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South Korea's awful President Roh Moo Hyun is attempting to remove the National Security Law that prevents Communist infiltration of South Korean communications resources. Now, him and his Uri Party assemblymen are trying to dismantle the law that is the only thing preventing the North from breaching the South!

South Korea has already wasted precious funds by channeling funds to North Korea which are then used for NUCLEAR DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS, instead of feeding the people. North Korea has one of the best intelligence resources in the East Asia area, and it's only bound to be better! Their spies are top-notch, knowing the best of propaganda techniques, etc.,

Now President Roh wants to give them the open door for the North Koreans to set up their Communist trap!

As a Korean-American, I'm not going to stand for this. The law was developed 50 years ago to prevent the spread of Communism into S. Korea, so let's keep it that way! President Roh, get out of there, and I want to see President Park! (Park Jung Hee's daughter)

What do you think? Should South Korea lift the law? Thousands of Korean veterans have already protested against it.

http://www.petitiononline.com/ks091487/petition.html

To petition to protest it!

Translation of the law:

http://www.kimsoft.com/korea/nsl-en.htm

NOTE: South Korea doesn't have any enemies of the state except for it's "nice" northern neighbor, North Korea. The only country that applies as anti-state is North Korea.

It needs to be stopped!

By Thinkingoutloud (Thinkingoutloud) on Tuesday, September 21, 2004 - 10:23 pm: Edit

I see this as a generational problem. Older South Koreans know the horrors of North Korea because they were almost placed under North Korean rule. They appreciate the U.S. Younger South Koreans take the "can't we all get along" approach and seek better relations with their "neighbors." What they do not realize is that you cannot get along with people living in a country run by a mad man who would prefer to rule South Korea than to get along with South Korea. There is more to the story, but this is part of it. I think your concern is rational and justified.

By Tlaktan (Tlaktan) on Wednesday, September 22, 2004 - 01:46 am: Edit

My concern is that this may be a elaborate plan to get the Korean people to slowly disintegrate and meld with a North Korean state. I'm very afraid of that.

I go against the norm. I'm a very conservative younger Korean-American, my other peers don't give a damn. In fact, it makes me so mad I want to hurry up and study international politics so I can get actively involved in the State Department and make a change in the 50-year standoff, otherwise North Korea may end up winning.

The Korean people are far too susceptible to propaganda.

In fact, here's my theory:

President Roh (who's wife's father is an admitted Communist and North supporter, President Roh is questionable himself) declares the law abolished. There's a massive uproar with the older generation of Koreans (there already is a massive uproar), and pretty soon things get ugly.

Under the Korean Constitution, Article 77, he can invoke this power to his discretion:

(1) When it is required to cope with a military necessity or to maintain the public safety and order by mobilization of the military forces in time of war, armed conflict or similar national emergency, the President may proclaim martial law under the conditions as prescribed by law.
(2) Martial law takes one of two types: extraordinary martial law and precautionary martial law.
(3) Under extraordinary martial law, special measures may be taken with respect to the necessity for warrants, freedom of speech, the press, assembly and association, or the powers of the Executive and the Judiciary under the conditions as prescribed by law.
(4) When the President has proclaimed martial law, he has to notify the National Assembly without delay.
(5) When the National Assembly requests the lifting of martial law with the concurrent vote of a majority of the total members of the National Assembly, the President has to comply.

The National Assembly is controlled by HIS party, "Our Party" (Uri Party). They will not revoke a call of martial law going to his favor. This will be open season for North Korea!

After Park Jung Hee, a lot of the Korean Presidents were very corrupt, including Chun Doo Hwan and Roh Tae Woo. President Kim Dae Jung's Sunshine Policy indeed create sunshine; sunshine to be cast upon the South Korean people so that they can be deceived as Northern influences slowly take over.

Think about it, what was the SK mascot for the World Cup 2002? The "Red" Devils. Hint hint? All of a sudden, out of the blue, there was a sudden fascination with the color red. Hrmm, I don't know why.

The older-generation of South Koreans is trying to rally here in Los Angeles, and they are holding "Ban-Dae (Opposing)" meetings to prevent this whole North Korea thing from boiling over. They love their country, and I love my "mother" country -- yes, I was born in the U.S., but my ancestry lies there, and I don't want to see it ruled by a short dwarf who inherited a nation illegally!

