China might move in on North Korea!??

This doesn't sound so good, but I suppose it kinda sounds like something the US has in its plans for North Korea and other such countries on their list.

China 'plans to send troops into North Korea'
By Richard Spencer in Beijing Last Updated: 2:10am GMT 10/01/2008
China is planning to send troops into North Korea to restore order and secure its nuclear arsenal in the event of the regime’s collapse.
According to a new report, Beijing would send in the People’s Liberation Army if it felt threatened by a rapid breakdown in Kim Jong-il’s rule over the country.
China would seek to win the backing of the United Nations first, but would be prepared to act unilaterally if necessary.
“If the international community did not react in a timely manner as the internal order in North Korea deteriorated rapidly, China would seek to take the initiative in restoring stability,” said the report by two Washington think-tanks.
Based on extensive interviews conducted in China, including with PLA academics, the report’s findings back up previous indications of China’s major change in attitude to Kim Jong-il after the North Korean nuclear test of October 2006, and also demonstrate its willingness to assert itself in international affairs.
Separately, Beijing today announced its ambitions in space for the coming year, including the launch of 15 rockets and 17 satellites as well as its first space walk.
According to PLA academics quoted by the report, which was written by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies and the US Institute of Peace, the army has three “missions” in a failing North Korea.
One would be humanitarian — to deal with refugees or the consequences of natural disaster.
The second is peacekeeping and maintaining order, and the third requires it to deal with contamination from a military strike on North Korea’s nuclear facilities, and to secure nuclear weapons and materials to prevent them getting into the “wrong hands”.
The report said that there were disagreements among its sources as to whether China still wished to preserve its “special relationship” with North Korea, the only country with which it has a formal, mutual defence alliance.
But they agreed that Beijing would neither intervene to replace Kim Jong-il, nor to prevent him being replaced by others.
The Chinese government’s prime concern was stability, though there was thought to be no immediate danger of a breakdown.
China’s foreign ministry spokesman said she had “no knowledge” of the plan, but did not deny its existence.
Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at Beijing’s People’s University, said the plan might have been drawn up when the North Korean regime was under greater pressure than now.
It was still unclear how it would react in future, though. “China, as with other powers, is a little confused about this,” he said.

Koreans are racist

I came to this conclusion a LONG time ago... my first year here.
They are nice to most people, yes, but for most of them, in their minds, they are better than everyone else. Koreans base a lot on race, nationality and looks. When foreign language schools are looking for teachers, they look for good looking white foreigners. My first year, when my school was hiring another teacher, they handed me two pictures and asked me which one I thought they should hire. I look at them with a bit of a WHAT? look and asked to see the resumes if they really wanted my opinion. Many schools advertise that they want North American's only (and imply white North American). I do know several African Americans that are working here, but many schools won't even consider hiring one. Also, at many schools, North Americans will be paid more than other westerners, because of where they are from and having nothing to do with experience or credentials.

Don't get me wrong. I am not saying that ALL Koreans are like this, but many are. I do have some Korean friends that are not and many that are generally not.

Koreans often think that all westerners are rude, overbearing and fat. Even the polite, quiet and thin ones. If you don't fall into what they expect you to be, they are quite surprised.

I remember the boss of one of my previous schools saying something along the lines of just because we can speak English doesn't mean we can teach it. He followed that by saying that he (and other Koreans that studied English) make much better teachers because they had to study the ins and outs of the language. Well, while giving this lecture, I don't think he spoke a single sentence that was without grammatical errors. He told us that if it were up to him, there would be no foreign teachers in Korea. I think that he chose the wrong career. Through others, I heard that he made a couple of other comments as well that were racist and prejudice. He said that any Korean woman that would date a foreigner was a hooker or a slut. And, one of the other foreign teachers at the time was a plus sized girl. He said something to her along the lines of because of her size, she had to work twice as hard to do as well as the others. How rude. He is not the norm, but neither is he an exception.

With the recent events in Afghanistan, the racism came out again. Koreans were storming the mosques and demanding that the hostages be released. Non-Korean Muslims here were harrassed elsewhere about the issue too, or at the very least given very unwelcoming looks. What do the Muslims her have to do with the Taliban?

