Shenanigans!!

Tomorrow is election day. I asked my Korean friends if they think foreigners should have the right to vote in Korean elections. I have to admit that this really was a loaded question because no sovereign nation would let non-citizens participate in elections. If they did, then why not let your neighbours decide who will lead your country (USA does not count and this is hardly South America). I brought that question up at our meeting because I recall reading an article about Koreans in Japan (i.e., foreigners) protesting because the Japanese government was not granting them voting rights even though they quaintly claim they pay taxes.

My other reason for this was because some clown was trying to claim that Korea is becoming more and more cosmopolitan becuase there are up to 1 million foreigners in Korea at any one time. When I read this folderol I laughed out loud (or 'lol'ed). How many of these foreigners are citizens? How many are tourists? How many are here for work purposes? Still, a lie often retold is soon believed. On my trip back to Sydney I heard every language under the sun EXCEPT English because there are so many different peoples in Sydney and Australia as a whole. Obviously, English is the lingua franca used between the different groups of Australian citizens. Here, 99% of the people in Korea are Korean so claiming cosmopolitanism is a sham.

I also realised this week (with a friend's help) that since there are 12 candidates and the president is directly elected then theoretically one only needs to garner 10% of the popular vote to win. Of course, that president's rule would be next to useless since there would not likely be any majority in parliament (or whatever it's called) for him to do anything except what is permitted under the office of the president.

Another quirk of the Korean election scene is the trailers with speakers haranguing anyone and everyone within 100 metres on issues their candidate will address and, far more often, the corruption scandals of all the other candidates. These soapboxes are always accompanied by groups of ajoomas (housewives) clapping and singing.

They also told me one of the presidential hopefuls wants to allow children disobedient to their parents to be hung (not sure about drawn and quartered though). He also promised to move UN headquarters from New York to Panmunjom.

Another candidate is resting his elbows on a table behind a military helmet (looks like a WW2 one though) with his fingers linked together below his chin. At first glance I had visions of Dr. Evil as the helmet looked like a globe. Later, I read the poster carefully. He proclaims "Let's protect Korea!". From whom he doesn't say as all other candidates (save the cracker described above) claim the economy/ecenemy is most important. We all know Koreans are in dire financial straits, according to that grand rag 'The Korea Herald'.

Finally, I am happy to report that Australia has finally signed the Kyoto Protocol leaving the USA as the only developed nation to refuse. Unhappily, I've been told Australia, Japan, Canada and the USA refused the European bloc's suggestion of non-binding targets for emission reduction. I don't understand as in reality all they would have to do is 'pretend' to be reducing emissions. But it seems they don't want to even look like they are doing the just thing for those yet to come.

Personally, I would love my work to feature 'non-binding targets'.