According to Ye Olde Chosun, Iran and Korea (South, not North) are engaged in a bit of a diplomatic tussle over what the Iranian authorities consider improper and humiliating treatment of Iranian nationals at the hands of Korean immigration officials. Seoul points out, however, that a growing number of Iranians are overstaying their visas and residing in Korea illegally. Regardless, Tehran is now intentionally delaying the issuing of visas to Korean nationals — a process that used to take only two days is now taking between two weeks and 40 days.
Of course, long-time readers of this blog know that this isn’t the first incident between Korea and Iran involving visas. In March of last year, Iran — citing “cultural differences” — refused to issue female Korean football fans visas to watch an Olympic qualifying match between the two countries in Tehran.
34 Comments
South Koreans should take this opportunity to rename Tehran-ro.
Wow and the South Koreans take it hard when the US tells them that many South Koreans overstay their Visa.
hmmmmmm
Here is the thing about Iran-they are commonly reffered to as a nation that habors and actively supports terrorists. I would liken this to thinking about letting the neighbors dog into your house when you know it has fleas. Sooner or later your pets (and you by default) will be scratching fleas too-I think this is just SK saying lets limit that risk as much as possible. The company I work for has an office in Tehran and we recently had some people from there come here. They were issued visas after we issed them an official invatiation letter but myself and another Korean employee were made responsible by immigration that their activities would be limited in scope to what the invitation letter stated and that they would leave Korea at the end of the term requested in the invitation letter (one week-not the amount of time granted to them on their visa). I would not argue that there have been abuses by both sides but that there are other factors as well. The Iranians that came here, for their part, spent alot of time asking me questions on how they might be able to obtain legal residency and employment in other countries but not Korea. I guess they enjoyed the liquor and pork too much to want to go back.
How did Tehran No get its name BTW? Was it during the Shah era or the Khomeini era?
This squabble dates back to a few years ago, when a few Iranian diplomats just arriving in Korea had trouble at the immigration desk.
After waiting for a few minutes, they asked the Korean officials what’s the problem with handling Iranian passports.
The officials said
“Mullah.”
buhdumbum.
If this rift deepens, can Korea attack Iran? The Zaitoon soldiers (Korean troops in Iraq) can be the first attack division.
jyc,
I think the naming of Tehran-ro happened sometime in the 1990’s. The Iranians and South Koreans decided to do an exchange. Hence, somewhere in Tehran, there should be a street named Seoul. Overall, I’m pretty sure that’s what happened.
It is quite an ill-suited name for an avenue that’s considered to be South Korea’s “silicon valley.”
Teheran Ave was definitely there before the Olympics. I think it was a goodwill gesture after all the lucrative construction contracts South Korean firms had in Iran after the 1970s-80s oil boom.
from baduk: If this rift deepens, can Korea attack Iran? The Zaitoon soldiers (Korean troops in Iraq) can be the first attack division.
Just what the hell do they teach you at your church?
Tehran Street got its name in 1977. There was of course very, very little there at the time. Korea was busy building things all over the Middle East, and at one point Tehran and Seoul signed a sister city agreement.Tehran has a Seoul Street.
A few years back the high-tech companies along Tehran Street got tired of traveling the world and giving out names cards that had the name “Tehran” in the address, and in response Seoul city government started talking about changing the name. Iran got upset threatened to change “Seoul Street” into something else in response.
Actually, I think that little exchange might have taken place shortly before Seoul Street got bommed. Not sure though.
bommed = bombed
Nora,
How can you put that picture to represent you? I am mad at the Japanese in general, but not to the extent of using that horrible picture to represent me.
Go back to the glavatar people and submit a new picture. They do look at each picture and rate it. Your picture was unacceptable for obvious reasons. Too much sex and violence.
Look at my case, I am using the face of the famous Philippino TV star, Ricardo Valenzuela. Do you like it?
Put a beautiful face(Eu Gene’s?) to represent you. Do you want me to get one for you? I mean the picture.
from baduk: If this rift deepens, can Korea attack Iran? The Zaitoon soldiers (Korean troops in Iraq) can be the first attack division.
