Comments on: Korea’s Katrina aid offer 4th largest

By: Jan

Jan — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 06:21:16 +0000

Thanks. I was just curious.
I don’t suppose just because some newspapers write about it, all the people in Korea care about it.And international image is very important. What tweaked my interest was ambivalent attitude toward the U.S.
I thought there might be a general pattern that one nation as a whole exhibit in its behaviors and that you can explain it in view of historical backgroud.It might not be peculiar to Korea only;that is, it might be exhibited in other nations with a similar background. But never mind, I think I need to study more.
May I ask another question?
What is a criteria for a nation to stand on its own?
Which country stands on its own for instance?
Specifically, what do you want people in the world to know about Korea?
I ask this question because I think that korea already stands on its own just like other countries and she is already a advanced nation and she is known in the world pretty well just like other countries.

By: guerilla-sk

guerilla-sk — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 18:29:23 +0000

Jan, Korea doesn’t care so much which country ranks first and how Korea will be ranked. Don’t be saying what some damn newspaper company writes on their column is every Korean’s view. There are all sorts of people with all sorts of different views. It is true that there are people with nationalistic views, but what country doesn’t? Because some young people in Japan speak Japanese with westerner like pronounciation because they don’t like how the original Japanese sound, does it mean everybody in Japan think the same way? Any country you pick, it’s the same. Don’t think Korea is somehow different.

By: Kushibo

Kushibo — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 18:22:04 +0000

I guarantee that if ROK was better known in the US, USFK would be gone and that would be just the start.If vocal anti-American sentiment were the standard for leaving, the U.S. wouldn’t remain in many places, including Okinawa, mainland Japan, and most of Europe.

When I spent a month in Italy last year, I encountered far more vocal and passive anti-American sentiment than I saw in Korea. “Fuck Bush” was a very common graffito.

By: Kushibo

Kushibo — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 18:18:08 +0000

Is it really so hard to figure out why a country that was dirt-poor and a “basket case” a matter of decades ago and has worked its collective asses off to rise up from that is so image-conscious, especially when the dominant images about it are so often decades out of date?

And is this just a Korean thing? It seems Canadians have a bit of this in relation to the U.S. So do a lot of European countries, to each other or to the U.S.

About the only countries that don’t do it all that often are places like the U.S., where they already top most of the rankings.

Anyway, rankings and international image are something that have often worked well as a driving force for improving things around here. I have that obsession to thank for the high-speed wireless Internet access I use around town.

By: guerilla-sk

guerilla-sk — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 18:11:16 +0000

I don’t get what you are saying. If ROK was better known in the US, USFK would be gone? So what if they are gone? What are you talking about? What I am saying above is that there is no bad in letting people know in America that ROK helps out an ally when they need help. That is a postive exposure, and ROK needs it a lot. But for some reason, the US or the world news doesn’t seem to cover it much when they cover everything possible of the G8 nations.

Also, ROK must learn to defend itself alone, we can’t always depend on the USFK to do the job for us. We have for a long time depended on the USFK so we could grow economically, and we did so very well. Now, it’s time to thank the USFK and take care of it ourselves.

ROK must become a country that can stand on its own and be shown to the world that it’s a well advancing nation and not known as some country in Asia where there was a Korean War 60 years ago, and many GIs died there.

Do you get what I am saying? or do you still not?

By: Jan

Jan — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 17:52:56 +0000

I wonder why korea cares so much which country ranks first and how Korea will be ranked.
On the one hand, it seems some Korean hate Americans to the bones.
On the other hand, it seems they wants to show to the U.S, how much they contributed to her.
Is this a kind of feelings as in a situation where you must be subodinate to the super power to survive but in your heart you hate to do so?

By: Sperwer

Sperwer — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 06:48:29 +0000

guerille-sk says:

“What Korean government should do additionally is to lobby the US media to make ROK more known in the US.”

I guarantee that if ROK was better known in the US, USFK would be gone and that would be just the start.

By: Kushibo

Kushibo — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 04:24:01 +0000

Wouldn’t that just show the money paid out until the end of December 2004 and not the money pledged to be given later for later clean-up, rebuilding, resettling, etc.? That’s what appeared to be the case when I went to that site earlier (but I’m saying this from memory, so I may be wrong).

By: masa

masa — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 04:00:03 +0000

1.Key Criteria : Donor = Korea, Republic of
Country / Emergency = INDIAN OCEAN - Earthquake/Tsunami - December 2004
2.(continue)
3.Subtotals by : Status
4.Result Sorted By : Description

By: Kushibo

Kushibo — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 23:50:40 +0000

Show me how you worked the stats, because I didn’t get that, and I think some others got something different from what you stated.