Blame the Jews! (Again)

Antisemitic Caricature of Jewish Banker
Vos iz Neias

Over at the Marmot's Hole is a report that Samsung is engaged in a struggle over control as shareholders prepare to vote on the potential merger of Samsung with Cheil Industries, a merger especially opposed by the shareholder and hedge fund corporation Elliott Associates LP, and some Koreans have made arguably antisemitic comments, as reported in "South Korea - Jewish Organizations Call On Samsung To Denounce Accusations Of Jewish Cabal Blocking Deal" (Vos iz Neias? July 14th, 2015):

According to South Korean financial publication MoneyToday, "Elliott is led by a Jew, Paul E. Singer, and ISS [an advisory firm that analyzed the merger] is an affiliate of Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI), whose key shareholders are Jewish. According to a source in the finance industry, Jews have a robust network demonstrating influence in a number of domains."

Meanwhile, Mediapen, another local publication, asserted that "Jews are known to wield enormous power on Wall Street and in global financial circles" and that it is a "well-known fact that the US government is swayed by Jewish capital."

Jewish money, it reported, "has long been known to be ruthless and merciless."

In an accompanying photo, Singer was referred to as the "greedy, ruthless head of a notorious hedge fund."

Every long-time reader of my blog knows where I stand on this issue, but just in case some commentators over at the Marmot's Hole don't know, I posted an unambiguous comment for everyone's edification:

Samsung's problems? I blame the Jews! And the cyclists!

I believe that surely clarifies my view on this significant issue . . .

Lee Won-bok's Book: No Antisemitic Passages?

Map of South Korea

A close inspection of this map gives no evidence

of widespread antisemitism in South Korea

(Image from Wikipedia)

The issue of antisemitism in Korea has again surfaced . . . but only here at Gypsy Scholar.

An anonymous Korean has recently read my post of about one year ago on a number of antisemitic remarks by Lee Won-bok and has posted mild disagreement:

Lee's book is very famous book in Korea such as Harry Potter. I am Korean and I read that book. Lee's books are large scale series. japan, german, france, england italia, holand, ..... the book about U.S.A. is only a small part of that book. and to critisie jewsh is only a very small part.

As a whole perspective Lee's book is not anti-semitism book

it is outragous to this book is regarded as antisemitism.

there is no jews and no islam in korea. unlike U.S.A. Jews has no economical political powers in Korea. unlike U.S.A. Europe Russia there is not exist wide spread antisemitism.

I replied, also mildly:

The fame of Lee's book in Korea has no logical connection to the question of whether or not it contains antisemitic statements.

The book does express some antisemitic statements, as has been documented.

As for your following remarks:

"there is no jews and no islam in korea. unlike U.S.A. Jews has no economical political powers in Korea. unlike U.S.A. Europe Russia there is not exist wide spread antisemitism."

No Jews? There are some Jews in Korea, though very few. Anyway, the absence of Jews does not stop people from being antisemitic. Japan also has few Jews but antisemitic books have sold well there. I hope that you are correct about the lack of widespread antisemitism in Korea, but I have seen some antisemitism here, and the political left in Korea tends to express it more than other sectors, in my experience, although some Christians do so as well.

No Islam in Korea? There is a small community of Korean Muslims here in Korea, and there has been since the Korean War due to the influence of the Turkish troops who were part of the UN forces. There are also the foreign workers, many of them Muslim. But what's the connection to the issue of antisemtism? The term "antisemitism" is used to refer to prejudice against Jews.

I haven't yet heard a reply, for I've only just posted my comment at that blog entry, but in case people are interested in recalling this old issue concerning Lee Won-bok or in learning about it for the first time, please visit the following blog entries:

Lee Won-bok: Far Countries and Close Countries (February 17, 2007)
Antisemitism in Korea: Follow-Up (February 18, 2007)
Antisemitism in Korea: Second Follow-Up (February 20, 2007)
Gypsy Scholar Receives a Threat... (February 27, 2007)
"Korean comic author: Jews rule U.S." (February 28, 2007))

These two posts might also have relevance:

'Foreigners' in Korea (April 4, 2007)
Dong-A Ilbo: "America: 2% Jewish, but Manipulated by Jews" (December 17, 2007)

Judge for yourself if Lee Won-bok's statements were antisemitic and if antisemitism is present or absent in South Korea.

UPDATE: Just after posting this entry, I came across two relevant online sites: Sonagi at Marmot's Hole on Rhie (Lee) Won-Bok and an AsiaNews.it article on an Islamic school in Korea.

Dong-A Ilbo: "Only 2% of Americans are Jews, but they pull the strings"

Percentages of Jews: Ivy League Undergrads

(Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia,

Dartmouth, Brown, Cornell, Pennsylvania)

(Image from Dong-A Ilbo)

Charles La Shure, of the blog Liminality, suggests the above heading to this morning's blog entry as a better English paraphrase for the Korean title of the article by Kong Jong Sik (공종식): "2% 유대인, 미국을 쥐락펴락" (Dong-A Ilbo (동아일보), Saturday, December 15, 2007).

