Ruminations in Korea

Another fine example of fair and unbaised Korean journalism

Alleged "Reporter" and/or "Journalist" Seo Soo-Min offers up a flaming pile of Korean journalistic garbage that, in the

US

, would not find its way into the pages of a middle school newspaper prepared by a bunch of sixth-graders somewhere in the heart of illiterate sports fisherman land.  That is where I come from, so I know.

With that, the article:

"Iraqis Oppose ROK Troop Dispatch"

Nice.  While this headline is technically accurate, in that two or more Iraqis are opposed to ROK Troop Dispatch, it is nothing short of misleading, as are most headlines in

Korea

’s English-language media.  You constantly see headlines such as "Korean Government to do … ," but after reading the article, you realize that the headline should have actually said, "Korean Government briefly mentioned the possibility of maybe one day considering whether or not it might be useful to give some thought to looking further into the matter of deciding whether or not they should try to do …"

Whoever wrote the headline to this article should be ashamed of themselves. Clearly, the headline is misleading at best and an outright lie in an attempt to deceive at worst.

The majority of Iraqis living in the areas where South Korean troops are likely be deployed are opposed to the dispatch, even if most of the soldiers are non-combatants such as medics and engineers, according to a recent survey.

First of all, it is natural to assume that no one would want more military from another country to be deployed in your country. However, even if someone is opposed to the idea of a dispatch, that same person may understand the need for it and accept it on that level.  However, for the reasons stated over at Flying Yangban, we will never exactly who was questioned, what questions were asked, what conditions they would have put on their answers, etc.  But, we can imagine.

The Citizens’ Action Against Troop Dispatch to

Iraq

and Corea Peace Solidarity said on Friday it conducted the survey on 131 people in six regions including

Mosul

and

Kirkuk

from Nov. 4-15.

Here is the first clue that something is wrong: Who did this survey?  Zogby? No.  Anybody reputable? No.  It was done by two people from the Citizens’ Action Against Troop Dispatch to

Iraq

and Corea Peace Solidarity.  Errr. . . It is nice to know that the "survey" was done by an unbiased organization.  And, by the way, I am so sick of seeing Corea instead of

Korea

, but that is an entirely different issue. 

Here is the second clue that something is wrong: 131 people in 11 days in 6 areas.  That means averages of around 22 people per area were asked.  Over 11 days, that averages out to two people per day per area.  They asked 22 people in

Baghdad

what they thought about South Korean troops being dispatched to

Iraq

?  That’s a good and credible sample, especially if you note from the paragraphs following that, statistically speaking, less than two of those 22 would have been women, and we all know that women were not oppressed or subjugated in any way by Saddam or other Iraqi males.

Lim Kyong-ran and Bae Sang-hyun, two anti-war activists who conducted the poll, interviewed Iraqis whilst in the nation, claiming the results carry significant weight.

What weight does this carry??? None at all!  Two anti-war activists, belonging to an anti-war and anti-dispatch group go to

Iraq

and talk to a few men in half a dozen cities and towns and claim that their crap carries significant weight.

"The survey isn’t perfect as it was conducted on only 131 people, but we think we correctly represented the atmosphere by conducting direct one-on-one interviews," a representative from Corea Peace Solidarity said in a news conference.

Is not perfect?  Really?  You think so?  Yeah, it was conducted only 131 people, but what 131 people?  I am sure anti-war people from an anti-war group went around and talked to people from all walks of life and did not seek out any groups opposed to the presence of any troops.

According to the survey, 113 of the 131 Iraqis questioned, or 86.3 percent, said they didn’t want South Korean combat troops to be sent.

Of those against the dispatch, 81 people, or 62.5 percent of the total, said non-combat troops such as military engineers and medics would not be helpful to

Iraq

.

I can see where this could be possible.  Iraqis are not untrained, incapable people.  I can understand them saying that engineers and medics would not be particularly helpful.  That having been said, the answers could have been quite different had they people been asked, whether South Korean combat troops would be helpful to

Iraq

and whether they wanted engineers and medics to be sent.

However, the image that Iraqis have of

South Korea

is positive, according to the survey. Most of the respondents, 87.8 percent, said they have an awareness of

South Korea

and 82.4 percent said they like

Korea

.

What utterly meaningless, self-promoting, nationalistic, mental masturbation that paragraph is.  I am sure that 87.8 percent of Koreans asked would have an awareness of

Zambia

, but I doubt more than a handful could tell you a single thing about

Zambia

, other than it being in

Africa

.

I personally found it hilarious that almost 20 percent of Iraqis apparently do not like

South Korea

.  What did

Korea

ever to them?  What basis would 20% of Iraqis have for not liking

Korea

, especially since it is very likely that these pollsters are the only contact these people have ever had with Koreans of any sort.

Nearly half of the respondents, at 47.3 percent, said they are aware of

South Korea

’s decision to contribute additional troops to

Iraq

to help the

United States

‘ mission there.

Less than 50%. Wow. Those Iraqis sure do have an awareness of

South Korea

.

As for their views on

U.S.

troops, 85.5 percent said they are occupational forces, followed by 9.9 percent who answered they are liberation forces.

How many of those people view occupation forces as a negative, and how may of them feel a lot happier, freer, and safer than before?

The survey was conducted on 114 men and 17 women in

Baghdad

,

Mosul

,

Kirkuk

,

Basra

, Fallujah and Hadija.

17 women.  Great.  Speaks volumes.

A copy of the result was also relayed to Chong Wa Dae on Friday. Civic groups have launched fierce protests against the government’s unpopular plans to send additional troops to

Iraq

Unpopular?  How unpopular.  Perhaps these two guys could conduct a meaningful poll for us.

There is absolutely nothing redeeming in this article.  From start to finish, it is a poorly written, unbalanced, unresearched, rehashing of poorly conducted, biased, utterly flawed, worthless nonsense.  Perhaps this article should have been titled "Anti-war protesters look for support in

Iraq

."