I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to hit at the irony here -- I actually sought out the Korean papers after reading about this disaster in the world press, to verify my suspicions that Korea would spin the tragedy from an exclusively Korean point of view, giving very minor coverage to the horrendous magnitude of the loss of life, homes and businesses in the S/SE Asia. Sure enough, I was correct. I believe the headline on the Choson Ilbo that morning exclusively concerned the number of Koreans who might have been in the area at that time. The second article was on the projected negative impact on the ROK tourist trade. The third article was on the loss of life in SE Asia. I know that overseas tourism businesses are essential for both the launching and receiving countries' economies -- but there is a total lack of decency/tact here in how boldly the ROK plays things up from an exclusively Korean angle -- do a search of the world press, and see if you see anything similar elsewhere. I haven't.
I'm with you, OahuBreeze.
The whole focus of this article is the effects of the tragedy on Korean TRAVEL AGENTS. This is a solipsistic hoot! The effect on Korean travel agents is about the same as it might be on travel agents in any country that generates tourism to Southeast Asia.
Not that I'm unsympatheetic. A friend, and my travel agent for the past eight years, Jane Chang, has prpbably seen her business affected by this. She probably had a whole lot of cancellations of tours to Bali two years ago, too, but travel agents are not where our thoughts and prayers should be directed.
I'm more concerned about the situation in Aceh, a place I called home for four years back in the 70s. It has been devastated; in places, utterly devastated.