Ruminations in Korea

From an awesome headline: “South Korean internet geeks trigger panic over US ‘tainted beef’ imports”

To a great opening paragraph:

Tens of thousands of young internet-obsessed South Koreans, whipped into a frenzy by alarmist television programmes, a complex scientific paper on genetics and a hyperactive online rumour-mill, have held candlelit vigils protesting against imports of American beef.

To one of the best news quotes I have ever read:

. “I just want to live and fulfill my career dreams, not die mad like an American cow,”

The following article from the Times Online is a great summation of all of the idiocy surrounding the korean anti-US beef imort firestorm”.

Tens of thousands of young internet-obsessed South Koreans, whipped into a frenzy by alarmist television programmes, a complex scientific paper on genetics and a hyperactive online rumour-mill, have held candlelit vigils protesting against imports of American beef.

Believing that the meat carries a high risk of BSE and that Koreans are genetically predisposed to contracting the linked Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the online masses have taken to the streets, cursing America and demanding that their Government should act to avert catastrophe.

Two features of the protests have caught the authorities, the Government and teachers offguard.

The first is that, unlike the mobs that have contributed to South Korea’s long history of street rallies, more than half of the demonstrators are below university age.
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Some teachers approve of the rallies, others condemn them, but all agree that their students are spending too much time in cyberspace.

The second is the virulence of the xenophobia on and offline: despite sweeping to power on a more foreigner-friendly ticket, Lee Myung Bak, South Korea’s new President, leads a country with substantial anti-American feeling.

Behind the fury and panic is the decision made last month by Mr Lee to allow US-produced beef back into the country after a five-year hiatus.

South Korea, with other Asian nations, suspended imports in 2003 after cattle in the US were found to have BSE: the protesters are convinced that the ban has been lifted too soon and with too many concessions to Washington.

On the many new BSE-related websites that have sprung-up in the last week, the language is little short of hysterical. Pseudo-science, anti-Americanism and teenage angst have produced a staggering volume of web traffic.

“Are we fated to die so young?” wailed a typical post. “I just want to live and fulfill my career dreams, not die mad like an American cow,” wrote another.

Over the past couple of days, virtually every teenager in Seoul has received the same text message on mobile phones, “Schools closed next Thursday”.

The information is bogus, but authorities are steeling themselves for street demonstrations on the grandest scale. By the weekend the protesters’ numbers are expected to rise tenfold.

The BSE scare has already made its practical effects felt. After a two month honeymoon period in power, Mr Lee has approval ratings below 30 per cent.

Maybe there is something wrong with me. I have shared this with a few people and none of them find it amusing. However, I do.

Searching for a good, reliable GPS setup for my motorcycle, I looked at several varieties of handheld digital GPS devices. At some point in my search, I stumbled upon this very nice looking analog GPS device from Aerostitch. The copy reads:

“Take your batteries and slavish dependence on other high-tech flummery and heave it overboard. With this device, you can pinpoint your location anywhere on earth and not be reliant on dodgy bits of information being projected through the ether by divers black arts. Precision constructed of brass and the finest optics available and featuring premium isinglass sun filters, it is compact and rugged enough for the adventurous motor-cyclist. Mounts for 7/8″ and 1″ bars are included, as is a fitted, velvet lined rosewood storage case. Not included are required declination charts (call for details) or the extremely accurate watch you are going to need to use this thing. Meets R.N. standard 3329-5 of 1787. Price: $3,117.00″

My brother, Adam, just sent me a message on MSN. Apparently, he was looking for the Chinese characters for 광고 (”advertising”) He plugged 광고 into the Korean Naver online encyclopedia. The results were surprising to say the least.

Apparently THIS is the only example of “advertising” that the unbelievably racist ignorant idiots at Naver could find to put on their site:

Wow…..

OK… What is wrong with people??? 

“An anti-Japan protester, Yang Bong-ho, stabs himself in the stomach with a kinfe to commite suicide demanding Japan abandon a plan to conduct a maritime survey near disputed islets, at a park in Seoul, Wednesday, April 19, 2006. Yang’s condition was unknown after being taken to hospital.”

You have GOT to be kidding me!  This guy with a knife in his gut.  He does realize, doesn’t he, that the ONLY people that can understand him, sympathize with him, and take him seriously are Koreans, and THEY already agree with him.  So what is the point of this?  I really, honestly, don’t get it.

hat tip to GI Korea.

Billion dollar baby
I got you in a dimestore
No other little girl could ever
Hold you any tighter, any tighter than me baby
Billion dollar baby
Reckless like a gambler, million dollar maybe
Fighting like a dog whose been infected by the rabies.

