My piece on the human rights for Myanmar protests in South Korea is finally out, almost two weeks after it was news. It took me a few days to write it and the Times another week to run it.
Here is the required blurb:
While Im [Jong-in] and his allies’ concern for the plight of the Burmese people is certainly laudable, it makes their comparative lack of concern for the plight of the North Korean people all the more curious.
If they are ignorant of the ongoing human rights catastrophe going on north of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), it is a willful ignorance.
BTW, I also got a hat tip to the Marmot’s Hole in, which is fitting since I got at least half of my information from a post that Rob did on October 4.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Have you ever tried to reach a national audience by getting published in the Korean language press?
Andy, yeoman work on this one. Keep it up.
Sonagi,
Since my Korean skills barely get me through a taxi ride and an evening’s meal, I don’t think I will be using the Korean-language press any time soon.
And yes, it is embarrassing that I don’t know Korean any more than I do considering how long I have been here.
PA,
Thanks.
Besides the irony of the protesters ostrich pose vis-a-vis the NORKS, it’s interesting that they don’t seem to have taken notice of Korean corporates investment in the SLORC economy.
Try employing a translator to get your work into the mainstream press then, Andy.
Subcontract it out.
You seem to comment quite authoritatively on Korean politics. How do you deal with the language barrier when it comes to primary materials?
There is plenty of stuff out there in the “international language” but you need to do a lot of digging around. The reason I started my clipping service blog (http://gopkorea.blogs.com/south_korean_politics/) was so I could have a database to work with. The stuff I think I really miss out on is the gossipy insider stuff like you would see at websites like Politics 1.
And of course I ‘borrow’ stuff from guys like Rob who translate primary material (hence the hat tip in the article).
Good essay on this, Andy.
Andy, you certainly aren’t the only expat whose Korean is weak, so we appreciate your summaries of the local political scene.
I’m curious, how were you able to get a post at the newspaper? I thought it was generally impossible for a foreigner to be able to get such a vocal job anywhere in East Asia. It’s quite surprising and I’m impressed.
arthjourneyman,
It’s the Korea Times. They have several folks working as staff members and their main customers are waguks like me, so there is no need to be impressed.
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