been a one people, one country unless created by war. I could be wrong 
3 kingdoms at one time in thier history, they are down to two, maybe they can make one country. |
Ok, I can't stand to see this go uncorrected any longer. The 3 Kingdoms period was preceded by Old Choson and followed by the Unified Silla period, then the Koryo period, and then the Choson dynasty, which ruled from 1300 something to 1910 when the Japanese took over. So the 3 kingdoms period, when Korea was divided, was exceptional as well as being over a 1,000 years ago. Round about the same time England was divided into 3 kingdoms too. Doesn't mean for a second it isn't one country.
| Gwangjuboy wrote: |
| Privateer wrote: |
| They're all Koreans. Koreans are one people first, two countries a distant second. Why on earth does nobody seem to get this? |
They went their seperate ways after the Japanese surrendered control of the country. That the DPRK is yielding nothing even in this political climate would seem to suggest they still consider themselves a country first. The Juche system is more important to North Korea than reunification. It is a condition of reunification. The reununion party doesn't happen unless it's on their terms. |
They didn't just 'go their separate ways' like a divorcing couple. They were divided in much the same way that Germany was divided, by the occupying powers. East Germany and West Germany also 'went their separate ways' in that they diverged socially, politically, and economically after WW2, although of course never to nearly the same extreme as North and South Korea. I agree the North and South Korean states have been unremittingly hostile up until very recently, but the Korean people have always remained one. In fact one reason for the hostility is they are rival claimants to the legitimate governance of the (whole) Korean people. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
|
| Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 3:09 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Nowhere Man wrote: |
| I'm not saying that I support some "magic reunification", but the dynamic would be very different if it were only up to to the two Koreas. |
I agree. And I would be for the other nations essentially butting out if nuclear weapons weren't involved.
| Nowhere Man wrote: |
| On the other hand, I find it hard to believe that the South would reunite with the North to get the bomb. It's far more likely that the South already has it. Same for Japan. |
Japan wouldn't need a nuclear program if the estimate I heard is true. I am under the impression they could have a few nuclear weapons in 6 months. Anyway, there's one good reason why neither Japan or South Korea probably have nuclear weapons, and it's not because they wanted to garner gratitude from their neighbors. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Summer Wine
Joined: 20 Mar 2005
Location: Next to a River
|
| Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 3:21 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Quote: |
Ok, I can't stand to see this go uncorrected any longer. The 3 Kingdoms period was preceded by Old Choson and followed by the Unified Silla period, then the Koryo period, and then the Choson dynasty, which ruled from 1300 something to 1910 when the Japanese took over. So the 3 kingdoms period, when Korea was divided, was exceptional as well as being over a 1,000 years ago. Round about the same time England was divided into 3 kingdoms too. Doesn't mean for a second it isn't one country.
|
Thanks for correcting me. I have a question, why do many koreans seem to dislike Jeolla Province. I was told that thier korean is different from other Koreans, why is that? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Privateer
Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Location: Easy Street.
|
| Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 4:24 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Yeah there's a big prejudice against it. I heard there was a lot of propaganda against Chollado during Park Chung Hee's time and also Chun Doo Hwan's. Made it easier to justify the Kwangju massacre for instance. Why? I suppose partly because of leftist tendencies in Chollado and mainly because the ruling party politicians' power base has almost always been Kyongsangdo. Regionalism is a powerful force in Korean politics and no doubt (meaning I'm assuming this) it goes back to the days of the 3 kingdoms. If that's what you're getting at (that there's a big regional divide), well yes, no question. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
