4 rivers project: possibly not all that bad

Yonhap news has the details in English.

An excerpt:

"Dredging and the dams were believed to worsen the water quality by prolonging the time water stays there," the commission noted.
Overall, however, the 16 dams have no serious safety problems, the commission highlighted, adding that, "The 16 dam structures were properly built in consideration of standard weight and the safety level proposed in the design have been attained."
   The river project also has successfully lessened the risk of flood in the areas adjacent to the rivers and enabled the use of pooled water for drought-hit areas, the government panel said.
"All in all, the four-river project has attained its goals to some extent ... but it has generated some side effects because it was carried out too hastily amid some limited local river management technology," it said.

Government blacklist of Korean universities includes one in Gangneung

The news was apparently on Monday: now the English news is full of it.

I first learned of the blacklist from Asiaone:

The naming and shaming of 43 poorly managed universities by the Education Ministry on Monday has spawned confusion and concern among universities, with some decrying the label or expressing worries about next year's freshmen recruitment.

But a closer look and deliberate search finds the news everywhere.

Yonhap:

 Officials have said that an equal provision of funds to all schools would be a waste of taxpayer money and could end up as a lifeline for uncompetitive colleges. President Lee Myung-bak has also called for college restructuring as a condition for providing government money to universities.
   In South Korea, 80 percent of higher education institutions are operated by private foundations that rely heavily on tuition for revenue.

And also:

The ministry said it has chosen the universities in consultation with advisory bodies based on the results of a university evaluation that used criteria, such as the employment rate of graduates, the yearly enrollment rate and the number of full-time instructors. 

The Herald has copied the same press release as Yonhap.

The news has reached Malaysia, where Bermana reports:

The education ministry has selected 43 private universities that will have their subsidies partly cut or denied next year as part of a government drive to weed out poorly managed schools.

I find this big news especially as I just finished writing a big article saying that blacklists couldn't happen here.  I don't exactly have egg on my face, but perhaps on my freshly washed jacket.

My old university is on the list, which I cannot find in full anywhere - Asiaone names a handful of the schools in question.  I hope that my friends are okay, or will be okay during the next semester.  Time to dust off those resumes!

CSI comes to Wonju

From the Joongang:

As part of its goal to “promote balanced national development and diffusion of government,” the government is relocating the National Forensic Service’s main office from Seoul to Wonju, Gangwon. 

But that means that all corpses and evidence will have to be shipped to Wonju, which is 150 kilometers (93 miles) southeast of Seoul. And that, critics say, will waste taxpayers’ money and the agency’s time because more than half of the NFS cases occur in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi. And, they say, the move will work against conducting prompt investigations.

Goseong Fishing Fleet kept in Harbour

Via ROK Drop, is this image and brief report on the results of tensions in the West Sea carrying over to the East Sea.

From Yonhap, this is a picture of a harbour in Goseong in which the boats are in lockdown.  Goseong is the Northernmost of harbours in South Korea.

I am not a war-monger, but...

I'm happy to have Lee Myeong Bak in power now and not, for example, Roh Mu-hyun.

From the Herald:

President Lee Myung-bak on Monday vowed to “immediately exercise (Seoul’s) right of self-defense” if North Korea attempts military provocation again as he announced several countermeasures against the North, which allegedly sank a South Korean warship in March.

“From now on, the Republic of Korea will not tolerate any provocative act by the North and will maintain the principle of proactive deterrence,” Lee said during a televised national address, which was followed by a joint press briefing by the ministers of unification, foreign affairs and defense.

“If our territorial waters, airspace or territory are militarily violated, we will immediately exercise our right of self-defense.”

Lee defined the Cheonan’s sinking as “a surprise North Korean torpedo attack,” saying that it “constitutes a military provocation against the ROK.”

I'll admit I am a bit of a chicken-hawk in this case. I don't want to be here if a battle starts, but I would like to see the end of the Korean War. If I were still in Gangneung, I might finally be happy to have our university buzzed by fighter jets during classes.

