From: the_dojang-owner@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com To: the_dojang-digest@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com Subject: The_Dojang-Digest V8 #649 Reply-To: the_dojang@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com Errors-To: the_dojang-owner@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com Precedence: The_Dojang-Digest Sat, 24 Nov 2001 Vol 08 : Num 649 In this issue: the_dojang: Re: A Special Medal the_dojang: list archives the_dojang: Background Info the_dojang: Unification the_dojang: . ========================================================================= The_Dojang, serving the Internet since June 1994. ~1000 members strong! Copyright 1994-2001: Ray Terry and Martial Arts Resource The premier internet discussion forum devoted to the Korean Martial Arts. Replying to this message will NOT unsubscribe you. To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe the_dojang-digest" (no quotes) in the body (top line, left justified) of a "plain text" e-mail addressed to majordomo@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com. To send e-mail to this list use the_dojang@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com See the Korean Martial Arts (KMA) FAQ and the online search engine for back issues of The_Dojang at http://MartialArtsResource.com Pil Seung! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "John Franich" Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2001 10:16:19 -0900 Subject: the_dojang: Re: A Special Medal Mr. Bernat, Thank you for posting the story of Cezary Adamczyk's Fair Play medal at the Polish Championship. Your student's decision to go ahead with the match after he had won by default is inspirational. I have printed it out and will post it on the bulletin board at our dojang tonight. You have a beautifully designed web site, by the way. I was very pleased to see the photo Mr. Adamczyk in action in your Gallery section. He sounds like a fine young man who exemplifies the spirit of Taekwondo. John Franich ------------------------------ From: Ray Terry Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2001 14:24:11 PST Subject: the_dojang: list archives Just fyi... I've removed old digest issues v03.n* and v04.n* from the searchable archives. The info was mostly outdated and worthless. Volumes/years v05 thru v08 are still online and easily searchable from our website, http://martialartsresource.com. Ray Terry raymail@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com ------------------------------ From: Nyquisst Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2001 19:00:03 -0800 (PST) Subject: the_dojang: Background Info Dear DD members, I have been given the name of a gentleman whom I may eventually become a student of. However, I was wondering if there is any way that I can verify his credentials such as an on-line Kukkiwon search or if someone in the list may have heard of him (small possibility but giving it a shot anyway). My last hope is to personally go down to Kukkiwon to check it out. His name is Master Kim Yong-Jae. I was told that he is a professor of Taekwondo at a university in Daejeon (S. Korea). I was also told that he has performed many demos with his team locally & overseas and is well known within the KTA & Kukkiwon circles. This is all I have about this gentleman. I hope no one will misunderstand my intentions here. It is purely based on the intentions of learning from someone who is sincere and knowledgable. Any help from anyone would be appreciated very much. Please feel free to respond to me personally. Respectfully. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! GeoCities - quick and easy web site hosting, just $8.95/month. http://geocities.yahoo.com/ps/info1 ------------------------------ From: Ray Terry Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2001 9:24:12 PST Subject: the_dojang: Unification Challenges for Korea's Unification: A German perspective November 23, 2001 The following opinion was contributed by Ronald Meinardus to The Korea Times on Nov. 23. Dr. Ronald Meinardus is the Resident Representative of the Friedrich-Naumann Foundation in Seoul and Professor at the Graduate School of Local Autonomy of Hanyang University. * * * Looking into the political future of a nation tends to be a highly speculative endeavour. With little empirical data available to guide their predictions, Koreans have come to cherish Germany's experiences, as many see this country's unification saga as an important, if not the most important point of reference. Probably, Korea's unification will be more difficult and complex than Germany's unification in October 1990. On the other side, the Koreans have one major advantage: they may study the German developments, and avoid mistakes, which for one reason or the other have been committed in the heart of Europe. Historically, the most important dissimilarity between Korea and Germany has been the war on the peninsula in the early fifties. The Korean War has for all practical purposes also been a civil war. The scars left behind by this conflict are still open, the clash of ideologies has left little room for compromise. Notably, this confrontation has also poisoned domestic politics in the South, with supporters of a reconciliatory approach toward the North poised against followers of a tougher line. One does not have to be a prophet to predict, that the ideological quarrel will heat up once more in the run-up to next year's presidential elections. The Germans have lived in separation for decades, and were also victims of an ideological confrontation. In spite of the fierceness of the Cold War, the division between the people was at no time so harsh as has been the case (and continues to be the case) in this part of the world. There existed many channels of communication, be it by telephone, letters, the media or family