Actress sued for furthering Mad Bull Shit.

Actress Kim Min-sun is being sued by a beef company A-Meat (에이미트), the Korea Times tells us, for comments she made on the dangers of American beef.

A U.S. beef importer filed a 300-million-won ($250,000) compensation suit with a Seoul court against actress Kim Min-sun for allegedly misleading the public into a boycott of their product and damaging sales.

According to the Seoul Southern District Court, A-Meat, which specializes in U.S. beef, filed the suit against the actress, claiming that Kim's comments, along with ``twisted reports and comments'' made on MBC's investigative program ``PD Notebook" about the beef, have caused the company to shut down 47 franchise stores nationwide, inflicting more than 2 billion won in losses.

Amid fierce debates over the Lee Myung-bak government's resumption of U.S. beef imports, Kim posted an article on her Web site in May claiming that she'd ``rather drink up potassium cyanide than eat U.S. beef and bones tainted with bovine spongiform encephalopathy virus.'' Her comment caused a stir among consumers and is said to have led many other celebrities to speak up against the imports.

You might remember that Kim, sadly, broke her promise to drink potassium cyanide, and was photographed last year eating a hamburger at an American fast-food restaurant.



Commenter "Juicy" brought up further information here:

Browsing some of the articles linked here, her words are actually a bit more dramatic than "rather gulp poison." She said, "If I had to (choose), I'd rather dust off cyanide packet right in my mouth than eat a mad cow germ infested American beef."

Her rep is saying that the picture was taken in January before the mad cow hysteria, but Korean article is taking a rather skeptical approach to that explanation (practically calls it a 'lame excuse.').

At any rate, her vehemence is somewhat suprisingly since even if her account is true, she has survived an encounter with "mad cow germ infested American beef" without much ill effect, whereas her encounter with a cynide packet is not likely to be er... as happy.

And translated some netizen reactions to the picture:

"The American beef that you stuffed your face with in January was delicious, but now in May, it's infested with mad cow germs? What happened, did all the worse-than-cyanide mad cow germs go to the US in May for a field trip?"

. . .

"Before you speak, or write, just for once, think first! Now based on what you said, your brain's gonna be full of holes."

And for once I actually chuckled at a comment left on a Korea Times article:

This girl's so dumb she probably thinks a lawsuit is something you wear to court.

"Buy Korean beef and spend more on quality rather than quantity."

A Calfornia woman, presumably of Korean descent, has written the Korea Times, asking Koreans to buy Korean beef and continue the fight against American. While she makes a decent-enough argument, and doesn't fall back on the myth of Mad Bull Shit, I do roll my eyes at some of her lines. She closes with:

Lastly, I ask Korean journalists and writers to write more articles and books about the issues behind food ethics and politics. Both native Koreans and Korean-Americans are not sufficiently aware of the issues regarding beef production, and thus it is important that Korean writers provide materials to spread awareness.

She is putting her own advice into practice because we saw she wrote a nearly-identical letter to the Joongang Ilbo last month. A couple excerpts; from the Korea Times:

Cheap, overabundant meat generated from cheap, overabundant grain exacerbates the obesity epidemic. When people suffer from malnutrition, lower meat and dairy prices are good news, but in today's society, where overeating has become a serious problem in many developed and developing countries, they are not. What might seem to be progress that comes with the availability of lower beef prices and more foods could actually be a regression towards one of the biggest problems that Americans face today.

Unless we open our eyes and address the obesity epidemic that Americans have already inflicted on themselves, we may fall into the same trap with widespread adverse effects on public health, such as increased coronary heart disease, diabetes, cancer, stroke and so forth.

You may ask what we can do now. We all know that it will be difficult to break the existing cultural and social notion of beef in our country ― beef and Korean food culture are inseparable. I do not and cannot ask you to stop eating beef all together.

However, I ask that you choose Korean beef over cheap U.S. beef. With the U.S. beef and grains imports, we are driving out local farmers and butchers and turning to cheap crops and meat. Local farmers and butchers will play less and less of a role in providing foods, and therefore buying Korean beef will not only help our local farmers but also protect our own health.

From the Joongang Ilbo:

Cheap, overabundant meats generated from cheap overabundant grain exacerbate the obesity epidemic. When people are suffering from undernutrition, lower meat and dairy prices are good news, but today when overnutrition has become a serious problem in many developed and developing countries, they are not. What might seem to be progress with greater access to lower priced beef and more foods could actually be a regression. Unless we open our eyes and address the obesity epidemic that Americans have inflicted on themselves, we may fall into the same trap with widespread adverse effects on public health, such as increased coronary heart disease, diabetes, cancer, stroke, etc.

What can we do now? We all know that it will be difficult to break cultural and social notions on beef in our country - beef and Korean food culture are inseparable. I do not and cannot ask you to stop eating beef altogether. But I ask that you choose Korean beef over cheap U.S. beef. With U.S. beef and grains imports, we are driving local farmers and butchers out of business. Buying Korean beef will not only help our local farmers but also protect our health.

