Midterm topic - Bombing doctors without borders hospital

A U.S. gunship designed to provide added firepower to Special Operations forces was responsible for shooting and killing 22 people at a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, on October 3, 2015. This issue became a big problem internationally, because even in war, places like hospitals are not supposed to be attacked. And US military did not give prior notification of the airstrike. There are continuing dispute over what exactly happened that night. American special operations analysts knew they were bombing a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders, the Associated Press reports.
The US chose to move forward with the airstrike because they believed a Pakistani was holding heavy weapons in storage and using the hospital as a command center, according to the AP's source who spoke on a condition of anonymity.
However, the bombing took place despite the fact that Doctors Without Borders (MSF) had provided the GPS coordinates of the trauma hospital to Coalition and Afghan military and civilian officials as recently as Tuesday, September 29, to avoid that the hospital be hit.
I was very shocked at the news.  So I looked up many articles, and I found out that there is a law called Geneva conventions.  The conventions distinguish between combatants and non-combatants and include rules protecting non-combatants.
So, in this case, the bombing can be a war crime.
War crimes under the conventions include willfully killing or torturing a protected person or targeting a protected facility such as a hospital without advance notice. The treaties were ratified by 196 countries including the United States.
Any serious violation of the law of armed conflict, such as attacking a hospital that is immune from intentional attack, is a war crime.  Hospitals are immune from attack during an armed conflict unless being used by one party to harm the other and then only after a warning that it will be attacked.
My point of view is that we need to have acute investigation about why this tragedy happened, and then demand accountability and new safeguards to ensure this type of tragedy doesn't happen ever again.
I am so sorry for this incident.

Gun Control Explained

I am very thankful for Meesol, because she researched and organized the article so well, I could understand what was going on about gun control.
Over the past 25 years, there were many mass shootings in the U.S. However, Americans' support for stricter gun control laws has been generally declining even as the number of mass shootings is on the rise. I was very surprised at this sentence, because I thought everyone was against the gun control.
I also learned about the 2nd amendment, which restricts laws about gun control. There is no consensus about this law.
I came to know about National Rifle Association, also.  Their powerful lobby on politicians, etc.
To conclude, I am very happy that I live in a country with no gun possession.

Top interpreter reveals life in translation

1.  Did your thoughts on being interpreters ever change before and after the GSIT course?  How it changed?
Answer:  I was not interested in interpreters before, but after studying in GSIT for more than a semester, I think interpreter is a fabulous job for woman.  You can get freelance job, and if you like to obtain a variety of knowledge, it is a perfect job to have for the rest of your life!

2.  Even though we are not professionals just yet, but what do you think are the challenging parts in interpreting?  At the same time, what would be 'the beauty of interpreting' to you?  (ex:  Feeling of achievement, opportunities to obtain a variety of knowledge, etc.)
Answer:  The most challenging part in interpreting for me, is retaining memory.  I listen, but I forget.  I try to take notes, but then I miss many sentences. I improved a lot from last semester, but still, I lack behind everyone. Retaining memory is something that is not solved in a short time.
The beauty of interpreting is having to obtain a variety of knowledge that I was not interested before.  I was not interested in politics, economics or aviation, etc.  But we deal with many subjects and this makes me feel achieved.

Reflections on China's World War II military extravaganza

Question 2.  If you are a citizen living in Beijing, would you feel proud of your country?  or complaining?


If I were a citizen living in Beijing, I would feel proud of my country, because it raises the reputation of my country.  However, I learned that there were many restrictions to citizens during preparation, such as no buses on the streets, the closed shops, no drama on TV excepting TV serious about the Second World War. These kind of restrictions can be unbearable to some people living in this liberal society.

Refugee crisis (my thoughts)

Monday 21, 2015

In the class, we talked about refugee crisis in groups. When I heard news about Syrian refugees, I thought we were safe from the situation, because Korea was far from Syria. But, Professor Lebow told us, we are closer to Syria than the U.S. Then Korea is not safe from refugees, either. My own thinking is that instead of taking care of refugees for each country, big organizations like UN should interfere and settle matters.  I hope world leaders should take a meeting and settle problems for poor Syrians.

http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/09/03/437132793/photo-of-dead-3-year-old-syrian-refugee-breaks-hearts-around-the-world#







This article is about a three year old Syrian boy, who died on the Turkish beach, few days ago.  A photo of this boy, found face-down on the beach shocked and haunted the world.
His name was Aylan Kurdi, from Syria, and his father, who was the only survivor from his family told about the behind news.
The family tried to move to Greek island of Kos on a boat, but the vessel capsized.
The mother, his older brother, all died, and his father said, the life jackets they were wearing were all fake...
How tragic and sad....




Question:
The problems of refugees are serious and important.
Do you have any good ideas to save them?