Korean Job Discussion Forums

[agraham]

I'm not being facetious here, I don't know the first thing about SK politics.

What does he stand for?
What do his opponents stand for?
He's the guy behind the sunshine policy right? And I take it the Americans don't like that, because they prefer to isolate unfavored regimes.
But I thought SK people on the whole were in favor of engagement.

[JacktheCat]

President Roh is a perfect example of "The Peter Principle."

[Daechidong Waygookin]

I favor engagement too. But lets be reasonable. SK gives in to any demand the Norks make without putting any conditions on the aid. SK should put definite conditions on aid to the North. It seems that the bolder the Norks get the more the South gives them.

[Derrek]

I'm coming to the conclusion that many of these SK folks look at themselves and their country and realize that to amount to anything in this world, they're going to have to join back up with North Korea. They have this fantasy belief that they will magically become some superpower nation where every Kim, Park and Choi from North to South will walk hand-in-hand and be happy forever. More wealth. More international power. More pure-blooded women to marry. More and better all-around.

It sort of manifested itself in the 2002 World Cup and has festered into this weird/perverse assumption that the US is holding Korea back from its success.

The sad truth is that the ones who go overboard and buy into this belief also seem to assume that everything up North will just magically become "theirs." They don't seem to think about how it might all backfire or not fit hand-in-hand. They don't seem to pay attention to the causes of the civil war 50 years ago. They haven't learned a damn thing from their mistakes.

War will all just happen again, in my opinion. Eventually.

They almost take the North Korean people out of the equation and thereby assume they will just assimilate into this wonderous mega-society based sheerly on the fact that they're all Korean brothers.

And the cheboels sit by and plot/plan/barter into whatever deals they can, because they know that a reunification would be the largest growth opportunity they could ever see in the life of the company. No large company will take a stand one way or another, because they've probably got some NK business idea waiting in the wings which could be jeopardized by the wrong action.

[kangnamdragon]

[Captain Corea]

[Koreabound2004]

[indiercj]

[sadsac]

Good civil rights lawyer, lousy president.

[redbird]

[Ya-ta Boy]

[agraham]

Thanks ya-ta et al, great executive summary. Can I impose on you again to tell me your view on this impeachment? I gather Roh's opponents wanted to impeach him for some fairly minor or non-political offence, kind of like the Clinton thing.

[Captain Corea]

Here's my take on the impeachment...

For months prior to it the papers (chosun,donan,jongan) had all been attacking Roh. For the most part people in general were ignoring it but alot were starting to think that their "star" was not performing up to par.

many had elected Roh on a "clean up" campain (actually there was ALOT of anti-American sentiment at the time that he played on as well, but that is another point). He had been trying to keep true to his word.. in certain arenas, namely the big businesses.

The problem was that many of those big businesses that were mired in couruption were hand in hand with politicians. So, after a short time in office and a few attacks on business the truth started seeping out about how much the Uri party (and opposition parties) had been making off of illegal business donations.

This then led to a spat between the parties with the famous Uri quote of "You are cover in feces (a large amount of dung) while we only have a little bit of dirt on our hands". this was in reference to supposed reports that Uri only "took in" abut 20% of illegal funds the other parties had. It was at this point Roh put his neck out and said he would resign if Uri was proven to have taken more than "10% of the oppositions illegal contributions (in comparasin)."

The numbers never came back definitively and Roh never stepped down but the papers continued their assault. Roh often cried like a baby and said he'd step down if the nation didn't want him (i hthink I counted 5 times he stated this in one year), and each time gatheringsympathy from the public.

One the eve of his impeachment, Roh held a press conference o discuss the state ofthe nation.. and, his brother. It seems that his "innocent farmer brother" had been caught up in the termoil by accepting 20,000,000won from a biz exec. Now the poor old farmer of course could not refuse the money (the exec had an impressive car and intimidated him) so Roh instead had to "call him out". On air he mentioned the executives name and company and said something to the effect that "Korea doesn't need people like him."

A few hours later, after his name had been decimated by te president of his country, the exec jumped out of his office window. The newspapers were all over it and so was the opposition. By monday, the calls for impeachment were rampant and people were genrally talking about what an idiot Roh was (or at least his "mouth" was).

The problem then happened with the impeachment process. The parties BATTLED it out on the assembly floor and looked like total idtiots. The gneral public soon grew tired of it, then annoyed, then forgetfull, then supportive... of Roh! They wanted it to end, for the prez to be the prez, and for him to "just be more carefull when he talks."

A short time later there was a round of elections and Uri party swept into he majority. I'm sure it surprised them more than anyone else.