But the crucial difference was not in the degree of reportage, it was that the Korean government did nothing to block websites showing beheadings of “foreigners” — it was only when a Korean man was beheaded that the Korean government decided that was something too awful to be seen.

Koreans need to recognize the fellow humanity of other people they share the planet with.

Daniel Pearl (and several others) have their heads sawed off. Meh

Kim Sun-il suffers the same and OH MY GOD the humanity!!!

That goes both ways, you know. Daniel Pearl was a big story in the US for a long time. Not much about the Korean guy. I didn’t hear much at least. I don’t think there would have been as much hoopla over the Korean guy even if he died before Pearl. It’s just because one is US citizen and the other is Korean citizen.

I hope SOMEONE’S not stupid enough to think or imply that Patriot Ahn’s rightful killing of that b*stard, Hirobumi Ito, was in any way similar to the actions of the terrorist, Osama bin Laden.

Of course not… Bin Laden is, after all, a much more effective terrorist than Ahn could ever have hoped to have been.

At any rate, you really seem desperate for someone to bite on this one and call the guy a terrorist, but I doubt enough people really care enough about labeling a long-dead assassin one way or another (and at this point, if anyone did, it would just be to have the pleasure of pissing you off.) After all, what would really be the point?

At best, he was an amoral person who used questionable methods against what he perceived as the country oppressing a group of people he self-identified with (his ‘minjok’ if you will) - a man in a similar vein with Lolita Lebron, Yassir Arafat, or Gavrilo Princip. At worst, the man was a terrorist - a man in a similar vein with Lolita Lebron, Yassir Arafat, or Gavrilo Princip. After all, what the man was basically depends on your perspective, which is pretty much what most people here are saying.

As pointed out here by several, the distinction between hero and terrorist is often a matter of perspective; however, I would be inclined to think that Ito was as fair a target as any, considering Korea’s annexation/occupation by the Japanese. Bin Laden is a mass murderer, but it is difficult to say the same of Yun or Ahn.

Having said that, these topics should still be open for debate, right?

Those to whom Bin Laden was a “hero” when he was a rather minor, relatively unknown figure in the anti-Soviet resistance in Afghanistan (as compared to the prominent, native Afghan figures such as Masood)– still find him a “hero” today.

Except that now he’s much more so. And Bin Laden hasn’t changed his original outlook — he has consistently maintained his goal of the restoration of the Arab caliphate.

It all boils down to the old saw: One man’s patriot is another man’s terrorist.

Absolutely right. The transformation of Bin Laden from a an anti-Soviet freedom fighter to anti-American terrorist is a case in point.

I guess Koreans that toss verbal bombs at whole groups of people and threaten the reputation of Korea (Rhie Won-bok) do not warrant any discussion from the Seoul Shinmun either.