Dram Man

Refugees and Anti-Americanism

OHHHH I feel safe now, there are refugee camps in the South to handle Northern refugees. Apparently the Korean government puts the flood at around 1500 people. Well this makes sense, considering about a million of them are in China. There cant be that more refugees in North Korea right?

Actually given the way the Korean government is these days, I wonder if SK and NK will have a shooting contest on who can get the best score as waves of refugees "who hope to destroy the progress the two glorious Koreas have made towards unification."

Two stories remarkably similar, but illustrate the subconscious anti-Americanism prevalent in Korea. I remember seeing this article last week. It said businesses estimate a 10-15% rise in the won. It was treated as no big news, just a little sidebar in the business section. Now yesterday an American economist gave a speech and said exactly the same thing. Yet this is front-page news. Note the tone of the reporting, it is not an observation of the value of won relative to the dollar, it is an American "calling" for the won to rise.

On second thought I don't know if this is anti-Americanism or just corruption. A widely know PR practice is to have companies pay for front page ads. Perhaps the organization who sponsored this little speech gave a little extra to make sure it was at the top. I wonder if Korea's press really understands what a slippery hole they are in.

posted by Dram Man @ 3:34 PM