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kiwiduncan
Joined: 18 Jun 2007
Location: New Zealand
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 Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 5:47 pm Post subject: Grand canal protest march, February 24th |
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For any of you in or near Seoul who are concerned about LMB's plan to gouge the life out of Korea's two main rivers, there is an anti-canal protest march in Seoul on Sunday, February 24th at 2pm.
It would be good to see a few foreign faces there - you might even get to be on TV 
The march starts at the central post office (the big split building) and ends at Pagoda Park. Find out more about the grand canal project via the link below.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7153561274
And for Korean readers I suggest the following site.
www.gobada.co.kr
I think there will be a protest in Busan on the same day too. I'll find out later today. |
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blaseblasphemener
Joined: 01 Jun 2006
Location: There's a voice, keeps on calling me, down the road, that's where I'll always be
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| Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 6:01 pm Post subject: |
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| Only a Korean could come up with an idea to build canals through a country that takes 4 hours to cross by car, and that is surrounded by water. |
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Gatsby
Joined: 09 Feb 2007
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| Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 7:33 pm Post subject: |
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Just wondering, but don't you need water to actually use a canal?
So, what happens if the water supplying these rivers dries up? What happens if the weather patterns change and there is less rain, less snow in the mountains?
The St. Lawrence Seaway is having to change the cargo loading rules cause it is running a bit on the dry side. Lots of areas, including the American Southeast and Southwest are suffering prolonged droughts. Weather patterns around the world are changing. And they will change again in the future.
It sure doesn't seem to be getting much precipitation this past year in my area of Korea.
Is there some interesting use I haven't thought of for a dry canal?
Or is the entire Korean canal system going to be at sea level? |
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Milwaukiedave
Joined: 02 Oct 2004
Location: Goseong
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| Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 10:09 pm Post subject: Re: Grand canal protest march, February 24th |
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| kiwiduncan wrote: |
For any of you in or near Seoul who are concerned about LMB's plan to gouge the life out of Korea's two main rivers, there is an anti-canal protest march in Seoul on Sunday, February 24th at 2pm.
It would be good to see a few foreign faces there - you might even get to be on TV
The march starts at the central post office (the big split building) and ends at Pagoda Park. Find out more about the grand canal project via the link below.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7153561274
And for Korean readers I suggest the following site.
www.gobada.co.kr
I think there will be a protest in Busan on the same day too. I'll find out later today. |
KD,
Please keep us posted. I might be willing to go to one of them.
Does anyone know if there is going to be ramifications for doing this as a foreigner?? |
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Julius
Joined: 27 Jul 2006
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| Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 11:01 pm Post subject: |
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| Gatsby wrote: |
Just wondering, but don't you need water to actually use a canal?
So, what happens if the water supplying these rivers dries up? What happens if the weather patterns change and there is less rain, less snow in the mountains? |
The natural water cycle in Korea has already been disrupted by development.
Almost every stream and river, including mountain streams have been concreted and banked in the past 5 years for the sake of providing jobs to the bloated construction induustry. Ostensibly the reason given for this was 'flood control", with concrete trenches designed to carry rainwater away rapidly to the sea.
However the result of this needless "tidying" of natural watercourses has been environmental disaster. Concreted waterways can no longer support insects, frogs or bankside vegetation, birds or animals. Instead of soaking into the land, water is channeled aaway too fast and many streams are now bone dry and lifeless, rather than acting as the reserve of water they were. Also, when heavy rains occur, the water rushes suddenly en masse causing flooding downstream- instead of being held by the catchment area.
But this is what happens when developers with no understanding of the environment want jobs and government cash. They see the environment as a thing to be altered on a whim, and there are no impact assessment studies done before big business projects get the go-ahead. If there are, they are invariably corrupt reports written with a golden handshake. How is it possible for a reclamation of 10.000 hectares of estuary to have "negligible environmental impact"? Answer: when you've paid multimillions of won to the person writing the report.
still, lets just sacrifice our environment for short term cash and worry about the effects later. |
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King Baeksu
Joined: 22 Oct 2006
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| Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 11:41 pm Post subject: |
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| Julius wrote: |
The natural water cycle in Korea has already been disrupted by development.
Almost every stream and river, including mountain streams have been concreted and banked in the past 5 years for the sake of providing jobs to the bloated construction induustry. Ostensibly the reason given for this was 'flood control", with concrete trenches designed to carry rainwater away rapidly to the sea.
However the result of this needless "tidying" of natural watercourses has been environmental disaster. Concreted waterways can no longer support insects, frogs or bankside vegetation, birds or animals. Instead of soaking into the land, water is channeled aaway too fast and many streams are now bone dry and lifeless, rather than acting as the reserve of water they were. Also, when heavy rains occur, the water rushes suddenly en masse causing flooding downstream- instead of being held by the catchment area.
But this is what happens when developers with no understanding of the environment want jobs and government cash. They see the environment as a thing to be altered on a whim, and there are no impact assessment studies done before big business projects get the go-ahead. If there are, they are invariably corrupt reports written with a golden handshake. How is it possible for a reclamation of 10.000 hectares of estuary to have "negligible environmental impact"? Answer: when you've paid multimillions of won to the person writing the report.
still, lets just sacrifice our environment for short term cash and worry about the effects later. |
They often say the future of America happens first in California.
One might also say that the future of South Korea tends to happen in Japan first.