If one foreign teacher does something wrong, they blame all foreign teachers and think that they are all doing or going to do something wrong. If one American soldier does something wrong, all of them are to be blamed and punished. A few months ago, a soldier raped a 50 some year old woman. Because of that, all American GIs and their familys are banned from certain areas (again - it had only recently been opened up after being closed to them from an incident long ago) such as Hongdae. Well, I suppose I do agree with it somewhat. Most times that I have been in any bar that GIs were in, there was some sort of fight going on between GIs or GIs and other foreigners or Koreans. They sort of have a reputation for things like that.

Because Koreans are racist, they also have the mindset that all others are as well. When the Korean student went on a shooting rampage at an American university, almost all Koreans were worried that the Americans were going to take it out on all Koreans in the US. (Well, to be fair, if it had been an Arab Muslim that had done the shooting the results would have been VERY different, I think.)

Anyway... this post seems to have no organization what-so-ever. Just me rambling.
Here a couple of articles that I had saved a while back but had never really gotten around to getting to until now (the reason for this post).

It's About Time Korea Became Colorblind
"The Korean word 'minjok' (race) doesn't include ethnic minorities such as white or black people who were born in Korea and have lived all their lives in Korean culture. Korean people indulge in black-or-white thinking. The idea that if you're not of 'our minjok' then you're a foreigner is racial discrimination," said a U.S. soldier in a Korean speech contest last month. "As long as Korea is an advanced nation, you can't excuse racial discrimination by blaming it on the ignorance of a few people."
▶The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family in March interviewed immigrants who had married Koreans and settled down in Korea. The survey found that these people resent expressions like "mixed blood," "Kosian" (a child born to a Korean and another Asian), and "half-Korean." A Philippines-born woman said, "My child speaks Korean fluently, so he's not half Korean but full Korean." A Japanese woman said, "The term 'mixed blood,' a derogatory expression that disparages and discriminates against children of international marriages, is already a dead term in Japan." Some 11.5 percent of children from such marriages said it was hard for them to go to school because they faced ostracism from their classmates.
▶One in eight marriages in Korea last year was international. There are some 720,000 foreign residents in the country, accounting for 1.5 percent of our entire population and up by 35 percent from last year. Of those, most were foreign workers (36 percent), followed by married immigrants (12 percent) and naturalized Koreans (7.5 percent). Foreign residents will likely exceed 9 percent of the population by 2050. Our society will soon turn into a multicultural one with one non-ethnic Korean for every 10 citizens.
▶A nationwide attitude survey was conducted in April. Asked what it means to be Korean, respondents said that simply believing oneself to be Korean is more important than nationality or blood. They said they could be on intimate terms with Southeast Asians as close neighbors (40 percent) or close friends (36 percent). This suggested that most people are fairly open-minded. But only seven percent said they would accept a foreigner as a spouse, and a mere three percent said they would accept a foreigner marrying their child. In reality, most Koreans are still narrow-minded.
▶Last weekend, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination urged Korea to end racial discrimination. "There was a genuine fear that overemphasis on and excessive pride in the ethnic homogeneity of the Republic of Korea might be an obstacle to the realization of equal treatment and respect for foreigners and people belonging to different races and cultures," UNCERD said in a report. The common concepts of "pure bloodedness" and "impure" blood came "very close to ideas of racial superiority." Ethnic homogeneity for many years gave us a strong identity which helped us to defend ourselves against outside forces. But this idea no longer holds water. Korea has achieved great prosperity in the global market and now must face up to its responsibilities as a member of the global community. Our eyes should be open not to the color of people's skin, but to their minds and hearts.