Well, I've cannibalized my own posts for articles and vice versa, but not word-for-word. Her letter in the Joongang Ilbo prompted a response from an American cattle rancher. He closes with:

It was with great concern that I and my fellow beef producers in the United States watched the great civil unrest in Korea allegedly caused by our product. We were dismayed that what we produce with such great care and pride was so viciously maligned by falsehoods, lies and propaganda for reasons that we still do not understand. Our governments failed us both.

As a farmer rancher I also feel a great kinship with all beef producers, and harbor no ill will towards Korean beef producers and wish them all success. But please understand that the product that we produce and hope to make available to you is the same that I feed my own family with pride, honor, integrity and great confidence.

Court throws out case against PD Diary, producers not accountable for protests.

Last September nearly 2,500 people filed a suit against MBC's PD Diary,

claiming that the distorted TV show caused candlelight protests and damaged the livelihoods of some citizens.

They were after a million won a piece. Yesterday the court threw out the case. From the Korea Herald:

A report aired by broadcaster MBC in April of last year suggested that those who consume U.S. beef could contract the human form of mad cow disease. Following the broadcast in a popular investigative news program "PD Notebook," tens of thousands of Koreans took to the streets to protest a Seoul-Washington agreement reopening the Korean market to U.S. beef.

In its verdict, the Seoul Southern District Court ruled that while the information in the program may not have been accurate, the producers could not be held accountable for the protests that ensued.

Lee Heon, a legal representative for the plaintiffs, said the group will appeal the ruling.

Story in Korean here, source of the above photo. In December some 1,000 Korean-Americans also joined up with lawyer Lee Heon and his group "Lawyers for Citizens," filing suit because the mass hysteria of Koreans on the streets caused them humiliation and ridicule overseas. Curious whether that suit will be thrown out, too, as the program was evidentally not responsible for the panic. I know I have yet to see a penny from the humiliation and ridicule I endured hearing about 크래이지 카우 and the nefarious plots of my government.



You stay classy KTU.

Washington Post on Koreans' changing attitudes toward American beef.

The Washington Post has a two-pager, "S Koreans Have New Regard for US Beef." An excerpt:

Low-priced U.S. beef has appeared in supermarkets here in recent days, after a decision by three major retailers to start selling it again, and the reaction has been brisk business and no political fuss. Fifty tons of U.S. beef disappeared from shelves the first day it was offered for sale.

"It is our national character to get upset easily and then to forget all about it," said Park Eun-ah, 48, a romance novelist who lives in Seoul and Paris.

Park was at the meat counter at E-Mart, a large supermarket, where he had just purchased a package of barbecue beef imported from the United States. Park noted with pleasure that it was much cheaper than beef from South Korea.

Although the hysteria over U.S. beef is gone, a bitter aftertaste remains. The JoongAng Daily, a major newspaper here, said in a recent editorial that the episode had tarnished South Korea's international image.

The protests "showed that many people in this country lack scientific commonsense and chose to believe scurrilous stories instead," the paper said. "Sensationalism and distortion snatched the ground from the feet of scientists and experts."

The article also revisits perhaps my favorite quotation from the whole of Mad Bull Shit, a quotation that also ran in the Post.

"I am afraid of American beef," Cha Yoon-min, 13, told The Washington Post in June after attending a protest with his mother, a lawyer. "I could study hard in school. I could get a good job, and then I could eat beef and just die."

And one more out-of-context excerpt:

Shin Mija, 40 was caught in the middle. She was happy to be able to buy U.S. beef again but said her two teenagers would not eat it. During the spring and summer, she said, her children had been convinced by protesters that American beef would give them mad cow disease.

Shin bought it anyhow. She said she would tell her kids it came from Australia.

Korean-Americans fixing to sue MBC.

Some 1,000 Korean-Americans are planning to put together a class-action lawsuit against MBC because the network's "PD Diary," which got Mad Bull Shit underway last April with its lies about the risk of Mad Cow Disease, opened them up to ridicule by other Americans.

The ethnic Koreans, including U.S. green card and citizenship holders as well as students, are claiming that they have been humiliated and ridiculed by other Americans over the turmoil regarding the safety of U.S. beef in Korea, which was partially triggered by the program.

News about a previous lawsuit against the network came out in August. I wonder if foreigners can sign up, because I know I endured daily ridicule and questioning about 크래지 카우. Easy for some to forget the mood of the spring and summer, when students and teachers were in a frenzy about Mad Cow Disease, were busy spreading half-truths and distortions, and were saying stuff like this to the papers:

Cha Yoon-min, 13, attended the protest with his mother, a lawyer in Seoul. "I am afraid of American beef," he said. "I could study hard in school. I could get a good job and then I could eat beef and just die."

Well, if you're a Korean-American and you sue MBC, let me assure you that I will humiliate and ridicule your opportunistic dumb ass.

I've been looking for a way to protest Canada somehow.

And the Lord smiled down on me with news that Korea will resume negotiations on Canadian beef imports.

Korea banned Canadian beef in May 2003 after a case of mad cow disease was reported in the country. Canada was previously the fourth-biggest exporter of beef to South Korea, behind the United States, Australia and New Zealand.

. . .

[Said a ministry official] "We expect Canada to accept a proposal to allow the import of bone-in beef less than 30 months old, with certain specified risk materials excluded.”

