.. Per on gul yimnida.

Please be careful how you express your joy over Americans' tragedy. There are some people who are calling a massive boycott Korean made products. When I get home, I will translate this if it is necessary.


Smiley wrote:
I work in Korea as a business correspondent and I’m simply horrified to see the Koreans who are supposedly our ally dancing at the misfortunes that befell our country. When the terrorist disasters occurred in NY and DC, most of the American internet news sites were down, so I went to Korean news sites to get the news and their discussion boards. To my horror, I found that these people were actually happy about what happened in the states. Some blatantly praise the terrorists for their acts and some subtly state that US deserved such attacks. This coming from a nation that we protected and been protecting from the North Korea for the past 50 years. I see no reason why we should still view these people as our friends and ally. Look at Europe, Australia, or even Japan, people are sincerely sorry for what happened to US. There are candle vigils in front of embassies in these countries. In Korea, people laugh as they pass US embassy. Such response coming from China, middle east countries I can understand, but Korea is an ally nation.
I propose that we start a massive boycott of all things Korean. This means Korean cars, chips, clothes, etc. Hyundai, Kia, Samsung, and LG are some of the major Korean companies that actively export to Korea. Start by avoiding the products from these companies. They betrayed us, let’s accept their betrayal and return in kind.

Doodlebug wrote:
Smiley, although I understand your feelings, I don’t think you’re thinking clearly. There are anti-american sentiments every where in the world including the states. This doesn’t mean that everyone is like that. I too were stationed in Korea for ten years as an USAF pilot. My experience with the Korean people in general is mostly pleasant. They are hard working people with generally good sentiments towards Americans. Even if such gestures are on the surface only, it is still far better than what you’ll get in other Asian nation excluding Taiwan and Japan. I also find it strange that you’re simply stating your observation without proper references. I find it hard to believe what you’re saying is true.

DaveLong wrote:
Hey, Doodlebug, unfortunately what Smiley says is mostly true. I’ve gone to several Korean sites and many (I wouldn’t say all, because there seems to be as many people supporting America as well) Korean people do feel happy at the US’s sufferings. However, from what I understand these anti-American groups are mostly younger Koreans who loves leftist ideas and unconventional thoughts. Korea by in large support US in its efforts to fight the terrorists. The president of South Korea even had National speech regarding the US’s tragedy stating that the Korea will whole heartily support America. I too speak Korean, and I haven’t been able to find the sites that you’re talking about.

Smiley wrote:

There are many such sites, among the ones that I saw were:
www.mbc.co.kr
www.defence.co.kr
www.sbs.co.kr.
www.chosun.co.kr
etc… virtually all the discussion boards at these sites state what I’ve stated above.
Go there yourself and look around if you can read Korean. And see if you still have any good feeling about Korea.
boycott Korean goods.