I think people that have lived in Korea take it for granted that people know there are two Koreas. We all know that the average American is geographically "challenged" and can't find most countries on a map.

I was reading the Chosun Ilbo online and they had an article about the Maryland state Comptroller William Donald Schaefer making this mistake. Here is what he said.

This is a former Governor and now a state Comptroller and he doesn't even know there are two Koreas!

This begs the question; are Americans this stupid in Geography? You would think Americans would learn about a country were 50,000 Americans died and over 30,000 troops are still stationed at.

I should do a man on the street interview here in Hawaii! Since the Taepo Dong was "fired" at Hawaii, I wonder how many locals here even know where Korea is? Even though there are thousands of Koreans living in Hawaii!

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Well considering that most people don't know all the words to the star spangeled banner, or the amendments to the consitution, or much else about our country, are REALLY that surprised that Americans don't know about other countries? I'm not in the slightest, although this guy should have known better given his position.

i think most of americans livning in the States do not care too much about what goes on outside the country. naturally so. there are too much happening within the States n given the americans' tendency to stick to individualism, one will not care too much if it has nothing to do with him/her. i am sure that there are a lot of people who have their loved ones stationed in korea definitely know that there are two koreas though.

Most people here very seldom leave their county. I know when I was stationed in Oklahoma going to Tulsa or Dallas was a big deal to a native Oklahoman. Most have never sceen an Ocean or real mountians. I guess some people are just home bodies but the way we are turning into a global society it is time to learn and discover.

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Just my humble opinion!

hi....
[we are turning into a global society it is time to learn and discover.]
I very envies that point.
If I was born in English area, I'll look around all over the world.
so I'll learn and discovery many things.

Not to bash my fellow Americans...because I truly bleed red, white, and blue...but...I have to share this story.

Some years ago when I was going through my technical school, there was quite a heated discussion with one of our classmates. She could not/would not believe us when we told her that Alaska was not an island. Now you are asking yourself..."huh?" Picture this, back in the days before the internet and the weather channel, IF you happened to see the guy on the evening news do the weather AND IF he showed Alaska and Hawaii, they were usually shown in broken boxes off to the left bottom side of the television screen. In fact, to this day many newspapers still do the same thing. This young lady had seen this all of her life and knowing that Hawaii was an island just off of the west coast of California, she thought that Alaska was too. Don't even get me started as to how she thought that Hawaii's climate could be so temparate while Alaska had snow and glaciers...I'm sure she thought they were still going through the ice age.

Well, after class we actually took her to the library (you know the place where people used to go and check out books) and grabbed that 2x3 foot, great big, hard cover Rand McNally World Atlas. We flipped it open to the picture of the world and showed her where both Alaska and Hawaii are located. She thought it was some kind of a set up.

I'm willing to bet that to this very day, that young lady is walking around trying to figure out how we got that new map put into the book so that we could play a terrible, practical joke. So, to all of you thinking that you could take the "long road" from Vancouver to Alaska...better make sure you take your life jacket with you...it's a long swim out to the island of Alaska!

When I told one of my best friends I was getting stationed in Korea his reply was, "That's great, you will have a great time out in the islands and out of the cold!"

Two Koreas?

There are people who are ignorant in geography. They frequently runs satires on shows like Leno where they interview these individuals. In fairness though I am sure it is edited bc the average person knows the answer.

OTH I find Koreans who plan to visit relatives in midwest. They will only be able to stay for two weeks. On their wish list they want to visit the following places; Disney World, Statue of Liberty, Niagaria Falls and return to starting point. They really have no concept of the vastness of the USA.

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Chill