Robert Koehler of the Marmot's Hole also has a discussion going on about this issue, but I'm proud to note that currently (as of 4:45 a.m., 12/18/2008), my post from yesterday has 23 comments to the Marmot's 18 . . . although roughly half of those 23 are my responses to the comments of others, so the Marmot is still ahead (plus, Robert's "hat tip" to me generated many of the comments here at Gypsy Scholar anyway).

But enough of this pissant contest. I have another translation query, namely, how would one translate the following statement from paragraph 11 of Kong Jong Sik's Dong-A Ilbo article?

유대계가 미국에서 이처럼 큰 영향력을 행사할 수 있는 이유는 유대계가 정치, 금융, 법조계, 학계, 언론 등 미국 사회 각 분야에 거미줄처럼 퍼져 광범위한 네트워크를 형성하고 있기 때문이다.

Google's translating engine renders it as this:

Jews in the United States can exercise such a big influence on the Jewish political reasons, finance, law, academia, the media and American society in each area network, forming a broad spread like a spider web, and because.

I'm guessing that this means something like the following:

Jews in the United States can exercise such a big influence on the Jewish political issues, finance, law, academia, and the media because in each area of American society, they form a network spreading out broadly like a spiderweb.

The reference to a 'spreading like a spiderweb' (거미줄처럼 퍼져) sounds especially unpleasant, for it would appear to portray Jews as spiders. Does that comparison sound as bad in Korean as in English? Can somebody with good Korean skills translate this passage? I think that we need to know the precise nuance here, for that would tell us a lot about Kong Jong Sik's views and thus whether or not his article fits the title and main photo (which I have speculated might have been chosen by the Dong-A Ilbo's editors).

Thanks in advance.

Dong-A Ilbo: "America: 2% Jewish, but Manipulated by Jews"

"JEW: 유대인 파워"

("JEW: Jewish Power")

(Image from Dong-A Ilbo)

After church yesterday, my family and I went out to lunch at a local Korean restaurant near Bonghwasan Subway Station, and as we sat down to our table, I happened to glimpse on a neighboring table the flag image that you see above taking up fully one-quarter of page A19 in the International (국제) section of the Dong-A Ilbo (동아일보) for Saturday, December 15, 2007. Concluding that the paper, already a day old, had been left behind by a customer, I took it and brought it home for closer inspection.

I've provided my best translation effort for the Dong-A Ilbo headline in my blog heading above, but someone better in Korean than I will probably need to retranslate it:

"2% 유대인, 미국을 쥐락펴락"

I've asked the Big Hominid, of Hairy Chasms fame, who suggests "2% Jew(ish), Puppeteering America," which he considers a bit awkward, but he adds that the headline alone strikes him as antisemitic. I had considered something like "puppeteering" for "쥐락펴락," but my wife and my daughter both said "manipulating" or "molding." I await a more exact translation.

Much the same goes for the article from which this headline and the unpleasant photo above have been borrowed, i.e., someone more proficient than I will need to take a crack at the whole article.

However, the Korean expression "유대인 파워" superimposed on the flag itself just beneath the equally superimposed majuscule "JEW" is simple to translate. It means "Jewish Power" and apparently implies that Jews are the controlling power in America.

The author of this article, Kong Jong Sik (공종식), who serves as the Dong-A Ilbo's foreign correspondent based in New York might not be the one who chose the headline and the photo, since that's usually an editorial decision, but even if the article itself is merely a report on Jewish influence, the title and photo will nudge the reader toward reading the article as saying that Jews manipulate American policy on Israel.

If the article minus the photos simply notes that Jews have influence greater than would be expected from their tiny percentage of the American population (2% or whatever) because of their remarkably high percentages in various professional fields, then the article might be unobjectionable, but combined with the prominent headline and photo, it seems to go beyond this to suggest manipulation, possibly even control, of America by Jews, and this is where we're led into the realm of conspiracy theory.

Never underestimate the power of visual cues.

But I'll leave the more exact analysis to fellow bloggers here in Korea who have the requisite Korean skills (though experimentalists can copy here and paste here for a rough translation).

I was, however, truly hoping that we'd gotten beyond Lee Won-bok's Far Countries and Close Countries (이원복, 먼나라 이웃나라)...

'Foreigners' in Korea

Ever feel like a paidhi here?