“Just what the hell do they teach you at your church? ”
I don’t know, but it’s only a matter of time before someone take baduk’s wacky but way-out-in-the-left-field ideals and rant “look at them Koreans and their idiotic thinking - proof that Koreans can’t think” or something..
Sa Hwa Dong,
You got to stop LABELLING people by a little tidbit you know about the person. That is so immature!
What is wrong with Koreans helping the U.S. and modernize the Middle East? Freeing people from the semi-dictatorship? Let’s out-Japan Japan.
“I don?€™t know, but it?€™s only a matter of time before someone take baduk?€™s wacky but way-out-in-the-left-field ideals and rant ?€œlook at them Koreans and their idiotic thinking - proof that Koreans can?€™t think?€? or something.. ” - Sa Hwa Dong
1) I am way-out-in-the-right-field, compared to most Koreans.
2) I just voice my opinion. And, as Nora or somebody wrote, we kyopos see more than an average Korean since we have additional frame of mind - Western frame. I believe my opinion will have some weight due to this additional dimension of thinking.
3) I see in many of your post a lack of confidence. In stead of just stating your idea, you beg for approval from others. If anyone has an opinion different from yours, you like to either label the person or undermine that person’s credibility. A typical Clinton stuff. Or, is it everybody’s? In any way, I wish you bring out more fresh ideas and relevant facts, instead of engaging in character assassination.
“character assassination”.
Well, you’re doing a good job yourself. Honestly dude, do you even believe half the stuff that you write?
And, as Nora or somebody wrote, we kyopos see more than an average Korean since we have additional frame of mind - Western frame.
hey, don’t drag me into this.
and marmot, where’s my f-ing grabatar?!
Nora,
A Glavata is given only to those Marmot really likes. It is a previlege and he is very conservative about giving it to just anyone. He is KJI of this site.
Hehehe..
Hey, Nora. Marmot provided all the info you need. He even added a box below the comment and explained all you need to know in one post.
Go do it. I did it. Do the work, people and stop complaining.
i did do it. but it’s still not showing up.
i’m wondering if my choice of gravatar was too bold. I chose the picture from the topic “nothing new under the rising sun” in my blog (april archives), which i can’t link provide a link to because marmot’s hole thinks it’s spam. the picture became a topic of a little lively discussion over at my blog.
maybe it’s o.t.t. it is, of course, meant in the spirit of irony.
I figured Tehran Street must have been named before Khomeini. It’s a little hard for me to picture the Islamic Republic at the time wanting to be chummy with a bunch of heavy drinking, poker playing, swine eating idolators who have never even heard of Islam.
Nora — Gravatar has to rate the picture. It usually takes a day or two, from what I understand. When did you upload the pic?
baduk wrote:
How can you put that picture to represent you? I am mad at the Japanese in general, but not to the extent of using that horrible picture to represent me.
the picture is meant to be ironic and meaningfull on multiple levels. i am not putting it up there because i hate the japanese; i don’t hate the japanese. i have japanese friends and relatives. i love japan. i love japanese people. sure, i think the right-wing is going uncomfortably retro, but i still love japan as a hole.
so, for the record, the pic is meant as irony.
also it is quintessential wartime propaganda from the states, so when people from my home country wonder how on earth some koreans and some chinese can express so much hatred toward the japanese, it’s a reminder that the u.s.a. was not always immune (although most in the u.s.a. have shorter memories). and it is just so vilely racist that it’s almost campy! and it’s telling you who you’re supposed to hate, as if you can’t figure out on your own who’s good or who’s bad: ‘this is the enemy!’
Go back to the glavatar people and submit a new picture.
you’re not pulling an ??¤?¹? on me and telling me what to do, are you? because that turkey will not fly.
They do look at each picture and rate it. Your picture was unacceptable for obvious reasons. Too much sex and violence.
that’s what i thought, since other people seemed to be getting theirs a lot faster. but i actually got a ‘g’ rating!
i guess the ‘g’ stands for ‘gory.’
Look at my case, I am using the face of the famous Philippino TV star, Ricardo Valenzuela. Do you like it?
that’s not you? damn, and i was just about to reconsider heterosexuality!
