I also witnessed jopok in my local market coming in to evict some stallholders who were obscuring the entrance to a newly opened Bada Iyagi (Sea Story) gambling palace. They put the stallholders stuff onto trucks and carted it away, putting container boxes down so that the stalls could not be set up again. (Last laugh: the gambling house closed, the container boxes are gone, and the stallholders are back.)

My Korean missus said it is sad that the police stand by and let the hired thugs do their dirty work, but it is not a rare occurrence.

Anyway, for me it makes me think I’d not like to go back to that hospital again for treatment. Thinking about dropping a line to the administrator….

Oranckay, any comments about police/jopok collusion?

Well, there’s our answer right there! Call Bushie, Kim …

He is harsh but fair.

Last comment, and I’m making it short and sweet. You’re still trying to pretend this is not wacked out in Korea. Do you think this would have been in the news the way it was, if it were normal? Wouldn’t it be, I don’t know, old hat if that were the case?

I see you claim that outsiders, as shielded from this kind of conflict, cannot understand it. Buit being a foreigner in Korea is not a one-size-fits-all affair. Close friends of mine have had bad experiences on both sides of the medical desk, and frankly, in all kinds of walks of life. It might make more sense to can the dismissals and talk about context a little. Such as the Korean context, in which this outburst was very big and very weird.

FWIW, though, if the Jopok were brought in my the hospital — if they were indeed gangster thugs — then that does reflect badly on the hospital. Is there evidence the hospital called them in, though?

LOL

globalvillageidiot, first of all, no one, including yourself, has reason to think there’s a “pattern of bigotry” in your comments, or at least that there was in the comment I deleted. It might have been a very positive and helpful off topic response to an bigoted comment, for all I know. Since as a matter of principle we’re not going to be explaining the rationale behind specific deletion decisions, it is nice and convenient for me to be able to honestly tell you I don’t remember why I deleted you @44. It might have been collateral damage (as we said their might be in this process) after a rash and quick carpet bombing deletion campaign. I doubt it, but can’t deny that possibility. FWIW, for at least the time being we’re not going to edit comment content. If someone writes 20 helpful paragraphs but begins or ends with, for example, “anyone who thinks I’ve recieved special treatment for being a (whatever) is talking nonsense” - which would’ve been problematic in this case given the string of inappropriate comments at the time - the best way to encourage people to stay on topic and deliberately ignore inappropriate comments is to delete the whole 20 paragraphs so as to emphasize a policy of zero tolerance (and editing comments is far more work and requires even more “judgement” of specific statements by others). I really, truly don’t remember what happened with yours so this is only a “general, for example” example, so please don’t let it bother you, at least as much as it might if you could be sure I/we decided you were being bigoted. I’m quite sure that if anyone went through the comments I’ve made here over the years plenty of comments would be deleted. I’m sorry, really, and should we ever meet in Seoul please let me buy you a beer.