Category: Uncategorized

Hero of the Korean Race?

| November 13, 2005

Something that continues to annoy me about the Korean media is their relentless pursuit of Korean heroes that some how justifies the superiority of the Korean race. The latest examples of this is the Korean-American who won the election for the mayor of Edison, New Jersey:

The son of a Korean who emigrated to the U.S. to run a dry-cleaning business for 20 years has become the mayor of the U.S. town of Edison, New Jersey.
Jun Choi on Tuesday won 50.5 percent of votes as Democrat Party candidate in the mayoral election. Choi becomes the first Korean-American to win a mayoral election on the U.S. mainland; former Representative Jay Kim is as one-time mayor of Diamond Bar, California, but he was not elected but handed a rotating appointment. Last year, a second-generation Korean-American, Harry Kim, was elected as mayor in Hawaii.

Running in a hotly contested race, Choi defeated his rival, independent candidate William Stephens, by only 270 votes, taking 12,800 out of 25,400 votes cast.

Mayor Choi’s election win was not a victory for the Korean race because he did not run for election to represent the Korean race. He is a 100% American citizen who wanted to take civic action in his howetown and ran for mayor and won. That is it, end of story. Why is this making international headlines in Korea?

The Korean media picks up and runs these stories because Korea suffers from what I call an inferiority complex. The memories of painful past history still runs deep in Korea thus creating this need to continuously show Korea as being important and developed in the world. This is why the Korean media reports every obscure poll or rankings that has anything to do with Korea. It is this same hunger that causes the media to lay claim to Korean heroes abroad no matter how remotely they are connected to Korea.

The media is not the only ones that panders to this inferiority complex. The public also shows signs of this inferiority complex by the amount of people seeking plastic surgery to look more like western women. Why can’t Korean women be proud of looking Korean?

I know I’m getting into a rant now and maybe I’m way off base but one day I wish Koreans would wake up and realize there is plenty to be proud of right here in Korea without laying claim to the next Michelle Wie abroad because she is already taken; she is an American.

China Gives South Korea the Finger

| November 13, 2005

For those interested in all things Buddhist; China is giving South Korea the finger, literally:

A relic believed to be the sacred finger of the Buddha left China for South Korea, where it will be on public display for just over one month, state media said.

The bone, said to be 2,500 years old and normally kept at the Famen Temple in the northwest Chinese city of Xi’an, will stay in South Korea until December 20, the Xinhua news agency reported.

It was previously loaned to Thailand in 1994, Taiwan in 2002 and Hong Kong in 2004, attracting massive crowds of worshippers in each location.

Millions are also expected to turn out in South Korea to see the priceless relic, according to Xinhua.

“This is an important event in the 1,600-year history of friendly relations between the two countries,” said Master Monk Sheng Hui, who is in charge of the finger’s escort while in South Korea.

“1,600 years of friendly relations?” He must of have forgot the numerous wars against China, the subservience and tribute former Korean Kings had to pay towards the Chinese, not to mention the 500,000 Chinese soldiers that charged down the Korean peninsula 55 years ago pro-longing the war and causing the division of the Korean peninsula.

Those Poor Peace Loving, Misunderstood North Koreans Are At It Again

| November 13, 2005

As the APEC summit in Pusan is about the kick off the North Koreans made sure they made their presence known by dispatching to fighter jets to cross the Northern Limit Line in the Yellow Sea:

“The South Korean radar system detected immediately that the North Korean fighter jets had flown across NLL,” a statement from the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said. “The South Korean air force mobilized six fighter jets to force them back into North Korea.”

It said the Northern planes turned back without responding.

A spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff said by telephone the South was investigating whether the incident happened during military training or for another reason. North Korea is so short of aviation fuel that its air force pilots get scarcely any operational or training hours aloft.

The North has in the past sought to grab the limelight when South Korea hosts an international event. There was a naval clash in precisely the same disputed area during the 2002 soccer World Cup that South Korea co-hosted with Japan.

“The North Koreans always like to do something to upstage the South,” said Ralph Cossa, head of the Pacific Forum CSIS think tank, by telephone.