UN Concern at 'Ethnocentric' Korea
August 20, 2007 Chosun Ilbo
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has expressed concern at persistent ethnocentric thinking in South Korea. "There was a genuine fear that overemphasis on and excessive pride in the ethnic homogeneity of Korea might be an obstacle to the realization of equal treatment and respect for foreigners and people belonging to different races and cultures,” it said. It urged the country to include a human rights awareness program “that stressed understanding of societies with multiple ethnic/cultural backgrounds” in the official education curriculum.
Meeting in Geneva from July 30 until Aug. 17, the 71st UNCERD reviewed national reports on Costa Rica, New Zealand, Mozambique, Indonesia, and South Korea and released recommendations for them. On Aug. 9-10, it looked into reports submitted by the South Korean government. In the recommendations, UNCERD expressed discomfort about a prevalent notion in Korean culture of "pure-bloodedness," saying, "The whole concept came very close to ideas of racial superiority."
The committee praised the Korean government for the National Action Plan for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights and the Basic Act on the Treatment of Foreigners adopted in May and establishing an Interpretation Support Centre for Foreign Migrant Workers last year. But it urged Korea work out better systematic devices and suggested the country legally guarantee equal rights for foreign workers and children born from international marriages in employment, marriage, residence, education, and interpersonal relations. It called for information about the history and culture of various ethnic groups and peoples to be included in elementary and secondary school textbooks.
UNCERD also expressed concern that foreign women are improperly protected from potential harassment from either their Korean husbands or international matchmaking agencies. It highlighted cases of abuse -- some international marriage agencies demand exorbitant fees for their services or confiscate passports and travel papers from foreign wives-to-be without giving them sufficient information about their future husbands. Foreign workers, it noted, “were allowed to change their place of employment four times during the course of their three-year stay. They gravitated to relatively low-paying jobs that were deemed difficult, dangerous or dirty by the Korean population.”

Number of Foreign Residents Surges 35%
August 2, 2007 Chosun Ilbo
The number of foreign residents in Korea has surged by 34.7 percent compared to last year. Some 722,686 foreigners lived in Korea as of the end of May, up 186,059 from 536,627 in 2006, the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs said Wednesday. The number of foreigners in Korea accounts for 1.5 percent of the 49.09 million population.
The ministry attributed the surge to increase in international marriages supported by local administrations and influx of foreign students and businesspeople. The ministry and local government tallied the number of foreigners who have been staying in Korea more than 90 days to help them settle in Korea. It comprises both legal expatriates and illegal aliens.
Some 35.9 percent or 259,805 were foreign workers, followed by 12.2 percent or 87,964 who married Koreans. By nationality, Chinese accounted for 52.4 percent of foreign residents, Southeast Asians for 23.7 percent, Americans for 3.4 percent, Japanese for 3.3 percent and Taiwanese for 2.9 percent. Some 64.4 percent lived in the metropolitan area including Gyeonggi Province, where 29.7 percent of foreigners were living. Seoul was home to 28.7 percent and Incheon to 6 percent.

Foreigners Have a Hard Time in Korea -- Report
January 30, 2007 Chosun Ilbo
Last April, "K", a 30-year-old Japanese graduate student in Korea, had an unpleasant experience trying to subscribe to a mobile phone service.
Because K is a foreigner, a clerk at the mobile phone company demanded that he either subscribe to the service under the name of a Korean national or pay a W200,000 (US$1=W941) deposit. He had a similar experience trying to subscribe to an Internet service. In the end, K paid the W200,000 deposit to the phone company and he found a Korean friend willing to sign him up for the Internet. But the episodes soured life in Korea for K. "There seem to be too many complicated procedures that foreigners have to go through to live here," he said.
Even the most basic of daily interactions can be stressful for foreigners. Some non-Koreans have reported food shop owners who browbeat them into buying dishes after they sampled a free snack. A visit to a Korean hospital can be a terrifying experience for foreigners who fear for their safety when medical staff don't understand their language.
Currently there are more than 530,000 foreign residents in Korea, more than three times the number in 2000. But many Koreans are still inconsiderate of their foreign guests.
According to a study on the daily lives of foreign consumers from the Korea Consumer Protection Board, 41.7 percent of 545 respondents said that they're "dissatisfied" with their life as consumers in Korea. When asked what the biggest problem is, 35.9 percent pointed to communication difficulties. Other reasons for unhappiness include a lack of consideration for foreigners on the part of Koreans, financial difficulties, a lack of public information, and cultural differences.
When it comes to consumer goods, 48.7 percent of those foreigners expressed dissatisfaction with their mobile phone companies. Other sources of frustration were credit cards, the Internet, and real estate transactions.
"D", a 36-year-old English teacher from Canada, recounted his difficulties in signing a lease for a residential officetel in Yeonhui-dong, Seoul. The landlord demanded an advance of W9 million, a full year's rent, claiming that he might have a hard time tracking down D if he skipped out on his rent. D decided to try a boarding house in the neighborhood instead. But even some boarding houses don't accept foreigners, and it took D several tries before he found one willing to take him in.
A 34-year-old American expat called "J" said that credit cards presented undue stress in Korea. "I have never had a problem using my credit card in any other country. But here in Korea, merchants rarely accept it. And just because I'm a foreigner, it's impossible to apply for a cash card to withdraw my deposits."
Kim Hyun-joo, a senior researcher at the Korea Consumer Protection Board, said that with the number of foreigners visiting Korea on the rise as a result of globalization and the open-door policy, how the Korean people treat them is becoming an important criterion for national competitiveness. "We need to work out a variety of support programs that assist foreigners in their daily life as consumers," Kim said. For more information or counseling, foreigners are advised to call (02) 3460-3393.

