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April 19, 2007

Anju Links for 19 April 2007

*   Cho Myong Rok, who is probably the second or third-most important North Korean official, is reported to be dying.  Cho is the one Kim Jong Il designated to visit Washington and meet with President Clinton years ago.  Doctors expect the 79-year-old vice marshal to live another month or two, as he already had one of his kidneys removed 10 years ago, and has gone through treatment for cancer in his intestines, the organization said.  Here’s a brief Global...
Categories "United" Nations/Korean Society/Kremlinology/WMD
March 14, 2007

Wiesenthal Center’s Associate Dean to Speak on Anti-Semitic Korean Comic at Seoul Grand Hyatt Tomorrow

[Update:   The AP has more.  The end result may be to show just how much anti-Semitism there really is in Korea  (see this and this, with  its updated  “traditional European” inspiration).  I will concede that before this epsode, I perceived it to be relatively rare.  I don’t think so anymore.  I also think that for now, it’s pretty shallow, and mostly a biproduct of anti-Americanism, which is not shallow.  Racism in its broader sense  is pretty much on open...
Categories Korean Society/U.S. & Korea
February 27, 2007

‘Monnara Iunnara’ Hits al-Yahoo, Page One

[Update:   Lee explains himself, badly.  The Marmot then proceeds to  tear off his head and crap down his neck.  Ouch.]   [Update 2:   The Wall of Canadians, exposed!   See how Canada controls the entertainment industry, the media, global finance …. even the Bush family!] The South Korean image machine rolls on.   This could be  a serious setback to the hard-won gains of the Tokdo Riders: Another strip shows a newspaper, magazine, TV and radio with the description:...
Categories Korean Society
February 16, 2007

The Han Breeds a New Monster: Anti-Semitism

[Update:   Little Green Footballs has a post up, and it looks like another beating for South Korea’s image, judging by the comments.  A few aren’t of much higher caliber than those on Naver, but it’s mostly a collective “WTF did Jews ever do to Koreans?“] [Update 2:   LGF readers take note.  More troops who need our support.] The Simon Wiesenthal Center’s reaction to  an anti-Semitic volume of the best-selling graphic  series “Monnara Iunnara” has hit the Chosun Ilbo. ...
Categories Korean Society
February 8, 2007

Wiesenthal Center Condemns Anti-Semitic ‘Monnara Iunnara’ Comic Book

A few initial observations before I relate the rest of this story.  First, I predict that no embassies will be burned and no riots will ensue as a result of these comics. Second is a story that I may never have told here, but will tell now.  In February of 2004, when British newspapers first reported that North Korea was killing men, women, and kids in a gas chamber at Camp 22, near Hoeryong, North  Hamgyeong Province,  I (and others)...
Categories Korean Society/Racism
February 8, 2007

Watching Porn in Pyongyang

Question:  How much can  you get for a smuggled DVD of a South Korean soap opera in Pyongyang these days? Answer:  Ten years in Camp 15. Still, in the latest of a flurry of signs that the Thought Police aren’t what they used to be, the DVD’s are wildly popular anyway (hat tip to Ampontan). “This year, North Korean authorities waged what they call ‘psychological warfare’ against ‘exotic lifestyles’ by cracking down on South Korean pop culture,” a senior government...
Categories Deprogramming/Inside NK/Korean Society
February 5, 2007

Three Questions About ‘Monnara Iunnara’

A reader wants to know (I’m paraphrasing here):  First, the series was first published in June 2004, but are there any new developments,  other than  bloggers just catching on now?  Second, Gimm-Young looks like a reputable publishing house — they carry a lot of big American titles.  Does anyone else know anything else about them?  Third, are there any recent articles documenting the popularity of the series, whether in Korea or anywhere else? Your help is greatly appreciated.  I may...
Categories Korean Society
February 5, 2007

We Are (Not) One

When I reported to Korea for my first tour there, I recall walking around Yongsan with another Army officer looking at all the Korean civilians and wondering how many were North Korean  sleeper agents.  Hey, even paranoid people have enemies.   I remember that officer saying, “I don’t claim to be able to tell North Koreans from South Koreans.”  I laughed, but that was before I actually met any people I knew to be North Koreans.  My views have since...
Categories Korean Society/Reconstruction
February 4, 2007

“Koryo Is Our Land!”

The original photo:  “Mount Paektu Is Our Land!” Photoshop Number One:  “Koryo Is  Chinese Land!” I don’t endorse the claim for an instant, but I can’t deny  some enjoyment at watching the  panicky retreat from Korean nationalists’ latest classless stunt.   Unlike the case with Tokdo, the Koreans have a great deal of their nationhood invested in Mount Paektu.  It would be unbecoming of them to  be as  cowardly in  any real dispute about  Paekdu as they’ve been furious over...
Categories China & Korea/Korean Society
February 4, 2007

Meet Lee Won-Bok, the Julius Streicher of Korea

Update 2:   Reading Monnara is translating the entire chapter;  stop by regularly  if your stomach can handle it.   Update:   I’ve just gone though Sonagi’s Flickr page  (see also), and I feel physically ill.  I don’t think I’ve seen anything  this venemous emerging from the civilized  world since the 1930’s, although if you’ve studied the history of those times, it will look more than vaguely  familiar:  the Jews control Hollywood and the media, control all of our foreign policy...
Categories Korean Society
February 3, 2007

Here Comes the Election!

