Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Real Reality]

An advisor to the U.S. Congress said Friday a resolution drafted in 2003 to commemorate 50 years of the Korea-U.S. alliance died a quiet death in the House over anger in Congress at anti-American demonstrations in Korea. Dennis Halpin, an advisor to the House of Representatives International Relations Committee, said Congress considered resolutions commemorating U.S. relations with Asian allies like Korea, Taiwan and Japan in late 2003, but the Korean resolution failed to pass.... He said the memories of U.S. flags being burnt in downtown Seoul were too fresh.

But resolutions marking the 150th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Japan and the U.S. and the 25th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act passed with overwhelming support.
Chosun Ilbo (March 25, 2005)
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200503/200503250027.html

[Guri Guy]

English idiom of the day: "Don't bite the hand that feeds you"

[Tiger Beer]

It would be good for South Korea to have a sense of reality. They just assume that North Korea becomes theirs and they own all the land and people and such.. its just the U.S. trying to hold the status quo for positioning in Asia, etc.

The reality is that North Korea would like to own and control all the land under its leadership.. the U.S. presense DOES keep the status-quo of NOT having that happen.

How young South Koreans get such a simple concept messed up in their heads, is completely beyond me.

[Ya-ta Boy]

From a different article on the same conference:

The people are now witnessing with their own eyes the results of two years of strategic choices made according to the judgment of a president they elected. The result was encapsulated in the chilling question a European ambassador to Korea asked during a seminar. "Does Korea have a single ally it can trust?��


That's a good point. A very good point. Small countries can either be neutral or enter an alliance.

[Real Reality]

[mercury]

I asked one of my Korean friend tonight "who is the best friend of South Korea?" He just paused, looked into the thin air, paused, and finally said "we have nobody".

[peemil]

I'm sure that they'll get all narky about it too. Give them a little bit of time. You can't win here.

[Real Reality]

South-Kaesong Phone Service Due in May
At a meeting in Kaesong on Thursday, officials from KT and its North Korean counterparts also consented to begin the telephone and fax service by May 31, KT officials said Friday. KT officials said that people in Kaesong can call South Korea by dialing the prefix of 089 and the phone number. In the South, people can telephone the industrial zone by dialing 001-8585 and a four-digit number that will be assigned to each South Korean company.

According to the Thursday agreement, KT is entitled to get all the profits from phone calls made from South Korea to Kaesong, while it will share profits with the North on charges levied on calls from Kaesong to the South. KT is solely in charge of building the optical communication network. The construction is planned to begin early next month.
by Park Song-wu, Korea Times (March 25, 2005)
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200503/kt2005032515312311950.htm

[jinglejangle]