Olympics and corruption

First, I must state that I love the Olympic Games.  The Games didn't directly lead to my athletic training; I didn't look that far ahead, but they were always there, in the background, and the Olympians of my childhood were as massive and brilliant and awe-inspiring as the originals, the Greek Gods.

In 1988, I qualified for the Olympic Trials in Canada.  At the Trials, the top one hundred men and one hundred women competed to see who would represent Canada at the Olympics in Seoul.  I was probably ranked 100, or maybe more swimmers attended; maybe there was a 20- or 50- way tie for one hundredth and I was in that group at the end.

I did not attend the Trials but I followed them in the news and cheered for our swimmers and other athletes.  Even Ben Johnson losing his medals for steroid use and the shame we Canadians felt didn't tarnish the Games for me.

I continue to love the Games and the athletes but the organizers, the OIC, have earned my disgust.

It started with a book, The New Lords of the Rings, a somewhat tabloid style expose of the lives and decisions of the members of the IOC.

From Amazon:

The world of modern Olympic sport is a secretive, elite domain where decisions are taken behind closed doors, where money is spent on creating a fabulous life-style for a tiny circle of officials and funds destined for sport are siphoned away to offshore bank accounts. This investigation of the hidden corruption behind the Olympic ideal reveals: how Princess Anne's attempt to unseat the unpopular athletics supremo Primo Nibiolo was sabotaged by secret deals from within, how bribes were paid to win gold medals for Korean boxers in the Seoul Olympics, that Berlin's bid for the 2000 Olympics was so corrupt that the State parliament set up an enquiry, that millions of dollars are spent by bidding cities to woo those who decide where the games will be held, when in fact often the decision has already been made, and that the Olympic number two, Korea's Dr Kim Un Yung, is a trained killer and a former spy.

Notice how Korea is mentioned twice.  I have been following the pressure on the Korean government to pardon convicted former Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee.   Now, it has happened.  Pyeonchang may now get the 2018 Olympics, and they might have gotten them without Lee's help, but if they get the Olympics now, those Games will be further tarnished.


From the Herald:

President Lee Myung-bak has decided to pardon convicted former Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee to give him a free hand to work for the nation's bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics.

The Cabinet yesterday approved the Justice Ministry's proposal to restore his civil rights in a special yearend amnesty as of Thursday.

In August, a court sentenced him to a suspended three-year prison term and a fine of 110 billion won ($94 million) for tax evasion and breach of duty, wrapping up years of litigations over company bond issuances in the late-1990s allegedly aimed at transferring management control over the group to his son Lee Jae-yong.

The 67-year-old Lee had led the nation's largest conglomerate before he resigned in April 2008 in the wake of the scandal. At his own request, the International Olympic Committee suspended his membership in that year.

The presidential pardon is aimed to boost Korea's chance to host the Winter Olympics at the northern mountain resort of PyeongChang after two unsuccessful bids.

During the Cabinet meeting, Lee said he made the decision "for the sake of national interest" following repeated requests from sports circles, businesses and Gangwon Province, where the city is located.

"He should make efforts to contribute to the nation in the world of sports and help boost Korea's national competitiveness," the president was quoted as saying by his spokesman Kim Eun-hye.

The Justice Ministry expects the tycoon to be able to restore his IOC membership and participate in an IOC conference scheduled for February, which is crucial for the selection of the venue the 2018 games. Samsung expressed gratitude in an official statement, saying Lee will exert his utmost effort to support PyeongChang's bid.

Business groups welcomed the decision. "We hope Samsung will take this opportunity to redouble efforts to restore public trust through more transparent management and the implementation of increased social responsibility," the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry said.

In the penultimate paragraph, Lee is expect to restore his IOC membership.  Now that Korea has lost some credibility in the rule-of-law department, the OIC could gain some credibility by denying Lee a position.