Specified risk materials, or SRMs, refer to brains, eyes, tonsils and intestine parts which run the highest risk of transmitting bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, to humans.

Canada has demanded that Korea lift all restrictions on beef imports after the World Organization for Animal Health in May last year gave Ottawa a “controlled risk” classification, which technically allows it to export all beef parts with the exception of certain SRMs.

Between this and the FTA talks between South Korea and Australia, I'll have a chance to get rid of all these surplus flags and plenty of opportunities to demand Ted Lipman and Peter Rowe OUT. I don't know anything about them, but judging by the color of their skin I'll bet they don't understand Korea's unique sentiment.

Amnesty sides with protestors.

One can only wish the Korea Times headline reflected reality. Look closely.



Amnesty has been out of touch throughout their entire quote-unquote investigation. Not surprising why:

For the report, the human rights watchdog dispatched its inspector Norma Kang Muico in July. She interviewed 56 civilians including detainees, lawmakers, journalists and human rights lawyers, all of whom were present at or directly involved in the protests.

For a quick look at the other side of the issue, the side Amnesty chose to ignore, have a look at the following video of protestors attacking cops with shovels and metal poles.



I won't speculate on any excessive police force that went on during the protests, because I'm sure there were cases of it. But, and this is just me recalling what I saw on the news and in person, the level of violence was exaggerated in order to add credence to the cause. What was downplayed, certainly by people I deal with on a daily basis down here at my union school and in the Protest Hub of Korea, was the ugly brutality displayed by some of the demonstrators, which calls into question how "excessive" any police force might have been. The video is an example, as is this photo gallery compiled by ROK Drop, whose whole US Beef category is worth a look. I know writer and commentor here Scott Burgeson posted some first-hand accounts on his page, though I can't seem to find any save for this excerpt on Gypsy Scholar. An excerpt of that excerpt:

As the police were retreating, many protesters started charging at them and actually hitting them with their fists. There was the usual media frenzy, of course, flashes everywhere and whatnot. The most hilarious part was that the protesters were actually shrieking "Violent police!" as they were hitting the police! I thought this was just absurdly ironic and nothing else until I saw that one slight young policeman had been knocked unconscious by the protesters and had to be carried to the sidewalk and laid down. He was out for a while and eventually regained consciousness (volunteer protest medics and other police were attending to him), but couldn't stand up, so after waiting about 15 minutes an ambulance finally came and took him away.

Of course, none of the usual suspects were there to document all this, like Hankyoreh, MBC or KBS. I asked several protesters why they were complaining about the violent police when they were hitting police first, and they all whined, "The police started it!" like third graders. Remember: THE POLICE WERE RETREATING when this poor young guy was KNOCKED UNCONSCIOUS!

Yeah.

In that case, they ought to be pissed at the girl scouts, too.

Remember Mad Bull Shit? Yeah, me neither. *cough* It's a shame how the media manipulated the poor, helpless people like that, who had no choice but to go along. *cough* *cough* Too bad there was nobody out there, no scientists or international journalists or anything, presenting the other side of the story. The citizenry---the ones who kept their mouths shut for three months---is certainly entitled to money for the embarrassment caused their reputation as Koreans by the actions of rabble-rousers. *cough* *cough* *cough* I just wonder if white people are allowed to join up, too, because we took the worst of it.

Anyway, the "stroller moms" are in the news again, as they are being investigated for participating in illegal protests. I have no idea about that, about whether they violated the restrictions of the protest permit, and about whether the government should be cracking down on demonstrators in a democracy. But I do know those dumbasses ought to be investigating for being unfit parents who put their kids in harm's way in order to grab headlines and further their dumb-ass cause.




People are of course unhappy about these investigations, claiming the police were overstepping their bounds by visiting the mothers at home without warning. I feel the same way about missionaries, neighbors, and the laundry guy.

`"Police should have sent a written request for summons to them if they needed to question the mothers. Demanding a summons by visiting the house without prior notice is an abuse of authority, and saying that they would arrest her is a threat," the coalition said in a statement.

When was the last time you were given prior notice about anything here, let alone a visit by the cops? There's more:

A blogger ``bigman'' said on Daum, ``No one was hurt by the strollers. The mothers did not organize a coup d'etat with the babies.'' Another Internet user ``eureca'' said the government should understand the mothers who did not have other ways to express their opinion but taking their babies to the protest scene.

Back in June an internet user wrote of the mothers:

I’m in tears. I’m touched by the desperateness of the mother who stood in front of the water canon cars with her dear child.

Protesting beef because they believed it could harm their children . . . by taking their infants to political demonstrations where their children could be harmed. Does not compute. Today's KT piece continues:

The main opposition Democratic Party also denounced police, saying they are investigating mothers who worry about the children's health, in the name of establishing order. ``After oppressing the people and religion, the police are now trying to suppress moms,'' it said in a statement.

That's one way to handle protestors.

A man stabbed three people outside Jogyesa temple in Seoul early this morning because they were demonstrating about the dangers of American beef. An excerpt from the KT:

The assailant, identified only by his family name Park, argued that U.S. beef is safe for consumption before assaulting the men just outside the Jogye Temple, headquarters of the country's largest Buddhist sect.