visits. In quantity as well as in quality, the inter-Korean exchanges have been very different. The government in Pyeongyang tries to prevent personal exchanges as much as it can. The unwillingness to permit individuals from the estranged parts of the country to meet in person may well be termed the root cause of the new breakdown in inter-Korean relations. Pyeongyang has learned from German history, that every uncontrolled personal contact threatens the authority of its propaganda, and may therefore be called a nail in the coffin of the communist dictatorship. In economic terms, too, the conditions in Korea today are more difficult than in Germany prior to unification. While the near economic collapse in the North has been the main driving force behind the more recent diplomatic overtures of the regime in Pyeongyang, North Korea continues to be the most radical example of a communist planed economy. In the case of Eastern Germany, about one third of the economy was produced by the private and cooperative sector, which the communists left untouched. Also, the German Democratic Republic participated with considerable success in international economic exchanges, while the Juche Ideology effectively has barred North Korea from becoming a player in the global economy. One of the favoured questions Koreans ask me is: When do you think our country will be reunified? History teaches _ and Germany's more recent past is just one case in point _ that it is impossible to make safe predictions. In Germany, we used to say, unification lies far away in the future, assuming that the communist regimes to our East are stable. But then we found out, they were in fact far less sustainable than generally assumed. In a critical manner, the future on the Korean peninsula depends on the very future of developments in communist North Korea. If all goes well in the sense of a soft landing of the moribund economy, a long-term scenario is realistic. An altogether different scenario may unfold in case the North Korean economy collapses, or the regime implodes, as some strategists have predicted in the past. In that case, chances rise, there may be some sort of a German situation, in which the South will have hardly another option but to absorb the North. This, in my eyes, is a worst case-scenario, as it will confront South Korea (and also the region) with extreme challenges _ in the political, the economic, the military, but also the social-psychological field. Apart from the many differences, I would like to highlight one very important common feature: the strategies adopted by the West German governments in the years ahead of unification and the South Korean government today. Kim Dae-jung's Sunshine Policy may be called a carbon copy of Bonn's so called Ostpolitik: Both policies focused at increasing cooperation, and engaging the other side _ with the ultimate goal of keeping alive the notion of one nation. This fundamental policy, incepted in Germany in the late sixties (and personalized by Willy Brandt), has been followed _ with only minor changes _ by all German governments until unification. Although the Ostpolitik was attacked by the conservative opposition in the beginning, the same conservatives continued this strategy of engagement after they came to power in the early eighties. It is crucial for the success of Korean reconciliation and eventual unification that the process kicked off in 2000 by Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il continues beyond the term of the incumbent President in the South. There are indications that this will be the case: In meetings with foreigners, the leader of the South Korean opposition, who seems confident he will prevail, has made it clear, that he, too, will pursue a policy of engaging the North. For clearly domestic reasons, though, we should not expect much conciliatory talk from Lee Hoi-chang before election day. German unification has been _ and continues to be _ a very costly undertaking, and a major challenge for the economy. Regarding the Koreas, the longer division continues, the higher the costs of unification will eventually be. Korean reunification implies putting under one governmental roof one of the world's most dynamic economies with one of the most stagnant. Delaying this process will widen South Korea's lead, necessitating even more investment later. This should be considered by those _ and they are a majority of the South Korean population _ who deem already too much money is being given to the brothers and sisters in the North. In short, economic North-South cooperation is in the very best self- interest of South Korea, as it helps reduce the economic disparities, reducing unification costs in the future. Just like Germany in the nineties, South Korea will need a strong economy in order to sustain the expected transfers of investment to the North. The best way to strengthen the South Korean economy is to continue with the liberal reform process initiated by President Kim Dae-jung. ------------------------------ From: Ray Terry Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2001 9:34:49 PST Subject: the_dojang: . ------------------------------ End of The_Dojang-Digest V8 #649 ******************************** It's a great day for Taekwondo! Support the USTU by joining today. US Taekwondo Union, 1 Olympic Plaza, Ste 104C, Colorado Spgs, CO 80909 719-578-4632 FAX 719-578-4642 ustutkd1@aol.com http://www.ustu.org To unsubscribe from the_dojang-digest send the command: unsubscribe the_dojang-digest -or- unsubscribe the_dojang-digest your.old@address in the BODY (top line, left justified) of a "plain text" e-mail addressed to majordomo@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com. Old digest issues are available via ftp://ftp.martialartsresource.com. Copyright 1994-2001: Ray Terry and Martial Arts Resource Standard disclaimers apply. Remember 9-11!