In the last paragraph, business groups hope Samsung will restore trust by becoming more transparent. Why would Samsung do that?  The pardon shows that there is no downside to unethical behavior.

Ma-Chang-Jin

This isn't Gangwon-related, but I lived in Masan for a year-and-a-half so I feel connected to the area.  A number of in-laws live there, as well.

Three cities in Kyeongsangnam Do are integrating, to become a super-city.  Masan, Changwon and Jinhae are three cities which already share a public bus system.  Their city councils have already approved the plan and are waiting for approval from the Provincial Council of South Gyeongsang Province (Yes, 'Province' is in the title twice -I'm copying from the Herald). Since the Provincial Council is based in Changwon, I guess disapproving of the plan would make things uncomfortable.

From the Herald:

The Provincial Council of South Gyeongsang Province is scheduled to put a bill on the merger of the three cities to a floor vote next Monday.

If put into practice, the plan will give birth to one of the largest cities across the nation, which will have a total population of 1.08 million.

The Times includes the same material but also points out some opposition:

However, the new city comes at a cost because it is being pushed by the government with little consensus among residents of the three cities. As a matter of fact, Changwon's council vote was conducted in an up-and-down manner, after a residents' referendum plan was ditched. The two other cities also didn't conduct a referendum, citing administrative inconvenience. 

Critics claim that the big city will siphon off all resources for the region, making it hard for the remaining 18 local governments to set up their own development plan. 

"It will result in a vicious cycle of the rich getting richer, the poor getting poorer," said an official from a local government that is not included in the three-way merger.

The new city will face a number of problems starting with its name and location of its City Hall, among others, an urban expert said.

I don't know what to think about the merger.  The three cities are close together and are basically merged in fact if not officially.  Jinhae -and I was only ever a tourist there- seems to have a different feel than the other two cities.  Masan and Changwon can both be considered beautiful, but are definitely industrial towns, while Jinhae is more of an oversized fishing village. Just as everyone should visit Kyeongju while in Korea, everyone should visit Jinhae in mid-Spring to see the cherry blossoms.

Her blog is more slice-of-life than political news, but Live From Masan may have more details.  She may have to change the name of her blog soon.

Oh, I think the name of the new city should be Gaya.

"But how could the government possibly conduct a project that hurts water quality?"

Lee Myung Bak made a good point in defending his 4-rivers project.  The quote I am using as a title, though, sounds improbably naive or poorly translated.

From the Chosun Ilbo (I have italicized the 'good point'):

...He pledged to stop answering questions on the issue and "proceed with the projects without listening to further criticism." 

At the ground-breaking ceremony, he declared that no future can be opened with "old ways of thinking" and parties' regional interests, and that the projects will be conducted in a "future-oriented" manner with best efficiency, environment-friendly and state-of-the-art technology combined. "Some people allege that water quality will deteriorate in the course of the projects," he said. "But how could the government possibly conduct a project that hurts water quality?" 

Some civic groups say that the four-rivers projects will hurt water quality, but it makes little sense to leave already polluted rivers alone without even trying to improve them. As the president remarked, would a head of state carry out a project to deliberately pollute the environment? 

I do think there is some merit in the first sentence I quoted.  I would have approved of the late Roh Mu-hyun more if he had been firmer in his decisions, even if I didn't care for those decisions themselves.  Still, some merit is a long way from something I would accept.  I feel this way chiefly because I am not sure when he ever answered questions on the subject.

Still, I do agree that the rivers are already polluted to some degree.  GI Korea has frequently pointed out that Koreans pollute their own rivers, it is only when Americans do it, that it becomes news.

The GI linked to this Korea Times article:

It is shocking news that 29 timber companies were found to have released 271 tons of formalin over the past three years into streams feeding the Han River, the main source of drinking water for Seoul and Kyonggi Province.

Okay, the rivers are polluted.  I can't say whether President Lee's project will help or not, but we clearly aren't dealing with pristine rivers here.

