Saturday, August 15, 2009

...and belatedly

If you're Catholic, you're celebrating the Feast of the Assumption today (15 August).

If you're Korean, you're celebrating Korean Liberation day. Will Lee Myeong-bak offer any thanks to the countries that helped liberate South Korea? Recent Korean presidents have avoided mentioning the countries that helped Korea, leaving young Koreans to believe that Korea somehow liberated itself. Review the August 15 speeches by Roh Mu-hyeon to see what I'm talking about: there's not a single word of gratitude toward America or any other country. All the same... I'll be a good sport and wish South Korea a Happy Liberation Day. You're welcome.

According to Wikipedia, August 15 is also VJ Day.


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1 comment:

Sperwer said...

Hi Kev: Here's what 2MB had to say yesterday:

"Here today, as we commemorate the anniversary of liberation, I would like to once again pay respect to the people of Korea that have made the country what it is today.


Korean citizens are heroes who have always discovered hope and opportunities in the bleakest moments over our 60 years of modern history. Every single Korean is a hero. The spirit of our ancestors who dedicated themselves to recovering our country, establishing our country and defending our country still lives on today and is probably one of the most valuable things we have inherited. Today I would like to shed new light on how Koreans made a history of miracles within the larger frame of world history. In 1948, we established the Republic of Korea as a new member of the international community."

Besides the tens of millions of Korean heroes who created modern Korea, he had this rather ambiguous "appreciation" to offer:

"Barely two years after the founding of modern Korea, the nation suffered the Korean War. We were at the receiving end of help from other countries, and Korea became synonymous with war and poverty."

-which seems to make the war and poverty the responsibility of other countries.

Not much of an improvement over RMH, unless you're credulous enough to believe that that last line was simply badly phrased - something that, knowing 2MB's speech writer, I know isn't true.