Korean Job Discussion Forums

MorgolKing · Joined: 18 May 2006

I love my students but this made me want to go off....my student asked me what I thought of North Korea. I said I liked North Koreans I just didn't like Kim Jung Il. I in turn asked her what she thought and she replied: "I think N.Korea is very brave because America is very strong and N.Korea is very weak."

I let the conversation stop there b/c I didn't want to get too fired up...but it's safe to assume she was referring to the recent missile test....or failure rather. The very act is cowardly.....that regime has always tried to blackmail to get what they want but never go so far as to really provoke an engagement. Meanwhile their leaders thump their chests boast of the capabilities to wipe out America in a full out war.

The whole comment "N. Korea is very brave" is so ridiculous that I would've laughed out loud I wasn't sure she was serious.

How do ya'll deal with situations like this in a professional manner??

laogaiguk · Joined: 06 Dec 2005 Location: somewhere in Korea

Hey, I am watching LOTR III now and you just died. What do you think of that Wink

Anyways, there is such a fine line between bravery and stupidity. Kim boy is way on the stupid side.

MorgolKing · Joined: 18 May 2006

Fool! No man can kill me!

No british mum pretending to be a man can kill me either! My spirit lives!!!

I'll be back in Lord of the Rings 4: Sauron's Revenge. Which is inevitable given the total revenues of the first trilogy.

laogaiguk · Joined: 06 Dec 2005 Location: somewhere in Korea

happeningthang · Joined: 26 Apr 2003

Well, normally I'd say the Korean student is probably limited in giving a detailed answer with all the nuances explained, but you're the teacher so I guess you know what she's capabale of...

But in any case what is there to get upset about?? It's her opinion. Is what she thinks SO wrong that there's no way that couldn't be a resonable answer??

If this is pushing your buttons I'm guessing your professionalism is in for a lot of challenges.

MorgolKing · Joined: 18 May 2006

As for a prequel--Only if I get a signing bonus of 2 million dollars and a new castle in the Shire.

To answer why I got so worked up--maybe it's in light of recent news that has revealed Korean youth admire Kim Jung Il for working for Korean Unity and are more likely to view America as the enemy. Maybe I have a short fuse, but that just chaps me.....

Natalia · Joined: 10 Mar 2006

shoeboy · Joined: 23 Apr 2006

Whatever. I dont care if ya like um or hate um, North Korea has alot of balls. For decades they stood up to the west like noone else. Even when the real commies abandoned them in favor of the south they kept pulling sh*t. They dont even care if they piss off china anymore. And as far as them getting their ass kicked, I think that they think they can win a fight against the west. Not a taking over the south kind of victory but kick enough ass to survive the fight. Not that I belive they could, but they think they can.
As far as them never going far enough to provoke an engagment...1993 went very close...and that was when daddy was in charge.

MorgolKing · Joined: 18 May 2006

I disagree--imo their only tactic is blackmail. The threaten as far as they think they can, whether it be test firing missiles or backing out of nuclear treaties. Their goal is to get attention and desperately needed supplies/energy. I don't believe they ever really intend to go through with their threats. At least not until they're really backed into a corner...which might be the situation shortly. Anyways their only export is weapons. I think their real threat is when they sell their weapons to potential terrorists. They've even offered to sell weapons to us, but we turned them down and so they have to use their only resource in other ways....and thus the threats.

Imbroglio · Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 5:25 am Post subject:

It's going to be a long and bloody battle when it does go down.

Gideon · Joined: 24 Feb 2004 Location: Seoul

I don't think its going to be long and bloody battle when it goes down. The US alone could crumble their regime.. yaya.. they have a lot of infantry.. Um sure all it would take is a few stealths to do some serious carpet bombing and its all over for NK. Course Japan might jump on the chance to rival with NK too.

As for the people of NK, I feel sorry. However, no person should have the power to brainwash their people to the extent "the dear leader" does. NK's days are running out. So be it, if the US, Japan or any other nation does some serious damage to NK. Sure there'll be collateral damage. But if the people fully knew what life could be like outside of NK they'd most likely welcome any country to bring down their "dear leader".

JeJuJitsu · Joined: 11 Sep 2005 Location: McDonald's

I'm leaning towards Japan being the darkhorse surprise to pre-emptively attacking the Norks. First, we all know the Japs are sneaky, and it would also throw a monkey-wrench in the whole, who's the more evil-er: NK? USA? SK? JP?

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060710/D8IP4UC81.html

TOKYO (AP) - Japan said Monday it was considering whether a pre-emptive strike on the North's missile bases would violate its constitution, signaling a hardening stance ahead of a possible U.N. Security Council vote on Tokyo's proposal for sanctions against the regime.

Japan was badly rattled by North Korea's missile tests last week and several government officials openly discussed whether the country ought to take steps to better defend itself, including setting up the legal framework to allow Tokyo to launch a pre-emptive strike against Northern missile sites.

"If we accept that there is no other option to prevent an attack ... there is the view that attacking the launch base of the guided missiles is within the constitutional right of self-defense. We need to deepen discussion," Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said.

Homer · Guest

Privateer · Joined: 31 Aug 2005 Location: Easy Street.

The student's views are fairly typical of the young generation. It suits them to see North Korea as 'tough'. If you want to be confrontational you could ask them what they think of the way Kim Jong Il treats the North Korean people, and then ask them what they think they should do to help their northern relatives in their plight.

North Korea understands quite well that it's a useful bad guy for the US as it justifies US troop presence both here and in Japan. It will always use its provocations as a way to negotiate further US aid and it will always break whatever agreements it makes in exchange for said aid a few years down the line so that the cycle can continue. This suits US interests just fine. It also gets large numbers of US voters sufficiently hot under the collar that they get behind continued US military spending.

Also this is a great way for NK to advertise its missiles to interested buyers in Iran etc.

The only thing new is Japan's newly war-willing posture.

Homer · Guest

In fact..if you want to be clear about it...the recent missile lauches by NK suited the US just fine as they might shift Japanese public opinion in favour of Japan buying into the National Missile Defence system (NMD) developed by the US military....the wheel keeps on turning.