And the rivers aren't surrounded exclusively by forest, pristine or not.  I have written before, describing floods, nearly yearly and the need for some flood control.  This is the one reason I am ambivalent about the project.

Again, we crash into the quote I used as my title.  This might (maybe) be reasonable for a president with no historic ties to heavy industry or who had not recently been thwarted in another river project that could be seen only as a big-money project for heavy industry with no conceivable benefits.  President Lee, once leader of a Hyundae construction group and architect of the Trans Korea canal project, does not get the benefit of the doubt.

El Camino Packer explains bowing to US conservatives

I'm sure everyone has read or seen complaints by Americans by Obama's bow to the Japanese emperor.
Just in case, here is the background (from the Packer's site):

But it’s not appropriate for an American president to bow to a foreign one,” said conservative pundit William Kristol speaking on the Fox News Sunday program, adding that the gesture bespoke a United States that has become weak and overly-deferential under Obama.

The Camino Packer explains what I felt, but does it more eloquently than I seemed to manage:

 I guess no one told them that there is such a thing as different cultures and different greetings. All the former Presidents were Caucasian and never grew up in a multicultural society like Hawai`i or are multiracial. This just goes to show the rest of the world that Obama is a worldly leader.

There is a little more at the Camino Packer's site.

Levy and gate in Gangneung

I wrote earlier about the four rivers project and how I wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not.  I remain suspicious but look at this wall and flood gate in Gangneung

It has been raining for the past few days but the water is well below the level of this parking lot.  In the past, however, it has reached this high and the wall (is it a levy?  I think so.) and gate have been needed. Evening the flow of rivers might well be good for everyone, including the fish.

Guess its time to learn what the four river project actually is.

This seems like a difficult project for a westerner, particularly a Canadian, to accurately judge the value of. My country is thinly populated and we have a surplus of water. Korea, on the other hand, is densely populated and inland Gangwondo has suffered severe water shortages in recent times. I do want to protect ecosystems, but people are part of the ecosystem and we naturally have to count ourselves as at least as important as the other parts. Further, Korean rivers don't run steadily through the year. When water flows increase, they can increase dramatically and cause flood damage.

From the Times:

Korea's 22 trillion-won civil engineering project, aimed at restoring the basin areas of four major rivers, has passed an environmental impact assessment test, giving momentum to a project critics argue will devastate the country's ecosystem.

From the Joongang:

The controversial four-river restoration project will begin tomorrow following an announcement that the government-led evaluation of the environmental impact of the project was completed last Friday, according to the Land Ministry yesterday.

The report concludes that the quality of the water in the rivers will have improved on [I think they mean 'improved to 2006"] 2006 levels after the project has been completed in 2011, the ministry said.

From the Donga:

President Lee Myung-bak’s project to restore the country’s four major rivers will finally begin this week with the construction of 15 dams to start Tuesday.

The venture has long faced resistance from opposition parties but is set to proceed this week. With the completion of the government assessment of the project, operations are expected to be accelerated.

In his 2007 presidential campaign, President Lee had pledged to build a cross-country canal in Korea, but strong resistance from the opposition and a faction in the ruling Grand National Party prompted him to give up the project to prevent dividing public opinion. He then suggested the restoration of the country’s four major rivers.

The Donga article seems to best summarize why the project is controversial. Building fifteen dams seems a strange way to help river ecosystems recover, and the apparent connection in the final quoted paragraph is what seems most ominous. No canal? Okay, let's call it river restoration.

Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize

Unless CNN is having an out-of-season April Fool's joke, Barack Obama just won the Nobel Prize for Peace.

I am not particularly thrilled. I think it is too early in his presidency and, well, I like how the science prizes are handed out years after the events occurred. For those prizes, longevity is a plus as the prizes are handed out years later and never posthumously.

for Obama, this is too much, too early. He is still someone I expect great things of, not really someone who I consider as having done great things yet - okay, getting elected president is no small potatoes, but, again, it's too early - he needs to accomplish something while in office before I will be satisfied.

