South Korea and its nuclear dilemma

Just when all's safe and quiet on the Korean peninsula, oh wait, it's the Korean peninsula, would it really ever be quiet? But this time the commotion is not coming from the northern Korean state, but the southern one. South Korea officials are quickly trying to shut various nuclear facilities as it was found out that these development had forge safety certificates.

This is very much getting public scrutiny because the people of Korea that these facilities are setting them up for the same problem that the Japan had with the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake and their nuclear facility.

The bad timing of this problem comes in with the fact that South Korea has made a $20 billion contract to export nuclear power reactors. By 2030, they will be the third top exporter of nuclear reactors, right behind Russia and France.

Nevertheless, this crisis has put a lot of people in Korea without power.




Resources:
http://www.kearneyhub.com/news/opinion/south-korea-has-its-own-nuclear-challenge/article_255b5864-2cdf-11e2-909d-0019bb2963f4.html

http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/09/world/asia/south-korea-nuclear-reactor/index.html

Learning Korean

Hey Everyone,

One of the most difficult challenges I have encountered is learning a language. I am currently trying to learn Korean on my own, which makes learning a language even harder. I have found that Korean sites online are kind of helpful, but you'll have to pay for it.

One site that is really help is the Korean Wiki. I would then suggest going to the local library and checking out a CD set. It's free and they make learning the language easy. Although, I have to say that the best way to learn a language is in a high school classroom.

Asia's view on Obama coming back

With the re-election of Barrack Obama, there will be quite a shift in power on the foreign side of the United States. The position of Secretary of State will be up for grabs soon. Asian countries are having mixed feelings, but overall a sigh of relief with the return of this President.

 "Mr. Obama is the lesser of two evils," said Shi Yinhong, an expert on U.S.-China relations at Renmin University in Beijing. Obama wishes to have more negotiations with China about outsourcing, trade, and the environment. Yet, China loves the special connection that it holds with the United States and would fight for as much wiggle room that it can get. However, changes in the Secretary of State and foreign policy leaders would also mean that both sides, China and the US, would have to get to know each other from square one again. With this Chinese officials said that they have no time to play politic games.

Japan, however, prefers the headstrong negotiation style of Hilary Clinton, but if Clinton resigns, China and other Asian countries might face a softer hand from either of the possible Secretary of State candidates John Kerry and Susan Rice, which would not play well for the Japanese. 
South Korea is also giving a sigh of relief with the re-election of Obama. Fear rose in S.Korea with the possible chance that Romney would get elected and engage North Korea in combat. 

The only country with a frown on its face for the most part is India. India has been growing prosperously for quite sometime. Not with the rigor of China, but fairly well. However, now outsourcing IT jobs to India is up for questioning. With unemployment in the U.S. over 7.2%  this may result in a fight to get jobs that were outsourced to India back in the states, not just to drop the unemployment rate, but to encourage growth in the American IT field. Personally, the United States has to cut India off. India has benefited some what on globalization, but its own internal growth rate and development is quite slow. India has the ability to upgrade, but it doesn't. It's education sector is also not evolving  as it should as well. If the United States continues to enable this country, both countries will continue to show no growth.

There is speculation that Obama might appoint a republican for the Secretary of State position which would be interesting and smart in terms of gluing the United States back together.  Nevertheless, I believe that we need strong leadership much like Clinton's style. Yet, much like Clinton's style, this style needs to show a balance.The connections to Asian countries are absolutely vital to the United States and there is a delicate string that needs to be protected. So if the leadership is too rough it would hit the United States critically. 


Resources:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323894704578104141204920404.html
CNN

Bathrooms in China

I have been to India before and the bathrooms in China are the same way. Toilets are placed on the ground and you have to squat to do you business. I just read an article about the matter. I was personally trying to search about whether or not people who are not Chinese have to pay in order to go into a bathroom in the public. I once had a professor (Constantine Vaporis, PhD.) who mentioned that he had to pay in order to go the bathrooms in China. That's ridiculous!

Anyhow, much of the article was not that unexpected, but I did like how the article explained the logic behind it. People in China make sure that they have as little physical contact with anything in a bathroom. This may sacrifice convenience, comfort, and privacy. Unlike the United States, where all of that is taken into consideration, but it is forced that people wash their hands.

I guess from just looking at the bathroom issue alone there are stark differences between the US and China. In the US where they teach people that if you make a mess, it is important to clean it up so it doesn't hurt others. In China, they teach if you make a mess, don't let it wipe up on you, so be cautious...? Not sure if that sounds right..

First Post

Hi Everyone,

This blog is my public journal about my findings and research of East Asia. I am very fascinated in the Asian culture and I really want to master my research projects in the future. However, I am very much in a rookie state of mine of what the object of my study should consist of, so for that reason I will be doing a lot of work to look as much as I can to look deep into this topic. I hope all of you enjoy my discoveries and take as much pleasure as I do in uncovering this field as I do.

This blog will consist of various works: academic papers reviews, book reviews, commentary on Asian bloggers, and more. I am currently interested in national identity issues so I will hopeful get around to that.