This article gives some hope, but from a combination of my own experience, friends' experiences and what I've read, they still have a long way to go: What Koreans Really Think About Ethnic Homogeneity.

What have they done???

I don't know if this is true or not, but... if it is... It helped those that were released but not anyone else in the world!

Korea 'Paid US$20 Million to Taliban'
The Korean government paid more than US$20 million in ransom to Taliban kidnappers for the release of 19 Korean hostages in Afghanistan, Reuters and Japan’s Kyodo News said Saturday quoting a senior Taliban figure.
Both news agencies cited remarks by a member of the 10-man leadership council of the Taliban, which are headed by the elusive Mullah Omar. “With it we will purchase arms, get our communication network renewed and buy vehicles to carry out more suicide attacks,” the senior militant figure told Reuters. “The money will also address to some extent the financial difficulties we have had.”
Meanwhile, in an indirect phone conversation with Yonhap News on Sunday, a purported Taliban spokesman calling himself Qari Yousuf Ahmadi threatened to attack the Korean embassy or other Korean facilities in Afghanistan if the country does not keep its promise to withdraw all Korean Christian missionaries from the country by the end of August. Ahmadi said he had information that some Koreans remain in the war-torn country.
(englishnews@chosun.com )

What the Afghan Hostage Crisis has Cost Korea
Digital Chosun Ilbo English Editorial September 4, 2007
The Afghan hostage crisis has ended, but the aftermath lingers. Germany, Canada and other countries are openly criticizing the Korean government for having negotiated directly with a terrorist group. Even though one of its citizens is in captivity by the Taliban, Germany’s chancellor made it clear that her country will not handle the situation as Korea did. The U.S. government drew the line early on, saying it will not participate in talks between the Korean government and the Taliban. It had no intention of violating their principle. Rumors that the Korean government paid a ransom for the release of the hostages are tremendously embarrassing for Korea. Amid all this, the actions by the chief of Korea’s intelligence agency were more suited for a cheesy spy movie.
Korea lost a lot through this incident. Its status has tumbled to that of a nation that openly cuts deals with terrorists. Now, terrorist groups from all corners of the globe will put Koreans on the top of their list as potential kidnap targets, for political or financial gain. With 12 million Koreans traveling abroad each year, this is not an ungrounded concern. The scheduled withdrawal of the Dasan engineering unit and the Dong-eui medical unit ended up looking as if it came in response to the Taliban’s demands. The sweat and sacrifice that our troops gave in Afghanistan over the past five years has gone to waste.
Korea is responsible for punching a gaping hole in the global line of defense drawn against terrorism, giving the Taliban an international stage for its propaganda warfare. Now the militants plan to abduct and kill more nationals from foreign countries whose troops serve under NATO and the U.S. military in the country, a spokesman for the movement warned Monday. With the Taliban in high spirits, the trust the international community had in Korea crashed and burned. For a very long time, Korea will have to live with the disgrace of having pleaded with the government of Afghanistan to free Taliban prisoners and the fact that the whole world found out about it.
Our biggest loss is that Korea has been imprinted in the minds of the international community as a country without principle. Regardless of its size, if a country gains a reputation for protecting principles despite external pressure, then no group will take it lightly. There are many small countries in the world that fit that description and exercise significant influence on the international community. This is the road Korea should take, stuck as it is between the world’s superpowers. But we strayed significantly from this path.
If there is anything we can gain from this incident, it is the realization that whether our country can live up to its principles depends on the actions and character of our citizens. No government or country can endure the challenge posed by 23 people who are kidnapped after disobeying fundamental rules.
The reason why small but respected countries in the world stick to their principles despite unbearable hardships is because they have learned that it is more economical and effective in the long term. Only when its citizens obey fundamental rules can a country gain more respect, and that in turn reduces the cost of living in a rough world.