Apologies to C. J. Cherryh

(Image from Wikipedia)

Yesterday's principle quote -- "Treat them like foreigners, but with respect" -- was actually misquoting the principal, for School 34's principal, in advising teachers how to deal with North Korean students actually said something rather different, as Sonagi reports:

I emailed the writer, Samuel Songhoon Lee, asking for clarification and the original quote in Korean, if possible. Mr. Lee responded promptly. He acknowledged that the quote had caused a stir among both expats and Korean-Americans. He explained that the original article was edited for length, and thus, the quote became distorted. He has given permission for me to post the original quote on blogs:

"애들을 외국인 처럼 대하세요, 그들이 우리들과 다른점을 인정하고 존중해주면서요"

I humbly offer a translation:

"Treat the kids like foreigners. Acknowledge their differences and give them respect."

There are two pages of comments accessible at the end of the article. Mr. Lee posted two long responses on the second page of the comment thread.

The word "but" in the shortened 'quote' would better have been 'and': "Treat them like foreigners, and with respect." The principal, therefore, is guilty of nothing worse than being misquoted.

However, the misquote rang true for many expats living and working here in Korea, for we know that a lot of non-Western foreigners are treated with disrespect, and even Western foreigners sometimes encounter disrespectful treatment (though I've personally experienced very little).

I'm not singling out Korea as unique, for I've lived in Germany, where I noticed the same sort of attitude there toward foreigners. From these two cases -- Germany and Korea -- I infer that ethnically based states generally prefer individuals of their own ethnic group.

However, foreigners of the same ethnicity find themselves both included and excluded -- included for ethnicity, excluded for being different. I've seen this in Germany as well as in Korea. Those foreign Germans and foreign Koreans, respectively, who cannot speak their 'native' tongues, encounter disrespect among the natives. I recall being on a bus in Germany and overhearing a German from Russia speaking with a heavy Russian accent trying to communicate with the driver, who was having great difficulty understanding. In frustration, the Russian German exclaimed, "Ich bin Deutsch!" -- meaning, "I am German!" Some wit from the back called out, "Man hört es!" -- which translates literally as "One hears it!" But the remark was intended in irony and thus meant something like "You don't sound German at all!"

North Korean defectors who've come here to South Korea also encounter disrespect for their differences. Ostensibly, they speak the same language, but with a different accent and a somewhat different vocabulary. So, they're marked as 'different.'

Korean-Americans encounter special problems. They're criticized for not being fluent in Korean (unless they are fluent) but often rejected as teachers of English for not being native speakers of English (even if they speak English as their native language).

One Korean-American woman, Kyung Eun Davidson, who happens to be an adoptee raised by an American Jewish family, has written a letter to the JoongAng Daily (April 3, 2007) stating that she has encountered all sorts of difficulties here in Korea, including -- in her own words -- "racism." In light of the recent Lee Won-bok controversy over antisemitic cartoons in his graphic comicbook on America, I wonder if Davidson means that she has encountered antisemitic prejudices. She doesn't specify, but I'm quoting her letter here in full:

Globalizing means opening minds

I am a Korean adoptee, and have been living in Korea for two years. Among the most shocking things I have encountered during my life in Korea are the racism and discrimination that I have been subjected to here, repeatedly.

Having never experienced even one incident of racism in the United States, it was utterly bewildering and vexing to be confronted with it in my "motherland."

I recently came to a breaking point when I was told by an English language institute that, "unfortunately, they only want a native teacher." This was imparted just two days after I had been told that my resume was more than satisfactory, and that [the institute] really wanted to schedule an interview with me.

This came immediately after I had quit my job, which was in part because I have been told that Koreans regard adoptees as trash because we have no parents.

I have also been told that my biological parents had to have been both stupid and immoral, and that Americans only adopt Korean children because they get welfare [benefits] as a result.

While I cannot judge the veracity of the first assertion, the latter claim is easily refuted by logic. What country would give people money to adopt children from other countries? Financially, it would be an absurdity.

I have discovered that no matter what I do, I am always confronted with the problem that I'm not Korean enough or white enough to be accepted in this country.

I have found this paradoxical situation rather farcical since, by American standards, my minority status only serves to augment my suitability; as a Jew and a Korean, I am statistically in the top echelon of the academic world [in the United States].

American people treat me accordingly, and I have always been treated no differently from a white American.

If Korea is sincere in wanting to join the global community, its people are going to have to curb their racist attitudes and prejudiced perceptions.

The Korean people need to open their eyes and stop holding adoptees to a double standard.

Either treat us fairly, as fellow Koreans, or treat us with the esteem granted to "native," i.e. white, Americans.

The most interesting part for me is that Davidson states that she has "never experienced even one incident of racism in the United States." I found that surprising, for racism certainly exists in America, even against Asian-Americans, so I can only conclude that she has been rather fortunate.

Anyway, if Ms. Davidson happens to see this blog entry, I'd be very interested in hearing what she means by the "racism" that she has been subjected to here in Korea, for it must be an extremely complex sort of racism fraught with profound ambiguities and ambivalences.

Finally, and only tangentially related, I report that in my class Monday on British and American Culture, I made reference to "Monty Python's satires of British traditions." Blank looks. Helpfully, I added, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail?" Blank looks. So, I tried "The Life of Bryan?" Blank looks.

