Two authors from opposite sides of the world presented an outside perspective of American public policy to a group of 30 Wednesday evening.

Paddy Woodworth, freelance writer from Dublin and former Spanish affairs reporter for The Irish Times, pointed out the inconsistencies in American foreign policy over the years.

In Latin America, the United States funded instruments of terror under the leadership of Fidel Castro and Vice President Dick Cheney refused to release freedom fighter Nelson Mandela in 1986 because he categorized him as a terrorist, he said.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Bush administration acted “remarkably mature” when it waited, read intelligence and then acted by forming an international coalition after the attacks of Sept. 11, he said. The United States also played a fundamental role in the development of the Belfast Agreement, which was meant to bring peace to Ireland.

“Humans have the urge to make absolute categories; it’s black or white, anti-terrorist or — terrorist,” Woodworth said.

The United States, or America, is hard to refer to in the singular, he said. There are many Americans, who often disagree, who make up the nation .

Kim Young-Ha, an author and radio show host from South Korea, focused on conflict of a different nature.

He said even though the United States played an instrumental role in establishing the South Korea that today is free from communism, the nation still struggles with what the future holds.

The mental state of South Korea can be compared to Frankenstein’s monster, Young-Ha said.

“[South Korea] loves the doctor who created him, but at the same time hates him because he knows how ugly he truly is,” Young-Ha said. “The monster is growing, but no one knows what it will become.”

Young-Ha’s view of the United States changed with age. As a child, his view of America was a combination of his mother’s view of the United States as a place for freedom of expression and a record cover picturing Louis Armstrong sent home by his father from Vietnam.

In South Korea there was a holiday in honor of the United Nations, “but we all knew United Nations meant United States,” he said. “The United States was the main character, like John Wayne,” saving South Korea from communism.

In 1979, his father was stationed at a military base near the border between North and South Korea. President Jimmy Carter was scheduled to land briefly. Many preparations were made for his 20-minute visit, including the construction of a “real, fake Western-style toilet,” Young-Ha said.

Of all of these childhood models of the United States, Young-Ha said only one stands today — not the smiling face of Louis Armstrong nor the melody of the United Nations song, but rather the fake, Western-style toilet.

When it comes to foreign policy, South Korea manages to follow the American way of life.

“[It’s like the Western-style toilet —] it’s not always easy, nor does it always fit the Korean way of life,” he said.