This is a bit of wisdom from today's Jong Ang Ilbo:
"The candlelight protests are led by a generation of people who are, partly by virtue of their young age and the environment in which they grew up in, more open to capitalism, democracy and international outlook than any other generation in the country. Their protests are not, in our view, driven by political motivation or a scheming to derail the alliance.
Their anger is largely rooted in the arrogance displayed by the United States over the schoolgirls' deaths, the apparent lack of recognition in certain U.S. officials that the two countries are equal partners in the alliance and the less-than-dignified responses shown by the officials of our government. "
This is why the kids have gone mad with anti-American rage. The hardcore America-haters have poisoned their ears with talk of how Korea and the US have an unequal alliance.
I agree. Koreans see the US as a kind of all purpose cash-register/security cop/super mall for their products. At the same time they want a Korea that is off-limits to American businesses and people. And they want us to pay them for the privilege of defending them from their insane North Korean brothers.
It is hard to fathom the utter selfishness and outrageous arrogance of Koreans display in their incredibly rude and high-handed treatment of Americans.
For example, North Korea demands American taxpayers give it billions of dollars in aid. North Korea claims all it wants is a non-agression treaty. This is a lie. They get in a room with us and expect us to give them billions.
And when we refuse to pay this protection, then South Korean politiciants like Kim "My Three Convict Sons" Dae Jung start calling us "hardline" and "hawks." Yet the South Koreans themselves refuse to pay much protection to the North Koreans. Let them eat bark, before we pay their way, South Koreans have told me. Feeding them is on Uncle Sam's dime.
In trade it is just as bad. South Koreans export a million cars to the US every year. Yet, we sell about 100 cars here a year. Yes, 100. I did not leave off a zero. That is 100, as 99 + 1.
Why don't Koreans buy our cars? The Korean press, which is in cahoots with Korean carmakers, claims it has to do with the arrogance of Americans. But the reality of the issue is that if Koreans see an American car on the street they will set upon it with their keys immediately. You think I am exaggerating? Koreans will send death threats to a Korean who buys an American car.
Koreans do buy a lot from the US. But their policy is to only buy things they have in short supply, which are raw materials, food commodities and high technology. Anything that is manufactured or refined, Koreans will block.
Their policy is simply: America must buy everything we make, while Korea will buy from America only what we can't live without.
But at the same time Koreans attack "arrogant" Americans for not giving them greater access to their markets. When the US put steel tariffs on Korean steel in response to massive dumping by subsidized Korean factories, the Korea Herald called it "an act of war."
Yet if we complain about their barriers they accuse of bully and burn our flag.
I really hope this alliance is as dead as it looks. Believe me, America, Korea has been a worthless, arrogant, anti-American nation from the get go. They have used our country and kicked us every time that we were down. On 9/11 they were all walking around with giddy smiles on their faces.
Koreans don't understand freedom and they don't want it. They want to be like their brothers in the North, flipping cards in massed stadium gatherings and screaming about the incredibile glory of Korea.
Vindication ain't always sweet
Most of the e-mails I get from this site fall into two categories. The first category is people, usually with some connection to the U.S. military, thanking me for raising the issue of the humiliations and hostility they face while serving in Korea. The second group are people who accuse me of exaggerating the problem of anti-Americanism in Korea.
For those people I offer the first paragraph of the top editorial in today's Chosun Ilbo, the most widely circulated newspaper in Korea:
"The single biggest issue we face today is anti-Americanism. Protesters surround the US embassy in Seoul, and representatives of various Korean organizations have gone to the United Nations in New York and to the White House to stand with signs saying "US Troops Out of Korea." Watching these anti-American protests spreading, the people find themselves struggling with the question of just where Korea as a country is going."
Some of us have been wondering that for quite some time.
But the problem will no go away until more Koreans show a trait that has always been in short supply here: courage.
Koreans need to stand up to these hysterical rabble-rousing anti-American gangsters and expose them for the two-bit political opportunists they are.
I am not optimistic, I am sad to say.
KBS just fired one of its top female anchors for saying that she felt ashamed when she saw Korean college students throwing firebombs at American bases. The anchor was the target of protests, harassment and death threats.
Koreans are not even allowed to denounce firebomb throwers who target America!
Count on things to get worse before they get better.
Restaurant review: 'Zeno'phobia, cold beer and hot anti-American hatred
These days the hot new trend in hip Seoul eateries is to bar all Americans. As a service to Americans in Seoul curious of the culinary delights denied to them, Eller and his non-American friend who wishes to be identified only as ¡°the palette¡± will begin offering regular reviews of places off-limits to Yanks.