The victims are members of the Anti-Lee Myung-bak Cafe, an online community supporting organizers of the anti-U.S. beef protests who have been taking refuge since July in the Buddhist temple to evade arrest.

"A man approached arguing that Korean beef is more dangerous than U.S. beef, and then appeared to leave before coming back with a knife," a witness was quoted as saying.

Police said the suspect runs a restaurant near the temple and plan to seek an arrest warrant for Park on charges of attempted murder.

It's titled "Drunken Man Attacks 3 After Argument Over US Beef," and it's apparently noteworthy that he was drunk since alcohol is the cause of, and excuse for, so many incidents here.

I guess American beef wasn't so bad after all.

Hell, if Michael Phelps ate it:



That's from a Chosun Ilbo cartoon last week, and the Joongang Ilbo tells us that American beef is numer 2 in Korea behind Australian.

Now that the ban on imports has been lifted, U.S. beef is rushing into the Korean market. After imports from Australia, it now ranks second among imported beef by shipment volume and volume to pass quarantine inspection.

. . .

To restaurants, the advantage of U.S. beef is its low price. According to the industry, 100 grams of premium Korean-bred hanwoo beef sells for between 6,000 won ($5.73) and 7,000 won at a butcher shop. The same amount of Australian beef sells for between 3,000 won and 4,000 won. E-net Corp., a U.S. beef importer, sells its product for around 1,000 won.

Back to the cartoon, that same weird depiction of Phelps showed up the day before, next to Korea's champion weightlifter Jang Mi-ran.



Hey, anything to take the sting off.



Then again, I guess he does kinda look like that, but still. I watched a surprising amount of events back home, but hadn't yet tuned into the Korean coverage until tonight. Do they really have the same coverage on all the networks? I don't get how or why that works. Man, everyone was right about them showing highlights of Korean matches rather than events featuring other countries, and they really lay it on thick. Anyone else find it hard to root for Team (South) Korea? And then feel kinda bad getting as worked up about Korean nationalism as the Korean nationalists you're annoyed with? Yeah. I think I stick up for Korea more when I'm at home than I do here, and remember the US more fondly when I'm half a world away from it.

Something else that caught my eye was a thing SBS had on called "1분 차이나," with short little vignetes on Chinese culture. I like how they included---among representative Chinese sites like the Temple of Heaven, the Terracotta Warriors, and the Water Cube----Zhang Ziyi from The Road Home.



As they should have, mind you, because she's hot. At first I figured she was just thrown in there either for no reason or because she's a generic smiling pig-tailed Chinese girl in that shot, but after watching the first "episode" maybe they threw her in as a nod to Chinese cinema and to Zhang Yimou. Well, SBS ought to be thankful it's doing anything at all in Beijing after the stunt they pulled, leaking footage of the Opening Ceremony a few days early.

Maybe I should join up, too.

The Korea Times tells us that some Korean-Americans will join a lawsuit against "PD Diary," the program that helped turn the fear of Mad Cow Disease from imported American beef---known as "Mad Bull Shit" on this blog---into a national pastime. The reason they're getting involved?

The ethnic Koreans are claiming they have been humiliated and ridiculed by other Americans over the turmoil regarding the safety of U.S. beef in Korea, which was partially triggered by the program.

LOL, that's a ridiculous reason to get involved, and I wish these, um, concerned Korean-Americans had spoken up earlier. After all, Americans weren't humiliating and ridiculing Koreans-Americans . . . at all . . . but if I'm obligated to complete that thought than I should say that Americans weren't humilating and ridiculing Korean-Americans because of "PD Diary," they were humiliating and ridiculing Korean-Americans because thousands upon thousands of Koreans were taking to the streets in protest of American beef based on absolutely irrational fears of Mad Cow Disease. I feel confident in saying that most Americans have no idea what "PD Diary" is, or what role it played in instigating Mad Bull Shit, especially since the program barely registered in the media back home even after CNN first reported on it last month. Say what you will about the other issues that involved themselves in later protests, but we musn't forget that countless students, teachers, and citizens were saying things like:

Cha Yoon-min, 13, attended the protest with his mother, a lawyer in Seoul. "I am afraid of American beef," he said. "I could study hard in school. I could get a good job and then I could eat beef and just die."

Have a look through the earlier entries in the "Mad Bull Shit" category if you need a refresher course in what, I'm sure, many around here will begin to deny happened at all. But, on the topic of this KT article at hand, I was repeatedly questioned and harangued by panic-strickened Koreans who believed everything they heard on that program, so I guess that means I have a stake in this, too. Hell, I was ostracized at work and nearly lost my job disputing what the program said, and colleagues in Jeollanam-do still believe the program is true because of an unwavering distrust in the quote-unquote conservative papers that reported on the show's distortions. So I wonder how much money I can get from this.

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).

CNN reports on PD Diary and their Mad Bull Shit.

