[poofyleek]

This is indeed huge. I left Korea right after Park Jung-hee was assassinated by one of his officers. Predictably, this was followed by a military coup and martial law. Park Jung-hee himself seized the reign by means of his own military coup against the previous president. His daughter, Park guen-hye, is now outed by the Supreme court, peacefully. In the old south Korea I remember, the same court had ruled in favor of the military regime to condemn Kim dae-jung to death sentence. Kim dae-jung later was elected president after the democratization of south Korea. I remember the heavily armed soldiers everywhere as I was leaving the country, after the assassination. That is my last memory of Korea. I have not been back since 1979. Perhaps now it is time for me to go back and visit. Congratulations to the Korean people.

[bane]

You should definitely go back. I've been visiting Korea for 16 years, it's an amazing, dynamic country that seems to literally transform itself every few years. Even with only a couple years in between trips, I can hardly recognize it.

It's not perfect, but no place is, but I have a strong sense that it's changing for the better.

[magic_beans]

Really? All my girl friends who've been to Korea (even the Korean ones) can't stand it at all. I wonder if it's different for white American men vs minority (incl. Korean) American women.

[bane]

Yeah, absolutely. It's a fun, lively, very modern country with an astonishing amount to do, experience and see. Lots of friendly people who are eager to share their country and culture.

There's some social pressures and responsibilities for people who live there that can make it difficult if you can't get into the groove of the place, lots of Koreans will complain about them in various ways -- but they are what they are.

Admittedly, white foreigners (men and women) get treated fairly well. I've only ever had a couple of incidents where I didn't feel welcome as a foreigner. Non-white foreigners have various observations on their own treatment.

Here's some examples:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRdhJEl5FTc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KTPpgjdl4s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGxrW_PB8gI

Same question to white people

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9PscUvu_Dk

[lifthrasiir]

Some says the October "Restoration" [1] has been finally put down today. I hearily agree.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_Restoration