As you guys already know, research is a big part of my life in ol’ Korea. I made my return this week and some news was not so great. The DNA quality of our samples were not up to snuff…
AH!
The problem here is the most common problem in research. Little errors slow down progress so much in the lab because science requires high accuracy and replicable results. This is a beautiful thing to provide quality facts but the littlest mistakes take you a couple steps. Also, this meant I had to get fresh DNA. In other words, another dissection.
That aside, it was nice to be back in lab and catch up on things. With our paper out of the way, I had time to focus on work I left over from the last semester and got it all done in the week. Looks like I can be productive after all.
Speaking of productivity, you all know how Korea’s history and current state is deeply effected by communism? Well, I’d say Korea’s nationalism can take a few steps back from democracy and there are both tangible and intangible remnants of communism in the sphere of South Korea. Hell, there are even some statues that give off “commie” vibes like this one by 광화문.
Ambiguous statues aside, I have not really been doing justice by talking about some pretty real issues in Korea for a while now. Well, if you were following world news well this year, you would have heard about Korea’s worst sea disaster in contemporary history. Sewol is still affecting both the social and political climate here in Seoul. Socially, you can actively see the mention of it do affect Koreans. And how could it not? A national tragedy like this would really rack Americans had it happened in US waters. Likewise, it would make one angry. Seoul is still definitely angry. Protestors come to make their voices heard day in, day out at 시청 (City Hall) and 창와대 (Blue House, aka the Korean President’s House). They really want 박근혜 대통령 (President Park Gyun-Hye) to take responsibility for both her poor oversight and handling of the events. For reference on how crazy things turned out politically, Prime Minister 정홍원 (Chung Hong-Won) stepped down due to pressure from his family alone. Similar to her dictator father (who has assassinated by his own director of Korean intelligence, the KCIA), she has pulled out her authoritarian guns to silence voices. I think the Economist sounded out a few thins and the WSJ tried to elaborate some context on recent event surrounding the case of Tatsuya Kato. Hopefully, the articles offer you a balanced impression to build your own. Well, I hope Korea is looking towards making progress with whatever means they can. The view can always get better.
