Barrita: Do Koreans fear anything?

FOREIGN governments, the US especially, are quick to issue travel advisories against their citizens at the first sign of a threat of terrorist acts or kidnapping anywhere in the world.

But their citizens almost always go to places where danger literally stares them in the face. The headlines tell us so.

That makes us wonder what travel advisories are really for.

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A couple of days before the April 11 clash between government troops and suspected Abu Sayyaf bandits in Sitio Ilaya, Barangay Inabanga, Bohol, the US Embassy in Manila warned its citizens of some threats in Cebu and Bohol.

The governments of Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia also followed suit.

Alas, those were not empty warnings.

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But seldom heard is a warning from the government of the Republic of Korea to its citizens from travelling to a certain place. Such warning finally came after the Bohol clash.

The warning from the Korean Consulate in Cebu urging its citizens from travelling to Bohol from April 13 to 23 was published in local newspapers only on Tuesday.

I wonder if the Koreans sipping pina coladas while enjoying the fine sand beaches in Bohol have read that travel advisory.

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Koreans are the number one tourists in Cebu and Bohol. They’re practically everywhere. A Korean friend once joked that Cebu looks like Korea.

When asked why, he Cebuanos mostly use cellphones, tablets and cars made in Korea. “Like Korea, there are many big malls,” he said. “But most of all,” he said, “Cebu looks like Korea because there are many Koreans here.”

But do Koreans fear anything? They’re everywhere in Cebu and Bohol. They feel they’re safe here than the constant threat of a thermo-nuclear war from their northern neighbor. Let’s hope the Inabanga, Bohol clash won’t change this.

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