WHY NO ONE SPEAKS OF “OLD ASIA”

Slaying Firms Korean Resolve (Reuben Staines, Korea Times, June 23rd, 2004)

Fear hardened into angry resolve on Wednesday following the execution of interpreter Kim Sun-il by Iraqi insurgents, with experts predicting the incident will swing public opinion in favor of the planned troop dispatch to Iraq.

While many South Koreans had previously opposed the government’s plan to send 3,000 additional troops to assist the U.S.-led postwar effort in Iraq, the beheading will draw Seoul and Washington closer together, said Lee Sang-hyun, director of security studies at the Sejong Institute.

"The foremost reaction of most of the Korean public is anger”, Lee said. "People are terrified by this inhumane and barbaric act.”

He said some opponents of the Iraq war will continue their calls for President Roh Moo-hyun to scrap the troop dispatch plan but a majority want the government to stand firm.

It is sad that so many people will go to such extreme lengths to deny evil and only recognize it when innocent folks die. It is even sadder that so many refuse to recognize it even then.