Gość: mr smith
IP: *.cable.ubr09.edin.blueyonder.co.uk
15.10.03, 15:16
Za przykladem kilku na tym forum zaczalem czytac Haaretz (.com)
Interesujace
A glimpse of the Korean mind
By Yoel Esteron/Haaretz
SEOUL - Now what can one possibly learn in four or
five days about a country of 48 million
inhabitants? Even the capital city, packed with 10
million or so people, is almost beyond human
grasp. From the traffic jams on the way back from
airport, one would never guess that underneath
lies an effective subway network. The giant
marketplace that looms up along the way, with its
heaps of textiles, clothing with that distinct
`50s look, and colorful displays of foodstuffs
that might be animal, vegetable or mineral, could
fool a passing tourist. South Korea may look
shabby, but it exports state-of-the-art
electronics, the latest model cars, merchant
ships, oil tankers and who knows what else to the
world's most advanced nations, including the
United States and Japan. In 2002, its exports
totaled $162 billion.
Identifying the cars on the
roads of Seoul is no trouble.
They're all Korean. Even the
luxury models driven by the
rich and nouveau-riche are
made-in-Korea. Hyundai
(pronounced "Chandeh" in
Korean) and Samsung - not Sony
- dominant the display windows
of the electrical appliance and cell phone
stores. No wonder they have a huge trade
surplus.
One of the country's three major newspapers,
JoongAng Ilbo (daily circulation: 2.1 million)
invited 18 Asian and European newspaper editors
to a forum in Seoul to discuss the
U.S.-Europe-Asia triangle. For a change, the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict was not the center
of universe and the source of all its ills. The
issue preoccupying the Korean media was whether
President Roh Moo-hyun should comply with the
request of the Bush administration to send
thousands of South Korean troops to Iraq. Was
he in a position to turn Washington down when
his country sat huddled under America's wing,
fearful of the nuclear threats of Kim Jong-il,
the psychopath ruling North Korea?
The Koreans know something about war and
occupation. For 35 years, until 1945, they
lived under the brutal occupation of the
Japanese. In the 1950s, the Korean War left a
trail of 4 million dead. It ended without a
victory for either side, a gloomy fence going
up between north and south. The South Koreans
certainly have no wish to endanger the
country's impressive growth rate (although it
slowed down this year, from 6.3 percent to 2.5
percent), much less give up the relatively
comfortable lifestyle made possible by a
$10,000 per capita GDP.
Nevertheless, President Roh has been in no hurry
to give in to Bush. He has been in office all
of seven months, and in international affairs,
people describe him as a tyro. His victory at
the polls was a complete surprise. Roh, an
attorney and an Indiana Jones movie buff,
achieved fame when he defended a student who
had been tortured in jail, becoming a leading
human rights activist in a country where
political conservatives are solidly entrenched
in all the positions of power. And he doesn't
have a parliamentary majority.
In fact, on the day we met him, at the Blue
House, a presidential office complex and
residence, he had just quit his party, which
had splintered. Even so, our hosts explained,
he'll probably complete his five-year term. Go
figure. The wonders of Korean politics.
We were welcomed royally - with a long wait and
deep bows - but President Roh, with his mop of
coal black hair, does not radiate power and
authority. He admitted to his guests that he
felt pressured by their questions. "My shirt is
sopping," he said. His opponents claim he is
not ripe for leadership.
What makes the greatest impression on someone
from Israel is how subdued the president is. To
troubling questions about North Korea's nuclear
capacity, he responds with moderation. He
doesn't threaten. He's not out to make
headlines. The Koreans put their faith in the
"six-way talks" (between the two Koreas, the
United States, Russia, China and Japan), which
they hope will devise a regional solution to
the dangers posed by North Korea's nuclear
weapons program. They are not willing to adopt
the macho American slam-bam approach to get rid
of Kim Jong-il. They know that the fallout of
violent conflict could settle on Seoul.
Tolerance and restraint also characterize the
replies of Foreign Minister Yoon Young-kwan at
lunch the following day. The minister, who
looks like an absentminded professor, really is
a professor. For years he taught at American
universities, and only returned to serve his
country in the last few years. He sees the
challenge posed by North Korea as a
comprehensive problem that needs to be dealt
with comprehensively. He is trying to
understand the fears of the North Koreans and
look at things from "their perspective."
In Yoon's view, deterrence alone will not do the
job, and brute force is dangerous. What is
needed is a complex combination of strategies,
including positive incentives, to keep the
threat at bay. The North Koreans must be
pampered and fussed over at the six-way talks,
and Kim Jong-il showered with reasons and
enticements not to continue with nuclear
armament. Yoon's education is American, but his
thinking is Korean.
Is there a moral to this story? Any lessons for
the Middle East? Comparing one complicated
situation to another is impossible, of course.
But as I listened to the clear-eyed and sober
talk, I saw in my mind's eye a Middle Eastern
prime minister and his cabinet who lose their
balance in the face of threats, real and
imagined; who scorn the Quartet; whose idea of
deterrence is spewing counter-threats in every
direction, from the Muqata to Damascus and
Tehran; and whose idea of dealing with the
situation "comprehensively" means dropping a
one-ton bomb on the bastard of the moment.
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