South Korea

 South Korea-Human Rights Issue 

1. What was the last conflict your country was involved in?  Does it currently have any negative relations with other nations? 

The last conflict that South Korea was involved in was the Korean War.  

The North Koreans invaded in June of 1950, and within 4 months, had control of  most of South Korea.  However, as soon as war was officially declared between the two countries, the UN drafted a resolution stating that North Korea should retreat back past the border, and that the UN was forced to monitor the war and give a report to the Security Council.  Plenty of foreign aid was involved, especially from the US, who provided for a large majority of the troops.  They advanced far into North Korea, but it was eventually settled when China started getting involved.  After the war, Korea was split into two separate countries.  The North was communist, and the South was a democracy.  South Korea is making great efforts towards peaceful relations with their neighboring country, but nothing is quite established yet.  Other than that, their relations with other nations are excellent, and they are continuing to improve them further.  According to www.korea.net, “As of 2005, the Republic engaged in diplomatic relations with 186 nations and has maintained 95 embassies, 31 consulates and three special missions around the world.”

1. Outline the political situation in your country (this can be given in a timeline).  How stable is your nation?  What type of government is in charge of your country?  What is its rank on the corruption index  (look this up on transparency international)?

The political situation in South Korea is very good. The government respects its people, and is doing very well in trying to further the country’s advances and improve its relations with countries all over the world.  It has a very stable government with elections every 5 years, and has very little or no political issues.  There is a brand new president in South Korea right now, Lee Myung-bak.  He took office on February 25, 2008.  South Korea is ruled by an organized democracy, and is rated 43 on the corruption index, so it is doing very well with not being corrupted and having a good government.  

1. Be critical: is your country a hindrance to global peace?  Does your nation engage in ‘questionable’ activities?  What is your nation’s reputation globally?  Is it a pariah state or a global citizen? (You may use information derived from your interviews to address this question and the state of the world altas).

South Korea is most definitely not a hindrance to global peace.  It is actually a great example for other countries to follow in the steps towards global peace.  It does not engage in “questionable” activities, in fact, it is trying to stop its neighboring country, North Korea, from activities such as nuclear testing.  It also promotes peace talks between the two countries.  Its reputation globally is very good, as long as it isn’t mixed up with North Korea.  It is definitely a global citizen.  In fact, the new secretary general of the UN is a South Korean, Bam Ki-Moon.

 

1. What is your nation’s human rights record?  Check out how they are doing according to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch and Transparency International.

According to Human Rights watch and Amnesty International, South Korea is fully supporting basic human rights, but there are some that are not fully protected.  For example, the death penalty still remains in law.  There have been no executions in 10 years, but the fact that that cruel punishment is still legal is against human rights.  There are also North Korean refugees staying in South Korea as South Korean citizens, but their screening process takes a long time, and therefore, there are not many of them.  South Korea is taking great steps towards the protection of sex workers, but there are many more things that can be done to speed this up.  In addition, migrant workers are found to be discriminated and abused by employers, and there are measures that should be taken to put this to an end.

 

1. Would you be proud to be a member of this country? Why or why not?

I would be proud to be a citizen of South Korea, because it is a very well-developed and advanced country.  The government is an efficient democracy, and corruption is not a problem.  It maintains very good relations with most of the world, and is trying to do so with other countries as well.  In addition, its global reputation is very good, especially in countries where many Koreans live.  There are very few human rights issues, and those that are not already solved are being worked on by the government.  They have a newly elected president who plans to improve relations with China, Japan, Russia, the US, and North Korea, focus on science to improve their economy and reputation globally, as well as create hundreds of thousands of jobs for the South Koreans through the Grand Korean Waterway.  Overall, South Korea is a great example of a global citizen, and its population should be very content with the fact that they are members of such a wonderful country.

 

1. If you were a policy advisor to the leader of your country, what would you recommend to him/her to make your nation a better GLOBAL CITIZEN?

If I were a policy advisor to Lee Myung-bak, I would recommend that he make some adjustments to make South Korea a better global citizen.  These suggestions would include adjusting his methods of improving the country.  For example, he has government workers work longer hours, but in reality that doesn’t help with efficiency, and some believe he may be too overzealous about getting things done.  Change doesn’t come overnight.  Secondly, he has been known to be a little bit discriminatory towards Buddhists, as he has shown support for a group of Christians praying for the destruction of all Buddhist temples in South Korea, as well as by planning to tear down many major temples that are in the path of his Grand Korean Waterway.  It is a great idea to provide more jobs, but it could also be a threat to the environment, and there will most likely be protesting as well.  He also may be too aggressive in his requests to North Korea.  In addition, President Lee needs to put more focus on human rights issues, because that may be something that could greatly help their global reputation.  He is already doing a great job as president, but no one’s perfect, and there are always things he can improve on.

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