South Korea

[LaughAtTheWorld]

I have been inactive in recent months due to some personal issues.

I am writing this OP in what I think is a futile attempt as 99% of such attempts by do-gooders fail, but I digress and continue.
The situation in South Korea is a mess. Although many foreigners were impressed at the 2012 elections and have the misconception of "true" democracy in South Korea, that is not the case. Thousands rose up against the meddling of the NIS (South Korean intelligence) in the 2012 presidential elections. Meddling in politics (at least, so ineptly and blatantly)by national intelligence is what many people think common in 3rd world countries, not South Korea. That's not the only idiocy the NIS committed. It also illegally released documents which wasn't supposed to have been released for decades about another controversy which allegedly reveals shocking facts about the liberal camp.

That's not to say that only the right-wingers are to blame. An extreme leftist congressman was recently indicted for trying to plot a coup that was supposed to seize arms, disable communications, and conduct disruption techniques behind lines in case of a war with North Korea (which proves far he's out of touch with reality).

To top it all off, the former president Lee-Myung-Bak has now a tremendous spiraling scandal about the 4 rivers project which for all its official purposes of building a worthless canal and cleaning up the environment, is now reported to be an environmental disaster and to have cost around an equivalent of $22 billion. That's his legacy, not his incredible mishandling of the Korean economy.

For what purposes I wrote this apparently worthless OP that only a few people would even notice, it was written from a desperation of the heart, a rage against my own country, to destroy the illusion that South Korea would want the world to believe.
End of rant

 

[Rainman05]

The situation in South Korea is a mess. [...] is what many people think common in 3rd world countries, not South Korea. [...] also illegally released documents which wasn't supposed to have been released for decades about another controversy which allegedly reveals shocking facts about the liberal camp.

To top it all off, the former president Lee-Myung-Bak has now a tremendous spiraling scandal about the 4 rivers project which for all its official purposes of building a worthless canal and cleaning up the environment, is now reported to be an environmental disaster and to have cost around an equivalent of $22 billion. That's his legacy, not his incredible mishandling of the Korean economy.

it was written from a desperation of the heart, a rage against my own country,
End of rant

I know how you feel.

 

[LaughAtTheWorld]

I know how you feel.

Coming from Roumania you must have your share of grievances too

 

[cpwill]

I have been inactive in recent months due to some personal issues.

I am writing this OP in what I think is a futile attempt as 99% of such attempts by do-gooders fail, but I digress and continue.
The situation in South Korea is a mess. Although many foreigners were impressed at the 2012 elections and have the misconception of "true" democracy in South Korea, that is not the case. Thousands rose up against the meddling of the NIS (South Korean intelligence) in the 2012 presidential elections. Meddling in politics (at least, so ineptly and blatantly)by national intelligence is what many people think common in 3rd world countries, not South Korea. That's not the only idiocy the NIS committed. It also illegally released documents which wasn't supposed to have been released for decades about another controversy which allegedly reveals shocking facts about the liberal camp.

That's not to say that only the right-wingers are to blame. An extreme leftist congressman was recently indicted for trying to plot a coup that was supposed to seize arms, disable communications, and conduct disruption techniques behind lines in case of a war with North Korea (which proves far he's out of touch with reality).

To top it all off, the former president Lee-Myung-Bak has now a tremendous spiraling scandal about the 4 rivers project which for all its official purposes of building a worthless canal and cleaning up the environment, is now reported to be an environmental disaster and to have cost around an equivalent of $22 billion. That's his legacy, not his incredible mishandling of the Korean economy.

For what purposes I wrote this apparently worthless OP that only a few people would even notice, it was written from a desperation of the heart, a rage against my own country, to destroy the illusion that South Korea would want the world to believe.
End of rant

1. Complete agreement - the NIS thing was ****'d up. Security services have no business trying to tilt elections in either direction.

2. That being said, I don't think that the situation in South Korea is all so dark as you paint. Kaesong is back up and running, KJU appears to have somewhat learned his lesson from the failure of this springs' provocation cycle, and China and Japan are both reaching out to you, wanting to be seen as responsibly supportive (to differing degrees). If the China-Japan-South Korea Free Trade Agreement goes forward, that will be a nice economic boost. Your economy is only growing at about 2% - but that's probably still better than the U.S. The NIS tried to corrupt an election. But - and this is important - they got caught and it had negative effects. In Banana Republics, this kind of thing is assumed, hardly punished. South Korea is no more doomed because the NIS messed with an election than we are because the IRS messed with an election.

3. That being said, two of your major trading partners (China and Japan) are about to go through serious fiscal and economic readjustments, and that is going to impact you as well. Though the situation is not so bad as you paint in the near term, it probably will get worse in the medium term, in strictly economic terms.