Stymied, frustrated, and thinking of the Foreigner Universe, I exclaimed, "I feel like I'm talking to people from a different planet!" My students all laughed, and I added, feeling my age, "Well, the past is another country."

I suppose that the past is also another universe...

"Korean comic author: Jews rule U.S."

Red Herring

"... and fish rule the heavens."

(Image from Wikipedia)

Looks like this story is going to go on and on.

From the CNN report "Korean comic author: Jews rule U.S." (February 26, 2007), Rhie Won-bok, aka Lee Won-bok (aka "Rhie-Lee Won-bok"?), seems to be digging himself an even deeper hole:

The author of a best-selling comic book series [-- i.e., Far Countries, Near Countries (먼나라 이웃나라, which CNN transliterates as Meon Nara, Yiwoot Nara) --] intended to teach children about other countries said Monday he would change a chapter on Jews that has been called anti-Semitic and similar to Nazi propaganda.

Rhie Won-bok maintained, however, that his depiction of Jewish control of American media and politics was based on fact and "commonly believed."

"The Jews are the invisible force that controls the U.S.," Rhie, a professor of visual arts at Duksung Women's University in Seoul, told The Associated Press. "I wrote the chapter to let people know that you can't understand the U.S. without knowing the Jewish community."

This calls for a Pynchonesque analysis, so let's recall "Proverb 5" from Gravity's Rainbow:

"Paranoids are not paranoids (Proverb 5) because they're paranoid, but because they keep putting themselves, f**king idiots, deliberately into paranoid situations." (Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow, Penguin, 2000, page 297)

Really, Won-bok seems to be putting himself deliberately into a paranoid situation by positioning himself in the hurricane's eye of publicity. The storm of criticism that he'll see gusting about him will likely confirm him in his views on the Jews. Since he believes that "The Jews are the invisible force that controls the U.S.," then he'll also believe that the Jews are manipulating the bad press that he's currently getting.

Really, Won-bok will begin to see conspiracies everywhere, much like the anonymous commenter -- quoted in yesterday's blog entry -- who imagined that I must be Jewish or married to a Jewish woman because of my blog entries on this issue. Only someone belonging to the Great Jewish Conspiracy would criticize antisemitism, right? Any anti-antisemite must therefore be a Semite, right? To criticize antisemitism is thus to reveal one's "true identity" -- especially if Douglas Adams gets dragged fishibly across the trail of identity like a red herring.

Hat-tip that red herring all the way to Marmot's Hole for more on the issue...

Gypsy Scholar Receives a Threat...

Leon Trotsky as Demon

White Army Propaganda Poster

Blaming Jews for Bolshevism

(Image from Wikipedia)

. . . well, sort of a threat.

As those of you who have been reading my blog lately will know, my three previous posts on antisemitism in the comic book Far Countries and Close Countries (Monnara Iunnara, 먼나라 이웃나라), written by Lee Won-bok (or Rhie Won-bok), have met with a bit of disagreement.

One recent commenter who remained anonymous has registered intense displeasure with my blog entries on this topic. Although this individual is possibly but only very doubtfully female, I'll assume the male factor in my comments below and hope to avoid charges of sexism. Also, note that a couple of anonymous individuals were posting, but the first one seemed to be posting from the political left. The latter was perhaps posting from the political right, though I'm not certain. Their respective politics don't matter except as a way of distinguishing them, but the easiest way to keep them separate is to know that I'm posting here only the second one's comments, which can be found on the post "Antisemitism in Korea: Second Follow-Up" (February 20, 2007).

At 2:44 a.m., Anonymous said:

Mr. Hodges,

What do you think about 30 million Russian, Unkranian, Balts victims whom Jewish communists mass murdered from 1917 to 1953?

A lot of prominent Jewish intellectuals admit that their people did this.

Are you Jewish? (or married to one?) Why aren't you talking about this holocaust?

At 3:50 a.m., I replied (and distinguished him from the earlier anonymous commenter):

I guess that you're a different "Anonymous."

Your personal questions about me are not relevant to this issue, but if you want to know about who I am and the things that I discuss, then read more of my blog.

I also don't want to get drawn off-topic by a discussion of other things, but I will say this. For the mass murder of Ukrainians by famine, which I've already noted, I blame Stalin's collectivization of agriculture and intentional starving of farmers who wouldn't cooperate.

Stalin wasn't Jewish.

But I don't intend to discuss Stalin and his Bolshevik policies on this thread, which is about Lee Won-bok's problematic comic book.

At 4:32 a.m., Anonymous responded with the following comment in an entry that appended a very long and off-topic newspaper article to his comment, so I deleted this comment to get rid of the article:

"Stalin wasn't a jew."

How pathetic! Can't you do any better than that?