the Northern Limit Line - South vs North

I remember the skirmish. It was during my first year in Korea. They didn't make a big deal about it here. It was on the news, of course, but it was over as fast as it began. I was told that basically, a fight broke out between a South Korean ship and a North Korean ship. Korean friends told me that the South Korean ship was sunk, or something like that, and the North Korean ship was towed off in flames (I don't think it was that drastic).

North Limit Line
A June 29, 2002, skirmish between Northern and Southern ships killed four South Koreans here. The fight broke out after two Northern patrol vessels accompanying fishing boats crossed this maritime border and one opened fire after ignoring warnings to retreat, South Korean officials said. North Korea, however, accused Southern boats of provoking the battle by entering communist territory.
North Korea has never accepted the Northern Limit Line, which was drawn up by the U.S.-led U.N. Command to avert possible clashes after the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War. The communist nation wants the sea border to be moved further south, which would allow it access to rich crab and fishing waters. [CBSNews.com]

Sea Border Hot Issue at Koreas Summit
By JAE-SOON CHANG The Associated Press Wednesday, August 29, 2007; 5:25 AM
SEOUL, South Korea -- Half a dozen South Korean sailors died in a gunbattle with North Korea five years ago defending what Seoul's top minister on relations with Pyongyang now suggests could be changed: the sea border between the Koreas.
Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung's suggestion earlier this month left the country badly divided ahead of a rare summit with the North _ stoking conservatives' anger that is already simmering over allegations that simply holding the meeting itself is yet another capitulation to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il by the liberal government.
At issue is how to view the disputed western sea border and how to react if Kim raises it at his October talks with President Roh Moo-hyun in Pyongyang, as many analysts predict.
The two Koreas have yet to agree on their sea border more than 50 years after the end of their 1950-53 war. Instead, they rely on a line that the then-commander of U.N. forces, which fought for the South, drew unilaterally at the end of the conflict.
Conservatives in South Korea have long considered the Northern Limit Line, or NLL, an unquestionable sea border. But liberals have increasingly viewed it as a major source of military tension on the divided peninsula, and an obstacle impeding true reconciliation with Pyongyang.
The division came to the fore when Lee said earlier this month that he believed the sea border was not formally set, and that the nation should "reflect on" a 2002 naval skirmish with the North in terms of how best to maintain security.
His point was that the NLL's main purpose is to prevent maritime clashes and, therefore, if the line itself is a source of tension, the country should reconsider how it is demarcated _ an argument unacceptable to conservatives who view the NLL as something to be defended at any cost.
Further enraging them was Lee's choice of a Korean word to mean "reflect." The word, "banseong," could also mean "repentance," which gave the impression that Lee suggested South Korea was wrong to defend the border in the 2002 clash that left six South Korean soldiers dead and 18 others wounded.
"Our young heroes, who died glorious deaths while trying to safeguard the NLL, would be weeping in heaven," said Na Kyung-won, spokeswoman of the opposition Grand National Party.
Among those shocked was even South Korea's defense chief.
"I can't understand it either," Defense Minister Kim Jang-soo was widely reported in local media as saying in response to Lee's comments. Kim's ministry refused to confirm the remark, out of apparent concern it may publicize the row with the Unification Ministry.
It has been considered a near taboo in South Korea even to suggest having talks with the North on the sea border issue.
However, Lee and other ministry officials have openly called for flexibility on the issue recently, prompting suspicions in the media that the government is trying to soften an expected backlash it would draw from the public if it discusses the matter at the summit.
The president's office has given no clear-cut answer on whether the issue would be discussed at the summit, only saying: "The NLL is a de-facto maritime borderline that we have defended for the past 50 years."
The country's main opposition party, mass-circulation newspapers and other conservatives demand the government promise not to put the matter on the summit agenda.
The two Koreas agreed in a 1992 pact to continue talks to demarcate the sea border while respecting the NLL until a new border is set.
South Korea has rebuffed the North's demand for sea border talks so far, saying it can discuss the issue only after the two sides take substantial military confidence-building measures.
Liberal analysts say Seoul cannot leave the issue unresolved any longer if it wants to pursue further reconciliation with Pyongyang.
"This issue has become a key to overall South-North relations," said Kim Geun-shik, a North Korea expert at South Korea's Kyungnam University. "We need to at least discuss it with North Korea to find a compromise."
Conservatives argue the South Korea must remain firm.
"Why don't we then pull back the land border by about 100 kilometers? That would make North Korea very pleased," one military official quipped, speaking on condition of anonymity citing the issue's sensitivity.