 

[LaughAtTheWorld]

1. Complete agreement - the NIS thing was ****'d up. Security services have no business trying to tilt elections in either direction.

2. That being said, I don't think that the situation in South Korea is all so dark as you paint. Kaesong is back up and running, KJU appears to have somewhat learned his lesson from the failure of this springs' provocation cycle, and China and Japan are both reaching out to you, wanting to be seen as responsibly supportive (to differing degrees). If the China-Japan-South Korea Free Trade Agreement goes forward, that will be a nice economic boost. Your economy is only growing at about 2% - but that's probably still better than the U.S. The NIS tried to corrupt an election. But - and this is important - they got caught and it had negative effects. In Banana Republics, this kind of thing is assumed, hardly punished. South Korea is no more doomed because the NIS messed with an election than we are because the IRS messed with an election.

3. That being said, two of your major trading partners (China and Japan) are about to go through serious fiscal and economic readjustments, and that is going to impact you as well. Though the situation is not so bad as you paint in the near term, it probably will get worse in the medium term, in strictly economic terms.

Lol, the economy is running well, but it won't go long from the current political base.

 

[sawyerloggingon]

I have been inactive in recent months due to some personal issues.

I am writing this OP in what I think is a futile attempt as 99% of such attempts by do-gooders fail, but I digress and continue.
The situation in South Korea is a mess. Although many foreigners were impressed at the 2012 elections and have the misconception of "true" democracy in South Korea, that is not the case. Thousands rose up against the meddling of the NIS (South Korean intelligence) in the 2012 presidential elections. Meddling in politics (at least, so ineptly and blatantly)by national intelligence is what many people think common in 3rd world countries, not South Korea. That's not the only idiocy the NIS committed. It also illegally released documents which wasn't supposed to have been released for decades about another controversy which allegedly reveals shocking facts about the liberal camp.

That's not to say that only the right-wingers are to blame. An extreme leftist congressman was recently indicted for trying to plot a coup that was supposed to seize arms, disable communications, and conduct disruption techniques behind lines in case of a war with North Korea (which proves far he's out of touch with reality).

To top it all off, the former president Lee-Myung-Bak has now a tremendous spiraling scandal about the 4 rivers project which for all its official purposes of building a worthless canal and cleaning up the environment, is now reported to be an environmental disaster and to have cost around an equivalent of $22 billion. That's his legacy, not his incredible mishandling of the Korean economy.

For what purposes I wrote this apparently worthless OP that only a few people would even notice, it was written from a desperation of the heart, a rage against my own country, to destroy the illusion that South Korea would want the world to believe.
End of rant

Story's like this is why so many people immigrate to the US and why we can't let the US slip into the same mess most of the world is in. Our constitution is what keeps us who we are and those that would trash it should just move to South Korea.

 

[RDS]

Story's like this is why so many people immigrate to the US and why we can't let the US slip into the same mess most of the world is in. Our constitution is what keeps us who we are and those that would trash it should just move to South Korea.

LOL....Mugabe has yet to shut down his government.

 

[LaughAtTheWorld]

Story's like this is why so many people immigrate to the US and why we can't let the US slip into the same mess most of the world is in. Our constitution is what keeps us who we are and those that would trash it should just move to South Korea.

So the country that is so ripped apart by bipartisan bickering that it has caused a government shutdown, has one of the highest prison populations in the world per capita with the inequality to boot, and is so deep in vested interests that it has practically mildewed is the beacon of hope for the world. Then God help the world.

 

[MadLib]

LOL....Mugabe has yet to shut down his government.

What does the Zimbabwean dictator have to do with either what Sawyer said or with South Korea?

 

[LaughAtTheWorld]

What does the Zimbabwean dictator have to do with either what Sawyer said or with South Korea?

He's pointing out that even one of the most mediocre and corrupt dictators in the world has not yet reached a shutdown.
Though it's not a proper analogy, nor is it completely accurate. I'd rather trust the workings of the US govt than that of Zimbabwe's

 

[MadLib]

He's pointing out that even one of the most mediocre and corrupt dictators in the world has not yet reached a shutdown.
Though it's not a proper analogy, nor is it completely accurate. I'd rather trust the workings of the US govt than that of Zimbabwe's

LOL....Mugabe has yet to shut down his government.

Ah, yes, I get it now. Sorry about that. That was pretty funny :lol:

 

[sawyerloggingon]

So the country that is so ripped apart by bipartisan bickering that it has caused a government shutdown, has one of the highest prison populations in the world per capita with the inequality to boot, and is so deep in vested interests that it has practically mildewed is the beacon of hope for the world. Then God help the world.

Evidently we stack up pretty good compared to the rest of the world, people want to immigrate here in droves.

