Friday, February 26, 2010

Korea Now and Then

I worked for this company and I enjoyed my job a lot a few years before my immigration. One old guy in there, an electrician once told me the story of Koreans back to the time that he was young worker himself. I guess he told me this story almost 12 years ago. Him being retired at the time, his story goes probably back to 50 years ago, the 60s.
He said that at the time Koreans used to work in Iran as laborers, sending money back home. Obviously it was shortly after Korean War which ended in 1953 and they were desperate. " whenever one of them died, we would burn him and disperse the ashes " He added! Now look where Korea and Iran are in the world society now. You can't even compare them. Korea is a leader in exporting vehicle and electronics. Names like Samsung, Kia and Hundai are known to everybody. They are welcomed in countries like Canada because they bring money and spend it here and they need no entry visa. Iranians have to go through a complex and lengthy process to be accepted as immigrants and many of them seek asylum as refugees. Korea is amongst the leaders in medal count in recent Winter Olympics which will be over in 2 days. Iran just sent a few people including one woman with headscarf to symbolize freedom of women in Iran. in a nutshell Korea has progressed as much in the past 30 years as Iran has gone back, in every facet of life, cultural, economical, environmental, educational, you name it.
(Photo: Yu Na Kim won Gold in women's figure skating last night in Vancouver and set a record for Olympic games as well. It's was Korea's sixth Gold of the games. Her Canadian coach is seen. The champion spends months in Canada, goes back and forth)

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