U.S. ambassador to South Korea Christopher Hill decided to spend his last day on the job slinging it out with some leftwing civic groups in a debate on North Korea hosted by the Civil Network for a Peaceful Korea (CNPK), run by Cheong Wook-sik (whose articles can be found at the CNPK homepage and the English edition of OhMyNews — type in “Cheong” in the site’s reporter search engine).
Definitely a brave move on Ambassador Hill’s part, and from what I’ve read — both at the KT and Chosun Ilbo — it would seem the U.S. embassy in Seoul is losing one sharp diplomat.
I’m glad this man is handling the six-party talks.
15 Comments
From my experience teaching very nice Korea adult students, I can’t help but believe Rice and the amb and all these guys are just whistling in the wind when they go into a format on the internet or at a meeting like this in South Korea. Go on national televison with some profs or news analysts, maybe.
But why put yourself into a position where the chance of significant success (reaching people) is tiny and worse still where the chances some comment you make will fuel the anti-US civic group websites and propaganda material are much higher???
To me, it seems like a fundamental misunderstanding of how all this works in Korean society.
Let me add an illustrative point — look back at the 2002 tank case and the 2000 water dumping (among others) where the US Embassy or USFK have issued a public apology for some major or minor real event. Here is one of my favorites from the KH editor:
From the viewpoint of Koreans, however, all these
gestures of contrition were perfunctory rather
than proper, leveling up only in proportion to the
public’s mounting anger.
It sounded something like: “Sorry if you feel bad.
Very sorry if you are angry. And terribly sorry if
you are really mad.”
The bilateral relationship should reflect the huge
change in times and circumstances since the two
countries signed their bilateral defense treaty 50
years ago.
Most often, the US leadership opening its mouth adds fuel to the fire no matter what is said. The idea such formats are going to make a dent seems foolish to me…
USinKorea,
I think you make a very valid point. But I want to point out that this process is a reflection of the better system of government United States has. Let me make it more clear: “political culture” and the culture of accountability and willingness to engage in dialog for American government is simply put, better. You don’t see this sort of thing in a corruptocracy or in a jingo-nazi country.
To do otherwise, would be like changing a fundamentally good part of the US government to match the crud that is infesting elsewhere.
I can now see a horde of OhMy readers sling stones at me…
(my moment of pro-US jingo-nazism over)
I just tried to access the US Embassy Web site, but it seems to be down.
I have to agree with USINKOREA,
i see very little gain from doing this. there is nothing like a good dose of fact based rationalism to stimulate the emotionally based irrationality of koreans. if he wins, they won’t report it or the koreans will somehow manage to completely ignore it, and if he loses or makes some points that could be taken badly, then it will be all over the front pages (just under the anti-japanese headline).
I would be more supportive if he would of just punched Cheong Dong Young in the face and said “That’s for all your N Korean brothers you’ve left suffering up there!!”
When he met his wife Hill had long hair and rode a motorcycle.
I won’t pretend to know what that means for the rest of us.
Six-party talks?
What the world really needs is SEX-PARTY talks!
Make love, not war!
He seems like a knowledgable and fairly brave individual. I have some sympathy for South Korean progressives. Basically, they don’t want any trouble with the North. Unfortunately, the North may want trouble with them.
But North Korea has no intention of entering into the 6 Party talks, and they could care less about any non-agression pact. The existence of their country is predicated upon a hostile policy towards the USA. Real reform of the country is impossible, because it will only engender a crisis of legitimacy for the regime. Once people in the North know the truth about the outside world, the existence of the government will only last as long as the army is willing to kill people to keep it in power. If they become a capitalist, open democaratic society, why would they even exist? They will just join the South (if it really wants them).
online party poker game
Please check the sites dedicated to strip poker party pic
bltz mrch pcfc pkr
Please check out some relevant pages dedicated to txs hldm trnmnts
ply ntrnt pkr nln
You may find it interesting to take a look at the pages about ply ntrnt pkr nln
bccrt msqrd
Please check the sites dedicated to kn pttrns
pkr prty
Take your time to check some helpful info about Wrld pkr tr
automatic forex
You may find it interesting to check out the sites in the field of scholarships for foreign exchange students