Thanks to Zen Kimchi for bringing this to our attention. Here's a three-minute video report by CNN.com on the topic of MBC's "PD Diary," the infotainment program largely responsible for instigating Mad Bull Shit and nationwide hysteria in late-April. The conservative papers and local expatriate bloggers were quick to take this program to task, and it has since been reported in the Journal of Self-Evident Results that this program lied left and right. When asked for comment, Jeollanam-do said "NANANANANANANA I CAN'T HEAR YOU."

"Burger King apologizes to Dong-A Ilbo."

This article is a little vague and I'm not sure what exactly they're apologizing for. It looks like it was the Dong-A Ilbo reporter who passed along misinformation, suggesting that McDonald's and Burger King restaurants in Korea would use beef over 30 months, although it's not clear on that point. An excerpt from today's article:

The apology was made with regard to a June 21 column entitled “Science and Reason,” written by senior editorial writer Hwang Ho-taek.

Hwang said in the column, “Surrendering to the nationwide candlelight vigil protests, the government announced not to import beef from cattle older than 30 months through an additional negotiation with the United States. But beef from cattle older than 30 months, whose specified risk materials are removed, can be used in hamburgers served in McDonald’s and Burger King. If the candlelight vigil rallies succeeded in preventing “hamburger beef,” which is Americans’ dietary food, from entering the nation, those who held candles in protests would probably feel disheartened.”

Hwang based his writing on what were reported in the American news media. A Wall Street Journal article dated June 6 said, “(Korean) protesters and politicians from opposition parties request a renegotiation that will ban trade of beef from cattle older than 30 months. However, some 20 percent of beef used for hamburgers in the United States is from cattle over 30 months old.” USA Today said in an editorial piece dated June 12, “Americans who eat hamburgers couldn’t understand why tens of thousands of Koreans are staging protests against U.S. beef.”

Interesting to speculate whether American chains will begin using American beef. As it stands now, though, McDonald's has stickers on every table advertising their use of Australian and New Zealand beef. Burger King, too, like the other big restaurant chains, advertises where its beef comes from.

Actress Kim Min-seon breaks her promise.

Thanks to Troll_Bait for bringing this to our attention (here, too). Apparently actress Kim Min-seon was caught eating beef at an American fast food restaurant. You'll recall she wrote "I would gulp poison rather than eat U.S. beef" on her hompy last month. Or, maybe you won't recall it, since nobody seems to know who she is. I was going to write "She's the answer to the trivia question 'First Jeong Da-bin, then who?'" but that'd be in bad taste. Anyway, I got 5,000 won that says the next scandal with her will be that her foreign boyfriend put her up to it.

Gwangju elementary school students offer their support to President Lee.

A class of elementary school students in Gwangju wrote letters to President Lee Myung-bak offering their encouragement during this difficult time. 데일리안 has the story and the letter's text here, in Korean, and a second article dealing with it and the Candlegirls cafe here. In the letter it says "원어민 선생님께서도 FTA는 한국에 도움을 준다고 말씀하셨고," which is what why the article showed up when I was searching for something else.

Whoa really famous American "D.M.C." speaks on Mad Cow, provides comfort, validation to millions.

Looks like NoCutNews was pretty liberal with their translation of rapper DMC's comments on Mad Cow Disease. According to the Metropolitician, posting on The Marmot's Hole, the band members were badgered with questions on American beef, and DMC replied with "Well, I guess no one wants mad cow” and “Gotta protect the people, safety first.” NoCutNews ran with that and put up a story under the headline translated by the Metropolitician as "DMC says ‘In the importation of American beef…the safety of the people is most important" (디엠씨 "미국산 쇠고기 수입 … 자국민 안전이 가장 중요). Not as grievous a manipulation of an ultra-sensitive issue as when a Japanese man's run was labelled a "Repentance Marathon" a few years back. I think that's my favorite one.

In other news, I can't say I agree with the Korea Times' headline "Obama Has Bad Impression of Korea." Something along the lines of "you have a bad impression" is one of those phrases usually thrown in a sentence that borders "you must understand our situation," and is a bit too dismissive and subjective for my taste. To my ears, or eyes rather, "bad impression" seems pretty condescending and implies that his views, somehow, must be corrected, or that will be corrected if he only quote-unquote learned about Korea, as if he as a American doesn't understand what is best for his country politically and economically, and isn't imbibed with authority to speak on certain issues.

Continuing today's theme of "shoddy journalism," the Chosun Ilbo reported yesterday that according to the Center for Disease Control Aretha Vinson did not die of vCJD, as reported on "PD Diary." Ooops. So was "PD Diary" actually right on anything? That paper also says advertisers there and in other conservative papers have become targets of "telephone terror" that is causing severe damage to their businesses. An excerpt:

Travel agencies are not the only victims. Health food, clothing and teaching materials companies that market their products mostly through newspaper ads also suffer. One footwear maker who used to get about 400 orders a day by advertising in newspapers is now only getting malicious calls.

A health food company staffer said, "Our company will go out of business if we fail to put ads on newspapers with large circulation, because we depend largely on orders for sale. If this situation continues, we'll have to close down." A 29-year-old female staffer in the public relations office of a mid-level construction company said, "They put even the telephone numbers of our company's planning office, general affairs department, personnel department and other departments on the Internet to paralyze the operation of the entire company."