I think he may well deserve it in the future, but I am not sure he does, yet.

I should disclose, I guess, that I don't know what he did to win this one. Maybe he does deserve it and I simply didn't know what for.

Updated almost immediately after: Reuters has a report - I guess it is true.

The Reuters article gives a short political history for Obama but does not note any specific thing that he did to win -strange, in an article about his win.

From the BBC (My bolding):

"Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," the Norwegian committee said in a statement.

"His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population."

Asked why the prize had been awarded to Mr Obama less than a year after he took office, Nobel Committee head Thorbjoern Jagland said: "It was because we would like to support what he is trying to achieve".

"It is a clear signal that we want to advocate the same as he has done," he said.

He specifically mentioned Mr Obama's work to strengthen international institutions and work towards a world free of nuclear arms.

It seems he won for expected, future contributions. I am not an American but I support Obama in general, just as I supported Al Gore, very strongly, for his very specific actions. Still, I think the Nobel Peace Prize is losing relevance and am not sure if Gore, much less Obama, deserve the prize. As a more local example, I am concerned that Kim Dae-Jung won his prize by buying it - in giving the North Koreans so much.

So, Who's hosting next year's G20 summit?

One of these reports is not like the others.

From the Korea Times (Sept 25):

Incheon is emerging as the potential host city of the Group of 20 summit in 2010 with South Korea becoming the first Asian country to hold a gathering of the influential economic council next fall.

From the Herald (Sept 26):

Korea has been chosen as the venue for the next Group of 20 summit, which is to become the world's main economic forum, a Cheong Wa Dae official said yesterday.

Leaders of major developed and developing countries during the third financial summit in Pittsburgh agreed to Seoul's hosting of the next meeting in 2010, the official said.

From Yonhap (Sept 25):

WASHINGTON, Sept. 25 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's hosting of the G20 summit next year will be a boon to its image as well as its economy, equivalent in prestige to the Seoul Olympics in 1988, a scholar said Friday.

From the Bracebridge Examiner (Ontario, Canada, K'Brian's hometown, Sept 25):

My bolding:

Muskoka will be welcoming more countries than expected this June.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper officially announced this morning that Canada and South Korea will be co-hosting a G20 Summit in Muskoka, the focus of which will be the economy.

The summit will take place either immediately before or after the scheduled G8 Summit at the Deerhurst Resort in Huntsville and may be held at the same location.

“This is a great honour for Muskoka and for Canada,” said Parry Sound-Muskoka member of Parliament Tony Clement, who hosted a press conference with Huntsville mayor Claude Doughty following the prime minister’s announcement. “The eyes of the world will be on Muskoka and mark my words we will be ready for that.”

According to Clement, plans to host the G20 have been in the works for some time but a decision came to a head during the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh, held late this week.

The South Korean government was scheduled to host a G20 Summit in April but has rescheduled it to the fall in order to co-host it with Canada.

I suppose there could be more than one G 20 summit, but it sounds, from the Canadian report, that it will be a shared summit. {half amused, pseudo outrage}They don't care about Canada!{/}

Global Warming news -mostly about Gangwon

Blogger note: In the 'create a new post' window, the two quotes below are the same colour, although the fonts are different. I have this problem frequently now that I am on a Mac.

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The joongang and the Chosun have articles about unusual crops in Gangwondo.

The Joongang has this to say:

Melons now grow in greenhouses in Yanggu County, Gangwon, and apples grow outdoors. Tangerines are being grown in Gangneung, Gangwon.

All of this shows that semitropical temperatures are moving north, leaving some to wonder what the temperature will be like in 100 years. The meteorological administration says that if the temperature continues its meteoric rise, the average temperature in Korea will be about 4 degrees higher. Ski resorts in Jeolla and Gangwon may have to shut down. Pine trees, which are symbolic of the Korean soul for many Koreans, could also disappear.

