soryang

@jbnw

I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit, and my preferred personal reaction would be one of emphasizing survival not delusion. This is how I was trained, and beyond that what I have learned from studying a lot of military materials and records. I think a reasonable reaction to be placed in war time distress or other survival situation…[Read more]

On the other hand, publishing this bs encourages delusional thinking about this war. Anyone can fabricate a fantasy but what’s the point of repeating it?

“Both the lieutenant and the soldier under his command expressed confidence that Ukraine would take back all occupied territories and defeat Russia.”

So the message is we’re in conventional war with Russia, I’m “confident” we’ll win. This isn’t Afghanistan.

Did you see the Ukrainian military band playing the Star Spangled Banner? A billion…[Read more]

I especially agree with Adam’s perspective.

@coldmountaintrail

I forgot to respond to your relevant comments.

the language is complicated, only their alphabet is simple. I think the saying goes hangul can be learned by a smart person in a morning, a dull person in a week, something like that. I’m sure you could learn it in a morning with the right teacher. I’ve found myself blocked…[Read more]

人 is the S sound. The characters are not related to Japanese characters, they are meant to represent the mouth’s positions when producing the sound. 人 is also the Chinese character (called Hanja in Korean) originally, it is pronounced “in” Korean. “Person” is 사람 (saram) in hangul. The appearance is virtually identical but coincidental, they ar…[Read more]

it has articles. The subject is understood in most cases in conversation from the context. Context also resolves the homophone problem, many meanings same dipthong (this is a big problem imo to achieving proficiency). The vocabulary is too large, new words and expressions are added almost on a daily basis. The vocabulary is estimated at one…[Read more]

Let’s continue the stupid policy that got us into this crisis and already destroyed one country and killed thousands.

I used to ride by farms in Pennsylvania when I was going to college there. That was as close as I came. I realized when I was stationed in South Korea in spring 1988, going to the countryside to verify claims against US maneuver forces in the field, that this was the first time I had ever step foot on a farm. They grew peanuts and garlic on the…[Read more]

@coldmountaintrail I think your comments about getting the hay in are insightful. I never had this experience, so i’ve been fascinated by Asian village life in general. I think I read a children’s book once city mouse v. country mouse that explained a lot to me as a suburban person raised by city dwellers.

…and personal interaction. Who is senior and who is junior in a relationship, whether one is on familiar terms and can use “ban mal” common speech without the honorific or polite endings. Some verbs change and there are honorific markers like “shi added to sentences addressing a superior. Leaving off the appropriate honorific or polite ending…[Read more]

during the dust storms that come from inner mongolia carried by the prevailing winds across China to South Korea. The South Koreans call it “fine dust” mi se mungi. This is for self protection due to the health hazards of inhaling the fine particles suspended in the air. This has been a political issue between the two states, to wit, China’s…[Read more]

Recently, one of my neighbors shot himself accidentally (allegedly) while cleaning a handgun. It was kind of a shock. I guess you have to judge the relative risks, safety, liability, and the potential for really needing one. Don’t you have to go to the gun range or somewhere “safe” to practice? I know there is a “sport” aspect to some…[Read more]

Biden barely treats South Korea as an independent nation – why would he recognize its new leader? https://t.co/G8XAfGJrSg

— Tim Shorrock (@TimothyS) June 29, 2022

Joe Biden shakes the hand of the President of South Korea as if he’s the busboy at the party.

I was going to say that one has to wonder why President Yoon of South Korea bothered to go to the NATO get together in Madrid. However, Yoon is all about photo ops, with little on substance.…[Read more]

Wearing masks during cold and flu season has been a custom in East Asia for some time. I don’t know when it started but it was years before the covid pandemic. Another factor at least on the mainland is the severe airborne pollution (at least on the mainland) which also brings out the masks. Population density is another factor.

It’s a function of venality and party ideological acceptance. The so called “national security experts” or “professionals” or whatever you want to call them, signal their patriotic virtue by advocacy of more and more extreme views of “what is to be done.” The party is the MICIMATT. People who find themselves inside the MICIMATT aren’t going to…[Read more]