Despite a number of huge setbacks I'm still chugging forward with my own little situation, and I hope to get some resolution soon. Unfortunately, as was told to me today, the authorities have their hands full with cases of cyber crime and they might not have to get to mine. *cough* Yeah, that answer didn't really fly with me either, so we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Required reading, and I never use that term lightly.

Y'all need to make some time and read GI Korea's post "GI Myths: The 2002 Armored Vehicle Accident." He recaps in great detail the events surrounding the deaths of two middle school girls six years ago, and the intense, intense outpouring of anti-Americanism across the entire nation. The article, in our own time of nationwide anti-beef protests and rampant yellow journalism, provides an important reminder of how hateful and how ugly our friends and neighbors can be at the slightest provocation, and is something to keep in mind the next time you hear about Korea's desire to embrace foreigners or its love affair with English. It's exactly why I don't feel at all comfortable around large numbers of angry Koreans, such as we find at the beef protests going on today. Then, after you've read GI Korea's report, go over and read the Metropolitician's take, as well as the vast compilation of material on USinKorea.org's page on the incident and on other anti-American orgies of hate, to appropriate his term.


One of many massive anti-American rallies, this one 50,000-strong.


Here are a couple of excerpts from GI Korea's post, though you really ought to go and read them in context:

Simply telling the truth about what happened on that road side that fateful June morning along Highway 56 would not be enough to cause the general public to join the anti-US groups’ cause to expel USFK from Korea. Instead of the truth to mobilize the masses, the NGOs had to create a perception, and the perception they chose to create was one of a great injustice against the Korean people that everyone could identify with. The NGOs launched a propaganda campaign centered around creating an image of evil, non-apologetic American GI’s mercilessly running over two angelic school girls on their way to a birthday party and getting away with it. This image is so powerful because Koreans love their children just like any culture, but it was also equating the US military with the Japanese Imperial Army that colonized the Korean peninsula prior to the country’s liberation after World War II. Due to this sometime extremely brutal colonial period, many Koreans today still hold a very bitter grudge against the Japanese. The fact that the Eighth United States Army headquarters is based out of Yongsan Garrison in Seoul, which used to be the headquarters of the old Imperial Japanese military only helped to feed this perception. It would be an easy leap of logic for someone in Korea to conclude that the Japanese had disrespected and brutalized Korea than and the US military is doing it now.

. . .

The NGOs decided by spreading simple disinformation through the Internet about what happened would be the most plausible way to implement their strategy. Stories on internet message boards spread about how the American soldiers had intentionally ran over the two girls. The most famous story that made its way around all the Korean internet message boards was how the US soldiers in the convoy that day were laughing at the fact that they had ran over the two girls. The laughing so angered KATUSA (Korean Augmentee to the US Army) soldiers serving with the unit that they started a fight with the laughing soldiers. This story is not supported by any of the witnesses that were at the scene that day and additionally no one can produce the KATUSA soldiers that were allegedly involved in the fight. Despite the lack of evidence to support the claim that KATUSA soldiers fought with laughing GIs that day, it is still a common belief among many Koreans that this story is in fact true.

. . .

One of the common themes in the media was that even though the US military apologized for the accident, the apology was not “sincere”[ix]. After the accident every commanding US general in USFK issued an apology after the accident happened, the US Ambassador apologized, an initial solation payment was made to the family, a candle light vigil by US soldiers was held, and a fundraising drive was initiated that raised $22,000 for the girl’s families and another $30,000 for a memorial in their honor. Despite all this, the Korean media declares the US military’s response insincere. Incredibly even President Bush would later go on and apologize for the accident.

Before long the misinformation being put out was not limited to internet message boards and print newspapers, but was on the average Korean’s television screen as well. The networks repeated much of what was already available on-line and is wasn’t too long before the networks produced sensational misinformation of their own making. The most infamous example of misinformation was when the major news network MBC aired footage of someone claiming to be a former Korean Army tank driver who was able to “prove” in an interview that the American soldiers in the AVLB intentionally ran over the girls and then ground guided the vehicle back over the bodies again to make sure they were dead. This interview entered into the common mythology of what happened that even to this day, much like the KATUSA story, many Koreans believe this story to be true.

. . .

The sensationalism by the Korean media of the armoured vehicle accident was made quite clear when on June 29, 2002 North Korean patrol boats deliberately ambushed a South Korean Naval vessel patrolling the maritime border between the two countries. Six South Korean sailors died in the attack and the South Korean government, NGOs, and media did everything possible to minimize the deliberate murder of six South Korean sailors while continuing to sensationalize the accidental death of the two school girls[xiv]. The hypocrisy is quite stunning but when it comes to the Korean media they could care less about hypocrisy and more about ratings and sensationalism of the Highway 56 traffic accident was bringing in those ratings. There would be plenty more sensationalism to come.

The slander and accusations against USFK continued to fly both on the web and through the television networks. The tragic accident had taken on a life of its own as the major media outlets competed with the new start up internet media sites in their rush to condemn these soldiers for murder. The propaganda against USFK would become so effective that US soldiers were being assaulted and spat upon on the streets of Seoul with waiting Korean news cameramen recording it all for the nation to see[xv]. Signs went up all around Seoul refusing service to Americans in restaurants, hotels, and businesses. Massive rallies were held where demonstrators burned and tore American flags.