Apples growing outdoors is a sign of increased temperatures? I confess that I chiefly remember only wild apple trees rather than orchards in my part of Canada, but I have trouble thinking of apple trees as sub-tropical.

"Ski resorts may have to shut down"? Well, perhaps we can be done with Olympics bids, then.

From the Chosun, we learn that Gangneung has planted a field of sunflowers along the Namdae River:

The 8,000 sq. m field is made up of one million sunflowers and it is drawing people out of their cars to get a closer look. These sunflowers are different in that they only come up to a person’s waist, whereas ordinary sunflowers usually grow to the average person’s head.

Alright, maybe sunflowers aren't tropical either (and the article made no such connection) but they have the word 'sun' right in the name. Read critically, people!

I will work, next week, on finding and photographing one or both of these crops.

Roboseyo* has (re)posted a video about global warming that compares the costs and benefits of acting on global warming with whether or not such warming is taking place. The speaker in the video makes a fair point but I feel the worst-case-scenarios (while possible) aren't the way to convince fence-sitters.

On the other hand, I would have added that if we take action against global warming and it never does occur (and that Gore and the others, the many, many others, were wrong), we still come out ahead. I say this because most of the action needed to reduce or slow global warming have other great benefits - reducing fuel emissions is good for more than keeping us cool, it also prolongs how long we actually have fuel, reduces other forms of pollution, and walking and cycling rather than driving may make us healthier.

This is a point that GI Korea (link is to a search on his site for global warming) might not get. Either that, or he wants to argue the problem on it's own merits (is global warming happening or not) and not go off on tangents. Anyway, his blog is the best place for clear-headed anti-global warming information (not that I agree with it, mind you).

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Added later:

the Korea Times also has an article, an editorial this time, about Korea becoming subtropical. The writer is concerned that Lee Myoung-bak isn't doing enough. I can't really say, but I do know that Canadians have/had trouble accepting their government's One Ton Challenge, and Canadians produce far more carbon as individuals than Koreans do. I'm not exactly blaming Canadians: citizens are fewer and spread further out than Koreans are, making automobiles far more necessary.

---------------

Roboseyo is also involved in KIVA, which is very cool. Follow the above link to his site. KIVA is sort of micro-loan bank. Instead of giving large groups piles of money, the micro-loans go to small-business people - to buy a sewing machine or a bike or, well, I don't know, but the loans are in the order of $20 to $50 or so. I don't think the loaner, Roboseyo in this case, makes money, but he has a wonderfully high likelihood of having the loan repaid and so is able to use it again. I have wanted to get involved but have always been too lazy.

Obligatory post on Roh Mu-hyeon

I consider myself a regional blogger, although I do follow a few national and international issues.  Politics is not my beat and I was happy to let the other blogs discuss the ex-president's suicide.

Still, here is a chance to post another pic of my little guy, posing now with a memorial ribbon, the meaning of which he has no idea.

He seems proud of it, though.

The post I like best, of those other bloggers I mentioned, is Roboseyo's.  He describes the many ways the suicide was the wrong thing to do.

Hmm, I thought I had read a bit suggesting that Roh might have had the chance to recover from bad decisions and gain a positive international image, much as failed-president-but-Nobel-prize-winner Jimmy Carter did.  I can't find it now.  I might have been thinking of another blogpost by someone else. I still like Roboseyo's though.

Gorbachev and the Peace Bell

The Joongang and the Korea Times (for some reason the Times is labelled as a secure site with a bad certificate report.  What up with the 'https' ?), as it happens, that Mikhail Gorbachev (or, as the Joongang writes it, "Gorvachev" - is this a Cyrillic to English thing or did the name travel through Hangeul en route?) was in Gangwondo.  I guess I hadn't been following the news as that is something I would like to learn ahead of time.

