Monster Island (actually a peninsula)*

Pearls of witticism from 'Bo the Blogger: Kushibo's Korea blog... Kushibo-e Kibun... Now with Less kimchi, more nunchi. Random thoughts and commentary (and indiscernibly opaque humor) about selected social, political, economic, and health-related issues of the day affecting "foreans," Koreans, Korea and East Asia, along with the US, especially Hawaii, Orange County and the rest of California, plus anything else that is deemed worthy of discussion. Forza Corea!

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Roh Moohyun kills himself

This is unbelievable. I even had to go to several sites to make sure it wasn't someone's idea of a sick joke. But it really appears the scandal-beleaguered former president has killed himself by jumping off a mountain.

I'm shocked. I'm angered. I'm sad for him and his family.

I will write more when I get home, because there is too much going through my head to hunt and peck on this iPhone.

Meanwhile the most succint expression of the dirty disgust I feel is this: Hub of suicide.

Requiescat in pace, Mr Roh.

Sent from my iPhone

5 comments:

reijeneSaturday, May 23, 2009 6:20:00 PM
IS this a joke? It must be a joke.
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kushiboSaturday, May 23, 2009 6:23:00 PM
It's not a joke at all. When I first heard it, the blogs in my sidebar had no mention of it at all, so I thought the single place I'd seen it was making a sick joke or was mistaken.

But it's true. I just got home and I'm tired (it's 11:30 p.m. here and I've been out all day), not to mentioned mentally exhausted from reading up on this (I spent a couple hours in the Ala Moana Apple Store reading about this), so I'm going to write more on this later. I'm disappointed for so many reasons.
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John from DaejeonSaturday, May 23, 2009 7:52:00 PM
I have a feeling his drastic last act due to his loss of face/greed will lead to more young people, and students, following his lead.

Damn, it pisses me off.
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reijeneSunday, May 24, 2009 12:16:00 AM
three years and no interest in Korean politics makes me the biggest idiot of all times.

what exactly was his indiscretion? i saw the slip-ups of his old staff members but i never read through it. again... not interested in Korean politics whatsoever... but this is one HUGE scandal that i OBVIOUSLY missed.
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kushiboSunday, May 24, 2009 11:34:00 AM
reijene, in a nutshell, this man who came from nowhere entered politics and rose to the presidency on the platform, basically, of having a conscience and ethics. He was to be Mr Squeaky Clean who would change Seoul's governing culture of corruption.

But when Lee's government took power in February 2008, they launched probes into perceived wrongdoing by Roh and his family and aides. It turned out that Roh's family had gotten at least $6 million worth of kickbacks in the form of apartments and other things. Perhaps there was more, but we don't know for sure.

Contrast that with his predecessors' transgressions, such as Roh Tae-woo's admitted $32 million in bribes from Samsung and his conviction on taking some $337 million more than that.

As I mentioned here, his corruption will be noted for its hypocrisy, not its severity. Roh would likely have been convicted and sentenced to prison, but eventually pardoned, as happened to his predecessors whose crimes were far worse (as far as we know).

Democracies don't like putting former heads-of-state in jail. Even though, arguably, people like Nixon, George W. Bush, and especially Cheney all deserve(d) to be there. Nixon, eventually, became something of an elder statesman.
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Ask Kushibo.

My Google/Blogspot data shows that a lot of the 2 million people who have landed on my site (yes, that's the real number) are looking for cultural information on Korea (e.g., “When did Syngman Rhee die?” “What did the Indians bring to the first Chusŏk?’ etc., etc.), as well as practical or historical stuff.

That got me thinking that, hey, I have a master’s degree in Korean studies and a minor in Japanese studies, I’ve lived in Seoul far longer than most foreans my age (whether they're kyopo or non-kyopo), I teach introductory courses on Korea and its cultural trappings and history, so why not offer a free service where I attempt to answer people’s questions, point them in the direction of where they can get them answered, and/or offer my regulars (that’s you!) a chance to take a stab at some of this stuff, too.

So if there’s something you’d like to know from a “contrarian scourge,” click on ASK KUSHIBO and just ask a succinct question in the comments section below.

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九十五大怪獣란? 쿠시보의 몬스터 아일랜드란?

Pearls of witticism from 'Bo the Blogger: Kushibo's Korea blog... Kushibo-e Kibun...
Now with Less kimchi, more nunchi. Random thoughts and commentary (and indiscernibly opaque humor) about selected social, political, economic, and health-related issues of the day affecting "foreans" ("foreigners" in Korea be they kyopo or non-kyopo), Koreans, Korea and East Asia, along with the US, especially Hawaii, Orange County, and the rest of California, plus anything else that is deemed worthy of discussion. Forza Corea!

* Monster Island (actually a peninsula)

The name of this blog comes from a line in "Lisa on Ice," a beloved episode of The Simpsons, perhaps my all-time favorite television show (even though for several seasons there, it really did suck). Lisa is imagining being sworn in as president, but at the last minute, it is discovered that she failed P.E. (physical education) and she is thus "sentenced to a lifetime of horror" on Monster Island. "Don't worry," the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court confides in her, "It's just a name."

Fast forward to Lisa and other prisoners running in panic through a tropical jungle, chased by Godzilla-like creatures, including a monster turtle and a monster firefly.

"He said it was just a name!" Lisa screams to the man next to her. While he, too, runs for his life, the unidentified man calmly says, "What he meant is that Monster Island is actually a peninsula."

Anyway, I thought in some ways that punchline summed up modern-day Korea in a nutshell. For many people—foreigners and Koreans—the ups and downs and everyday travails of the Republic of Korea make it as precarious as a Monster Island would be (and with the DMZ being the only land border, it really is like an island). But it actually is a peninsula. Okay, it made sense in my head.

So as you can see, despite the hits I get from people looking for Japanese tentacle porn, it has nothing to do with anything salacious as that.