BUSAN - It has been an eventful year here in "Sparkling" Korea. Here is a light-hearted look back at the highs, the lows and all else in between.
Korea kicked off 2008 with a new president. Lee Myung-bak was inaugurated on Feb. 25, pledging to boost the Korean economy from the 13th largest in the world to 7th, to raise the average yearly salary to $40,000 a year, and achieve 7 percent annual growth. He nicknamed his economic plan, "747" -similar to Boeing`s famous airliner of the same name. In retrospect it was perhaps not the best analogy, considering that the Korean economy - and nearly every other economy in the world - has crashed.
In February, a tragic fire burnt down the wooden structure atop the historic Namdaemun gate in Seoul. Fire starter, Chae Jong-ki, 69, was convicted of violating the "Cultural Properties Protection Law" and sentenced to 10 years in prison. For centuries it has been the Japanese who thoughtlessly burned down Korea`s cultural treasures. Now Koreans enjoy the freedom to do so themselves. My, how far the world has come.
In March, South Korea held its first-ever trial by jury as part of several reform measures aimed at increasing public confidence in the judicial system. For Korea`s first "trial" trial, a nine-member jury in Daegu heard the case of a 27-year-old man accused of assaulting a 70-year-old woman while burgling her home.
The jury`s "guilty" decision was non-binding, though, as the traditional three-judge panel had the final say. Apparently, the government has judged that the people are still not ready to judge, although some might say this shows a lack of judgment by the government.
In April, Koreans cheered as a Russian space capsule carried Korea`s first astronaut, Lee So-yun, into space. It was also a month that saw health officials dispatch 200 soldiers to chicken farms across the country to slaughter more than 100,000 chickens following the outbreak of bird flu. It was a monumental month when Koreans expanded their reach to the stars while at the same time taking a stand against chickens.
In June, a puzzled world looked on as tens of thousands of South Koreans demonstrated against the government`s decision to import U.S. beef. A health scare ensued, based on wild claims that American beef contained the "Mad Cow" virus.
The at times violent protests continued for well over a month, reaching a peak of 700,000 people gathering in Seoul. On the bright side, social scientists now have a new phenomenon to study: "Mad People Disease." The symptoms include irrational reasoning, ignorance of scientific fact and an unyielding desire to gather in the streets for no apparent reason. Oh, something for you trivia buffs: The historical tally of people dying from American beef worldwide? Zero.
July gets off to a bad start when a North Korean soldier fatally shoots a South Korean tourist at a mountain resort in the North. The tourist, Park Wang-ja, had gone for a stroll from her hotel at 4:30 a.m., somehow wandering 1 kilometer into an off-limits military area.
It was there that she was shot twice in the back as she fled from a North Korean soldier. Surely, there must have been something in the travel brochure about not trying to feed the North Koreans.
Also in July, arguments with Japan over the disputed Dokdo islands reached a low-point.
Korean government officials retaliated against Japanese claims by removing Japanese condom advertisements from subway stations in Seoul. Following the incident, I scanned the paper for several days longing for a Korean government official saying something to the effect of, "Screw Japan and their condoms!" Or from the Japanese saying, "Much like Dokdo, the Koreans will no longer be adequately protected."
In August, Korean athletes brought home a spectacular 31 medals from the Olympic Games in Beijing. The most heralded of those medals was the gold in baseball, where the scrappy Korean team went undefeated in eight games against the world`s best amateurs. After clinching the gold against Cuba in game seven, the team didn`t let up - tromping baseball powerhouse the Netherlands 10-0 in the final game. Take that, Hiddink!
September played host to this year`s celebration of the Korean Thanksgiving Day, Chuseok. According to a survey by the Korea Transport Institute, 53.4 percent of Koreans traveled to their hometowns to commemorate the occasion.
The estimated 46 million trips caused massive congestion on Korea`s roadways leading me to speculate that people were most thankful this year for actually reaching their destination before the holiday was over.
The month of October witnessed a bizarre innovation in the method of murder.
A 31-year-old man, identified only by his surname Jeong, killed six people by first setting fire to his apartment in southern Seoul, and then stabbing residents with a sashimi knife as they fled the building. While Jeong told police he went on the rampage because "everybody looks down on me," some nationalists placed the bulk of the blame on the Japanese for inventing the sashimi knife.
As the weather turned cold in November, an even deeper chill spread across the economy.
Exports dropped 18.3 percent from the same time the previous year, and the won hit an 11-year low of 1,513 against the dollar. The Bank of Korea also released estimates that the economy would grow by only 2 percent in 2009. No word from the Lee administration on a new "18-1,500-2" economic plan.
Also in November, North Korea announced it would seal its borders with the south. To counter this, South Koreans increased the practice of sending balloons carrying anti-Kim Jong-il pamphlets over the border. Should there be a shortage of balloons, people can always inflate Japanese-brand condoms to further enrage the North Korean leadership.
In December, South Korean actress Ok So-ri fought in vain to overturn a ban on adultery. After admitting in court to having an affair, Ok was sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for two years. Her lover also received a six-month suspended sentence.
Lastly, in December the government announced ambitious economic plans. They are aimed at creating 190,000 new jobs in a 4-year, $10.35 billion bid to improve the country`s four main rivers and their adjacent areas.
While I applaud this measure, I can`t imagine it taking only four years. South Korea`s labor force has one of the highest university graduation rates in the world. How many people with a bachelor`s degree are willing to rebuild rivers for a living?
Happy New Year everyone.
The opinions expressed here in no way are representative of The Korea Herald. Bobby McGill is a freelance writer based in Busan. He can be reached through his blog at www.idlewordship.com or idlewordship@gmail.com - Ed.
[출처 : 코리아헤럴드]