That’s a billion dollars.  What would you give for a single billion dollar bill?  Would you part with five or ten thousand dollars for one?  Maybe a little more?  Well, you wouldn’t be alone.  According to the Smoking Gun:

MARCH 15–We’re not sure what he planned to do with them, but an admitted smuggler recently led Secret Service agents to 250 counterfeit $1 billion notes that had been stained to make it appear they were issued in 1934. The phony bills were seized last week by federal investigators who learned of the bad paper from Tekle Zigetta, who pleaded guilty yesterday to a federal charge of failing to declare $37,000 in currency upon his return to Los Angeles in January from South Korea. Zigetta, 45, has not been charged with a crime in connection with the $1 billion notes, photos of which you can find on the following pages. The counterfeit bills are based on actual $1000 notes that carried a portrait of former President Grover Cleveland and the signatures of Treasury secretary Henry Morgenthau and U.S. Treasurer W.A. Julian. Though it is hard to believe that someone might believe the bills to be real, investigators contend that the phony notes could be used as part of an elaborate swindle by a con artist.

I don’t know if this type of scam is popular elsewhere, but I hear about it quite often here in Korea.  Basically, how this scam works is that somebody claims to have found/discovered/inherited old civil war bonds, certificates, or bank notes. Then they say they need the money quickly so they don’t have time to go through the legal proceedures necessary to cash out whatever it is they are selling.  So, in their desparate grab for cash, they are willing to part with the incredibly valuable instruments for an amazingly low sum of money, such as USD 10,000 or USD 20,000.  The victim gives up the cash, gets the worthless paper, and then gets burned when they try to collect. More sophisticated scammers will offer to be the local person with power of attorney to handle the legal steps in America for a small fee.  Thus, not only do the victims pay huge amounts of money for worthless paper, they then get lured into paying thousands and thousands more for non-existant legal fees, court costs, and assistance fees.

I really don’t know what makes people fall vicitim to these scams, Nigerian 419 scams, and other similar scams.  In some small way, maybe I could understand it if the victims were all completely stupid, brain-frozen, idiotic prats.  However, there are incredibly inteligent, wise, and professional people that fall vicitim to these scams.  Are there really people out there that are so focused on getting something for nothing…particularly money…that their lust for money completely blinds them to even the most basic forms of common sense? 

I generally have very little pity for victims of such folly.  How much effort does it take to find out that there is no such thing as a ONE BILLION DOLLAR BILL??  MAYBE 30 seconds to do an internet search.  MAYBE 5 minutes to CALL A BANK AND ASK!

My first direct exposure to otherwise rational, mature, professional people being caught up in these things was when a wise, old, highly respected dentist came to my office seeking advise on how to safely wire money to Nigeria to pay for some old bonds valued at about USD 50,000,000 drawn on some US bank.  If I remember correctly, he was going to pay about USD 35,000 for them.  At least he is one of the few that have come seeking advice BEFORE they get caught up in it, rather than after they have thrown a pile of money into the scammers pocket.

The dentist simply didn’t want to believe that it could be a scam.  When I asked how somone in Lagos, Nigeria would know about  Dr. X in his little dental clinic in Pusan, Korea, he replied, “I treated a black man from Africa once about 10 years ago, and I am sure that he must have given my  name to this man.” 

I told him there are probably thousands of other people who got the same correspondance and you are one of the people that responded. “But,” he protested, “I have this letter from his lawyer.  It must be legitimate because this letter came from his lawyer.”  I pointed out that according to the letterhead, EVERYONE in the “law firm” had Ph.D. degrees…including the secretary!  I suggest that such things should raise a few caution flag in his mind.

He was undeterred in his quest for money.  He insisted we write a letter asking for banking details.  I suggested we give the “law firm” a call and demand proof that they actually are lawyers.  So, we dialed up Nigeria.  I asked for the Senior Partner.  He was conveniently out of the office.  I asked for the person that signed the letter.  He was conveniently gone.  I asked to speak to ANY lawyer at all.  I eventually spoke to one guy who claimed to be a lawyer.  I said we would be happy to send the money as soon as they sent copies of their law degrees, law licenses, and any other document proving they were lawyers.  They said they would send a fax soon. 

Two days went by with no fax.  I told Dr. X that the fact the lawyers can’t prove they are lawyers is a sure sign it’s a scam.  He said that he was going to book a flight to Lagos to hand-deliver the cash to the seller because he couldn’t trust the seller’s lawyer.  I then called the US Consul here in Pusan, who informed Dr. X that if he got on that plane, he would likely never leave Lagos alive.  Finally the dentist came around and realized that he had been taken in by a scam.

 The fact that the guy in the story was arrested in the US for failing to declare USD 37,000 tells me that at least one person in Korea has lost a lot of money.  A BILLION DOLLAR BILL??? Ugh.