 

[LaughAtTheWorld]

Evidently we stack up pretty good compared to the rest of the world, people want to immigrate here in droves.

If you hold immigration rates as the measuring point for success, I have no other words.
One of the biggest fallacy people commit is relying on only one standard to measure different things. A perfect example would be like "The Soviet Union was better than the US because of near-perfect equality among the comrades therefore the Soviet Union rulez bwahahahahah!". They are conveniently ignoring the fact that the so-called comrades were equal in that they were in near-poverty

 

[sawyerloggingon]

If you hold immigration rates as the measuring point for success, I have no other words.
One of the biggest fallacy people commit is relying on only one standard to measure different things. A perfect example would be like "The Soviet Union was better than the US because of near-perfect equality among the comrades therefore the Soviet Union rulez bwahahahahah!". They are conveniently ignoring the fact that the so-called comrades were equal in that they were in near-poverty

Sorry but your analogy is nuts, try again. The US is far from perfect but it seems to be the place everyone from countries like your wants to live.

 

[LaughAtTheWorld]

Sorry but your analogy is nuts, try again. The US is far from perfect but it seems to be the place everyone from countries like your wants to live.

Let's try this again. You're stating that the US seems to be the place everyone wants to live.
First off, why would people want to live in a country that is currently very antagonistic to immigrants?
Second, you have no statistics to indicate about the immigration rates in the US. Many may want to live in the US, but many may also want out
Third, considering that much of the immigration occurs from Mexico where they have little choice, it's not surprising that the US has such high immigration. If we opened the border with NK, the same thing could happen. It's a matter of relativity.

 

[TacticalEvilDan]

Sorry but your analogy is nuts, try again. The US is far from perfect but it seems to be the place everyone from countries like your wants to live.

According to the CIA, Libya has 10x the number of people coming in per 1,000, so does that mean Libya is 10x better than the United States?

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2112.html

 

[LaughAtTheWorld]

According to the CIA, Libya has 10x the number of people coming in per 1,000, so does that mean Libya is 10x better than the United States?

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2112.html

You just saved me an hour of having to dig up the latest immigration statistics

 

[sawyerloggingon]

Let's try this again. You're stating that the US seems to be the place everyone wants to live.
First off, why would people want to live in a country that is currently very antagonistic to immigrants?
Second, you have no statistics to indicate about the immigration rates in the US. Many may want to live in the US, but many may also want out
Third, considering that much of the immigration occurs from Mexico where they have little choice, it's not surprising that the US has such high immigration. If we opened the border with NK, the same thing could happen. It's a matter of relativity.

We are only antagonistic to ILLEAGAL immigrants so stop the BS. We are a melting pot of cultures from all over the world with legal immigrants and that is one of our strengths.

 

[TacticalEvilDan]

We are only antagonistic to ILLEAGAL immigrants so stop the BS. We are a melting pot of cultures from all over the world with legal immigrants and that is one of our strengths.

The United States has a well-documented history of perfectly legal immigrants meeting with hostility and prejudice.

 

[sawyerloggingon]

The United States has a well-documented history of perfectly legal immigrants meeting with hostility and prejudice.

In this day and age legal immigrants are treated very well. You have to go back in time to Chinese and Irish immigration to make your case.

 

[TacticalEvilDan]

In this day and age legal immigrants are treated very well. You have to go back in time to Chinese and Irish immigration to make your case.

I guess you haven't noticed the anti-arab and anti-muslim hate crimes that have happened since 9/11. I have, I've witnessed some of it myself. We're a great deal more accepting than some areas of the world, but to posit that we are antagonistic only towards illegal immigrants (especially given our history of hate directed at perfectly legal immigrants) is a demonstration of ignorance at best.

 

[sawyerloggingon]

I guess you haven't noticed the anti-arab and anti-muslim hate crimes that have happened since 9/11. I have, I've witnessed some of it myself. We're a great deal more accepting than some areas of the world, but to posit that we are antagonistic only towards illegal immigrants (especially given our history of hate directed at perfectly legal immigrants) is a demonstration of ignorance at best.

No I have not noticed main stream Americans doing anything to Muslim Americans.

 

[TacticalEvilDan]

No I have not noticed main stream Americans doing anything to Muslim Americans.

By all means, feel free to move the goal posts and add qualifiers.

 

[LaughAtTheWorld]

We are only antagonistic to ILLEAGAL immigrants so stop the BS. We are a melting pot of cultures from all over the world with legal immigrants and that is one of our strengths.

Current immigration policies also make it quite hard for qualified foreigners to immigrate.

 

[sawyerloggingon]

Current immigration policies also make it quite hard for qualified foreigners to immigrate.

It should be even harder, we are getting full up and you should have to meet some high standards to come here now.