Residents in Masan’s Haeun-dong woke up Monday to discover that someone had cut off the head of one of their city’s Dangun statues:
Police are looking for the head and the perpetrator. Smart money says this is the work of some Jesus nut, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
24 Comments
Bart Simpson did it.
Maybe someone thought there was chocolate inside.
Frankly the Dan’gun statues at elementary schools make me sick too. Even if all education is seen as brainwashing by those who have different views of what children should be taught, Korea was never a land of statues and heroes (the Yi Sung Sin statue on Sejongno was Park Chung Hee’s idea, and at the time he said the country needed heroes to look up to because they didn’t have any), and most of the Dan’guns were put up by an org that does seem to honor him like a diety.
Probably was some radical Christian group. They’ve done it in the past.
Funny though, it’s one area where far-right Christians and leftists find common ground… distaste for the Dan’gun statues.
it was more likely those cheap jewellery makers who have been melting down the 10won coins. the government decided to crach down on that, so they had to find a new source of brass.
To chop off the head of the legendary founder of the Korean people is a very deep pyschological act that can only make one wonder of what is yet to come . . .
I think Oranckay’s note us important to keep in mind.
I seem to remember this happening in Masan before, but I definatly remember earlier cases — that invovle two groups butting heads with each other, and one of them was a Dangun (whose name my prounouncing always sends my wife into fits of laughter as she asks me what I want to know about carrots) cult — with the emphasis being on the word “cult”.
But, since they are a unique Korean-figure, nationalistic cult, their placing statutes at schools and in public is considered good for the nation.
I also wondered how Pyongyang having found the tomb of Dangun — if I remember correctly — works with the cult.
Did those actual groups predate the finding by Pyongyang or Pyongyang’s special move to elevate the Dangun myth for their own twisted system? or did the group in South Korea rise up long before and just connected with the Dangun myth that was a part of Korean culture?
Even if it predated Pyongyang’s advances in the myth, how does Pyongyang’s effort effect the South Korean group.
Do they bow three times a day toward Pyonyang and pray for the return of it as the capital for all Korean peoples? — and so on…
Funny though, it’s one area where far-right Christians and leftists find common ground… distaste for the Dan’gun statues.
Isn’t the oh my news guy an evangelical christian?
Just anecdotally, I’ve noticed that left leaning Koreans (by the local definition) aren’t much more likely to be secular than right leaning ones (again by the local definition). This is in marked contrast to the aggressively secular humanist left in America that has opposed school prayer and “intelligent design.”
I think a drunk ESL teacher wanted a souvenir. FYI ? Islam jihadists behead, Jesus nuts pray
“June 26, 1998. Su-jin Kim, a Christian, breaks into Wonmyong Sonwon (Zen Center) in Cheju Island, decapitates 750 granite Buddha statues and destroys a gilt bronze Buddha triad, gold-plated jade Buddha and many other Buddhist items. He is caught by people at the temple while breaking windows of the living quarters. Kim confesses to the police that he destroyed Buddha statues in order to convert the temple to a church.”
“Jesus nuts” overall seem to prefer arson, at least when it comes to Buddhist temples.
I think a drunk ESL teacher wanted a souvenir. FYI ? Islam jihadists behead, Jesus nuts pray
That is, when they aren’t destroying Buddhist artifacts and burning temples.
I do remember the 1998 incident in Cheju by this one individual, but in all sincerity are there other examples of other such incidents by organized groups of Christians? Only 4 people out of 100 profess to be Christians in Kyoung-sang lam-do. Only 3 people out of 100 hundred profess to be Christians in Cheju-do. I doubt there are marauding hordes of Christians pillaging Buddhist sites. Most are pretty remote and it would be easy to do.
In fact, most Korean Christians are very accommodating and view Buddhist temples as national historic treasures. 1,000 year-old Nak-san sa was destroyed by wildfire (an act of God in insurance terms) and Korean Christians, like everyone else, mourned the destruction. I find that Korean Christians tend to be Korean first and Christian second.
I dont know if Su-jin Kim (the man that did the Cheju vandalism in 1998) is really a Christian or not as the paper reported, but his actions were clearly wrong and illegal. He accomplished nothing positive as evidenced by the fact that he is being cited here some 8 years later as a notorious representative of some Jesus nuts (By the way, the warring Buddhist factions that barricaded themselves in the temple in Seoul and fought with the police for several days resulting in many injuries also did nothing to distinguish themselves or their beliefs).
In any case, if Buddhists are right, Su-jin Kim will get his at the end ? he will be reincarnated as fruit fly or some other worthy form.
Vandalism of Buddhist temples in Korea has been ongoing for years, and since the people who do these things are not often captured, it can’t be proved that Christians are involved in every instance, there are other cases where it’s clear a self-professed Christian destroyed Buddhist statues or set temples on fire. Here’s one site that lists vandalism and other incidents against Buddhism from 1982 to 1996:
http://www.buddhapia.com/eng/tedesco/2.html
As for Kim Sujin coming back as an insect, Buddhists don’t believe in divine revenge–that’s a Christian concept.