Also, there are rumors and reports that there was election fraud for the Presidential election, with ballots being counted electronically (ballot count tampering) to turn the tide to President Roh's favor. I'm suspecting he's getting paid by NK sympathizers to look the other way and say, "Hey, we should be open armed to them!" just like KDJ probably was..

The other presidential candidate, Mr. Lee Hwe-Chang is what you'd call the Korean equivalent of a Republican. He wouldn't ever even think of the thought of North Korean infiltration, he'd make sure it'll never happen. But he stepped out of the framework, and now, the Grand Party Chairman is actually a Chairwoman, Park Gun Hee.. President Park Chung Hee's daughter.. Hopefully she runs and I'd like to see that woman as President in a few years!

By Shortcakefairy (Shortcakefairy) on Friday, September 24, 2004 - 07:07 am: Edit

O M G

I HATE ROH MOO HYUN! HE'S FREAKIN DESTROYING SOUTH KOREA AND MIGHT AS WELL MAKE LOVE WITH KIM JONG IL! HONESTLY!

I'm half korean, and i pay attention to Korean politics i guess LoL...but i can't say that i have anythign constructive or intelligent to say other than the fact that they need a pro-American President, who will be more aggressive with the psycho, deceitful North instead of having some sort of pathetic friendship.

I cried when Yee Hwe Chang lost. He looked very sharp, seemed so kind-hearted and full of common sense. Plus, he was very pro-American and pro-business. His concession speech was so inspirational. Didn't he spend a semester at Stanford after he lost?

I blame the fact Roh Moo Hyun won on misguided college students who all came out to the polls after being inundated with internet emails etc...forcing them to vote for that guy. The younger generation of Koreans blame America for keeping the two koreas divided the way it is, and forget the sacrifice the USA made in saving South Korea from communism. They resent American prosperity and thrive on this notion that China is somehow the "real" world power, and that America's dominance will decline.

All these other stupid factors go into their way of thinking--like olympic gold medal controversies. They think America is this big giant monster that steals everything and keeps Korea down?

haha i dunno.

Tlaktan your post was most insightful. I live in teh LA area too, I'm very interested in international affairs, and i totally agree with what you said.

By Chavi (Chavi) on Monday, September 27, 2004 - 05:00 pm: Edit

It's happening here too, guys. Just read some of the political threads on this site. There's a lot of "anti-americanism" among young Americans, and the scary part is I don't think they realize it.

I really think it has a lot to do with the youth thing of wanting to go against the status quo and be considered "hip" and independent. They adore Fidel Castro, Che Guevarra, Lenin, Trotsky, etc. and blindly ignore all their brutality. But there were plenty of people in the older generations that are the same way. They thought communism's expressed ideals of equalizing things for the lower classes justified the atrocities committed in their pursuit. They remain firmly convinced that a free economy means nothing more than big business being able to dominate the masses.

This thinking has ushered in the socialized governments in Europe. The way to combat it is through grass-roots communication. The major media in South Korea is probably controlled largely by those sympathetic to being conciliatory with the North. You need to start independent newspapers and radio stations, like we have here. They've saved us from going over to the "dark side"

Just watch the reaction these comments get, you'll see what I mean.

By Vancat (Vancat) on Monday, September 27, 2004 - 06:09 pm: Edit

Agreed Chavi. I also cannot wait for the reactions that are going to come soon.

On the other hand, I was able to save a bunch of money by switching to Geico.

By Shortcakefairy (Shortcakefairy) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 01:20 am: Edit

i disagree...

though i admit that the liberal "left" is becomign far less moderate and more extreme (michael moore being an example of a lead demagogue)

i find that this generation is overall a lot more conservative than say...the hippie generation?

especially in terms of issues like abortion. hmm, i may be wrong

thanks to MTV and punk-rock groups like Green Day, maybe i will be proven wrong when allt he young AMericans come out and vote for Kerry and swing the election.

heh. :-(

By Thinkingoutloud (Thinkingoutloud) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 11:05 pm: Edit

On TV today, I watched a crowd reported to be over 100,000 protesting the current government's preferred change in South Korean law. Sometimes I have to root for the protesters. Sometimes older people know what they are talking about.

By Tlaktan (Tlaktan) on Wednesday, October 06, 2004 - 03:58 am: Edit

They speak half-truths. Yes, America is responsible for the 38th parallel, but it's responsible for preventing from the North taking over South, not the South embracing the North.

This is all because of the 3-8-6 generation (Their Korean ID Numbers start with 3, they were in college during the 80s, and they were born in the 60s).. They started this mass "revolution" that wanted to elect a "liberal" President and put forth the idea of a United Korea.