what about the rest of them?

They've already made the deal. 3 more have been released but what about the rest? Will they wait until the end of the year when the troops are withdrawn???

Taliban free 3 South Korean hostages
By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer
QALA-E-QAZI, Afghanistan - Taliban militants released three South Korean hostages on Wednesday, the first of 19 captives scheduled to be freed under a deal struck between the insurgents and the South Korean government.
The three, all women, were first handed to tribal leaders, who took them to an agreed location where officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross picked them up, according to an Associated Press reporter who witnessed the hand over.
The three arrived in the central Afghan village of Qala-E-Kazi in a single car, their heads covered with green shawls. They said nothing to reporters, who were asked by Red Cross representatives not to question them.
Red Cross officials quickly took the three to their vehicles before leaving for an undisclosed location.
In Seoul, South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Hee-yong said the three, who he identified as Ahn Hye-jin, Lee Jung-ran and Han Ji-young, did not appear to have any health problems.
To secure the hostages' release, South Korea reaffirmed a pledge to withdraw its 200 troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year and prevent South Korean Christian missionaries from working there. The Taliban apparently backed down on earlier demands for a prisoner exchange.
The Taliban originally kidnapped 23 hostages as they traveled by bus from Kabul to the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar on July 19. In late July, the militants executed two male hostages, and they released two women earlier this month.
The insurgents have said they will free the hostages, who they are holding in different locations, over the next few days. Mullah Basheer, a Taliban commander, said that up to seven other hostages would "possibly" be released later Wednesday.
The accord for the South Koreans' release came during one of the bloodiest periods of the Taliban's war against U.S. and NATO forces since the Taliban regime was toppled in late 2001 after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
South Korea's decision to hold face-to-face negotiations with the militants may dismay the United States government, which refuses to talk to the Taliban.
"Maybe they (the Taliban) did not achieve all that they demanded, but they achieved a lot in terms of political credibility," said Mustafa Alani, director of security and terrorism studies at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center. "The fact that the Koreans negotiated with them directly and more or less in their territory ... is in itself an achievement."
State Department spokesman Tom Casey said Tuesday that the U.S. wanted the Koreans returned to their families and stressed that U.S. policy was not to make concessions to terrorists.
The deal for the hostages' release was struck during talks between Taliban negotiators and South Korean diplomats in the central city of Ghazni. The Afghan government was not party to the negotiations, which were mediated by the ICRC.
The hostages' relatives in South Korea welcomed news of the deal.
"I would like to dance," said Cho Myung-ho, mother of 28-year-old hostage Lee Joo-yeon.
South Korean presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-sun said the deal had been reached "on the condition that South Korea withdraws troops by the end of the year and South Korea suspends missionary work in Afghanistan."
Cha Sung-min, whose 32-year-old sister, Cha Hye-jin, was among the hostages, said he was "sorry to the public for causing concern, but we thank the government officials for the (impending) release."
"Still, our hearts are broken as two died, so we convey our sympathy to the bereaved family members," said Cha Sung-min, who has served as a spokesman for the hostages' relatives.