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joe_doufu
Joined: 09 May 2005
Location: Elsewhere
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 Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 6:14 pm Post subject: 12 year old Korean speculates that Korea might be next |
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I brought out the world map as I sometimes do, and played "find the country". This 5th grade class must have just had a geography lesson because they located Brazil, France, New Zealand, and even Korea in only a few seconds. (Last time, it had taken a few minutes to find each. To their credit, maybe they just hadn't known the English names for those countries at that time.)
They asked where Iraq was, so I pointed it out. One cute young student started talking about "London terror". I taught them the word "bomb". She proceeded to tell me that Korea is in danger, Korea might be next, and we talked about Korea's soldiers in Iraq. She said "Japan, too!" It was weird having this conversation with a kid... I think many Korean adults wouldn't even want to talk about this. |
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Wrench
Joined: 07 Apr 2005
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| Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 5:31 am Post subject: |
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| well at least she is not ignorant about it. |
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jajdude
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 12:28 pm Post subject: |
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I don't see it happening in an Asia, except maybe where lots of western tourists go. (like Bali)
Perhaps they just hate the westerners. |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 4:04 pm Post subject: |
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It's a mix of reasons.
1) Easier to blend in in the west
2) Much longer history of conflict between the West and Muslim world
3) The west has more power than Korea by far (and more than Japan in some ways)
4) no one pays attention to Korea except when it comes to their pop culture, and even that is only in East Asia
That's just off the top my my head. Korea is probably one of the safest countries in the OECD in regards to terrorism. |
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Skippy
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Location: Daejeon
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| Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 8:06 pm Post subject: |
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Korea could be a target for Muslim Terrorists.
Korea could have got a few people who would not normally be allowed into Canada, US or Europe.
Besides there are some good targets here. Such as westerners in bars and some military bases.
But overall my impression is 50 50. It could happen but when is the question. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 8:15 pm Post subject: |
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| Are the terrorists out to punish allied countries for having troops in Iraq? If yes, then Korea is a potential target. Are the terrorists out to destroy Western Civilization because of its values? If yes, then Korea will not be a target. |
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joe_doufu
Joined: 09 May 2005
Location: Elsewhere
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| Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 9:17 pm Post subject: |
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| Skippy wrote: |
| Besides there are some good targets here. Such as westerners in bars... |
I don't get why so many people on this forum think terrorists would come all the way to Korea to target "westerners in bars". They would come to Korea to slaughter and terrorize Koreans. Korea is the #3 foreign presence in Iraq and "blending in" is not an issue here. If a foreigner can wear a winter coat or wear a backpack in public without being searched, terrorists can "blend in" even if they're bright orange. |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 9:34 pm Post subject: |
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| Skippy wrote: |
Korea could be a target for Muslim Terrorists.
Korea could have got a few people who would not normally be allowed into Canada, US or Europe.
Besides there are some good targets here. Such as westerners in bars and some military bases.
But overall my impression is 50 50. It could happen but when is the question. |
military bases? please. That would be a huge failure; no way that could happen. In the US, maybe, but in Korea? That would take some serious skills.
And joe is right about western bars, give me a break. Why would they attack some random western bar in Seoul when they could get a lot more publicity bombing the same kind of bar in Bangkok? (thailand is having with muslims in the south of the country as well). And why would they target westerners in Korea anyway?
Sure, there is Bali, but that was done by Indonesians in a place that is almost striclty tourist-oriented.
Al-Qaeda and associates would hit Indonesia again, the Phillipines some more, and Thailand before it would focus on Korea. China would be a bigger target as well if it weren't for the fact that is is a police state and hard to penetrate compared to the others. The terrorists aren't strictly motivated by the Iraq war- that's just fuel on the fire. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 4:50 am Post subject: |
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| Why would they attack some random western bar in Seoul |
You are forgetting that without ESL support, the entire Korean economy would collapse in hours, if not minutes. That's why all 48 million Koreans are so obsessed with every word and deed we do, 24/7. |
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joe_doufu
Joined: 09 May 2005
Location: Elsewhere
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| Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 5:11 am Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
| Quote: |
| Why would they attack some random western bar in Seoul |
You are forgetting that without ESL support, the entire Korean economy would collapse in hours, if not minutes. |
Now there's one good reason why the terrorists would just leave well enough alone, we're doing a pretty good job of subversion without their prodding. |
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FUBAR
Joined: 21 Oct 2003
Location: The Y.C.