Put a beautiful face(Eu Gene?€™s?) to represent you. Do you want me to get one for you? I mean the picture.
well, if i didn’t get approved, i was thinking of putting up brittany murphy (who, to be honest, i wish i looked like) or maybe winona ryder (i’ve got one of her which was taken just as her strapless dress fell off her goodies) or maybe britney spears in a hanbok. i just don’t see myself as a eu gene.
but it’s all for nothing, since they approved my propganda poster!
marmot wrote:
Nora ?€” Gravatar has to rate the picture. It usually takes a day or two, from what I understand. When did you upload the pic?
sorry, i was just being impatient. they might have taken a long hard look before deciding to approve this.
in a semidrunken stupor i misspelled:
but i still love japan as a hole
i love japan as a whole.
NSP: so when people from my home country wonder how on earth some koreans and some chinese can express so much hatred toward the japanese, it?€™s a reminder that the u.s.a. was not always immune (although most in the u.s.a. have shorter memories). and it is just so vilely racist that it?€™s almost campy! and it?€™s telling you who you?€™re supposed to hate, as if you can?€™t figure out on your own who?€™s good or who?€™s bad: ?€?this is the enemy!?€™
This is Korean logic. She uses Uncle Sam’s wartime propaganda to justify Korea’s current obsession *today* with what happened 60 years ago. The key difference here is that the average American did not know anything about Japan 60 years ago. The idea that American draftees should go forth and fight someone 8000 miles away was like asking them to go fight Martians. This was at a time before airliners, when travelling to the Far East meant going on an ocean liner. This is why Uncle Sam had to put out that propaganda - to get GI Joe to go fight the enemy. The Japanese occupation has been over for 60 years, and the Korean government still wants to psych the average Korean to go fight the Japanese enemy.
This is why Korea really ought to resume its existence as a Chinese province - Korean is not only just another Chinese dialect, Koreans also think like Chinese. Besides, it’ll be cheaper for the State Department to maintain just a consulate in Han Cheng Seoul.
ZF: Besides, it?€™ll be cheaper for the State Department to maintain just a consulate in Han Cheng Seoul.
That should have read:
Besides, it?€™ll be cheaper for the State Department to maintain just a consulate in Han Cheng Seoul.
Zhang Fei in the original SanGuoZhi (Romance of the Three Kingdoms) was all muscles and no brains. His downfall was not a surprise due to his dumb mistreatment of his own soldiers. He lacked De, and I think was a sorry blood brother to both Liu Bei and Guan Yu.
After reading the neo Zhang Fei’s comment up there, I guess this one’s no better then the original one.
corrections (oops)
After reading (the)neo… — take out “the”
no better then… — change then to “than”
Too much soju and typing is bad for your grammar…
(TUI : Typing under influence)
Juan,
You must be a worshipper of Samgugji (the history of three Chinese kingdoms). Some Koreans use the principles from the book in everyday situations, remembering the strength and the weakness of many characters and situations they faced.
As you wrote, Zhang Fei(Jangbae) was a great warrior who lacked people skills. However, connecting the present Zhang with old historic characters is not warranted. Just because someone’s name is Donald, should we assume he is a quack? It does not make sense. You comment was just an insult and nothing more.
Even though it gave me chuckles, I hate to be the receiving end of such namecalling. I think we should respect other people posting here. Making fun of others with a childish analogy is hitting below the belt.
Well baduk I’m sure “This is why Korea really ought to resume its existence as a Chinese province - Korean is not only just another Chinese dialect, Koreans also think like Chinese.” by Zhang Fei was a wonderful statement about truth as the global world sees it?
Wwas it namecalling? No. For goodness sakes, he uses it as his ID!
As his statement was snide so was mine. As his statment was meant to insult Koreans I was trying to insult his intelligence by calling upon his previous childish post and the strong connotation his ID has with the concept of “stupidity.” Was it a roundabout insult? Yes.(Especially due to fact that I was TUI
And besides if you want to get back at me for the observation I made about you (couple of articles below on this blog) do it in a direct manner. (because I see more and more posters agreeing with me in their opinion about you)
And by the way, Zhang Fei is a Chinese pronunciation, and Jang Bi is the Korean pronunciation. (Not Jangbae as you wrote up there)
zhang fei wrote:
NSP: so when people from my home country wonder how on earth some koreans and some chinese can express so much hatred toward the japanese, it?€™s a reminder that the u.s.a. was not always immune (although most in the u.s.a. have shorter memories). and it is just so vilely racist that it?€™s almost campy! and it?€™s telling you who you?€™re supposed to hate, as if you can?€™t figure out on your own who?€™s good or who?€™s bad: ?€?this is the enemy!?€™
This is Korean logic.
