It doesn't seem like there was much discussion here or coverage stateside of the recent South Korean presidential election. From what I have read, several people on this forum have been in South Korea or are still there. What thoughts does everyone have of the election?
So this was a president only election and the only 2 big candidates were Lee Jae-myung (liberal) and Yoon Seok-youl (conservative). From my colleagues here, nobody really cared for either candidate and it was very much a lesser of 2 evils situation. Yoon ended up winning but it was incredibly close, and he will face trouble as the rest of the government is mostly in the control of the opposing party. Something of note, Yoon has no political experience, he was a prosecutor. You may recall Park Geun-hye was impeached in 2017 for essentially letting a cult leader run the country in secret. Well, Yoon is of the same political party as Park, but he was one of the prosecutors who put her in jail. He seemed to run on 2 platforms primarily, try to fix the real estate market (which is pretty broken) and anti-feminism. As a result, in the youth demographics there was a nearly 60-30 split of women voting for Yoon's opponent and 60-30 split of men voting for Yoon. Yoon has also promised to be more aggressive towards North Korea, saying he was open to pre-emptive strikes if necessary. This is largely concerning here as most people in the North and South still very much want reunification. There are many here that still have relatives they were separated from living in the North (grandparents, cousins, etc) On a personal note, Lee was much more foreigner friendly, so I'm a bit disappointed he lost, but what can you do?
I was there for Chun Doo-hwan and Roe Tae-woo. I lost track after Kim Young-sam. It seemed like every President went to jail once their term was up. There was a lotta corruption when I was there. Kickbacks were considered part of a politician's benefit package. I used to drive up to Seoul a few times a week and I often saw student protesting one thing or another. I recall one student telling me they blamed the United States and Russia for partitioning the country. That's my extent of Korean political knowledge.
You probably know this, but the Korean 100 Won coin is based on the U.S. size/weight standard for the U.S. Quarter...meaning, they work in U.S. vending machines same as a US Quarter. The 100 Won coin being equivalent to about 8¢ (US). I learned about this quite by accident. There was a Coke machine at work. One day, there was a note on the machine that said, "This machine will be removed if we get any more Korean cons". I don't know who was doing it, but they stopped. Of course, I had to do it one time...just to see.
Not as much as you'd think! They passed a law recently that allows registered foreigners to vote in local elections (not presidential or legislative elections though). You can vote once you've lived here registered for 3 years, so the first time I'm eligible is 2026. Which, I have no idea who would even be running in local elections that far in advance so... I don't have a good answer to JN's question.
I never heard you discuss your business in Korea. I just assumed you were under the Status Of Forces Agreement (SOFA). Care to share?
Researcher, I work in behavioral neuroscience and found a lab that fit my interests and background well. Working on a PhD while I'm here too.
This is sciencespeak for "Somebody finally hired me....not in the U.S., though, because there are only 736,000 openings in the Neuroscience field in the U.S., and I am over qualified....".
Hey hey, don't be mean. I was specifically looking for something outside the U.S., I left a good job in my field in the U.S. to come here in fact. My wife and I wanted to try living abroad for a while, and it seemed we were at a good age for it.
It would not have cost anything if joined the Military-sign up for accompanied Duty Station, work @ Hospital on Base.....live abroad for a wile, pursue PHD on the military's dime, and.....with the Masters.....A COMMISION AS AN OFFICER!!!! All at a good age to do so........