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| Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 6:36 am Post subject: |
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| I think it could happen. I think the irrationality of Koreans and the tenious relationship the government has with the US could be among the reasons for a hit on a place like Itaewon. Just think how negatively the people and the gov't would react toward the US if there were to be an attack. Instead of focusing their anger on the terrorists, I think the people would lash out against the American military and their government. That in itself is a good enough reason to hit here. It worked in Spain easy enough. |
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joe_doufu
Joined: 09 May 2005
Location: Elsewhere
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| Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 6:38 am Post subject: |
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| FUBAR wrote: |
| I think it could happen. I think the irrationality of Koreans and the tenious relationship the government has with the US could be among the reasons for a hit on a place like Itaewon. Just think how negatively the people and the gov't would react toward the US if there were to be an attack. Instead of focusing their anger on the terrorists, I think the people would lash out against the American military and their government. That in itself is a good enough reason to hit here. It worked in Spain easy enough. |
Why Itaewon? |
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FUBAR
Joined: 21 Oct 2003
Location: The Y.C.
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| Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 7:00 am Post subject: |
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| joe_doufu wrote: |
| FUBAR wrote: |
| I think it could happen. I think the irrationality of Koreans and the tenious relationship the government has with the US could be among the reasons for a hit on a place like Itaewon. Just think how negatively the people and the gov't would react toward the US if there were to be an attack. Instead of focusing their anger on the terrorists, I think the people would lash out against the American military and their government. That in itself is a good enough reason to hit here. It worked in Spain easy enough. |
Why Itaewon? |
Itaewon is an easy place for people to blend it. They would be there, primarily to kill some Koreans (The younger generation would be the ones that got hit in itaewon) and the US soldiers that would be there would only be a bonus. It would only take 5-10 dead Koreans for the whole nation to get up in arms and start a huge anti-American movement. |
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The Bobster
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 9:37 am Post subject: |
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| FUBAR wrote: |
| joe_doufu wrote: |
| FUBAR wrote: |
| I think it could happen. I think the irrationality of Koreans and the tenious relationship the government has with the US could be among the reasons for a hit on a place like Itaewon. Just think how negatively the people and the gov't would react toward the US if there were to be an attack. Instead of focusing their anger on the terrorists, I think the people would lash out against the American military and their government. That in itself is a good enough reason to hit here. It worked in Spain easy enough. |
Why Itaewon? |
Itaewon is an easy place for people to blend it. They would be there, primarily to kill some Koreans (The younger generation would be the ones that got hit in itaewon) and the US soldiers that would be there would only be a bonus. It would only take 5-10 dead Koreans for the whole nation to get up in arms and start a huge anti-American movement. |
Forgive my temerity to point out that Itaewon is the home of one of the few - well, the only one I know about - mosques on this whole peninsula. If a bomb were to go off anywhere near there, it would be closed down immediately, within 2 hours, and for it's own protection. (It was the target of vandalism just after 9/11, and received the honor of Korean soldiers guarding its entrance for several months or more afterwards ... sorry, but you'll have to accept the anecdotal evidence of my own sensory memory on that - and, no, I wasn't drunk every time I walked by that place, usually I was coming back from WhatTheBook.)
Long story short, though I've tried to spook newbies occasionally by saying the opposite, Gecko's is probably the safest place to be in Korea if the sight of swarthy guys in robes and beards down to their belly-buttons makes you pee in your pants.
The 63 Building in Yeouido, now that one ... don't get me started.
Just my two cents.
Last edited by The Bobster on Mon Jul 25, 2005 10:02 am; edited 2 times in total |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 9:46 am Post subject: |
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| (It was the target of vandalism just after 9/11, and received the honor of Korean soldiers guarding its entrance for several months or more afterwards ... sorry, but you'll have to accept the anecdotal evidence of my own senory memory on that |
I wasn't here for 9-11, but I remember quite clearly that the mosque was guarded after that Korean missionary-businessman guy got murdered in Iraq. |
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