News from Korea:

Nice. The new President is pardoning the former presidents who not only sentenced him to life in prison but tried to assassinate him, and now he’s setting a whole bunch of other offenders - ranging from communist spies to drunk drivers - free. Weird, isn’t? Pardoning the former presidents, I think, is a slick maneuver reaching deeper than just "promoting peace" and "national healing", which is the official story coming out of the Presidential Office. Instead, I think it creates indebtedness, such that the guys who persecuted him now owe him their lives. Still, I was puzzled by all the mass amnesty until I read elsewhere that during the dynastic days, each new king would pardon all prisoners in the kingdom. Tradition lives on I guess.

It is interesting to note that while on the one hand there are all these people being given amnesty, on the other the new government is conducting a witch hunt among the former officials and cronies of the outgoing regime. Even the former President, Kim Youngsam is being questioned regarding his responsibility for the economic collapse. And it’s like: Come on! That’s ridiculous! Still, I spose the tradition is to empty the prisons of your friends so you have a place to stick your enemies.

Unemployment is up. The strategy is to can all the high paid people with seniority who sit around on their asses all day reading the newspaper. Don’t we all dream about this? I mean, nothing pisses me off more than bosses who get paid more than their soul is worth while they sit around all day self-aggrandizing. Well, in this country, where people adhere to a strict social hierarchy based on age (and other factors), and consequently still believe that once you are hired with a company you will work there until you retire, firing 40 year olds is catastrophic. See, there is no way a company can hire a middle-aged person. It would arouse too much suspicion and no one would respect someone who had not put in their time working up the ranks within that company.

To help out, the Korea Herald is now providing a service to unemployed middle-aged professionals: Job Link, a page of "job wanted" ads for the newly idle. Here’s a shining example:

CEO Senior post
Seeking a CEO or senior executive position at a foreign (first preference) or domestic co.
Qualifications: B.S. degree from Seoul National Univ.; M.S. and Ph.D. (mechanical engineering) from major U.S. university; 26 years’ extensive business experience in heavy and machinery industries in Korea (held presidential, v.p. and senior executive positions at major domestic and joint venture firms); seven years’ experience as plant superintendent; served on advisory council to the Korea Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy; Korea Society of Mechanical Engineers; received Prime Minister’s Award.

Is this for real? Can’t trust anything in the newspapers, so who knows? I left the incorrect punctuation in; all mistakes you see were printed in the newspaper. Notice that the person didn’t even name which US university he attended. Why is that? See that he also wants to work for a foreign company? Yeah, who wouldn't! I mean, who else will hire him and take him seriously? Who else is likely to stay solvent?