Of course you don't want to talk about this topic because you know you're going to lose.

[A]nyway, if you're not Jewish and want to learn more, I recommend this link. Go for it if you're interested in knowing the truth.

http://tentmaker.org/wp/?p=57

We mustn't forget that some of greatest murderers of modern times were Jewish[.]

Here's the web address to the long, off-topic newspaper article:

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3342999,00.html

Anyway, at 6:36 a.m., after having deleted Anonymous's 4:32 a.m. comment, I responded as follows:

Anonymous (mis)quotes me and comments on my putative views:

------------------------------------------------------------------
"Stalin wasn't a jew."

How pathetic! Can't you do any better than that?

Of course you don't want to talk about this topic because you know you're going to lose.

[A]nyway, if you're not Jewish and want to learn more, I recommend this link. Go for it if you're interested in knowing the truth.
------------------------------------------------------------------

Anonymous, I have deleted your comment because you quoted a very long passage that is not relevant to this blog entry. If you want to post a link, then do so, but don't post quote long passages from extraneous sources.

Also, you may not be aware of this, though you should be if you read my comments above, but I don't allow personal attacks on my blog. Your comments about me constitute a personal attack. Don't make assumptions about my motives. That's called ad hominem.

Any further ad hominem from you will not be tolerated. Follow the rules or stay away.

At 6:53 a.m., Anonymous responded with the folowing post, which contained more ad hominem, so I deleted it (but post it here):

If someone asks you a question to which you have no answer or that irritates you, does that constitute a personal attack? How? That's a cheap excuse. I just asked you a simple question what you think about the other 30 million holocaust and the reason why you're silent about it?

What else could you do beside deleting my post for you've got no truth to back up your hypocritical stance?

http://tentmaker.org/wp/?p=57

Let's see if you're cowardly enough to delete this truthful link.

As noted, I deleted this 6:53 a.m. comment, but I retained Anonymous's links in my response, which I posted at 7:05 a.m.:

Anonymous, I've told you to avoid personal attacks. Calling me hypocritical and cowardly in your second comment definitely constitutes a personal attack.

I'll allow the links that you provided even though these are irrelevant to this blog entry:

http://tentmaker.org/wp/?p=57

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3342999,00.html

I've deleted the rest of your post because of its personal attack on me.

Be civil, stick to the topic (Korean antisemitism), or stay away.

At 7:20 a.m., Anonymous turned more civil and posted the following:

OK, let's talk about the Korean comic book.

Mr. Hodges, you don't believe what Prof. Lee said in his book?

I as well as many many others in this day and age of internet can easily prove to anyone interested in getting to the truth that what he said is all true. So why make a big fuss about "Korean anti-semtism"? Is stating and knowing truth antisemitic?

If you're not happy with what the professor said, just prove him wrong with facts like an academic you're. You haven't done anything of that sort s far as I read your blog.

Let me ask you. You really think Prof. Lee's view is groundless?

What do you say, Mr. Hodges?

I wait for your answer.

At 7:33 a.m., I replied:

Yes, I think Lee's views are groundless. The comic is both anti-American and antisemitic.

I don't believe that Jews control America. American Jews do play prominent roles in American society. The percentages of Jews in academia, in politics, in journalism, and in various professions exceed their percentage in the population.

But this doesn't amount to control, and it isn't conspiracy.

In a few years, percentages of Koreans in prominent positions in America will also exceed their percentage in the American population.

So will the percentages of Chinese.

I don't think that these things will result from conspiracy. Rather, these cultures -- Jewish, Korean, and Chinese -- emphasize education and hard work, and these two things are the keys to success.

This is what I think.

By the way, I should add that I'm very busy because the academic year is beginning, and I have a lot of work to do preparing my courses, so please don't be disappointed if I do not reply at length to your queries.

At 7:48 a.m., Anonymous responded:

You're living in denial, Mr. Hodges (to your peril if you're not a jew; to your benefit if you're one).

Whether you care to have a look or not, I here provide you with a mountain of factual evidences that will demolish your contention.

http://www.jewishtribalreview.org/

I bet a million that you won't be able to repute a single passage from that site, not because you're busy and all that, but because you simply can't for the truth is not on your side.

So long...

Deciding to bid Anonymous good-bye with a joke, I replied at 8:37 a.m.:

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish(y links)...

But my pun didn't strike Anonymous as humorous, and at 8:45 a.m., he posted this:

Your last post betrays your true identity to my satisfaction, Mr. Hodges.

I shall have a talk with my 지인들 in the university board and inform them of our short exchanges here.

Good luck.

By referring to his jee-een-duhl (지인들), Anonymous implies that he is Korean (which might or might not be true) and explicitly claims that he has these "acquaintances" (지인들) seated on the university board, by which he probably means Korea University. Anyway, I posted the following at 8:56 a.m.:

Sorry, Anonymous, I thought that you would appreciate the humor in my punning on your "So long." I guess not since you are now pretending to threaten me with your 지인들 at Korea University.

