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fidel
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
Location: North Shore NZ
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 Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2005 5:01 am Post subject: This is going to get the lunatic fringe in Korea furious |
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I came across this on BBC today. The derogatory nature of this journalist's "diary" will sure to fire up those crazy netizens. I'm sure they will bombard BBC with demands for an apology and the public hanging of the journo.
I bolded those comments that I thought were particulary amusing
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4438068.stm
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The first day of summitry is over.
Protesters numbering in the thousands have been in the streets. Their signs read "Smash Apec!" and "Kick out Bush!"
Many of them are Korean farmers who say their livelihoods are disappearing as cheap rice imports undermine them.
The perks of being a world statesman.... kimchi for dinner
The police have turned their hoses on them, but it seems quite tame stuff by Korean standards.
President Bush has held a meeting with Vladimir Putin, the contents of which remain largely a mystery.
And in an odd episode, the South Korean Defence Ministry has chosen this moment to announce that it intends to reduce its troop presence in Iraq by a third. This, a day after Presidents Bush and Roh stood side by side proclaiming solidarity over Iraq.
The White House didn't seem to know it was coming.
"There has been no official communication to the United States of a change of position by the South Korean government," was the line.
Now, the leaders are heading for their hotels to ready themselves for the "Gala Dinner and Cultural Performance."
Ah yes, the menu. Scallop and ginseng salad. Chestnut porridge. Beef with pine mushrooms.
Kimchi, the sinus-shattering pickled cabbage.
And a rice wine flavoured with mushrooms - which the teetotal president will presumably avoid.
Saturday will see the uber-pack leave Busan early.
We will miss what must be one of the most mawkish moments of global statesmanship - all 21 Apec leaders must don an article of national dress from the host country. Then they all stand together and have their photo taken.
Here in Busan they will wear the durumagi, a sort of Korean coat decorated with "ancient Korean symbols".
"It's a race between the president and Putin to see who can take it off first", said one White House official.
18 NOVEMBER BUSAN, SOUTH KOREA 0915 (0015 GMT)
Escape!
Last night, I broke free of the bubble and proceeded to dinner in downtown Busan.
The glossy Apec briefing books blathers about Busan's "vision" of becoming a "dynamic international city by developing global fishery logistics".
Busan is overflowing with journalists this week
"What you do, eat and see: Everything is enjoyable!"
From the window of my cab, the city is chill, grey and gritty - shipping containers stacked for miles, blistering neon along shadowy concrete wharves. Asian modernity.
I join a wonderfully polyglot group of BBC colleagues - British, Korean, Australian, Singaporean, Thai.
The meal was a little too polyglot. Korean raw fish seems to lack the refinement of sushi. The chopped octopus squirmed on the plate. For hours.
There are apparently 2,000 journalists in town - Busan is pressed to cope. Many are staying in "love hotels" - back alley shops of convenience for temporary liaisons.
This morning, back in the filing centre, Apec is in full, mind-bending flow.
President Bush is in meetings all day: Asean leaders, Putin, Apec leaders, business leaders. Much talk, but no centre to it. Crafting a news line is all but impossible.
The uber-pack doesn't really care. A senior Congressman, John Murtha, a Democrat but a hawk, has called for immediate withdrawal from Iraq. The White House professes to be "baffled".
17 NOVEMBER BUSAN, SOUTH KOREA 1400 (0500 GMT)
The uber-pack of travelling White House correspondents pours into the Busan hotel at midnight. It's gloomy and cramped and the pack looks sullen.
There's business with Apec accreditations, and then sleep - blissful, unadulterated hours of it.
The US press pack lapped up Bush's attack of Democrats
The morning is rumoured to be chill and bright, but in the digital flicker of the filing centre, hunched over our green baize tables, we know little of the outside.
The breakfast buffet is glutinous and cold, and correspondents show signs of petulance. A rumour spreads of a bug found in a croissant.
The story today is a struggle. President Bush goes on a bicycle ride. Much is made of this.
Mr Bush is holding talks with South Korea's President Roh in Gyeongju, a long, tiresome bus journey away. Most of the radio reporters have elected to stay in Busan and listen to the press conference piped in. They compete to avoid using the term "Doha round" in their stories.
But the uber-pack is reverting to its truest self, and domestic American politics is drowning out anything the Asia story has to offer.
The Senate, restive over Iraq, has demanded greater oversight of the conduct of the war. An Iraqi interior ministry compound has been found to contain badly abused detainees.
