From Koguryo, Dokdo, and beyond....

So I was trolling around www.Korea.net and found an interesting press release that is germane to the subject matter we’ve studied so far.

Suh Kyung-deok, who calls himself a “public relations specialist on Korea”, has undertaken a campaign to bring awareness on the same issues we’ve been discussing in class. He’s taken out ads in high-profile newspapers, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post.

In his website www.ForTheNextGeneration.com, Suh highlights:
1. The Koguryo controversy
2. Dokdo and the East Sea
3. Comfort Women

I surfed the website for a while, read the press release, and wondered, among other things, 1) What was the actual size of the ad? Was it as depicted in the press release? 2) Where were they placed in the newspapers? The front section? 2) How long did they run for? 3) How much did they cost?
I certainly understand the need to call attention on these issues. But is the typical reader of the NYT, WSJ, and Washington Post “listening”? I applaud Suh’s efforts, and I like the layout of his website. But I’m not sure what his endgame is. Is it solely to bring attention to these controversies? Or compel people to action?

Let’s suppose the latter. But if you’re an activist – a historical activist, at that – and you’re trying to motivate others to act, wouldn’t you want to give your website visitors some options/courses of action they can undertake to support the cause? That brings me to my point…..Suh doesn’t.

Alternatively, this is what he want to do:
“Suh plans to buy 500 copies of the New York Times edition with the ad on it and send it to 500 influential media organizations, governments and non-governmental organizations in order to let them know that Goguryeo indeed is part of Korean history.”

OK if I received one of these New York Times. I guess I’d be thinking, “Cool. A free New York Times.”

Am I missing something here?