Comments on: Hanchongnyeon leader on North Korea

By: OneFreeKorea » Buried Under the Margin of Error

OneFreeKorea » Buried Under the Margin of Error — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 14:55:42 +0000

[...] I had to raise, since the Joongang Ilbo didn’t). Just in case you missed it, the Marmot had a similar head-shaker here, or maybe not, since it featured the leader of Hanchongryeon, an avowedly pro-North Korean [...]

By: SomeguyinKorea

SomeguyinKorea — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 14:50:10 +0000

usinkorea,

Remember the capri pants? Women wouldn’t wear shorts that went above knees until 2000 or so.

By: globalvillageidiot

globalvillageidiot — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 13:16:58 +0000

I’ve had mostly good - though occasionally unfortunate - experiences in Jeollado. World Cup 2002 in Gwangju was the last time I remember being bitched out on the street with my Korean wife (of course, she took the bulk of the abuse, not me.) Not unlike the kind of shit I may have gotten on the street in Hongdae in ‘96 or ‘97 on a bad night out with my ex (and younger) girlfriend. More a dumbass ignorant kind of racism than the malicious variety. This particular student seems to represent more the latter - and minority - type of xenophobia that exists here. (And, it wouldn’t surprise me either if he grew out of it at some point. If not, he may find himself a future Democratic Labor Party candidate.) Anyway, instead of focusing on the negative, let me say that my experiences with people in Gangwon and Chungcheong province have been nothing but great, aside from getting gouged for a mediocre room in Sokcho in the middle of August!

By: Antti

Antti — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 07:44:59 +0000

Thanks for the plug. I corrected some of my clumsiest expressions with yours.
One thing: in my view it’s better to translate the DPRK term “songun” (sôn’gun, 선군, 先軍) than leave it as such (as with “juche”) since it better exposes what it is about. (Marmot’s Hole doesn’t follow the party line, does it ?;)

(But I’m not going to start arguing how to translate the term minj…)

By: usinkorea

usinkorea — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 00:29:52 +0000

trachys,

Yeah. If you run into the Hanchongryon types who have actually processed half a thought on the subject in their life time, rather than just quoting a senior by rout memory, (with the lone thought processors making up about 10% of them), they will get around to making this argument…

That is why they are angry at seeing USFK moved off the DMZ —-

—– The only way to protect Korea from the bastard GIs isn’t to kick them out of country - it is to make them stay near the DMZ — so North Korea can have some “mutually assured destruction” capability to deter the American agressor.

You might have actually even heard some in the Roh crew (you know, the guys running the nation) who said that North Korea isn’t a threat to South Korea, but just to USFK, and the only way to prevent the US from starting a war is to prevent the US from making it too difficult to strike at the GIs…

This message seems to be deemed too difficult for the rank-n-file to master, so the uni students stick to “Yankee go home!!” which they can process….but the leadership will start saying some confusing things if you ask them to go beyond the surface slogans.

Not sure if thats the score elswhere in Korea

I was like that in Wonju, Kangwon-do in the mid to late-1990s. My wife (Korean) and I had much less worry about it in Seoul though you could tell some of the men didn’t care for it.

But, Korea was changing a whole lot too. When I arrived in Korea in about 1996, you would get stared at if you were a Korean young man holding the hand of a young Korean female - putting your arm around her waste was a scandle. 2 or 3 years later in Seoul it was common place and by 2000 in Wonju too…

I haven’t been around in Korea with my wife (or another Korean female) in the streets since 2002, so I really couldn’t say what it is like today.

By: wjk

wjk — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 22:32:40 +0000

if you ask a Jeolla person, they would claim that Kyong Sang Do got a massive blood transfusion during the ImJin War. Whether or not that is true, I leave it up to the imagination.

By: wjk

wjk — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 22:24:19 +0000

South Koreans are already discriminating against North Korean defectors. When and if Korea becomes one, I think you’ll have a great time bringing up old Shilla (sell out to Tang) as the only region that should legitly rule all of Korea. Have fun.

By: wjk

wjk — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 22:22:03 +0000

Hugh, cm, are you guys Koreans rooted from Kyong Sang Do? Don’t believe everything your grandfather or your father says.

I would be rooted from Choong Chung Do.

With most of the Korean born Koreans having grown up in Seoul, I highly doubt young Koreans have much valid experience to say anything meaningful based on experiences.

Every country happens to have a region that won’t submit easily to whoever captured ruling power.

Scotland in Great Britain.
The South in the US.
Jeolla Do in Korea.

Sending all of them to die in Vietnam is kind of an strong, offensive statement to me, because I have a relative from Choong Chung Do, who served for the ROK in Vietnam. He went because he wanted to go there. He has interesting stories to tell from time to time.

By: SomeguyinKorea

SomeguyinKorea — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 17:46:44 +0000

“Jeolla-do is certainly NOT the “epicenter of Korean racist hate.” Yes, there’s a strong anti-American streak down there, but it’s much more political than personal. I lived in Gwangju for a year, and I’m always traveling in the region, and I’ve had nothing but very pleasant experiences. In fact, I’d even say that on an inter-personal level, it’s easier to get along down there than in the “pro-American” Gyeongsang provinces.”…”if you’re going to get harassed anywhere by locals for dating/marrying a local girl, it’s in Gyeongsang-do, not Jeolla-do.”

My in-laws are from Jeolla, Kwangju to be exact, and they are incredibly down to earth…and I mean the whole lot, the cousins, the uncles and the aunts. And they certainly aren’t racist or xenophobic. Heck, one of my wife’s cousins is already married to a Thai businessman and two others grew up in the US.

By: aaronm

aaronm — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 16:53:04 +0000

Yawn, student radicals making the news? Is this kid any different from some beardy Trotskyite out of Berkeley or anti-globalisation anarcho-wannabe from Melbourne Uni? In a few years he’ll grow up, realise what a twat he was, burn his party card and start making money. In short, the left here is an irrelevancy whose time has quickly come and gone. Bring on the next general election and GNP president.