Internet Censorship

Well, mu.nu blogs are inaccessible again, but I'll be gone soon and the Korean government has shown how (not) concerned they are about foreigners. With my American brain, my first thought is that Korea can't expect to advance much within the international world or as the desired hub of Asia when they do stupid things like internet censorship. However, some things recently have put it in perspective.

First, the Brainysmurf's writings about internet censorship in China show me that some countries have it worse off.

Secondly, I've learned some things that show me just what a new democracy Korea is. Octavia said that prior to the 1988 Seoul Olympics, they had a midnight to 4 AM curfew. She got caught once, and got some sort of ticket. Things I read in the newspaper about the 70s and 80s and how they were filled with demonstrations and assassinations and if you said something against the government something bad might happen to you. Octavia said that because Koreans didn't have to fight for democracy they don't value it as much; women didn't have to fight for the vote so it's not very important to them. How about the Korean War? Wasn't that fighting for democracy? All the protests?

Economically the country has come a long way, too. Octavia said (primary sources are the best source of information!) that even 15 years ago her apartment complex had 300 families and only 4 of them had a car.

!!!!!

That's within my lifetime! (Public transportation in the form of buses and such were used to get around.) Nowadays nearly every family has one car, and more are getting second cars.

Korea as it is today doesn't seem that far off from the USA, yet it's come to this point so quickly that minor setbacks are bound to occur from time to time. As the kids grow up with freedoms, setbacks will occur less often. The political system has a long way to go, though, with lots of growing pains along the way as Koreans strive to achieve their own national identity independent of the Americans, Japanese, and Chinese.

As to how/when unification of the peninsula will occur.....I'd love to see it happen within my lifetime, but the difficulties are immense. Anyone feel like assassinating Kim Jong Il? The longer they stay separate, the harder unification will be. The longer the North stays isolated, the more out of touch the people will be with the international world that the Southerners live in.

I loved Korea Unmasked by Won-bok Rhie. It explains things pretty well without the academic jargon.