Comments on: American Becomes Adviser at FSS

By: foobat

foobat — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 06:12:56 +0000

Another cigar store white man who will be shucking and jiving out in front to fool the world that Korea is playing y the same rules as everyone else.

a bit like step-in-fetch, eh?

spot on, although, yes the future is unwritten maybe this cracker will be “the one”—it is possible that this could be a sign of change.

but, seriously … some of the commenters here sound like they smoked a bowl.

Korea has its way of doing things. There is a lot of talk about changes, but few of them have a chance of being implemented while the old guard is in control of everything.

By: peninsular aborigine

peninsular aborigine — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 05:14:34 +0000

Wedgie, Sorry, man. All those years gone by in the Korean classroom have given me a skill for the redundant obvious.

PS: Wouldn’t the world be a beautiful place if a Nobel Peace Prize (Jimmy, Yessir, Albagore - did Hitler get one or did he die too soon (a mere pup of 56)?) were required for teaching Ethics 101?

By: Wedge

Wedge — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 05:06:17 +0000

#17: You mean possessing a Nobel doesn’t qualify you to run an institution of higher learning? Say it ain’t so!

By: peninsular aborigine

peninsular aborigine — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 04:40:52 +0000

“Laughlin failed because he was a jerk.” That is certainly true. But at the same time Korea deserved him. They “gild the turd” here so often it is pathetic. Any number of people at this blog could have done a better job than him, but because he was a NL (you get your own parking space for that) Koreans wanted him. 용두사미.

By: ecorn

ecorn — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 09:03:40 +0000

This seems to be part of a bigger effort by the FSS to better follow international standards and, hopefully, become less of a politically driven organization.

http://tinyurl.com/2zjany

Of course, they seem to be doing FAR better than Korea’s Fair Trade Commission:

http://tinyurl.com/298499

For those of you who don’t read Korea, the basic gist is:

Last year, one in every ten officials at the Fair Trade Commission was punished for taking bribes or violating rules.

According to the investigation report of the government that the commission submitted to the National Assembly, 43 of the commission’s 504 employees were accused of corruption last year.

By: Breaktrack

Breaktrack — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 07:50:40 +0000

Focus should be put on China now. It’s easier to do business there anyway.

By: mjw

mjw — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 06:00:11 +0000

you assume that laughlin failed because korea is korea. laughlin failed because laughlin is a jerk. he basically came here, called everyone idiots, and then told them how to fix themselves.

he’ll never be admin at stanford either.

By: joyboy

joyboy — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 05:45:33 +0000

Robert B. Laughlin recalled, the Korean delegation told him,

“This is a chance to make an impact. It’ll be easy.
You’ll just go there and be yourself.”

Ryu Keun-chan stated that cultural issues was a problem.
Dr. Laughlin, he says, “could not communicate his ideas to
students and professors.”

Dr. Laughlin said “I find that when Koreans bring up those subjects
they’re mostly trying to deflect the conversation away from the
issues they really care about — money and job security — because
talking about them in public is taboo.”

Good luck Mr.Ryback, your no longer in Hong Kong.

By: mjw

mjw — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 04:36:20 +0000

I remember meeting a senior foreign who had been parachuted in at one of those firms a few years back. He gave me his biz card and then felt obligated for some reason to explain the meaning of “secondment.” In this case, it meant if there was a fuckup and someone’s ass got sued, he and his partners back in the New World didn’t have to run to Mexico.

The words “cautiously optimistic” were used above. That’s my feeling. Sperwer’s “hopelessly naive” is a bit harsh but I take his point. Everyone knows what goes on around here. I would go so far as to say that his contract allows for a very generous amount of time outside of country. I view him more like a director on a board than someone who is doing day-to-day stuff.

By: Linkd

Linkd — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 04:00:57 +0000

Yes, I totally agree. Like Hollywood stars let their images be used here to sell ice cream, whiskey and clothes, so long as those images are used only in Korea. A purely financial arrangement.

I have personal frustrations here, too, since I’ve “written” many of big Korean biz’s annual reports. But I have no authority to tell them what they have to disclose, and what is ultimately published is always sterilized by the client. I still get paid, but I’d like the final product to be better. My hope is simply that Mr. Ryback will find (to the surprise of many) that he actually HAS some authority, and then actually uses it.