. . .

Probably the most blatant example of anti-US hate was when three US soldiers on a Seoul subway were assaulted by Korean protesters travelling to a rally on university campus. The protesters beat the soldiers and then abducted them from the subway car and began dragging them towards the anti-US demonstration. Korean policemen were able to free two of the soldiers but the third soldier was dragged into the demonstration held at the university’s sports stadium. He was threatened and forced to make coerce statements against the US by the demonstrators and make forced apologies. Despite everything that happened to them, the soldiers were charged with assault by the Korean police.

. . .

Out of the 30 nations that compose the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Korea ranked as the most dangerous place to drive. The data gathered from 2003 just one year after the armoured vehicle accident showed that Korea had 137 car accidents per 10,000 vehicles on the road. Additionally for every 100,000 people involved in a traffic accident, 15 people died. Each statistic topped the OECD’s rankings. Probably the most dubious statistic is that Korea ranked first in the OECD in traffic related child deaths. 82 children died every day in Korea with 70 percent of those accident involving children walking alongside a road.

As the statistics show, a tragic accident like what happened in June 2002 is not uncommon in Korea and the reasons for these accidents happening has nothing to do with the US military and the Korean police who helped investigate the tragedy realized this. That is why the police concluded with the USFK investigators that this was a tragic accident like many other tragic accidents involving children in Korea; the only difference was that this one involved the US military.

. . .

Korean NGOs demanded that USFK hand over the two soldiers to be tried in Korean courts despite their SOFA status. This demand was especially hypocritical considering that due to Article 2 of the Korean Military Court Act, the Korean military has jurisdiction over all crimes committed by their servicemembers whether they were off duty or not[xxi]. The fact that ROK military personnel never stand trial in Korean courts is an inconvenient fact that many Koreans would rather not acknowledge. A USFK servicemember on the other hand is subject to Korean civilian court for any crime committed while off duty. With the differences in jurisdiction between the Korean and American militaries, it makes you wonder that if the Korean civilian judicial system is not good enough for the Korean military than why should it be good enough to try American soldiers in? This is an inconvenient fact that is left unaddressed by the anti-US groups and their media allies. The hypocrisy is stunning, but like I said before hypocrisy is of little significance in Korea.

The SOFA was activated and the Korean soldier was handled by a ROK military court martial. In 2006 a Korean soldier driving a military truck was involved in a traffic accident where he caused the death of a 53 year old Kurdish politician. Once again the South Korean military activated their SOFA. This is what Colonel Ha Du-cheol told reporters after the accident, “The traffic accident occurred in the line of duty, so we are seeking ways to compensate the victim’s family.” Sound familiar? It should because it is the same thing the US military did after the 2002 armoured vehicle accident, which these groups were demanding SOFA revisions for. However, when a nearly identical situation happens with a Korean soldier it receives a small passage in the newspaper and no righteous indignation from anyone complaining about an unequal SOFA between Korea and Kurdistan.

The Korean military has never allowed one of their soldiers to be tried in a foreign host nation’s civilian courts, which shouldn’t be surprising considering that Korean soldiers do not even stand trial in civilian courts in their own country. Despite all of these inconvenient facts the anti-US groups and their media allies have the nerve to condemn USFK for an unfair status of forces agreement.

When I brought up this incident and its aftermath in one of my teachers' workshops---as I was making the connection between Mad Bull Shit and total indifference toward terrible traffic safety---I got the familiar lines "the US never really apologized," "people were mourning the girls," and "the US was arrogant." They were completely ignorant, though, of the basic facts surrounding the actual accident and of the particulars of the aftermath of hate. "Some Koreans" participated, they said. Well, after kidnappings, stabbings, numerous assaults and innumerable cases of harassment, intimidation, and discrimination, is it too much for us to demand an apology? I'll tell you what, and yes I'm being completely serious, that's something we as a community ought to be fighting for.

While most of you who read this site are bloggers yourselves and will most likely have read GI Korea's page well before you got to mine, I'd encourage the rest of you---especially my new visitors in Jeollanam-do---to pass these reports along to friends, family, and coworkers, in order to put both these latest protests and ourselves as foreigners into some context here.


The popular song "Fucking USA," which attacks the US for allegedly killing civilians in the Korean War and for winning a speedskating match against a Korean.

And, this is an addendum that comes a few minutes after I published my original entry. Turns out, as we pretty much expected, some are planning to incorporate this anniversary into the latest anti-beef protests. Korea Beat has the scoop, and here's an excerpt:

It appears that on June 13th, the sixth anniversary of the deaths of Shin Hyo-sun and Shim Mi-seon, killed after being struck by a US military armored personnel carrier, will become the main focus of the candlelight vigils which have been going on for over one month.

On the 12th the “Citizens’ Committee on Mad Cow Disease” (광우병 국민대책회의) announced that the 37th candlelight vigil to be held in front of Seoul City Hall on the 13th against the importation of US beef would incorporate a memorial ceremony for Hyo-sun and Mi-seon.

