We should thank Bill Gates for being an excellent training aid for cultural awareness training in Korea. Intelligent men learn from their mistakes and wise men learn from the mistakes of others (though I recall when this incident happened other photos of him with other national leaders with his hand in his pocket – he an equal opportunity insulter who apparently has not learned from his mistakes – or perhaps no one has told him he was making a mistake) . I will bet that Soldiers will remember the object lesson below better than other examples (of course we also might see all the windows operating systems crash after this gets out).
I am sure there are some Americans who are taken aback by this but I also will bet that this also might serve as a kind of apology for Mr. Gates' rudeness to the President and I bet there are some Koreans who might positively interpret this gesture (it sure caught the eye of the press as it is both in Yonhap news and in the Korea Times). I think this is good initiative on the part of 2ID and USFK.
V/R
Dave
Yonhapnews (web)
May 21, 2013
‘Don’t do it in Korea’ U.S. Soldiers’ cultural awareness training
‘Don’t do it in Korea.’ (Dongducheon=Yonhapnews) Reporter Lim, Byeong Sik = Staff Sgt. Hun Lee Rosenberry, Korean-American service member, explained a proper way to shake hands in Korea based on an exemplary photo between Mr. Bill Gates and President Pak, Geun Hye during the Cultural Awareness Training at the Warrior Readiness Center, Camp Hovey, located in Dongducheon City, Gyeonggi Province on May 21.
(Dongducheon=Yonhapnews) Reporter Lim, Byeong Sik = “We have to be the ‘Warrior’ not a ‘Trouble maker.’”
There was an interesting education drawing soldiers’ attention at the Warrior Readiness Center, U.S. 2nd Infantry Division, Camp Hovey, located in Dongducheon City, Gyeonggi Province on May 21.
The education was the integrated Cultural Awareness Training with an assistance of the Northern Gyeonggi Province Office.
The training was carried out by an American of Korean descent, Staff Sgt. Hun Lee Rosenberry, and two Korean Augmentation Troops to the U.S. Army (KATUSA), Pfc. Yoo, Ha Lim and Pfc. Pak, Jong Weon for more than 100 newcomers.
The instructor team was selected through the strict test and prepared the presentation after practicing it more than 100 times for the last three months.
The attendees aged in 19 to 25 years old just arrived in Korea through the Incheon Airport a week ago. They took the time to adjust themselves in Korea before being stationed to their units.
A representative of the U.S. Army said “there used to be an introduction briefing about Korea to newcomers, but after the series of incidents in March, we decided to apply more effective training.”
The education started with the Korean History and Culture. Staff Sgt. Rosenberry, Pfc. Yoo and Pfc. Pak perfectly teamed up to explain the history from the ancient part which Korea once spread out to Manchuria area to the modern one which Korea has been divided since the Korean War.
USFK Newcomers’ Cultural education (Dongducheon=Yonhapnews) Reporter Lim, Byeong Sik = Baby-face young newcomers listened to the Cultural Awareness Training at the Warrior Readiness Center, Camp Hovey, located in Dongducheon City, Gyeonggi Province on May 21.
The presentation included not only a slide showing the size of Korea territory and population but also the climate such as the yellow dust.
(Continued at the link below)
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