Here he is, ringing the Peace Bell in Hwacheon (Joongang):

From the Times:

The World Peace Bell is made of empty cartridge cases from battlefields from some 30 conflict regions, including Palestine, Ethiopia and Colombia. Created in the style of a Buddhist bell from the Silla Kingdom (57 B.C.-A.D. 936), it will be rung to mark World Peace Day, which falls on the third Saturday of every September, Hwacheon officials said.

tenuous connection between the late President Roh and Yangyang county

In the Joongang, there is a sappy farewell to the recently deceased ex-president Roh Mu-hyeon, comparing him to a salmon of the sort that swims up the NamDae River in Yangyang.

	Salmon return to lay eggs in the Namdaechon River in Gangwon Province, where they were born, after a three to four-year journey of thousands of miles through the northern Pacific Ocean near Alaska. [Kangwon Ilbo]

I was not a particular fan of him when he was alive and though I can find the strength to not badmouth him now that he is past, I cannot join in the praise he is receiving from the same people to attack him last week.

Salmon are cool, though.

Water shortage in Gangwon!

I don't have much to add to the article but I now realize I need to be careful. I think I am cautious enough with water but certainly enjoy long showers. It is time to shave with the water off, rather my habit of standing in the running shower while shaving.

The article describes problems in Southern Gangwon but we've had similar problems here, typically a little later in the spring.

Here is Maude Barlow(you can find a downloadable MP3 there) describing water problems on a global scale.
Ironically, the local crisis encourages me to drink local (tap) water, as Barlow suggests. You know what they say, think locally, act globally!

I hope President Lee thinks about this if he considers reopening plans for the Kyeongbu Canal.

Updated almost immediately: I see Taebaek is really suffering. Hey, that's the start of the two rivers the canal would have used. (And now I have become guilty of using a real tragedy for my own political ends (oh, that's how you do it).

According to Park, the city has faced the worst drought in 20 years this year and tap water is only available for three hours a day.

“Some schools provide bread and milk for lunches because they can’t cook cafeteria meals,” Park said.

“Hilly neighborhoods receive no tap water supply at all, and residents of such areas are solely dependent on water delivered by car. And yet, the drinking water shortage shows no signs of improving.”

Racism in active and passive forms, and hope

This post is about racism and will touch on Obama's inauguration. I can't say that it is an "important post, per se, but please don't dismiss it as yet another "I love Obama" post". There may be other, excellent reasons, to dismiss this post, but that isn't one of them

I am not a politcal blogger, not even for my homeland, Canada, nor my current home, Korea, but the American presidential inauguration has me fascinated. Me, and every other blogger.

On January 10, CBC's Quirks and Quarks, an hour long radio science show that I am addicted to and have even written to the host, included a segment on racism that made me uncomfortable. It described a psychology experiment that exposed racism where none was expected.
The experiment ran like this: The subject, presumably after filling out consent forms, entered what she or he thought was a waiting room with two other subjects. The subjects were actually part of the test, were ringers; one was white and the other black. The black person stood up, made a remark about forgetting a book and left the room, bumping the other ringer. After the black man left, the ringer performed one of three actions. He either said nothing, said something moderately racist or very racist. I forget what the middle option was, but the third option was something like, "Clumsy niggers!"

Soon after that, the subject was interviewed about tension and, well, I forget exactly what, but current emotional state and the like. An incredibly low number of subjects mentioned the racist event or claimed to be upset after the event. I suspect few or none actually challenged the man making the comments, but I don't know.

From Q & Q:

Dr. Kawakami, an Associate Professor of Psychology at York University, studies the psychology of racism and she has revealed a disheartening finding: despite the fact we tend to predict we'll feel bad witnessing a racist act, we in fact tend to feel indifferent. What's more, Dr. Kawakami found that when asked to chose between a white person who uttered a racist comment or the black person to whom the comment was directed (in order to work on a problem-solving task) subjects tended to choose the racist white person over the innocent black person. Dr. Kawakami says her study reveals people's deep emotional biases -- specifically towards blacks -- despite their stated belief that they are not racist.

Dr Kawakami on Science Mag.