My "true identity"? Okay, I admit it -- I'm really Douglas Adams, and since I'm already dead, I have nothing to fear in threats from the living.

Anyway, I've already glanced at the site that you linked to, but haven't had time to read it.

Thanks for your concern...

So, I'm being threatened with the loss of my job at Korea University. I presume that this is an idle threat, but Anonymous can perhaps derive satisfaction from learning that I won't be at Korea University much longer anyway.

I would, however, be interested in seeing what would happen if my Korea University contract were not ending and if Anonymous were not bluffing but was, in fact, going to attempt to use his connections to get me fired from Korea University for making a pun.

Pun my word, wouldn't that be odd?

Antisemitism in Korea: Second Follow-Up

Views of the Holocaust

"Selection" of Hungarian Jews

Auschwitz-Birkenau Camp, May/June 1944

To the Right, Slave Labor; to the Left, Gas Chambers

(Image from Wikipedia)

A comment from Xia-Sonagi has drawn my attention to a blog entry from nearly two years ago posted by Finnish blogger and Korean expert Antti Leppäsen.

Antti's blog article, "Jo Jung-rae on holocaust and the Japanese occupation," notes some rather problematic remarks by the novelist Jo Jung-rae (or Cho Jung rae) in the introduction to Arirang, his 12-volume novel about Korea under Japanese domination:

How many Jews were killed by the Hitler government of Germany during the Second World War? According to the Jews the number was three or four million. So how many of us Koreans were massacred and killed by the Japanese during the 36 years of Japanese colonialism? Is it three million? Or four million? Or is it six million? Unfortunately that estimate has not been made public or official. My estimate is between three and four million.

. . .

The Jews were killed on for three years, but Koreans were killed during a period of more than ten times of that, 36 years. Which people suffered more? Even though we suffered horrors ten times more than the Jews, how is it possible that we still don't know many of us Koreans died?

. . .

When naked Jewish girls were dying in gas chambers, the girls of our people were getting gang raped in Southeast Asian jungles as troop following corps in a similar manner. So how have we become such ignorant masses?

. . .

[W]e have been hypnotized by the Jews who have made numerous novels, movies and TV dramas to tell about their suffering for the whole world.

. . .

Jews have maximized their suffering and while securing their self-esteem, and have used it as a power to develop their future.

I'm not certain that this rises to the level of blatant antisemitism. I'd need to know more about Jo Jung-rae's views to make a judgement. I'd also want to know about the meaning of the Korean expression that has been translated above as "hypnotized" (and Antti does supply the entire passage in both Korean and English, so perhaps someone could look into this point). Jo Jung-rae, in part, seems to be urging Koreans to follow the example of the Jews in making their suffering and victimization known to the world. What I find problematic, however, lies in the tone, which seems to diminish the Holocaust by insisting that Koreans suffered worse under Japanese colonization. Is this sort of ranking really necessary in order for Koreans to express their treatment by the Japanese under Japan's annexation of Korea?

Being ignorant of Jo Jung-rae's fuller views, I'll leave my remarks about his statements at that.

However, I do want to draw attention to what Antti describes as "a Korean nazi blog, for which the word 'anti-semitic' is not sufficient." Most of the blog entries are in Korean, but the blog -- which is perhaps titled Nagaduju (or Neophyte?) -- includes some English-language passages from antisemitic writings, so one quickly gets a sense of the blogger's views.

Not that one would need to read much, for a simple glance takes it all in -- the prominently displayed German words "Jud Süss" (more precisely, "Jud Süß," or "The Jew Süss") above the dark-green-tinted, stereotyped image of a Jewish face.

I presume that this image at Nagaduju is modeled on the Nazi film version of Jud Süß, which Wikipedia tells us was "made in 1940 by Veit Harlan under the supervision of Joseph Goebbels," but Nagaduju's use of the stereotyped image appears even more sinister than the stereotyped Jewish face on the Nazi movie poster.

I suspect that this blog Nagaduju is expressing atypical views for a Korean, but given the antisemitic passages in the comic book Far Countries and Close Countries (Monnara Iunnara, 먼나라 이웃나라) by Lee Won-bok (or Rhie Won-bok), this issue deserves fuller investigation.

Antisemitism in Korea: Follow-Up

Depicting Jews

Antisemitism in Korea?

(Image from Wikipedia)

The controversy over the antisemitic portions of Far Countries and Close Countries (Monnara Iunnara, 먼나라 이웃나라), by Lee Won-bok (or is it spelled Rhie Won-bok?) has widened enough that even my single post got linked to by a couple of blogs that get rather more attention than Gypsy Scholar: Little Green Footballs and A Distant Soil.

