letter to the editor
I am so ashamed
Phnom Penh Post, Issue 14/13, July 1 - 14, 2005
I am a Korean woman and I have been a tourist in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Lao, and Burma for the past seven weeks. I have traveled much and seen many beautiful and wonderful things, but one thing I have seen that is not beautiful and wonderful is the Ugly Korean. This makes me so ashamed!
The international school hostage crisis in Siem Reap was the result of a Korean man who was being an Ugly Korean and beat his Cambodian staffmember. The staffmember then killed a small boy because of this beating. I know that the Korean man did not kill the boy, but the Korean man started the events that ended up in his horrible death.
To all my fellow Koreans in Southeast Asia, I have been watching you and I do not like what I see. We are rough and unskilled in being with other people. We are loud and rude. We beat our local staff when we are angry. We get drunk and scream, then vomit in public. I have returned to my hotel five times and cried myself to sleep because of my shame during my travels - we appear as savages in such a kind and gentle land.
To the father and mother of Maxim Michalik, I offer my condolences. On behalf of the Korean man at Arirang Restaurant in Cambodia, I deeply and sincerely apologize. To all people of Cambodia, and other nations in Southeast Asia, please forgive Ugly Koreans.
Kim Mi Sook, Tourist
