More Letter Writing

I stayed up way too late last night seeing what everyone had to say about the censorship issue. I've also written letters to the MIC (Ministry of Information and Culture), ICEC (Information and Communication Ethics Committee), the Lakeland Ledger, CNN (as added information to their news article about the Korean governmental ban on the beheading video), and the Washington Post via a feedback form on their site.

I've also seen the beheading of Kim Seon Il. Whether that in and of itself is a crime or if uploading and distributing the video is the crime, 12 people have been arrested for exchanging the video. Kim Seon Il was critical of both the Korean and American governments just before his death; the actual beheading was fast and when compared to the Nick Berg beheading, looked more humane (in that it was done faster and with a sharper knife). I don't have a problem with people viewing stuff like that, and don't think it would make people any more angry at the Korean government than they already are. Sure it's gross, but we need to see what's going on, and not just hear about what's going on. There's a big difference. Just hearing, "Oh, this guy got his head cut off" is one thing, but actually seeing it makes it more real.

I met Octavia, John, and Paul for lunch today. The Koreans didn't understand why I was so upset about the censorship. Octavia explained that people are angry at the Korean government, so the government doesn't want them to see the beheading video. So what?? In a democracy, which Korea pretends to be, people are allowed to be upset at the government!!!! She said that people working in the foreign service have "iron ball" jobs (the Korean idiom). Translated, it means that they have tenure, and no matter how bad a job they do, they can't be fired. Korean people are upset that the system is like that. (The whole thing with someone in the foreign service knowing about Kim Seun Il's kidnapping in early June but doing nothing and telling no one.) Well, good! If people are upset enough and actually DO something other than holding a candle and chanting in protest, perhaps the system would change. I don't understand how seeing the beheading video would make things any worse. And what about the collateral damage of all the blogs?! It's called free speech, guaranteed in article 21 of the Korean Constitution, and how about freedom of learning, guaranteed in article 22? I can't learn about what's going on in Korea now, at least not without using subversive methods.

I'm having problems with other sites, too. Some sites are loading more slowly than normal, or not at all. When I try to load them with Unipeak, no problem.

I've checked all of the blogs again this afternoon--a few were updated, but no new info, just more ranting. I'm curious to see if any of the news outlets will respond to me. I'm hoping at least the Lakeland Ledger will, in some way or other. I wrote that I'm a Lakeland native, and that I feel the world needs to know how the country often referred to as one of the USA's closest allies is treating its residents. I originally sent it to Bill Rufty, the politics reporter, but got an automated response that he's on vacation, so sent it to the reporter that he listed in the response. Will the world care about the first step that could lead to a unified Korea under dictator Kim Jong Il?!

Lunch was nice. Mostly John and Octavia spoke in Korean, while Paul and I spoke in English. We ate some kind of noodle/seafood dish with lots of sidedishes at a small restaurant near Shinbok Rotary. I'm feeling OK today, but the late night made me plenty tired, and my mouth is incredibly dry from the medicine I'm still taking. Paul had no idea about what's going on, so I clued him in on it, and we discussed conspiracy theories a bit.