Far more uplifting, is the concept of people being cultural bridges or xenophiles, as discussed on Spark, another CBC radio show and podcast.

"The Internet Age should be a golden age for bridge figures and for xenophiles."

That's what Ethan Zuckerman, a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society wrote in his blog post, Bridgeblogger and Xenophile, a tale of two bloggers. But just what is a xenophile, according to Ethan?

It’s been a challenge for me to define xenophiles as a category without falling victim to definitions that are trivial or superficial. It’s easy to dismiss the idea by suggesting that everyone who eats sushi and listens to world music is - or considers herself to be - a xenophile. Too loose a definition and “xenophile” ends up sounding like a synonym for “liberal”, “multicultural or even “politically correct”, which isn’t what I’m intending.

Xenophilia is about connecting with people, not with cultural artifacts or other things. Liking Japanese food or Senegalese hiphop doesn’t make you a xenophile - xenophilia is about making connections across language and cultural barriers motivated by your interest in making better sushi or translating Daara J lyrics. Xenophilia is broader than the love for a specific culture or an aspect of that culture - it’s a broader fascination with the complexity and diversity of the world. Xenophilia changes your behavior, especially your behavior in seeking for information, leading you to pay attention not just to the parts of the world that have caught your attention, but to others that you know little about.

I think I can be a bridge between cultures, which I define as less than a xenophile but more, or more nuanced, than a cheerleader. I enjoy and admire a great deal of Korean culture and admire many Korean people. I am impressed with Korea's growth after 1953 and by the friendliness of the people I meet all the time, but I am not about to rename this blog, "50 reasons why Dokdo is Korean". So, I am not a cheerleader. On the other hand, after ten years, I don't speak nearly as much Korean as I should. My job of explaining English and the typical culture of English speaking countries, particularly Canada, is almost the definition of a bridge.

I think my wife, who is so much better a person than I in so many ways, is a xenophile, while remaining firmly grounded in her home culture.

Another remarkable person I know and work with has the initials NA and is a Canadian of Somali ethnicity, who speaks, I don't know, five, six languages. She is definitely a xenophile, comfortable in any country she visits.

Recently Pharyngula linked to Martin Luther King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail, which I read and was amazed by. Here are a few long excerpts:

One of the basic points in your statement is that the action that I and my associates have taken in Birmingham is untimely. Some have asked: "Why didn't you give the new city administration time to act?" The only answer that I can give to this query is that the new Birmingham administration must be prodded about as much as the outgoing one, before it will act....But he [the mayor] will not see this without pressure from devotees of civil rights. My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure. Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals.

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."

We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, "Wait."
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How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust....

Let us consider a more concrete example of just and unjust laws. An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. This is difference made legal. By the same token, a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself. This is sameness made legal. Let me give another explanation. A law is unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, as a result of being denied the right to vote, had no part in enacting or devising the law.
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We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was "illegal." It was "illegal" to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers. If today I lived in a Communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country's antireligious laws.
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...Was not Martin Luther an extremist: "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God." And John Bunyan: "I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience." And Abraham Lincoln: "This nation cannot survive half slave and half free." And Thomas Jefferson: "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal . . ." ...

I now love the sentence, "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God" but I don't think I am capable of it. I am not describing strength so much as mindfulness. In the Q & Q study, the test subjects appeared to not care enough to get involved. I do not necessarily wish to be confronted but I would like to know the result of such a test.

Hmm, I don't think I have much to say about the inauguration after all. I only hope the American people face the test with courage and that the result is positive.

Left hand: What is the right hand doing?

There is an interesting pair of articles in the Korea Times. On the 2nd, there is a brief report that the Canal project may be revived (background on the canal here, here, here,...) Two days later, reports of a North Korean dam affecting water flow in the Han River are described.

Boy, there's an angle I hadn't even considered; the canal is clearly a bad idea for financial, environmental and agricultural reasons - but it is also susceptible to sabotage by the Norks?