Little Green Footballs links to my post two times via a commenter who goes by the name "New Tommy." I don't know anything about New Tommy -- though the chosen name might suggest that he's either a recently enlisted British soldier or has a brand-new Tommy Gun -- but he has linked to my blog as well as to a number of other sites concerning the controversy, so he must be okay.

The Little Green Footballs blog entry where you can find New Tommy bears the heading "Korean Antisemitism Watch," but it's not about a timepiece worn on one's wrist. Think of "watch" in the sense of "Tornado Watch" -- as in "take heed, keep an eye out, but don't yet run for the storm cellar." I presume that everybody already knows of Little Green Footballs, but just in case one of you doesn't know, then go look around that blog, and decide what you think.

A Distant Soil links to my post directly, in a blog entry titled "When Cartoonists Use Their Powers for Evil." That's an interesting twist on a familiar phrase. From an adolescence immersed in comic books, I remember young superheroes being admonished: "Always use your powers for good!"

Appropriately, the blogger behind the blog A Distant Soil, Colleen Doran, is a comics artist who writes and illustrates a graphic-novel series titled A Distant Soil, which you can read about here. I'd never heard of it -- unsurprisingly, since the world is large, whereas I'm small -- but the preview that I looked at, along with the website complex itself, gives me the impression that the series combines fantasy, science fiction, gothic romance, and epic. Go there, look around, and decide for yourself.

Finally, thanks to the links from these two blogs, my hits shot up a bit yesterday, not so much as when National Review Online linked to my entry on Pope Benedict's Regensburg lecture, of course, but still...

Lee Won-bok: Far Countries and Close Countries

Lee Won-bok

Author of Far Countries and Close Countries

(Monnara Iunnara, 먼나라 이웃나라)

(Image from 7/22/04 Chosun Ilbo)

In a Chosun Ilbo article of three years ago, "Famous Comic Book Series Finally Reaches the United States" (July 22, 2004), Kim Tae-hoon reported on a comic book, Far Countries and Close Countries (Monnara Iunnara, 먼나라 이웃나라), written by Deoksung Women's University professor Lee Won-bok. Among other points, Kim noted the role played by anti-Americanism in Lee's book and then quoted a rather 'interesting' remark:

[C]onscious of [Korea's] growing anti-American feelings and public demand [in Korea] to take a new approach to a long-time alliance with the U.S., Lee is very careful in analyzing the U.S. in the book. "I tried to exclude my personal views of the United States as much as I could. In the case of the Iraq War, rather than focusing on the war itself, I tried to provide a big framework for American foreign policy through such things as analyzing U.S. strategy in the Middle East and the influence of Jews behind those policies."

Hmmm ... "the influence of Jews" on America's policies in the Middle East. Now, this 'interesting' remark could derive from a legitimate analysis of various influences on American foreign policies, including the role of conservative Christians, but why single out the Jews?

The answer has come from a 25-year-old expat blogging in Bucheon, Joe Mondello, who has recently been translating relevant portions of Lee's book on a site named Reading Monnara. Chapter 8, "One Must Know the Jews to Truly See America," is especially revealing. In Mondello's posts on his translation efforts, he notes a number of astonishing things that Lee states as facts:

[T]he real group that controls America through money and media pressure is the Jews. (Part 1)

Adam Smith, who was a Jew, wrote 'The Wealth of Nations' (유대인이었던 애덤 스미스의 <국부론>이 발표되었고 . . .) . (Part 3)

As Mondello points out, Adam Smith was not a Jew. The translations continue:

(Graphic shows a Jew in a yarmulke waving from behind an altar or box labeled "Bank of England" with a menorah standing on it) This was the Jews' chance to grab England's financial power, and thus had the world's finances wrapped around their fingers (이를 계기로 유대인은 영국 내의 금융권을 장악, 세상을 그들의 뜻대로 좌지우지하였어). (Part 4)

Rockefeller was the top American conglomerate (Top 3: Rockefeller, DuPont and Mellon) There is ongoing dispute about whether or not he was a Jew but the matter is not clear. But the reason he is mistaken for a Jew is that his enterprise technique was exactly the same as the Jews. His number one business rule was to destroy the competition. He used intrigue, tricks, threat, menace, and naturally he mobilized industrial spies to steal information from his competition. He used bribery, violence, and to top it all he didn't hesitate to sabotage companies. This was cold hearted industrialist who cruelly knocked down the competitors who faced him. (Part 6)

For the record, John D. Rockefeller was a Protestant Christian, specifically a member of the Northern Baptist denomination. One more translation from Mondello:

The core group of people that moves Washington power is the WASPs, but in reality the invisible power that moves them is the Jews. (Part 7)

Mondello deserves commendation for his translations of these antisemitic passages in Lee Won-bok's Far Countries and Close Countries. Indeed, Mondello's efforts have already garnered some international attention, as Robert Koehler of The Marmot's Hole has noted in his post "MBC reports on criticism of anti-Semitic comic." By the way, lest anyone be confused, Koehler transliterates Lee Won-bok's name as Rhie Won-bok (and this is not an idiosyncrasy on Koehler's part, for many Korean names can be variously transliterated):

ORIGINAL POST: Finally—a Korean news provider picks up the story. Broadcaster MBC ran a piece this morning on how Jews in the U.S. were protesting cartoonist Rhie Won-bok's anti-Semitic descriptions in his popular comic book series "Far Country, Near Country."

