Masan schoolchildren want to kill President Lee.

From today's Joongang Ilbo. An excerpt:

A video clip recently posted on the Internet of elementary students writing insults against President Lee Myung-bak in the Jogye Temple guest book has sparked public ire.

Many Internet users have been shocked by the 51-second video clip, directing their anger at the person who filmed it.

It was recorded by one of the demonstrators taking part in a sit-in protest against the government’s resumption of U.S. beef imports at the central Seoul temple.

The three male and three female elementary students visited the temple from Masan, South Gyeongsang on a field trip.

The children, all ten years old, wrote several insulting words and phrases, including “I will kill you,” in reference to President Lee in the guest book.

The school, Samgye Elementary, has since issued a statement. The video's here along with a few photographs of what the students wrote. Not too different from the sentiments expressed by protestors of all ages during this summer's demonstrations, and not too different from the opinions you'll find a lot of students parroting.



Earlier this summer we saw elementary school students from Gwangju writing letters of support to cheer up the president. We also learned about teachers directing their students to make posters lampooning President Lee and his courtship of tainted American beef. A couple of years ago, in probably the most extreme example of hateful Korean students, we saw middle schoolers under the guidance of their teachers making anti-Japanese posters that were hung in some of Seoul's subway stations (photos here and here).