ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE IN MODERN ASIA
What the Hell is Happening to Our World?
Written by Elaine Sue

 

	INFO ON THE WRITER
	As a graduate of Madonna University in Japanese Studies, Sue took the chance and went to Seoul, South Korea to teach English for Berlitz language schools. She lived there for almost three years gaining lifelong friendships and joining with International Friendship Society. She has been inspired to not only write about her experiences in various formats found on the Internet and elsewhere about the East Asian region, but to also pursue more higher education (hopefully Master’s Degree and possible Ph.D) concerning the area especially that of the Korean peninsula.   Korean Memories   She feels it is her calling because the people she knows from Korea, Taiwan, an Japan have personally touched and inspired her to speak about it and teach people to look at the unique human, not racial qualities of the Asian people.

WE CONSTANTLY HEAR stories about violence in the Middle East to the point it almost becomes numbing. In Europe, there is chaos because of sympathetic support with the United States and trains in Spain get blasted.

AND NOW it’s Asia’s turn to face the fury.

FOR MANY YEARS, most of us thought that Asia, especially those of the Pacific Rim were safe, civilized, and places we’d like to travel to, work, and live in to make extra money we cannot make here. That has become more of a reality considering the current job losses in the United States and some reorganizing of our workers from here to China or India, where if you call customer service for Dell or Hewitt-Packard, you can talk to someone from New Dehli or Mumbi.

IN MARCH 2004, some unprecedented but amazing events occurred in both South Korea and Taiwan.

WE'VE ALL HEARD THE STORIES about North Korea threatening nuclear weapons and trying to push its weight around with its neighbor to the south. Most of us have always known about the China/Taiwan issue. Those were discussed in the month of March too. But other unprecedented events also made a few of us sympathetic to the Asian side of the spectrum, a little shocked.

EARLIER IN THE MONTH, South Korea’s National Assembly voted by an overwhelmingly 198 to 2 majority to impeach newly elected president Roh, Moon-Hyun, leaving the country left in anger, embarrassment, but most of all confusion.

THEN, A DAY BEFORE ITS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS, while the incumbent and his female vice president were campaigning one last time, both were hit with bullets from still unknown suspects, and not seriously injured. The elections went on with the incumbent Chen winning under suspicious pretenses, leading the country to wonder if the elections were even fair at all.

SO WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN, and why are these events happening in these places some have deemed not really that important as far as news coverage anymore?

IF WE LOOK at the countries a little more closely, perhaps we can see a kind of trend that whether the United States realizes or not, “inspired” politics to go into a tailspin. Of course, it could also show that it could be a sign of what we might have to face in the upcoming November election, and it would be good to see what we shouldn’t do before it gets out of hand.

I ALSO FEEL that if take a look at each country we can see where they fall in the world scheme and how the impact of their political woes relates to Asian Americans here, as well as United States relations them.

WE CAN ALSO COMPARE the two countries and see how democracy in “democratic” countries is losing its power to the selfish, greedy leaders who only want to win votes for their own gain and not for the people who voted for and are supposed to be serving in the first place.