So the pack waits for crumbs from the US president, and is gratified when, in a joint press briefing with President Roh, Mr Bush lashes out at Senate Democrats.
Otherwise, the presidents have talked mainly about North Korea, and what to do with it. They pile the pressure on Pyongyang to start dismantling its nuclear programmes. The tone is very formal - Asian diplomacy talk: "the two leaders shared a common understanding" - as glutinous as the buffet.
Very different to an impassioned President Bush in Japan on Wednesday, when he called North Korea isolated, backward and brutal, with "prison camps the size of cities" revealed by America's spy satellites.
The uber-pack is temporarily sated. Nobody can pronounce Gyeongju. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2005 12:17 pm Post subject: |
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But the uber-pack is reverting to its truest self, and domestic American politics is drowning out anything the Asia story has to offer.
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Truest self, indeed. Representatives from 20 countries. An important international forum...but hey, let's talk about domestic American politics yet again. That never gets enough coverage.
Phooey!
What are the odds of an important story walking up to a pack, uber or not, and presenting itself? This says loads about why news is not as informative as it should be. Why not save the money spent on 'journalists' salaries and just have the press secretaries beam the press release straight to the media outlet? |
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SPINOZA
Joined: 10 Jun 2005
Location: $eoul
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| Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2005 9:27 pm Post subject: |
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| It's not at all uncommon to come across superior-sounding rancorous flatulence on the Beeb alas - an incalculably vile institution that ought to be replaced by proper state telly. You're not in Macclesfield now, pal, or hadn't you noticed? No baked beans for brecky here I'm afraid. Their weather site's good but that's about it. By Christ, I effin' hate liberalism. The Beeb, The Guardian - kill 'em all I say. |
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sid
Joined: 02 Feb 2003
Location: Berkshire, England
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| Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2005 10:35 pm Post subject: |
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| Any time English journos are forced to get off their behinds and actually leave London for more than a couple of hours they generally come up with this kind of snidy patronising drivel. This little Mummy's boy seems to be falling to pieces having been sent halfway round the world. He's not only had to eat strange food at the license-payers' expense, they also made him go on a 'long and tiresome bus journey'. Poor thing! |
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Mashimaro
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: location, location
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| Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2005 11:13 pm Post subject: |
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| why the feck did they have to wear the traditional costumes?? do they think korea is the only country with traditional clothing? |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2005 1:46 am Post subject: |
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| Any time English journos are forced to get off their behinds and actually leave London for more than a couple of hours they generally come up with this kind of snidy patronising drivel. This little Mummy's boy seems to be falling to pieces having been sent halfway round the world. He's not only had to eat strange food at the license-payers' expense, they also made him go on a 'long and tiresome bus journey'. Poor thing! |
Glad I'm not the only one who thought that piece had a whiff of "the ugly American" about it.
Though am I correct in assuming that the proper term in this context is "little Englander"? |
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SPINOZA
Joined: 10 Jun 2005
Location: $eoul
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| Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2005 10:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Any time English journos are forced to get off their behinds and actually leave London for more than a couple of hours they generally come up with this kind of snidy patronising drivel. This little Mummy's boy seems to be falling to pieces having been sent halfway round the world. He's not only had to eat strange food at the license-payers' expense, they also made him go on a 'long and tiresome bus journey'. Poor thing! |
 !!!
Jesus, I hate the media with a passion most can only dream of. Where's a major international act of terrorism when you need one? |
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khyber
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Compunction Junction
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| Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 12:14 am Post subject: |
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I yelled
"HEY JERKS!!! F*** YO!!!!" as I drove past the lotte hotel in busan on friday night.
I think that can count as a terrorist attack. |
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Wangja
Joined: 17 May 2004
Location: Seoul, Yongsan
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| Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 12:38 am Post subject: |
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| khyber wrote: |
I yelled
"HEY JERKS!!! F*** YO!!!!" as I drove past the lotte hotel in busan on friday night.
I think that can count as a terrorist attack. |
That's only a crime under the Prevention of Criticism Act. |
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Hollywoodaction
Joined: 02 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 12:39 am Post subject: |
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| While I don't disagree that Korean motels are bad, that Pusan is an ugly city, that kimchi is an acquired taste, or that hanboks make most foreign men wearing them look ridiculous, I don't think it's appropriate for a BBC reporter to waste his time writing such things. I suspect he got sick of it all after having been suckered in participating in events that were portrayed in the Korean press as proof that foreigners are fascinated by Korean culture. |
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