Giwon you really shouldn’t have a knee jerk response that Christians can’t do these things , as they have and still do. It doesnt’ mean that all Christians do, or even that all Korean Christians do.
The early Greek Christians — out of intolerance and ignorance — knocked the heads off of many a classical statue in Greece and killed many non-Christians. Though the message of love is often preached in churches, the actions of ignorance and hatred often persist.
Though I can’t talk about other churches, I caught several women from a local church sneaking around our neighborhood a year and a half ago, *illegally* posting advertising all over the place. I later discovered from the police that they were raising money for their church. Needless to say, there seem to be many false Christians in Korea.
I think Marmot may be right that there’s a good chance a zealot “Christian” is behind the beheaded behemoth, but if it turns out that it’s someone else, I somehow doubt any of these statements about Christians in Korea would be retracted.
There’s no reason for me to retract what I wrote about Christians vandalizing temples. Oranckay said Christians have vandalized Dangun statues in the past, so that and their apparent intolerance for others’ beliefs makes it quite likely they’ve struck again.
There’s no reason for me to retract what I wrote about Christians vandalizing temples. Oranckay said Christians have vandalized Dangun statues in the past, so that and their apparent intolerance for others’ beliefs makes it quite likely they’ve struck again.
I’m a bit skeptical, and I’m asking these questions not in a rhetorical way, but out of genuine curiosity. I know that there are professed “Christians” who have been caught red-handed engaging in anti-Buddhist arson or other forms of destruction. But in what percent of the cases involving arson or vandalism of Buddhist temples has this been the case?
There’s internecine fighting among competing Buddhist groups (the infamous take-over of Chogye-sa being an example). There are accidental fires. There are street thugs who engage in vandalism (Bart cut off the head of Jebediah Springfield and he’s not a religious zealot). There are alternate causes, but based on some prominent past incidents it’s possible that an assumption derived from at least a significant minority is being used to explain a vast majority. (I’m not saying that IS the case, just that it’s possible and I want to see some hard data on it.)
I’m just not so sure that approach is prudent. In the States, for example, it turned out that the rash of Black church burnings were not all racially motivated. Some, apparently, were by fellow parishioners (no time to find a link, so it’s possible I’m remembering this wrong).
If there is some data demonstrating fundamentalist Christian involvement in, say, 50% or more of the cases, I’d concede this point (rather, I’d be satisfied that the finger should quickly be pointing to fundamentalists). But if it’s something like, for example, 10 or 20%, then I’m not so sure I would. Are there any stats available?
I’m always cautious when people not of a certain group describe in detail the apparent motivations and workings of that group (in this case, the legendary “intolerance for others’ beliefs” — to your credit, you at least described this as “apparent intolerance” — or the vandalism caused by supposed followers).
I’m no fan of fundamentalists, except as far as their volunteer work (including helping get North Korean refugees out of China) is concerned. Too many seem to get into a cycle of intolerance that is profoundly anti-Christ-like.
What would Jesus do? He’d kick the money-changers out of his own temple and not even think about burning down a Buddhist structure or chopping off the head of a statue.
Oranckay:Funny though, it’s one area where far-right Christians and leftists find common ground… distaste for the Dan’gun statues.
But the true DPRKists, the t’ongiljaengis don’t seem to find any problem with the Dangun project in the north (ok, “leftist” is not a proper term for them). The “Dangun Tomb” (???) is part of the DPRK visit routine, and from a quick search in Voice of Leader gives some nice info on their attitudes towards the Dangun grandfather. It was after Kim Il-sung who told that Dangun was a real person and not a myth and encouraged scholars to excavate the tomb (from ?? ??).
Yeah, the key word in what I wrote was “apparent,” because I’ve read and heard about a lot of vandalism of Buddhist temples, and sometimes the perp claims to be a Christian (if they are caught at all). Given the “enthusiasm” of Korean Christians I’ve met/seen to badger everybody around them to convert, even so far as going to Iraq in the middle of a war, and the lack of motivation for anyone else to burn down dozens of Buddhist buildings over the last 15 years or so, it seems likely there’s an informal campaign of intolerance going on.
Of course that’s just my opinion, and like you said there’s a number of other explanations for headless statues and burning temples. Let me put it this way, I certainly hope I’m wrong to think there’s that much religious intolerance in Korea, and I’d be glad to be proved wrong.
Don’t count out the possibility (I’d say probability) some of the vandalism at Buddhist temples is done by Buddhists of different sects — besides the ones of straight out teen and young adult hooliganism common to cultures everywhere.
The Buddhist riots in Seoul a few years ago when the largest sect was changing leadership were pretty interesting.
Like with Christian churches and sects in the US, there is a good bit of money and power involved — far beyond religious thought conflict….
