Katy
I've enjoyed association with most of the people I've met in Korea as they are sweet and good-natured. I'm not generalizing in my critique. My main gripe bagan in 1996 when 600,000won was stolen from each of our pensions by the then owners of a hogwan in Expo Park, Taejon. We were given our return airflight tickets and basically told our visas were running out and to get out of the apt. and out of the country. It's a common ploy. The Labour Office would not help. I made my comment about Jacky Choi of Jacky's Recruiting because he pulled a bait-and-switch on me regarding a job in Seoul, wasting my time and money. I dislike conflict and certainly avoid it where I can in my life but I can smell white collar corruption when it comes to contracts. It happens so frequently. The super-rich chaebol president of SK Telecom was released from prison last year. Do we remember what he did (My students have no idea what happened?)? The president of Hyundai Corp. killed himself to hide his multi million money transfer to North Korea. This money transfer was the condition for the meeting of the North and South presidents (The two Koreas Sumit) and won Kim Dae-jung his Nobel Peace Prize. Is Mr. Kim planning on returning his prize to Oslo? All of this was reported in the Korean press and TV world wide, so it is quite public. This useful discussion has made me think that excess collective national pride is a mistake. We can be proud of some things and should disapprove of others, and try to correct them, not deny them. I will not hide problems in my own country. I discuss them. Pride is such a shaky foundation to character anyway. Most religions and philosophies warn against it. Athen has spoken. Now go watch the new movie TROY. I'll be there in spirit. This oral history is one at the foundation of western culture. The names and drama have been passed down thousands of years.