The problems you are describing above already happened in Japan a long time ago. If you want to see a foreshadowing of what's happening in Korea development-wise, here is an interesting book to read:
http://www.amazon.com/Dogs-Demons-Tales-Dark-Japan/dp/0809039435/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202545515&sr=1-1
All in all, a fairly devastating picture. |
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kiwiduncan
Joined: 18 Jun 2007
Location: New Zealand
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| Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 1:56 am Post subject: |
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The meeting place for the march in Seoul is in front of the new central post office building.
I can't imagine there will be any problems with foreigners participating in the march. I'm sure that the Korean marchers will be happy to see foreigners taking an interest in the issue and showing their support, and the immigration authorities would not be able to do anything and probably wouldn't care anyway. |
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wylies99
Joined: 13 May 2006
Location: I'm one cool cat!
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| Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 3:48 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| I can't imagine there will be any problems with foreigners participating in the march. I'm sure that the Korean marchers will be happy to see foreigners taking an interest in the issue and showing their support, and the immigration authorities would not be able to do anything and probably wouldn't care anyway. |
You sure about that?  |
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kiwiduncan
Joined: 18 Jun 2007
Location: New Zealand
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| Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 4:18 am Post subject: |
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| wylies99 wrote: |
| Quote: |
| I can't imagine there will be any problems with foreigners participating in the march. I'm sure that the Korean marchers will be happy to see foreigners taking an interest in the issue and showing their support, and the immigration authorities would not be able to do anything and probably wouldn't care anyway. |
You sure about that? |
I'm pretty sure the Korean marchers will be pretty welcoming towards foreigners participating. Certainly from my past interactions with Korean greenies I've always found them very friendly and open-minded.
And according to the latest SBS news poll of public satisfaction with LMB's various policies, support for the grand canal plan has dropped to 26% whilst opposition has increased to 49%.
I'd guess the growing opposition to the grand canal project is partly due to the public becoming increasingly well-informed about the flaws in plans, and partly due to gaffs by LMB's people. Transition team Policy Planning Head Chu Bu-Gil recently accused a number of Seoul National University Professors of opposing the project for purely political reasons, and implied they have no expertise in the matter. It turns out the SNU professors have academic backgrounds that make them qualified to comment on the canal plans than Chu himself. Chu was working as Professor of Theology before being appointed to LMB's transition team, whereas the SNU critics of the canal project are economics professors, environmental studies professors, engineering professors and so forth.
Last edited by kiwiduncan on Sat Feb 09, 2008 4:25 am; edited 1 time in total |
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spliff
Joined: 19 Jan 2004
Location: Khon Kaen, Thailand
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| Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 4:21 am Post subject: |
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| Is the protest because they're not building enough new canals? |
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caniff
Joined: 03 Feb 2004
Location: All over the map
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| Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 4:42 am Post subject: |
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| spliff wrote: |
| Is the protest because they're not building enough new canals? |
Your ear canals are connected, aren't they? |
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plus99
Joined: 30 Dec 2007
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| Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 5:40 am Post subject: |
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| lol? |
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caniff
Joined: 03 Feb 2004
Location: All over the map
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| Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 6:08 am Post subject: |
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^ You're pretty chipper and easily amused, huh? Any thoughts on the canal project, Giggles?
Lee Myoung Bak's plan has gone over with all the success of a huge fart during a church service, much like his plan to have all subjects in public schools be taught in English. His team backpedalled from that one quite quickly.
The guy hasn't even taken office yet, and he's already disappointing the populace (except for the Chaebols, of course). I don't think he could possibly be as bad as Roh, but he's off to a pretty shitty start as far as PR goes. |
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blaseblasphemener
Joined: 01 Jun 2006
Location: There's a voice, keeps on calling me, down the road, that's where I'll always be
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| Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 6:33 am Post subject: |
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| caniff wrote: |
^ You're pretty chipper and easily amused, huh? Any thoughts on the canal project, Giggles?
Lee Myoung Bak's plan has gone over with all the success of a huge fart during a church service, much like his plan to have all subjects in public schools be taught in English. His team backpedalled from that one quite quickly.
The guy hasn't even taken office yet, and he's already disappointing the populace (except for the Chaebols, of course). I don't think he could possibly be as bad as Roh, but he's off to a pretty *beep* start as far as PR goes. |
Since most of us on this board live in Korea or have in the past, why don't we start spelling Korean names the way they are pronounced. Henceforth, let's start spelling his name E Myung Bak, not Lee. I don't get why this is so difficult, as we use middle initials in names. Also, it's Pak, not Park, and Che, not Choi. |
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caniff
Joined: 03 Feb 2004
Location: All over the map
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| Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 6:41 am Post subject: |
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| blaseblasphemener wrote: |
| caniff wrote: |
^ You're pretty chipper and easily amused, huh? Any thoughts on the canal project, Giggles?
Lee Myoung Bak's plan has gone over with all the success of a huge fart during a church service, much like his plan to have all subjects in public schools be taught in English. His team backpedalled from that one quite quickly.
The guy hasn't even taken office yet, and he's already disappointing the populace (except for the Chaebols, of course). I don't think he could possibly be as bad as Roh, but he's off to a pretty *beep* start as far as PR goes. |
Since most of us on this board live in Korea or have in the past, why don't we start spelling Korean names the way they are pronounced. Henceforth, let's start spelling his name E Myung Bak, not Lee. I don't get why this is so difficult, as we use middle initials in names. Also, it's Pak, not Park, and Che, not Choi. |
"이명박". Is that better? |
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