no, mr. fei, it is irony, which in this case is an expression or utterance marked by a deliberate contrast between apparent and intended meaning (american heritage dictionary).
you see, i disagree with the sentiments in the poster. by using that image, i am lampooning knee-jerk anti-japanese sentiment. sure, i am not entirely happy with a lot of things coming out of the japanese right and i support the korean government’s claim to the islands (although not the diplomatic war over them), but i think the rok-’n-roh government and a number of social institutions use frustration over that issue to manipulate anti-japanese sentiment for other ends.
i do not think japan is the enemy at all, and i think it is foolish for koreans to demonize japan. that’s why it’s called irony.
She uses Uncle Sam?€™s wartime propaganda to justify Korea?€™s current obsession *today* with what happened 60 years ago.
nope. irony.
The key difference here is that the average American did not know anything about Japan 60 years ago. The idea that American draftees should go forth and fight someone 8000 miles away was like asking them to go fight Martians. This was at a time before airliners, when travelling to the Far East meant going on an ocean liner. This is why Uncle Sam had to put out that propaganda - to get GI Joe to go fight the enemy.
hold on. are you justifying the use of racist imagery like that icon for propaganda purposes, as long as it’s wartime? would such propaganda be okay now in our ‘war on terror’?
The Japanese occupation has been over for 60 years, and the Korean government still wants to psych the average Korean to go fight the Japanese enemy.
when the japanese government (this round started with the japanese ambassador to korea, not the shimane decision) is now re-asserting a claim that was enforced in part because japan had stripped korea of its national sovereignty, it is of little relevance that the war ended sixty years ago. japan still has three major territorial issues arising form its imperial past; this is just one.
but you’re right that they are going down a dangerous road for koreans and japanese if they try to depict japan as an enemy rather than simply an allied country with which the rok has a territorial dispute.
that’s why it’s irony.
Koreans have a right to base their issuance of visa’s based on the percentage of visa violations of people from a given country. Korea would do well to send a fact finding mission to Japan to ascertain the situation of Iranians in Japan, who arrived in Japan under similar circumstances to the way they arrived in Korea (and never left). However, it cant be said that the Iranians have contributed nothing - interacial porn is being produced like never before.
As an Iranian, I am sad to see relations between Iran and Korea worsen. However, I know Iranians can be opportunistic, and wish to overstay their visas. Koreans may be angry, but they should take pride that people find their country so beautiful that they would break the law to stay there. I know, I know, according to some people, Iran is a hellhole and the Iranians would go anywhere to get away. Believe that if you will, but those people usually believe anyplace outside of the US is a hellhole.
As for Zhang Fei, he uses “Han Cheng” to refer to Seoul. His narrow “New China” education has probably left him with such a poor knowledge of his own language that he believes Han refers to the Han (Chinese) people, and that “Han Cheng” means city of the Chinese. Had he any knowledge of the China of which he claims Korea was a province, he may have understood that Han, in this case, means “great” and that “Han Cheng” simply means capital city. This knowledge may have immunized him from making ridiculous claims about Korea being part of China, unless he believes that Seoul was the capital of some past Chinese empire. The truth is that the rulers of China would violently vomit at such morons, who know so little about Korean and Chinese as to put them in the same category. Anybody with the slightest knowledge of either language would laugh at this suggestion.
Koreans, in the past, revered Chinese culture, and the people who created that culture. Thuggish morons like Zhang Fei, who sadly litter the history of all mankind were never revered by anybody, and the ascendance of such people in China means that no province of China today would wish to remain part of China if it wasn’t for the PLA’s tanks. And certainly, Korea, Japan and Vietnam, which once looked up to China as a paragon of learning and wisdom, look down on its present state, as represented by “nationalists” like Zhang Fei.
nipple torture devices
Korea, Iran get snippy…