Regarding the use of Chinese characters in Vietnam and Korea, Dipak Basu [in his Oct. 13 letter] is simply wrong.
The Vietnamese (largely) abandoned the traditional writing systems only through coercion from their French rulers.
In South Korea, hanja are still taught and used, and even in North Korea there is still instruction in Sino-Korean, including character use.
As a fellow academic, I would urge Basu to get off his high horse on this, as he is clearly no expert.
from the japan times online
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