Update: I’ve been expecting this, and I expect more of it: There is a fourth reason why the P.P. [the new leftist party that will officially replace Uri this month] will recover considerable support, and it’s the timeless appeal of nationalism, particularly in Korea (ht). The P.P. leaders, Comrade Chung and (especially) Kim Geun Tae, show no sign of any ethical, political, or financial restraints to stop them from setting new lows in crass appeals to those sentiments, to include...
Categories Anti-Americanism/Korean Politics/Korean Society/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military/UCMJ & SOFA
January 31, 2007

Hey! Clarify This!

South Korea expressed concern over “undiplomatic” remarks made by the top U.S. military officer here regarding possible delays in the relocation of U.S. military bases, a Foreign Ministry official said yesterday.  [link] Background here.  The Foreign Ministry would also like you to know that this is not an “official” warning; it’s really just the diplomatic equivalent of a fix-it ticket.  No fine, no court appearance.  Guess that “I support the alliance” bumper sticker paid off after all.  “The comment (made...
Categories An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/China & Korea/Korean Society/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military
January 30, 2007

Almost Right

The Joongang Ilbo (among others)  writes about discontented foreigners, but disappoints by limiting itself to the financial issues faced by a limited cross-section of foreigners:  Let’s think about what it will be like if they return to their mother countries with mistrust and hate in their hearts. It will have a boomerang effect on Korean businessmen and students who are abroad. In this globalizing world, must we cut ourselves off through this exclusive attitude?  [link] Yes, and  this recognition is...
Categories Anti-Americanism/Korean Society/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military
January 29, 2007

KCTU Update: Moderation at Last!

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), one of Korea’s two umbrella labor unions, elected Lee Seok-haeng, its former general secretary, as the new president in a vote of representatives. Lee garnered 482 votes from 919 representatives, or 52 percent.  [link] With that overwhelming mandate, expect courageous and decisive reforms. “With all my strength, I will do what should be done and won’t do what shouldn’t. I will restore our organization by studying situations on the spot, and from that...
Categories Korean Politics/Korean Society/The Fifth Column
January 16, 2007

Eum, Yang, and Korean Diplomatic Courtesy

A few days ago, Occidentalism  posted this absolutely priceless flowchart that is too telling by half about how some Koreans tend to scapegoat their way through real problems.  I suppose the temptation to pin blame on others  is human nature; that temptation  is at its greatest when a solution to the  underlying problem  seems beyond reach.  Witness  the  finger-pointing that followed last October’s nuke test (and the notable absence of constructive proposals accompanying it).  I shouldn’t miss this opportunity to...
Categories Anti-Americanism/China & Korea/Diplomacy/History/Japan & Korea/Korean Politics/Korean Society/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military
January 15, 2007

The China Veto

[Updated below]   For those who still doubt that the South Korean government would bow to another government’s sensitivities to cancel an artistic performance — witness the debate and denial over the censorship of “Yoduk Story” — I suppose we can now put those doubts to rest. On January 7, several major South Korean media published editorials that criticized the Korean government for kowtowing to the Chinese communist regime by canceling the New Tang Dynasty’s (NTDTV) New Year Spectacular in...
Categories Anti-Americanism/Censorship/China & Korea/Korean Law/Korean Society/U.S. & Korea
January 7, 2007

Gerry Bevers, Tokdo, and the Heckler’s Veto

Kind words about your thoughts mean all the more when they come from someone like Kevin Kim, a/k/a The Big Hominid. Kevin, who reads and writes in fluent French, speaks fluent Korean, and creates art and books that people pay real money for, is what people call a “renaissance man.” He’s even created photoshop icons for pretty much every k-blog but this one…. Kevin links to what he calls my “awesome … ranticle” (thanks!) on the Marmot thread about the...
Categories Censorship/Japan & Korea/Korean Society
January 6, 2007

KCTU Thugs May Have to Switch to PVC Pipe

When I testified before the House International Relations Committee last September, one of the issues I raised was a report that the South Korean government was funding “civic groups” that habitually engaged in violence (see page 18), including the protests at Camp Humphreys last year. More recently, some of the leaders of those protests, and other violent anti-American protests, have been exposed and indicted as North Korean agents. This should not have surprised anyone.
Categories An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/Democracy/Korean Law/Korean Politics/Korean Society/The Fifth Column/U.S. & Korea