“This is the South Koreans’ premier moment to shine so you can almost guarantee the North Koreans will be doing something,” said Cossa, speaking before the fighter incident.

I wonder if they will kill a few South Korean sailors over the course of the APEC summit while their at it?

Interview with Spy Sub Incident Survivor

| November 13, 2005

For those who don’t know yet the Marmot has moved back to his old site and I have since updated my links, but anyway he has a post that links to an interview the Oranckay got to participate in with the lone survivor of the 1996 North Korean spy sub incident:

The guy had been the submarine’s navigator, and had lived on a North Korean naval base since the age of 14. Subsequently he knew very little beyond daily life on the base, and he was unfamiliar even with what the rest of North Korea is like. For example, he didn’t know what money was. He’d never needed any. When the South’s intelligence agency was done interrogating him and it came time to give the poor guy some orientation about South Korean society, one of the questions he asked at the end was how some bills could have more value than others when they’re all the same size. Shouldn’t the paper that you can buy more soju with be bigger?

When I met him we were also in the presence of a lady, yet he frequently reached down and scratched or held his privates. He had a lot of questions for me even though I was there to interpret. Is South Korea so expensive because there are so many foreigners here? Does each star on the American flag representone of the wars it has won? What happens if you don’t have the money to pay for the subway? Do South Korean women like men who wear ties better than those who don’t?

Read the rest on your own but it is an enlightening look into the wonders of Juche.

Who In USFK Is Out of Step

| November 9, 2005

Here is a interesting picture that one of my commenters graciously pointed out to me, from the Chosun:

A metaphor for the ROK-US Alliance?

North Korean Women Not Allowed To Wear the Pants In the Family

| November 8, 2005

Kim Jong Il thinks that women shouldn’t wear the pants in the family, literally:

North Korea’s communist government is urging women in the country to wear traditional Korean clothes instead of pants, according to a North Korean monthly magazine.

”Keeping alive our dress style is a very important political issue to adhere to specific national cultural traditions at a time when the U.S. imperialists are maneuvering to spread the rotten bourgeois lifestyle inside North Korea,” the Joson Yeosung [Woman] magazine said, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.

The magazine said exotic dress dampens the revolutionary atmosphere and blurs national sentiment and asked the public to reject clothes that aren’t North Korean style. Instead, it counsels women to wear Hanbok — the brightly colored, loose-fitting dresses that are traditional in the Koreas.

Maybe Kim Jong Il will not start demanding free hanboks from South Korea as well now.

North Korea Beats South In Asian Soccer Match

| November 7, 2005

Maybe the South Koreans need to merge their soccer teams as well in the future because they just got throttled by the Juche under 23 team at the East Asian Games:

North Korea stormed into the East Asian Games football final with a 2-0 win over bitter rivals South Korea.

Captain Kim Yong-jun put North Korea ahead in the first half before Ryang Yong-gi got his fourth of the tournament on 50 minutes.

The under-23 match was played on Saturday just days after the two Koreas took a big step towards fielding a joint team at next year’s Asian Games when they set a date to thrash out the details.

North Korea, who had already put 13 past Macau and upset China 3-1, capitalised on some terrible defending to open the scoring midway through the first half.

South Korea Government To Abstain From Human Rights Vote

| November 7, 2005

The human rights amnesia for the South Korean government continues:

South Korea will likely abstain on a U.N. resolution to condemn North Korea for human rights abuses, a government official said, prompting an opposition politician to accuse Seoul of harbouring double standards.

The European Union is aiming to bring to a vote later this month at the U.N. General Assembly, a measure that will chastise North Korea for suspected rights abuses. No date has been set for the vote.

Human rights group charge North Korea with maintaining networks of prison camps, using public executions to intimidate the masses and punishing criminals’ relatives, who are held to be guilty by association.

South Korea has abstained from similar measures brought before U.N. Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.

President Roh Moo-hyun is hipocrite number one in Korea in regards to human rights in North Korea:

President Roh Moo-hyun was a human rights lawyer and the prime minister and health minister were jailed fighting for human rights under authoritarian governments a generation ago.

