http://bbs1.agora.media.daum.net/gaia/do/debate/read?bbsId=D115&articleId=143284
유감스럽게도 개인적으로 이 외국인의 시각에 반박할 수가 없네요.
우리의 대통령일진데, 조롱거리가 된거 아닌가 싶습니다.

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The Korean Waterway: Pure Insanity

Myung Bak Lee waters down the country



I graduated Stanford with a Bachelor’s in civil engineering and received M.S. from MIT in Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Coastal Engineering as well as a M.A. in international relations from Johns Hopkins’s. This is my third month in Korea and I’ve been intently monitoring the course of the Korean presidential election.



Myung Bak Lee, the president-to-be of the Republic of Korea, presented his plan to build a canal slashing through the inner Korean peninsula as on-e of his many conservative and business-friendly campaign pledges. Never in my 6 years of studying civil/environmental engineering have I heard this kind of ridiculous – if not, completely insane – plan. Being a bystander who has no personal interest or whatsoever in the affairs of a country on which I’ve never even set a foot before, I was intrigued by Mr. Lee’s apocalyptic plan which will be presumably recorded as – without any doubt – THE most disastrous engineering work in the human history.



My professor brought this issue up last week, and we had a partial – yes, not impartial – debate over the Korean Waterway scheme. An overwhelming majority of students held a lopsided view against it, as did my professor. Everyone vehemently attacked every fault and infeasibility of the moronic plan whose absurdity can be matched solely by that of the Iraq War.



Constructing a 500km-long canal in a peninsular country, whose area is smaller than on-e twentieth of that of the United States, is an act of unprecedented folly. The simplest logic tells us that bulldozing picturesque rivers and mountains will inflict irreparable damages upon the country’s water quality and ecosystem. Taking into account unique topography, climatic conditions and economy of South Korea, 100 out of 100 sane civil engineers would find the scheme a sheer nonsense.



Notwithstanding the pointed criticisms (notice the difference from skepticisms) of numerous experts and civilians alike, Myung Bak Lee seems determined, or rather obsessed, to propel and execute his “grand”, yet deceptive, plan.



A canal construction of this magnitude requires a meticulous planning and exhaustive professional assessments in numerous areas, let alone a favorable public opinion – all of which Lee lacks at the moment. Lee is pushing this plan forward far too hastily, startling (in my case, frightening) many, including his own supporters, who had thought the Korean waterway platform was merely provisionary, designed at last minute for the sake of winning the presidential election.

                                                                                                                                                                  

He hardly asked the balanced advice of experts other than power-hungry sycophants within his own camp. Other than the support he asked from the CEOs of Korea’s top five construction companies (who, of course, would be ecstatic over this multibillion-worth enterprise), he is miserably failing to win public backing. Embarrassed to back off at this stage, Lee is making desperate efforts to convince the entire country with bloated figures and statistics, inappropriate examples, glaring fabrications and deceitful whitewashes. Whenever faced with a vexed question, Lee demonstrates his adeptness in prevaricating and evading the point, shutting up the Koreans with ill-founded assurance that “It will work somehow.”



He never publicized full details of the project, sharply rebuffing any feedback from journalists or citizens. In fact, on top of being peremptory and dogmatic, he reacts hostile toward even the subtlest doubt on his set of policies, most of which fall into on-e (or more) of these categories: populist, impracticable, anti-peace, marginalizing, polarizing, immoral, destructive, unlawful, impetuous and myopic.



It is in fact undisputable that optimism can act as a beneficial force when getting something done. But what Lee needs to realize is that poorly grounded optimism is never more desirable than realism, which is less rosy, but nevertheless more constructive. Enlightened people oppose the canal, not because they are cowardly pessimists, but because estimated consequences are grave and to a certain extent, predictable. Canals also differ essentially from intangible laws and policies, which can be nullified in a matter of seconds. Dilapidation wrought by the waterway is undoable and if it ends in a complete fiasco, Korea will suffer from the unwanted aftermath as long as it fully recovers, if it ever does.



When it comes to deciding on such large-scale and risky undertaking as building a waterway, it is natural that citizens demand discretion and honesty. However, Lee is doing the exact opposite of what is expected of him. So far, Lee’s arrogance, overconfidence and “obsession to show off” hindered him from being receptive, straightforward and cautious. Last thing that Koreans can hope for is the entire peninsula being flooded while Korea’s economy going into a free fall, by on-e man’s deception.



To add a more personal note, I think Myung Bak is a pathetic megalomaniac who is a) openly avaricious or b) innately imbecile. Imagine how much palm oil he would get from architectural firms if he gets this shit done. If he’s not thinking about stuffing money (or sand) into his safe, I have no other way but to conclude that he is mentally handicapped. No other fool – perhaps except for Bush – would come up with such a backward plan. This idiot makes me feel like it’s the 60s.



I was flabbergasted at how this phony closet politician who committed countless fraudulence – both overtly and covertly - during his political career could get elected in a country where traditional values of integrity and the Mandate of Heaven have thrived for millennia.



The best thing he can do during his incumbency is to be silent and do nothing. Lest he earn the stigma of being titled the first impeached president in Korean political history, he might as well just give up the Korean waterway.



Hurrah for MB Lee! Hurrah for Master Bait Lee!! Hurrah for MasterBate Lee!!!