Balanced

I try to be balanced in my views and so I feel I should write an update here as well. While I felt troubled over the (lack of) professionalism in journalism and the judicial system here I read an article in an expat magazine that helped bring more peace. The beginning isn't so great, a female foreign teacher was sexually assaulted. But the ending, she told her employers who called the police and those responsible have been arrested.

Another article talked about free daycare for mixed children and said 167,000 multicultural families are eligible with an estimated 28,000 kids to be enrolled. Which is nice to see and also more signs of the mixing of this country. Most of the marriage are with single male farmers with mail order brides from Vietnam, China, or North Korea (seriously). The other side of the coin are white males with Asian females but they tend to leave the country and go back to his home country. Which I guess can be said with the farmers; moving to his hometown. Eligabilitiy depends on one person being a citizen here + lower income.

Afraid

Between planning multiple wedding ceremonies in several countries, adjusting to marrage life, going back to school for higher education, and trying to make sure we have enough in finances, I have neglected this site and the amount of time it takes to update.

However there is one thing that I do want to mention and that is what makes me afraid. It is stories like this. A lot can be obtained from searching other blogs but the only official information aka news, is from one perspective. Believe what you want but the whole story is not and won't be told in the news (a good chunk is because the other side left the country the following week).

But then again where can someone be truly safe from fraud, lawsuits, or other issues? Every time I hear about some crazy story or event here, which can make me wonder why I should stay here and not return to my home country, I can pretty quickly think of something crazy that appears in multiple other countries. A large company gets hacked and scores of personal information is taken (as a bank here recently had). Well what about the 70 million paid users of PS3 who had their information hacked recently? I believe both happened in the same week.

There is no perfect place, there is no 100% safety, and as much as I could bash Korea right now there are plenty of examples in Western countries as well of ID theft and bogus lawsuits. I really need to hold my tongue and keep a wider view.

I guess it all goes back to the idea of 'pick your poison.' No place is perfect, no place is competely safe. And I don't mean this as a downer. I mean this in a positive since things always look better from outside. Stay in your hometown/country long enough and you will see things you dislike/hate/scare you. Suddenly overseas or another city is romanticised. And then move overseas or change cities and stay long enough and then your hometown is romanticised and you long to go back 'where things are right' or 'where things make sense.'

In some ways I feel life is better where I am living now. Othertimes I feel it was better in my hometown. And I bet the time will come in which I think life is better in the birthplace of my wife.

I've been stewing over this for a couple days but specifically the last few hours and I can honestly say that I feel I've worked through everything and I have peace.

A good friend told me recently "ignorance is bliss" and considering how much the news focuses on the negative (and let's be honest - so do certain expat blogs) it might make more sense to turn off the news and just focus on the world around us.

Cheers,
Rick/Richard

2 Koreas in the News

update: this is a good review of the situation as well: link.

If you have heard anything in the news about the two Koreas don't worry. In fact that is what this article is saying.

There are several islands that are disputed in ownership near the border of North Korea (map). There have been several confrontations in that area over the years (link, link, link) including one yesterday.

This is the main Wikipedia page covering the event. It keeps getting updated as information gets clearer. What it looks like happened is the South did a planned military drill that the North said not to do, the North decided to 'defend itself' (official North media) by firing 100~200+ rounds of artillery into the disputed area killing a few people and unsettling fears in everyone else. South Korea did fire their own artillery in response and the damage is unknown.

One of the artillery hits can be seen in his video.

The US Embassy here issued an update:
This warden message is being issued in response to reports of North Korean artillery firing into the Northwest Islands (Yeonpyeong-do) off the coast of the Republic of Korea the afternoon of November 23, 2010. This artillery exchange was isolated to the Northwest Island area of the Republic of Korea and ceased as of 3:30 p.m. The Embassy is closely monitoring the situation. Should the security situation change, the Embassy will update this warden message.

The timing matches with Kim Jung-un, successor of Kim Jong -il, demonstrating his military power. This could also be another sword rattling for future food aid as conditions get worse in the North. This also matches the timing of the North showing off their nuclear capabilities to US scientists.

And I'll end with pretty pictures of the DMZ and links to the best expat blog about the South which will post way more than I ever will.

School Begins + China

Now entering into our third week of graduate school I am getting a better idea of what I have gotten myself into. I now have filed almost all of the new student paperwork, have import things like student ID card and academic advisor and am starting to know where things are and how things work better than I did in the past. The learning curve is almost done.

I now have my 3rd Chinese visa, the most visas 2nd only to Korea (unsure how many I've had to far for this peninsula). I have airplane tickets, train tickets, and enough currency converted for this trip and hopefully the next. Considering how Chinese currency is going up in value it makes sense to convert more now rather than later. I have little stashes of foreign currency because in the next few years I'll be visiting China, Japan, and the US again.

Weather

The hot weather is near it's end right now. With the typhoon that recently came through it brought much needed cool and a rather wicked breeze through Seoul. According to the news reports the typhoons normally come through Jeju Island area (southern tip of Korea) but they have been going steadily northward and now are going through the middle of the peninsula.

I knew about a bunch of blown over trees (saw it all over the city) but didn't hear three subway lines were affected.

And the weather here changes quickly. Koreans pride themselves (and get taught in school) that one of the great things about Korea is it's "four distinct seasons." The problem is there really are two main seasons and it feels like fall and spring are more transitions. But for now the weather is wonderful and the rain and the winds have been wonderful for me as well.

Cheonan Aftermath

Well unlike the North when someone cries "heads will role" the South government doesn't actually kill them. They do however fire people from high level positions, even when they have cute Dixie cups.

There was a recent inquiry (watchdog group) into the official military report on the sinking of the Cheonan (which I am surprised they actually did an inquiry).

""Military officers deliberately left out or distorted key information in their report to senior officials and the public because they wanted to avoid being held to account for being unprepared," a BAI official said. (source)

Some choice quotes:
"Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Lee Sang-eui was heavily intoxicated on the night of March 26 when the sinking of the Cheonan took place. This represented an effective surrender of his command responsibilities."

"...military authorities willfully revised the time of the incident in order to avoid criticisms about an improper early response..."

"Park refused to disclose the extent of Lee’s personal responsibility, saying it would be “inappropriate” to do so, leading observers to contend that the announcement only presented an abbreviated version of the findings. "

"...following a military leaders’ forum...he traveled to Seoul by KTX in a heavily inebriated state...and, after spending about ten minutes attending a situation assessment meeting...(he) effectively abandoned his duties and fell asleep."

There are reasons why people don't trust their governments. Stating again I am proud though that people looked into the official story and held people accountable.

Finiances and Purges in the North

I had heard a lot about the currency reform last November north of the 38th. The idea was to exchange the 'old' currency for the new one at the rate of either 100 Won -> 1 Won or 1,000 -> 1 Won. The changes caused people's savings to disappear and will likely cause a rift with the people.

Being fare, this was no the first time their currency was re-evaluated. And actually I was surprised that there used to be an official exchange rate between North Korean Won and the US Dollar.

So with a tight economy they are looking for investors, like from Germany. There already is an industrial city open to outside investment but workers do run the risk of arrest for trying to preach what the outside looks like (true story, don't have time to find the link). And with the recent boat sinking hasn't helped matters much either.

But reading some (not exactly new news), I discovered the finance chief was executed by firing squad for the currency reform. Official statement "a son of a bourgeois conspiring to infiltrate the ranks of revolutionaries to destroy the national economy". Some people believe that this could mark the start of another purge within the North.