Friday, July 08, 2005

Is Korea next?

The Chosun has this little diddy about the London attacks:

No Report of Korean Casualties in London Blasts
The Korean Embassy in London said there were no reports of Korean losses as of Thursday afternoon after a series of bombings ripped through the heart of the British capital, killing at least two people and injuring hundreds more.


Now, although I too am happy there were no Koreans killed, I really wonder about the reporting strategies of this. All to often in the Korean media I see a "Korean only" view of things. Now all countries do this, I know, but to relegate such a huge headline to a simply dismissive stance of "well, none of us died" is just a little too ignorant for me.

The truth of the matter is Korea could very well be next!
-Korea has the 3rd largest force in Iraq (behind the US and GB)
-Korea has a very exposed populous (massively packed transit system and such)
-Korea has a usually enept police force (too many forced into service)
-Korea has a lot of disgruntle 3D workers from the third world (where Islam is occasional ripe).

Simply put, Korea may be standing in line for this chopping block. If/when it does happen though I predict two things;

1) The government will shift any responsibility to somewhere else. Not only will the attack be blamed on "out-side" elements (and they would probably be correct to a large degree) but the insuing confusion with rescue workers will be blamed on someone else as well. Instead of taking this as a wake up call (as London did in the case of the year previous Madrid bombings), Seoul will most likely want to keep with the thought that "it won't happen here".

2) The Korean people will be outraged!! I am not totally sure in which direction it will head but I do know that the "Nembe" Korean spirit is not one I'd like to be in front of (well, not initially at least). Chances are, Korean will be calling for revenge against the attackers. In the Vietnam war, the Koreans soldiers were known for their ferocity, I expect it would be little different.

What the Korean government needs to do is to IMMEDIATELY start training their emergency services for just such an attack and to examine their policies in regards to foreigners (woo, there's a doosy).

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