The aimless musings of a guys whose bright ideas evaporate when commited to paper. Things that rattle around in my head include, life, politics, things Korean and of course variety meats.

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

한민족

(While reading About Joel some time ago, I came upon this post, which got me to thinking. These are my thoughts. People with a better command of the language than mine are encouraged to correct my many errors.)

한국사람들이 한민족이라고 생각한다 그건 좋은점도있고 안좋은점도있다 예를 들면 혼혈인의문제는 잘아는것이다 우리나라라는말이 바뀌어야된다 "우리"가 의미두가지있는데 (영어 똑같다) 하나는 "나랑 너랑"인데 하나는 "너말고 나랑내친구랑"이다 한국은 1번에서 2번으로 옮겼으면 좋겠다
물론 미국은 전혀 완벽하지않다 인종 차별은 아직 심한 문제이다 그런데 누구나 미국땅에서 태어나거나 오래살면 미국사람이다 어떻게 생겼는지 어디서 왔는지 상관없다 (이론상으로) 한국에서는 그렇지 않다 많은한국사람들이 한국에서 기운 혼혈인보다 한번도 가보지 않고 한국말 전혀 못하는 재미교포는 더 한국답다고 생각한다
19세기는 제국시대이고 20세기는 민족국가시대이고 21세기 국제화시대이다 신시대는 새로운생각이 필요하다

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

(The first in what is to be an occasional series on the geopolitics of the Korean peninsula)
I found a great article by Dr. Hahm Chaibong (함재봉).
via ">North Korea Zone

Dr. Hahm might be the last honest man in NK studies. I'm a pacifist and a fan of democratic socialism and I support a much harder negotiating line on NK. It would appear that everyone in the discussion has a favorite dictator, I choose none of the above. The economic development that Park encouraged did more good than bad on balance. He certainly was not as bad as the Kims but that is very faint praise. On the other hand it baffles me how those who participated and even lost friends in the struggle against dictatorship at home can serve as enablers of a worse one next door. I'm no fan of American hegemony but when students and friends told me they found the US a greater danger than the North, I was flabbergasted. Those who would argue that because North and South are brothers, the North poses no threat have clearly never had siblings. Unfortunately for the apologists for the bad old days (they know who they are, "better oppressed than red" and all that hot air) the US has squandered its credibility with the people of South Korea and that hurts America and both Koreas. Across the third world, the US pushed nationalist revolutionary movements into Moscow's arms by supporting the oppressive status quo. Likewise in SK, the perception that the US supported the regime meant that opposing the generals implied opposing the US.
An end to the conflict on the Korean peninsula should not come in any other way than as one unified nation with all nine provinces governed in the same free democratic fashion. Only then will it be safe to throw the Americans out (if that is the desired course of action).