That’s likely as well. It’s counterintuitive to think of violent Buddhists, but then, this is Korea. Like the precept of not taking intoxicants, which usually includes caffeine. I’ve seen so many monks sipping coffee in Starbucks here that they should just go ahead and open one inside Chogyesa.
Yeah, the key word in what I wrote was “apparent,” because I’ve read and heard about a lot of vandalism of Buddhist temples, and sometimes the perp claims to be a Christian (if they are caught at all).
Well, this is kind of what I was getting at: it seems people are filling in the details with assumptions. If a perp is caught and claims to be “Christian” and his or her background supports that, I’d say that definitely is a part of the problem you’re talking about here.
But on the other hand, when the perp is not caught, I think the assumption is still often (?) being made that the perp is also a professed fundamentalist.
Given the “enthusiasm” of Korean Christians I’ve met/seen to badger everybody around them to convert,
There’s a huuuuuuuge difference in the motivation between trying to — from the point of view of the proselytizer — bringing the “Good News” and destroying property. I’m not saying some horribly misguided — or perhaps mentally ill — “believers” don’t make that jump (some certainly do), but the New Testament is pointing to numerous reasons to do the former and numerous reasons NOT to do the latter.
even so far as going to Iraq in the middle of a war,
How very interesting that you would consider someone risking their own life for their beliefs to be along the same lines as destroying other people’s property for the same beliefs.
Proselytizing may seem a form of intolerance, but in terms of what is in the person’s heart, I don’t think it is. A fundamentalist believes that he/she is following the one true path to Heaven and feels a burden — a painful one, in fact — to “rescue” as many people as possible.
Sure, that interpretation of Christ’s teachings leaves little room for alternate paths to Heaven, but that’s not the point regarding the person’s motivation. Right or wrong, he or she believes that this is the one way and feels a need to “save” as many people as possible. It is not intolerance and hatred to try to save people, but an act of love and sacrifice.
That is the motivation of the zealous converter.
By way of analogy, imagine someone thinking you are going to be hit by a train if you keep walking along a set of tracks. You believe the trains don’t run along here anymore (or never did), but this person has seen trains along these tracks, or heard there were trains, and is urgently trying to get you off of them before you start walking through what you think is an abandoned tunnel. Is the person “intolerant” for yelling warnings at you? Should the person just leave you to find your own way?
Kim Sun-il went to Iraq because he believed he had an important message and needed to save people in that country. Ditto for those who venture into China or even North Korea to rescue people’s physical bodies, and hopefully their souls, too. This is a far, far, far cry from destroying others’ property (and the New Testament deals with that in verses about Caesar and about dealing with the Jews and the Gentiles).
Indeed, however, there are people who cross a line and do things that, as I mentioned in a previous post, Christ would kick their asses for (Christ was an ass-kicker when it came to people subverting or distorting His own religion).
These include the people who bomb abortion clinics, hold up signs that say “God Hates Fags,” or burn down temples. They are out there, but they are not true Christians (in the sense of being “Christ-like”) and they are a very different animal from the people you described above.
and the lack of motivation for anyone else to burn down dozens of Buddhist buildings over the last 15 years or so,
Didn’t we have two competing Buddhist orders violently engaged in a battle for control of Chogyesa a few years back (if I’m mischaracterizing that, please correct me)? Do Buddhists not have anything like “disgruntled parishioners” (one guy came into a church I was attending and shot two people, killing one, before he himself was shot by an off-duty deputy)? Isn’t it possible that an accidental fire occurred?
Or how about the case of the world-famous Kinkaku-ji in Kyoto, a beautiful temple burned down by a mentally disturbed monk?
it seems likely there’s an informal campaign of intolerance going on.
Well, I think we need to more clearly define what is intolerance and what is not.
Of course that’s just my opinion, and like you said there’s a number of other explanations for headless statues and burning temples.
Loads of reasons. And fringe fundamentalist zealotry does, despite what I said above, remain one of the possibilities.
Let me put it this way, I certainly hope I’m wrong to think there’s that much religious intolerance in Korea, and I’d be glad to be proved wrong.
Well, that was what I’m trying to get to the bottom of with my questions.
Well…as an agnostic, I don’t completely dismiss anyone’s beliefs. I’m laissez-faire about religion–as long as people don’t hurt themselves or others, knock yourself out.
Here’s what our own gov’t says about religion in Korea:
Relations among religious groups generally are amicable and free of incident, and religious tolerance is widespread. In 2000 there were press reports of so-called “Protestant fanatics” damaging Buddhist temples and artifacts through vandalism and arson. In mid-2000, a Christian was arrested for vandalism of Dong Kuk University, a Buddhist institution, and of some small temples. Such reports generated calls for religious tolerance and mutual respect in the media and among the general public. However, such incidents are rare, and religious leaders regularly meet both privately and under government auspices to promote mutual understanding and tolerance. These meetings are given wide and favorable coverage by the media.
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2003/23834.htm
So, I’ll defer to that summary of the situation.
Note: A person named Kiwon was responded to as Giwon.
Imagine doing that?