Helpful Resources for Making it Big in Korea
I was surprised by the Korean local election results!
I figured the Grand National Party was going to sweep the Seoul mayor, Incheon mayor and Gyeonggi governor elections but they lost Incheon and seem to have just barely held Seoul. Weren't the opinion polls showing Mayor Oh with a 25% lead just a week ago over?
Instead of an endorsement of the recent policies of President Lee [previously mentioned here erroneously as "President Park"], it seems the moderates in the electorate feel very ambivalent about the government's handling of the Cheonan crisis. Even former President Noh's memory seems to have been a motivator for more than just the far left.
I would say we can expect the Cheonan topic to start fading fast from the news.
Any thoughts?
Replies to This Discussion | 이 토론에 대한 답글들
-
Permalink Reply by Steven S. Bammel on -
Oops. Sorry. President Lee....
But I'm not prepared to call the election results immature. It seems a lot of Koreans would like the government to stop letting things with the North ratchet up. I'm not saying I agree or disagree; just that I think valid viewpoints exist on both sides.
-
Permalink Reply by Blair A on -
The younger voters really got out at around 4PM from what i've read. That was the main reason for the surprise in votes.
"A symbolic message"
When their hands are tied from several directions, a symbolic message is all they can get sometimes.
-
Permalink Reply by Mike Park on -
A hind-sight commentary indicates that voters were relatively more focused on the individual (candidate) rather than party-affliation. This is a positive sign for those who want to run for public office; and takes away (although not to a meaningful degree yet) power from traditional Party leaders.
This is a noteworthy change from past elections where candidates who were lined-up with the right (winning) Party was almost automatically awarded a victory (even if they were incompetent leaders/local politicians as an individual) simply because of their jersey color.
Another way to interpret the election is to say --- for example --- that a significant amount of voters who voted for a Grand National Party (hannara-dang) mayor also had voted for a Democratic Party (minjoo-dang) District Official - crossed voted; where in the past, voters didn't care too much about the individual candidate but were only (blindly) concerned about the candidates' Party.
Yes - the results were indeed surprising (very difficult to predict)...
-
Permalink Reply by Myoungjin Joo on -
That is what I was told... Even young kids working in my company did same thing. Lot of online cooperation lead young kids to vote which made unexpected result...
Also, some of flyers made by Minjudong were very much attaching the other side at least in Bucheon area... Hope whoever voted for really read and throughly understood candidates' campaigns...
-
Permalink Reply by Don Southerton on -
Yes, I was shocked Mayor Ahn in Incheon was defeated. Much of his time and energy was devoted to attracting FDI to Korea and Incheon. Some feel the local population was less impressed with these efforts.
-
Permalink Reply by Steven S. Bammel on
-
How do you see this affecting the Songdo development and Gale International's work?
-
Permalink Reply by vince rubino on -
I have heard the new mayor will have his own pet development projects. He wants to build a tunnel from Incheon to 태안 or something like that. I'm sure there will be a shuffling of government funding for the construction industry and some of those developers who were in New Songdo City because of Ahn will be looking for a new gig.
That said, New Songdo City will march on and Gale will hopefully find a more responsive IFEZ organization to support infrastructure for their part of the project (sewer connections, roads, sidewalks, etc.) Gale is just one of many developers working on New Songdo City.
-
Permalink Reply by Steven S. Bammel on
-
A tunnel from Incheon to Taean, huh? That's nothing!
I was at breakfast meeting a couple years ago where GyeongGi Governor Moon-Soo Kim was presenting about building a tunnel from Gyeonggii to Weihai, China! The toughest part of the plan was deciding where in GyeongGi to start digging from....
-
Permalink Reply by vince rubino on
-
These guys definitely need to come up with a new plan besides pouring more concrete or building a newer widget factory to boost Korea's competitiveness and growth. While those may be important tasks (if appropriately planned and justified as part of a larger strategy), endless focus on the construction industry is a distracting from a much more critical need: Korea needs creative and inventive people to put inside the shiny new buildings.
-
Permalink Reply by Steven S. Bammel on
-
Well, I may agree with you on the infrastructure (not sure, actually) but I really don't agree with you AT ALL about Koreans being uncreative and uninventive. They are as creative as the next country... In all my years in Korea, I've never felt I was the creative guy sitting next to a bunch of close-minded people with blinders one.
Perhaps corporations could foster more creative work environments but I also see that they are working on that too and from the look of the kinds of things Koreans companies are producing, I'd say they're making progress.
-
Permalink Reply by vince rubino on
-
Of course there are creative and talented Koreans. However, there are far too many that feel they cannot put forth a suggestion or a new idea. This aversion is likely rooted to the same psychological root cause that makes them afraid to try to put their 12 years of English study to use when they meet a foreigner. Many of Korea's best minds have chosen to live and work overseas where they can be rewarded instead of punished for thinking outside the box.
For those of us with a "foreign perspective" working and managing here, we must be patient and cajole as necessary to elicit the desired responses in our organizations. The election results show that Koreans are not thrilled with business as usual and the situation is bound to improve. Korea must do a bunch of soul searching and find appropriate leadership before the bigger root problems can be solved.
-
Permalink Reply by vince rubino on
-
http://www.fnnews.com/view?ra=Sent0701m_View&corp=fnnews&ar...
The new mayor seems to be promising business as usual except for an increased focus on domestic investment.
- ‹ Previous | 이전
- 1
- 2
- Next | 다음 ›
Download the KBC Korea Business Library The Best 47 Free Korean Business Resources to Improve Your Results in Korea
(We hate spam just as much as you and guarantee to never sell or give away your email address.)
Function-Oriented Menu
Feedback, ideas, suggestions or questions about KBC? Click here to share your thoughts with KBC Creator Steven Bammel.
© 2012 Created by Steven S. Bammel.