The Naver.com comments section (583 so far) is not pretty, of course. The more humorous comments were along the lines of, "But how did the Jews know? It's written in Korean..." Honestly, though, if I were Naver.com, I might be concerned about some of the commentary, especially the Hitler comments...

By "the commentary," Koehler is referring to the comments made at the Naver.com site by readers. Unfortunately, my Korean is far too poor for me to read the comments, but a commenter who goes by the name "Sonagi" has visited the Naver.com site and posted this report:

I read the comments that got hundreds of recommendations and noted that the most recommended one (700+ recs) called for an investigation into charges that sections of the book were prejudiced. The second most recommended post (almost 600 recs) suggested publishing a Munnara volume on the Middle East, to expose the slaughter of innocent Arabs, including children, by Israelis. The fourth most rec'd (almost 500) cited passages and asked "what's problem?" "It's all true, isn't it? The fifth and sixth most rec'd (350+) praised Hitler and expressed sorrow that his great humanitarian task of exterminating the Jews was never accomplished.

Sonagi has also posted and translated some of the headings for messages on the Naver.com boards:

"유태인은 세계의 사악한 민족" Jews are the world’s most evil race.

"포경수술한 놈들은 전부유태인이다" Circumcized bastards all Jews.

"유대인=잡종민족.." Jews are a mongrel race.

"유대인들은 인간 쓰레기들이다!!!" Jews are human trash.

"히틀러는 영웅이죠" Hitler is a hero.

"유대인 쓰레기들을 몰살하라!하일!히틀러" Exterminate Jewish trash! Heil Hitler!

"유태인 학살 유태인도 책임 있다" Jews are also responsible for the Holocaust.

"대대적인 홀로코스트를 다시 한번 해야 한다...." We need another large-scale Holocaust.

Sonagi notes that the last Naver.com board heading, calling for another Holocaust, got more than 200 recommendations.

Well, speaking as one who generally defends Korea and Koreans, I have to say that I find this very disturbing. I spoke to my wife about it over lunch on Thursday. She had recently noticed the controversy but didn't know many details. I told her of my surprise to hear that antisemitism has come to Korea, and I asked if she knew the source of this trend.

I explained that European antisemitism of the early to mid-20th century was generally right-wing and had two sources: (1) a longstanding Christian theological tradition of anti-Judaism and (2) a more recent current of nationalist anti-Jewishness rooted in 19th-century cultural and biological views. I then noted, however, that contemporary European antisemitism has found a home on the political Left (cf. pdf: Robert Purkiss and Beate Winkler, Perceptions of Antisemitism in the European Union (2002)), probably deriving from two sources: (1) an anticapitalist critique on the Left that had long identified Jews as playing a major role in the rise of modern capitalism and (2) an anti-Zionist critique that views Israel as a colonial power oppressing a native Palestinian population. The rising power of Islam in Europe has reinforced this Leftist trend, for radical Islamists have combined traditional Islamic views of Jews as despised dhimmis with the fascist, especially Nazi antisemitism of mid-twentieth century Europe, and to some extent, the hard Left and radical Islamism have become fellow travelers. Herein lies a tale too complex for the telling in this particular blog entry.

I then told my wife that because I have the impression that Protestant Christianity in Korea tends toward philosemitism (but correct me if I'm wrong), then the antisemitism found in Lee Won-bok's statements probably stems more from the Left. This would fit with much of the Leftist antisemitism that we currently find in Europe and, to a lesser extent, in the United States.

My wife listened to my remarks, reflected on the Korean context, and then replied, "I think that it comes more from the Left in Korea because the Korean Left is more anti-American and associates the Jews with America."

If I ever succeed in learning Korean, I suspect that I will have my hands full with blogging on stuff like this, but anyway, the upside to this episode of antisemitism in Korea is that at the Naver.com site that Sonagi reported on, more than 700 recommendations were posted in support of "an investigation into charges that sections of the book were prejudiced."

Those 700 were more than the recommendations for any other single heading at Naver.com, and this suggests that a large block of reasonable Koreans are among those posting responses and making recommendations.

UPDATE: Xia (i.e., Sonagi) reports: "I had one more look at Naver and have some good news and bad news. The good news is that I mistook the number of views for the number of recs. The actual number of recs for the top [antisemitic] posts are [only] in the teens not the hundreds. The bad news is that post calling for an investigation did get a few recs but was [not] in the top ten." See Comments for more details.