Uh oh

[MT2008]

Originally Posted by k9870

Gotta try and start an internal revolution there. Too bad they grow up brainwashed.

I'm not even sure it would matter much if they didn't. Syngman Rhee (the dictator who we kept in power through the 1950s and 60s) was almost as crazy as Kim il-Sung, and he also had populist appeal. I also know a couple of exchange students from Seoul, and they say that while most of the cosmopolitan, urbanized population is pro-democracy, the rural, less educated Koreans tend to be crazy nationalist ultra-religious zealots. Exactly the kinds of people, in other words, who tend to support dictators. Even in the 1950s and 60s, the DPRK regime had a lot of support in South Korea, and their intelligence services tried to start a Viet Cong-style rebellion during the 1970s after Rhee stepped down and his successors didn't have his appeal.

What's even more ridiculous is that in spite of how long we've protected South Korea from the North, and how much money we've given them, a majority of the South Korean population vehemently hates us. If you think Europeans are ungrateful anti-American morons, you should hear what I've heard about Koreans' attitudes towards Americans.

The impression I get is that Korean culture is just naturally crazy, authoritarian, and anti-Western. And the Koreans I've talked to pretty much agree with me.