First up is Zeno, a hip little Euro-American bistro that made the BBC by banning all Americans after U.S. soldiers Walker and Nino were acquitted by a military court for the deaths of two South Korean girls in a traffic accident in Yangju, South Korea. The restaurant's owner said he would lift the ban after Bush apologized for the accidental deaths, which have ignited months of violent anti-American protests in South Korea.
But after Bush delivered his regrets, all Mr. Lee did was hire an English copyeditor who translated his Konglish, "Not welcome The Americans" banner into "Americans are not welcome here" signs.
Zeno, or Zenophobia as it has been dubbed by Yanks, is nestled deep in bowels of the underpass connecting the City Hall subway station to the Plaza Hotel.
"No wonder they don't appreciate the USFK,¡± observed the palette. "If Pyongyang turns Seoul into a city of fire, they will be perfectly safe."
¡°Nachos and beer as Seoul burns.¡±
As we approached the front door, I felt an air of excitement, recalling my mostly unsuccessful underage bar going attempts. Would they demand passports? I had practiced a ridiculous Russian accent. But not a word, as we pushed past the front door and colonized a seat near the beer cooler. But no greeting either.
The interior: Simple black tables and a black and white checkered floor recycled from a Hall and Oates video. On the wall is a massive poster advertising a revival of the musical Chicago. It was Friday night and the place was half full, mostly older couples and small groups of young professional women unwinding over pitchers of beer and nachos. (No sign of Psycho priest or Froggy.)
The menu is relatively short: a selection of the usual "Western" drinking side-dish suspects; nachos, french fries, chicken salad, along with a half-dozen pasta dishes. The one interesting thing is they also offered a variety of ¡°homemade sausages.¡±
We settled on the sausage platter and two Korean beers (no need to rub it in their faces with tall buds). The beer was cheap, just 2000 won for a tall frosty glass. The sausages were interesting, but bland and the dips, one Guldens yellowest, another a kind of brown ketchup surprise, were not worth mentioning. It came garnished with the obligatory corn and shredded cabbage salad with thousand island dressing. At least the dressing appeared homemade, though the corn was 100% Jolly Green Giant. We speculated if Mr. Lee, a former USFK employee according to news reports, still had access to the PX at Youngsan. (Anti-Americanism in Korea is often served cold, but never without a heaping side dish of irony.)
Our verdict: Not a horrible place for a cold one on a Friday night, but eat first.
As I paid the check, I decided to come out of the closet: ¡°I have come from America,¡± I said in a low voice with a polite smile. The kind waitress gave a sigh, complimented my Korean and explained that the whole loony ban was the crazy owner's idea. I asked to speak to him; she said he wasn't there. She offered us a warm goodbye and off we were.
That Mr. Lee is a piece of work, I thought. Announce a wacky ban on all Americans in the name of justice and then leave his underpaid and hard-working young female staff to take the heat.
Racism rears its ugly head in wave of anti-US hysteria sweeping across Korea
"Kill the big noses."
"Exterminate the foreign dogs and the mixed breed children."
"I can't wait until all mongrel Americans die of AIDs."
These are just a few of the thousands upon thousands of racist posts you will find on the bulletin boards at www.antimigun.org -- which has created a wave of anti-American hysteria Korea has not seen, well, since the Salt Lake Olympics in February, which brought what Americans residing in Seoul now refer to with rolled eyes as ¡°Ohnogate.¡±
The Onho controversy, as you will remember had a huge race element not covered by the Korean media and ignored by the handful of foreign journalists who reported on it. But at the time, web sites and Internet bboards were flooded with racist attacks on Ohno¡¯s biracial background. His father was called a "dirty betrayer of Asian people" for having ¡°debased himself with a white woman." Most posters agreed that Ohno's father should have killed Ohno when he was a baby, which up until very recently was Korea's way of dealing with "the shame" of mixed-race children.
For months, Walker and Nino have been portrayed in effigy as giant hairy beasts with noses big enough to smash boulders with. But now Korean racists have found an unlikely target of their racist rage -- an unidentified woman of Asian descent who works in some capacity at Camp Casey, an American base north of Seoul, which is currently under a virtual siege by violent anti-American college students and thugs from anti-American hate groups.
This picture, snapped by an anti-American NGO at a riot near Camp Casey is now making the rounds of Internet chat sites and major bboards in Korea.
The people at www.antimigun.org have created a special wanted poster for her. They have called for anyone who recognizes her to reveal her identity so that they may "inform her family that she is consorting with dirty foreigners."
Here is what antimigun.org's users have to say about her:
"Is she really a Korean. I can't believe it. She is either an adoptee or a whore married to an American."
"That bitch must be dealt with."
"Why is she standing there with that smiling animal. It makes me sick to my stomach."
Just remember these words when your hear those self-righteous Korean pundits proclaim this whole thing is just about justice and respect.
Ben Eller
Seoul
