you seem to have an interest in the place, is this interest based entirely on the negative?
is all you know about young punks burning the american flag? the koreans are old and have an interesting culture and history. why not learn about it?

You must be adept at being floored by your own imagination, Nulji (since this reference is totally imaginary). I’ve never said anything of the kind.

“it??s folks like you who get us into messes like iraq and vietnam.
you don??t do your homework”.

I’ve done enough homework to know that ROK is a functioning democracy (unlike the two examples you cite). South Koreans are enjoying some of the rewards of this, and my only point is that it’s time for them to assume some of the burdens as well, by being responsible for their own ground defense (while we applaud and support — from a distance).

as for gwanju… jimuh “peanut man” carter was president when that happened. he had the power to stop it and didn?t so if the left gets mad at the US it should also get mad at itself.

re: third world comment, having lived in korea for several years makes me a bonafide expert on korea?s economy. but since i like facts and figures.. you can compare for yourselves the economies of korea and brazil (maybe this is subjective but i consider brasil a banana republic) and decide for yourself whether korea is a third world country.

i personally side with paul in this matter. korea has benifitted from it?s relationship with the US more than any other country and left to it?s own devices would not have come close to achieving the amount of success in it?s economy. pre-war korea was a mess and was primarily an agriculture market (blame the japs if you want) but it wasn?t until after the war and massive US capital inflows that korea?s economy grew and by any stretch of the imagination, korea hasn?t even come close to achieving the success that japan has post war and we gave them pennies to the dollar that we gave korea.

Kwangju - we know that it was a horrible event, a massacre, yet where are the trials for the number of murders that were committed by the South Korean soldiers? Everyone points at the United States, but from the way I remember it - the Americans weren’t shooting the South Koreans - they were covering the DMZ.

Obviously out of my field so I apologize for the run-on. Contact me Marmot - I have been waiting for your call or e-mail. I know we went out drinking that night but to the best of my knowledge nothing happened so why are you treating me like a cheap one night lay? ^^ Just kidding - I think

yeah, and the right in america usaully tries to blame clinton for
all of america’s woes. the right also tries to blame the entire world for
the worldwide hatred felt for america under bush. perhaps we’re becoming
a third world nation too.

‘compare south korea to latin america’

any latin american country on par with south korea? sorry, puerto
rico no cut no mustard compared to the good people of koguryo, baekche,
and shilla. try again.

btw, another good book for someone like you with your first wold mentality is
‘Mein Kampf’

********

well, paul, i don’t attack my fellow americans without cause. your comment
about sk needing a ‘khan type’ realy floored me. how can you comment about things
you know nothing about? it’s folks like you who get us into messes like iraq and vietnam.
you don’t do your homework

By the way, we were advising the Greeks in their civil war during the same time frame, and the general in charge of that operation was none other than James Van Fleet.

So, the U.S. was advising the ROK, much as the Russians were advising the NORKs. Not only in the military, but in the civil sphere. We were to get out of that on 15 AUg 48 when the ROK was declared. Sounds to me like the Koreans were responsible for whatever they did to other Koreans. The U.S. were mere interested by-standers, they did not call the shots.

As for “third world”, while I greatly admire Koreans and what they’ve done with Korea, I would venture the opinion that “third world” refers to more than a country’s infrastructure. I have heard it used to describe mental attitudes more in tune with underdeveloped countries. Latin friends used to cite Puerto Rico as an example of a country with a first world infrastructure (thanks to 13 billion a year in U.S. federal subsidies), and a third world mentality, particularly on the left. Everything wrong with the country was always the fault of someone else, usually the damned Yankees who had so shamefully exploited the country by pushing all that federal largesse down its throat to keep in in servitude. Everything right with the country (such as the modern infrastructure) was, of course, through their own hard work and efforts. A much better explanation can be found in a small book entitled “The Manual of the Perfect Latin American Idiot”, authored by a Peruvian, a Cuban, and a Colombian, all of whom confess to having once been strident, anti-yanqui, leftists.

DPRK = definitely a Third World denizen of the heart of darkness

I suppose I put them both together and took the lowest common denominator. Sorry not to be more specific, but I was taking seriously the grand vision of Korean unification. Or is that only reserved for Koreans? Once our ground forces are gone and out of the middle I’ll be happy to “butt out” and leave the issue for the inhabitants of the peninsula to solve at their leisure.

Sorry to appear so “ignorant”, nulji, but I’ll try to look on the bright side — after all, I did give you a chance to sneer at another “ignorant” American.