The sixth anniversary of Hyo-sun and Mi-seon’s deaths will easily excite anti-American sentiment among the citizenry, and the Committee will, on the 13th and 14th, intensify its calls for banning the import of US beef.

The Chosun Ilbo, according to Korea Beat, also says the relatives of these school girls do not want their children's and grandchildren's names being attached to these protests, and we recall GI Korea mentioning that they did not want their daughters used as symbols in a larger anti-American crusade back in 2002, 2003.

If you'll recall we saw reminders of this tank incident trotted out on May 17th and May 18th in Gwangju, being tied in both with the anti-beef protests and in the larger theme of repelling the foreign invaders, represented by the military and by the KORUS Free Trade Agreement.

omigod omigod omigod omigod! they noticed us!

So, the anti-beef protests have made the news back home, and that's news in South Korea. No Cut News has included the above photo of yesterday's paper in an article that says both the New York Times and the Washington Post ran stories on the June 10th protests. It is currently the most-viewed item on Naver news. I guess it's newsworthy because normally when you talk about South Korea in the US, you have to follow it with "no no, I mean the other one." As I said before, if this were happening in France or something, Fox News would advocate a boycott like that. *snaps fingers*

The Washington Post article appears to be this one, while the New York Times piece they mention is here. Gotta love the second-to-last line of the WP piece:

In the streets of Seoul on Tuesday, many protesters complained that Lee's top-down style of decision-making reminded them of the bad old days of military rule.

As if he wasn't elected by the widest margin in Korean history. Also in the "news about news" category, The Marmot's Hole tells us that Yonhap has a story about American netizens' comments at the bottom of a recent Washington Post article. Um . . . they're talking about withdrawing troops from a prosperous, sovereign nation that doesn't want them there anyway, and talking about boycotting goods from a country that doesn't open its market up to American products. And the problem is . . . ? Sadly, now you've got Korean netijuns getting involved, and I'm not in the mood to sift through all that gibberkonglish.

"Online Accusation Targets Middle School Teacher."

Last week we learned that ubiquitous comedianne Jeong Sun-hee was forced to resign from three of her shows because of some quote-unquote controversial comments regarding anti-beef protesters. Yesterday's Dong-A Ilbo tells us that netizens have targetted a teacher for attempting to allay fears about Mad Cow Disease. A couple of excerpts:

A Web posting on an Internet community yesterday targeted a middle school history teacher who allegedly praised the resumption of U.S. beef imports.

The person who posted the allegation also gave out the teacher’s name, school and cell phone number, urging others to gag the teacher by making protest calls to the teacher and the school.

Once the post was put on the community’s forum, the school and teacher were inundated with angry calls and cursing text messages. The teacher canceled his cell phone service yesterday afternoon.

Comments blasting the teacher continued to be posted, but one anonymous individual urged that no harm come to the teacher, calling the accusation undemocratic cyber-terrorism.

and

A co-worker of the teacher said, “I read the allegation and it’s completely unfounded. Nobody has bothered to check the truth. All they seem to focus on is attacking [the teacher]. We cannot teach anything to our students.”

Another student at the school said, “Yes, the teacher talked about beef, but he did not support importing American beef. Our friends and other students admire him. He is an enthusiastic teacher. We’re all shocked that this false accusation was posted on the Internet.”

Hyeon Tae-soo, a sociology professor at Korea University in Seoul, said, “This personal attack and the ensuing witch hunt against a person’s integrity is an unforgivable act. It’s public abuse in the name of democracy.”

Might as well have posted the whole article. If this kind of intimidation keeps up, are the netizens any different than the "monster" Japanese parents we read about last week, dictating school curriculum and policy via bullying? Ironically, this comes on the heels of huge protests celebrating Korea's democratic history and the commemoration of June 10th, comes as these protests are rendered as a matter of national survival and democratic expression, and comes as these beef imports are being represented as blatant disregard for the will of the people. This teacher's actions also contrast with the very vocal Korea Teachers' Union (KTU) and their unabashed anti-beef, anti-American agenda.

This is a lone reported case, so it's unwise to make sweeping generalizations about attacks against teachers, though I have no doubt that a teacher who does not toe the national company line will face severe consequences. Cyberbullying, though, is rather common around here, and Korean netizens can be a very wild, enthusiastic, irritable, inflammatory, and hateful bunch. Off the top of my head I recall them shutting down the FIFA website, driving a teenage girl to suicide, and driving a couple celebrities to suicide, to say nothing of the myriad campaigns to do something or other. On the topic of "witch hunts" we have, as Gusts of Popular Feeling reminds us, the Dog Poo Girl and English Spectrumgate. And on the topic of teachers being disciplined and canned for controversial beliefs, we remember Gerry Bevers, who was not rehired by his university after writing unpopular views about the Liancourt Rocks.

Given the power netizens and citizen journalists have around here to both represent and shape popular opinion, and even to infiltrate the mainstream media, I suspect this type of intimidation against teachers will be an increasingly popular trend. I was going to snidely comment that perhaps this teacher should learn to understand Korea's unique culture, but I couldn't fit it in anywhere. I do know that all of us are getting very interesting lessons in Korean culture throughout all of this, though.