I'm sorry, I'm not liking their idea of a United Korea -- under KJI.

When people are protesting in the streets of Korea, tearing their hearts out, and bleeding (literally) for the retention of the National Security Law, the South Korean government must listen. Many younger-generation Koreans are under the impression that North Korean infiltration to the South is impossible.

They're wrong.

The Uri Party is at its decline. It's time has come, and it will definitely be voted out of office. The 386 generation that got Roh elected doesn't have any interest in him anymore. The select members of the Uri Party who protected Roh will be kicked out of the National Assembly, and I pray to God the Grand National Party is elected back as the Majority party.

The Korean News Systems are as follows:

KBS: Rather conservative

Everyone else: Rather liberal

Very simplistic description. One channel out of a whole bunch is sympathetic towards the cause of the GNP (Grand National Party), and the rest tries to tune out the GNP.

There are also allegations rising of possible election tampering, but that's a far-fetched idea at best.

Notice how North Korea suddenly had nuclear weapons, and South Korea just turned a blind eye to them. It wasn't anything unexpected, but when there are nukes aimed at you from 250 miles away, I'd say something, wouldn't you? Considering the only places NK can hit accurately is Beijing (yeah right, hit your own ally).. Tokyo (which is defenseless) or Seoul.. And speculation has stated that it will be the third, if North Korea EVER gets a working nuclear missile (hahaha).

This has got to stop. We cannot end at denuclearization of North Korea. Denuclearization at the very least will take military force (see Graham Allison's Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe) or the threat of it.

Something has to be done.

South Korea can be one of the United States' strongest allies. But right now, it has too much turmoil in itself to do anything. Something needs to be done..

Korean Politics 101:

GNP: Conservative, "Republican" Party
Uri Party: President Roh's Party, take the Green Party and left-wing it a little bit more.
MDP: Millenium Democrat Party, formerly a powerhouse in the NA (National Assembly), now dead.

Uri Party + Liberal Party (there is one called the ULP, ultra liberal party or something like that) is trying a coalition to reverse the NSL (National Security Law).

GNP is gearing to counter-protest, and may try something along the lines of blocking the Speaker's podium (just like the Uri party did) to prevent the reversal.

Too bad they can't block the podium for two years, when Roh's term ends.

Korean Presidential History (not pretty, by the way):

President Rhee: disgraced by Communist influences within the South Korean government, but was one of the few honest ones. New information has been shed on him that makes him look like a decent guy, whereas before (he was very anti-Communist), he was painted like a red devil (no pun intended). He was the best Korean President we ever had. Exiled to the US and died peacefully in Hawaii, but his heart was never right knowing his legacy had been tainted by those corrupted by greed. He adopted two sons, by the way, one died (of suicide, he was extremely depressed before he was adopted, his other adopted son is a professor, I believe)

How do I know this? I guess I would be biased. My mother has been working for his Presidential Memorial Foundation (she is the Director of Foundation Affairs in the United States as a volunteer) for about 7 or 8 years.

President Park Chung Hee: very anti-Communist, created a serious intelligence and armed force to be reckoned with, but ran the government as a military coup d'etat. Assassinated.

President Chun Doo Hwan: corrupted, took major bribes. Sent to prison, but was exonerated by President Kim Dae Jung.

President Roh Tae Woo: corrupted, took major bribes. Sent to prison, but was exonerated by Kim Dae Jung.

President Kim Young Sam: conservative, was a good guy, at the end of his term the IMF crisis began, but wasn't really his fault. Not really corrupted, but his son was..

President Kim Dae Jung: .. the guy who started the trend. First, with his failed Sunshine Policy, and then his misdistribution of BILLIONS of funding to North Korea, who only used it to fund WMD projects.

My mother's friend, who is a Deacon's wife, said that the deacon worked for KDJ during his campaign. When he won the Presidency of Korea, he ignored the deacon completely, even though he donated tens of thousands of US dollars and mortgaged two houses for his campaign.

Then, he openly addressed him on the Communist issue, and KDJ just turned away.

Anyways..

And here we are at President Roh.

Self-explanatory.

By Tlaktan (Tlaktan) on Wednesday, October 06, 2004 - 04:00 am: Edit

We haven't had a pretty history.

And what I mean by North Korea is the fact that they haven't and probably never will be able to correctly arm nuclear material to a working missile.