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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003 Location: I walk along the avenue
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Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 8:31 am Post subject: Uri loses 4/4 by-elections |
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From the KOREA HERALD:
The ruling political camp was reeling from a crushing defeat in Wednesday's by-elections, with President Roh Moo-hyun calling the poll outcome "a lashing by the people on his leadership." Uri Party leader Moon Hee-sang put his chairmanship on the line, asking party members to decide his course of action.
The Uri failed to win a single seat out of the four at stake while its rival, the Grand National Party swept the polls, increasing its parliamentary seats to 127 against Uri's 144.
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2005/10/28/200510280010.asp
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994
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Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 2:07 pm Post subject: |
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The Uri Party, or as I prefer to call them, the OOPS Party (their original name) lost big time last spring, too. I think the total for the whole year is 27-0 for the GNP.
Does anyone know if the numbers in the KH article above are correct? I thought the OOPers lost their majority in the spring. |
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desultude

Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Location: Dangling my toes in the Persian Gulf
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Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 2:58 pm Post subject: |
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GNP- not so good for Korea, but great for Daegu. Living in Daegu, home of the GNP, I can tell you it would be a different place with these old troglodyte ajosshis in charge of things.
Trivia- do you know that the police used to have measuring sticks with them, to measure and see if a woman's skirt was shorter than the legally mandated length. Careful for you wish for, boys. Imagine if all of those old guys that bug you about your K girlfriends actually had political power. |
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BigBlackEquus
Joined: 05 Jul 2005 Location: Lotte controls Asia with bad chocolate!
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Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 3:48 pm Post subject: |
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desultude wrote: |
GNP- not so good for Korea, but great for Daegu. Living in Daegu, home of the GNP, I can tell you it would be a different place with these old troglodyte ajosshis in charge of things.
Trivia- do you know that the police used to have measuring sticks with them, to measure and see if a woman's skirt was shorter than the legally mandated length. Careful for you wish for, boys. Imagine if all of those old guys that bug you about your K girlfriends actually had political power. |
Is that what those measuring sticks were for? I thought, perhaps, they were gay and searching for the perfect date! |
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desultude

Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Location: Dangling my toes in the Persian Gulf
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Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 4:04 pm Post subject: |
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BigBlackEquus wrote: |
desultude wrote: |
GNP- not so good for Korea, but great for Daegu. Living in Daegu, home of the GNP, I can tell you it would be a different place with these old troglodyte ajosshis in charge of things.
Trivia- do you know that the police used to have measuring sticks with them, to measure and see if a woman's skirt was shorter than the legally mandated length. Careful for you wish for, boys. Imagine if all of those old guys that bug you about your K girlfriends actually had political power. |
Is that what those measuring sticks were for? I thought, perhaps, they were gay and searching for the perfect date! |
No, I am sure they got great pleasure out of legally fondling some women's legs and looking up their skirts. Besides, no one is gay in Korea- haven't you noticed?  |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994
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Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 4:29 pm Post subject: |
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What are the major differences between the political parties?
Economics:
a) Uri--redistribute the wealth that exists now. Less emphasis on expanding the economy.
b) GNP--expand the economy
Foreign Affairs:
a) Uri--buddy up to the North; distance themselves from the US; get closer to China; play a balancing role in NE Asia (possibly break the US alliance)
b) GNP--maintain the US alliance
Military:
a) Uri--greatly increasing military spending in order to play the balancing role between China and the US
b) GNP--Don't know their exact stand on this. Presumably far less interested.
The GNP broke the political power of the military quite a while ago, even though the current leader of the party is the daughter of a military dictator.
Japanese colonization:
a) Uri--investigate the past to 'correct' history.
b) GNP--let sleeping dogs lie. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003 Location: I walk along the avenue
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Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 7:59 pm Post subject: |
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Quote: |
Foreign Affairs:
a) Uri--buddy up to the North; distance themselves from the US; get closer to China; play a balancing role in NE Asia (possibly break the US alliance)
b) GNP--maintain the US alliance
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My guess is that, on foreign policy, any differences between a GNP regime and a Uri regime would be largely cosmetic.
Uri plays to their base by indulging in anti-American rhetoric, but has no serious plans to overturn the alliance. The GNP would keep the alliance, of course, but their rhetoric would be openly pro-American.
And even then: for all their pro-American posturing, I couldn't see the GNP being in any hurry to shout from the rooftop about their commitment to Korean troops in Iraq, much less increase that commitment.
On North Korea, the GNP would be more critical of the North, but I think they'd still maintain some semblance of the Sunshine Policy. Possibly with a few more strings attached.
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Japanese colonization:
a) Uri--investigate the past to 'correct' history.
b) GNP--let sleeping dogs lie. |
On the specific issue of colonization, yeah, I don't think the GNP would really too keen to keep the investigations going, since those investigations seem to have been partly intended to embarrass Park Geun Hye. But as far as current issues go, I think the GNP would be just as anti-Japanese as Uri. Don't hold your breath for any concilliatory rhetoric on Dok-do.
Actually, given their pro-Americanism, I could even see the GNP encouraging anti-Japanese outrage as an alternative outlet for nationlist sentiment. It's not like the Japanese have troops here that they can threaten to send home.
I agree with Desultude that the GNP would likely be more socially conservative than Uri. Maybe not in any particularly active way, more in terms of rhetoric and letting the status quo prevail. They'll probably boost their feminist credentials by pointing out that they have a female leader, and leave it at that. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994
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Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2005 9:20 pm Post subject: |
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I agree with Desultude that the GNP would likely be more socially conservative than Uri. Maybe not in any particularly active way, more in terms of rhetoric and letting the status quo prevail. |
Quite possibly you are right. However, I can't remember hearing anything from either party to give me an insight into their social policies. As far as I can tell, both support women's rights, both support the status quo on abortion, both are passive about foreigners' rights (vaguely in favor but not stirred up enough to do much about any of it).
Don't make the mistake that I made when I first came here and assumed that liberal/conservative was related to what it meant at home. Geography is still playing a leading role in Korean political parties. |
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desultude

Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Location: Dangling my toes in the Persian Gulf
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Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2005 10:04 pm Post subject: |
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Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
Quote: |
I agree with Desultude that the GNP would likely be more socially conservative than Uri. Maybe not in any particularly active way, more in terms of rhetoric and letting the status quo prevail. |
Quite possibly you are right. However, I can't remember hearing anything from either party to give me an insight into their social policies. As far as I can tell, both support women's rights, both support the status quo on abortion, both are passive about foreigners' rights (vaguely in favor but not stirred up enough to do much about any of it).
Don't make the mistake that I made when I first came here and assumed that liberal/conservative was related to what it meant at home. Geography is still playing a leading role in Korean political parties. |
I haven't been following Korean politics well, but haven't there been serious conflicts between the two parties on issues such as the family registration laws? That would be a clear indication of the differences between the parties on social issues. |
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Hater Depot
Joined: 29 Mar 2005
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Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2005 10:19 pm Post subject: |
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If I could I'd be voting GNP in the hopes that they would behave more responsibly regarding North Korea. I am encouraged by how they denounced the leftists who wanted to pull down the MacArthur statue, even if I still think they should have done so more strongly. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003 Location: I walk along the avenue
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Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2005 12:40 am Post subject: |
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I haven't been following Korean politics well, but haven't there been serious conflicts between the two parties on issues such as the family registration laws? That would be a clear indication of the differences between the parties on social issues.
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As I recall, most if not all of the Uri congressmen supported abolishing the hoju, while the GNP was more divided. I think most of the GNP came around to abolition in the final vote, minus a few holdouts. That's my recollection anyway.
I guess what I was getting at is that while the GNP might practice "me-tooism" on reforms proposed by Uri, they would be less likely to take the initiative on their own. Admittedly, I am basing this partly on my assumption about conservative parties which appeal to older voters. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994
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Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2005 5:01 am Post subject: |
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As I recall, most if not all of the Uri congressmen supported abolishing the hoju, while the GNP was more divided. I think most of the GNP came around to abolition in the final vote, minus a few holdouts. That's my recollection anyway. |
That's what I remember, too.
There has also been criticism of the Uri for not taking a stronger (or any) stand on human rights abuses in the North.
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Uri plays to their base by indulging in anti-American rhetoric, but has no serious plans to overturn the alliance. |
I disagree with this. I think that is exactly what they want to do. This is obviously just my opinion, but from watching them from before they became a separate party, I think this is where their rhetoric leads. I can't decide if they just want to be neutral or make a Chinese alliance. My crystal ball tells me that if the nuke crisis hadn't broken out just before the election the alliance would have been broken long before now. |
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