Brian might have his problems with Korea’s Netizens (truth be told, many of us do), but you have to admit, they have their moments. The Chosun Ilbo ran a piece on the Netizen reaction to the National Assembly’s decision to block prosecutors from arresting seven parliamentarians wanted for corruption and illegal campaign fundraising. The English version should be posted on the Digital Chosun later today, but let me give you a brief preview. One rather pissed off netizen writes:
“?????????? ?????????? ???? ???????? ??????????? ?????????? ???? ??????? ???????? ???? ????????? ???????????????? ?????? ????? ???? ???? ?????? ??????????? ??? ?????????”
Translation: The National Assembly says it’s not bullet-proof, but then they fail to work on passing the budget and other laws, and only agree to reject the arrest bill. Before calling for the President to resign, the whole National Assembly should resign first.
Couldn’t agree more. And for all you “Korea is a law-abiding country - not” folk, here’s one Korean who remembers what he learned in civics class:
?????????? ???????? ?????? ????? ??????? ????? ??????? ??????? ??????? ????? ? ???????????? ??????????? ??????? ????? ???????? ?????????? ??????? ????????????????
Translation: There are three branches of government in this country - the prosecutors have their role, and the National Assembly its. Why is the National Assembly being so stubborn? Does this National Assembly recognize the President and fear the people?
Personally, I really liked this next one, but I found it kind of hard to translate the humor involved because I believe it’s in reference to this (scroll down until you get to the picture of Choe during his hunger strike). Anyway, here it goes:
?????????? ???????? ???? ??????? ???????? ??????????????????? ? ? ??????? ????? ???? ????? ???? ?????? ??????
Translation: Oh, so it was “saving Choe Don-ung is saving the nation.” Now I’m getting what GNP chief Choe Byeong-nyeol meant.
Well, I thought it was funny… assuming I got it properly. By far the angriest of the bunch, however, was this particular individual, who I will assume for the moment is a taxi driver:
“?????????? ??? ????? ?????? ?????? ???? ????????? ???? ??????????????????. ???? ?????????? ??? ??????? ?????????”
Translation: Like people whom I’ve met in taxis say, I’d feel a lot better if someone just blew up the whole National Assembly building. With all the National Assembly members inside, of course.
Yo, dude - expect a visit from the NIS tonight. Can’t say I blame the guy, though. Heck, when I can finish reading a political piece in OhMyNews and be like, “right on, my brothers!”, things are pretty screwed up.
PS: The photos on the OhMyNews piece are seriously fly.
UPDATE: Here’s the English version of the Chosun piece, and yes, that’s my name affixed to the bottom of it, which is really too bad, because I know either the Oranckay, dda, or Antii will take me to task for mistranslations.
“Thieving bastards! We’ve come to arrest you ourselves!“
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Two t’s and one i please
I’ve got a dial-in connection at home (this isn’t Korea) so no proofreading services for a few days.
And the “Korea is a law-abiding country” thing; aren’t some of you taking too much of it? What’s
the point of using one’s ammo against a statement in a newspaper editorial (aimed for
non-Korean readership?) when the general opinion in the country is that this is farthest from the
truth? (after everything I’ve ever heard “ordinary” people say about law in Korea)
How should I say, the sense of injustice in front of law, with the idea that following the
law causes is only harmful to oneself, combined with the feeling that following the laws should
start from somewhere…
If you kindly allow, an announcement of personal kind: “Media Focus”, the KBS TV1 media program
airing on Saturday evenings at 9.30, has done a report here in Finland of all the things that
are so wonderful here, which is supposed to be aired this Saturday, January 3. The interview
they did on me may have ended up in the editorial room wastebasket, as I didn’t have
that much to say and my Korean was not the most fluent at that moment, but it’d still be fun to
know how the program comes out.
And happy new year everyone, starting from the master of this blog himself.