I love this quote here from a GNP politican opposed to President Roh’s stance:

Kim Moon-soo, a member of parliament for the main opposition Grand National Party, has criticised the Roh administration for what he sees as a failure to address North Korean human rights.

“Of course we must continue to send aid. But saying that North Koreans should only have bread and no freedom is an insult to our democracy, which we worked so hard to achieve,” Kim said.

Obviously the South Korean government is not working to achieve democracy in North Korea. They are working to achieve appeasement.

Heroes Welcome for Convicted Spy

| November 7, 2005

Convicted US spy Robert Kim has now returned to South Korea:

A Korean-American who spent about eight years in jail for illegally passing U.S. military secrets to Seoul returned to South Korea on Sunday where he was given a heroes’ welcome.

Robert Kim was greeted by scores of reporters and well-wishers upon his arrival at Inchon airport near Seoul. Supporters cheered his arrival and one held a placard that read “Our country loves you.”

Kim, a computer specialist who had worked at the U.S. naval intelligence office, is scheduled to meet with Nobel Peace Prize winner and former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung.

A U.S. court convicted Kim of illegally passing classified information on North Korean arms exports and other military matters to South Korean embassy officials in Washington.

Kim was able to leave the United States after a probation period that was part of his sentence ended in October. He was released from prison in 2004.

“I think my case happened because the Korean peninsula is divided,” he told a news conference at the airport. “I did it in the hope that I might help, even a little bit, this nation reunite.”

Some may wonder why the US is not sharing all their intelligence with South Korea. It is probably because sensitive intelligence regarding North Korea ends up being leaked to the Norks just like the intelligence this scumbag leaked.

So Robert Kim enjoy your 15 minutes of fame because it will be over before you know it.

Korean Movie Screen Quota System To Be Discussed at APEC Summit

| November 5, 2005

A topic of interest to Hollywood film makers is to be addressed at this month’s APEC Summit in Pusan:

Filmmakers are angry at what they see as undue pressure by the United States to open the market to more Hollywood films. The current issue is a law requiring that cinemas show South Korean movies 146 days a year.

The United States has made it clear that it considers the screen quota a trade barrier and one of the biggest obstacles to free trade agreements between the countries. Hollywood considers South Korea to be one of its more lucrative foreign markets. South Koreans typically have a major presence at the American Film Market, a bazaar this month in Santa Monica, where foreign buyers shop for rights.

The quota issue is expected to come up again when President George W Bush attends the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference, in Pusan from November 18-19. In a rehearsal for protests to come, filmmakers railed against the US at the Pusan International Film Festival, the largest industry event in Asia.

A South Korean lobbying group, calling itself the Coalition for Cultural Diversity in Moving Images, released a feature-length documentary (called Fatal Attraction in reference to the infamous snake incident) that in conspiratorial tones worthy of Michael Moore covered subjects including Henry Kissinger and McDonald’s in an attack on American cultural imperialism.

Filmmakers from France and Iran joined forces with the South Koreans.

I think the Korean screen quota system is probably not needed now due to the current high quality and success of the domestic movie market. I often find myself watching Korean movies because what is coming out of Hollywood now a days is so bad. The Fantastic Four was the summer blockbuster and it was absolutely horrible.

Korea’s screen quota system did not deny Hollywood access to the Korean market because all the latest Hollywood movies can be seen in Korea, they are just not in theatres as long as movies in America due to the screen quota system. This system did have impact in helping to develop the current high quality movie productions currently in Korea. So the 146 day system is probably about right for developing film industries.

However for movie goers in Iran, watching the Fantastic Four for the eighth time would probably be better then watching Mullah-tron all day on TV. The citizens of Iran are eager for contact with the outside world. That is why the Mullahs need to legitimize totally blocking Hollywood movies in Iran for cultural reasons to prevent their people from seeing them.

Then France, which prides itself in being such a culturally enlightened society; I find it interesting that they cannot produce a domestic movie better than the Fantastic Four even though they have a fully developed film industry. I look at it this way; if your country needs to completely embargo the Fantastic Four I think this says a lot more about your country than it does mine.