These pics were taken during a ceremony marking the formation of a group called the “3 legged Crow Youth Corps”. (FYI, the 3 legged crow was the symbol of Ancient Koguryo). If some wackos want to set up a nationalist group, well it’s their business, but do they have to use the same type of uniforms as the Nazis?
Here’s the YouTube video of the ceremony. At the last scene, the ajumma raises her hand and instructs the kids to follow her and say “Koguryo Manse!”, while the caption on the screen says “Don’t you mean, Heil Hitler!?”.
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http://www.ft.com/cms/s/427fc2.....fd2ac.html
Not sure how it relates to nazism, other than in the look and design of the uniforms, but if it’s a nationalist league, they might have chosen a better design. The three legged crow is hardly just an ancient Korean motif. In fact, it’s also drawn on the uniform of the Japanese national footbal team.
http://english.donga.com/srv/s.....6011764928
for the love of humanity and all that is holy, somebody get video of this and post it on youtube…
Is that the Jumong symbol on their sleeves?
ah, Koguryo. When our Shilla origins are too weak and subservient in the grand picture of things, we claim Koguryo. We are Koguryo.
Despite the clear fact that almost none of the Koguryo family names descend down to present day Korean families.
Isn’t this old news, by the way?
Yes, ZenKimchi, it’s the Jumong symbol.
Well, one of the first nationalist youth groups in Korea was based on its Nazi equivalent. Its name escapes me and I’ve misplaced the book that mentions it. I really need to clean out my bookshelf. Must have 500 books in there.
Correction: bookshelves.
hoju_saram thanks for the Donga story, I didn’t know the background on that.
thanks for the youtube update
Holy brownshirts, Batman!
Actually, this all makes sense. For the past five years I have staked out a controversial position that there are no real Leftists in Korea.
Yes, there are those who mouth socialist rhetoric, but their visions are limited to this peninsula and rarely, if ever, internationally — unless they want to proclaim some poorly defined solidarity with the Palestinians or tackle on Japanese/American/sometimes Chinese enemies.
When it comes down to it, all one can find around here are bleating nationalists of various stripes who bunch around one or more charismatic persons and sing “revolutionary” songs.
Their dogma is based mostly on a pulp fiction of a lost, greater place in the world community, no thanks to the evil foreigners.
So what does one have? Nationalist socialists, of course, and we know where that thought took some folks over a half century ago. They, too, were very much concerned about racial purity. The primary difference, as far as I can tell, is the Germans were able to work together in a long-term cohesive way.
But in all fairness, the North Koreans have done a great job aping the Nazis, down to concentration camps and goose stepping parades. And too often it is these “misunderstood brothers” the so-called Leftists of South Korea sympathize.
Minju Mansei, Sieg Heil, same same…
Not too controversial a position Mr. Coyner. Although there are also a lot of Koreans these days who are fed up with these idiots and reject the dogma, so the so-called leftists might be on the wane. Not to mention that they almost always shoot themselves in the foot.
Good thinking, Tom. This is a worry — and similar to what’s going on in Russia, China, India’s Hindus, and elsewhere — genuine Leftists might be on the wane, but Nationalism with a strong-governnent and pro-national-corporations twist do seem to be reviving and spreading…
I had not heard of this “3-legged Crow Youth Corps” — it’s a bit shocking. I wonder how many members?
Is it oriented against China, against Chinese claims to Goguryeo history? Is it an irredentist movement of any sort?
Putin in Russia has a youth league that reminds one much of Kim Jong Il in its aggressive devotion to V. Putin. This sort of cult of personality, wrapped with nationalism, can only lead to suffering of the most horrible kind if circumstances go wrong.
I am only glad that South Korea does not have a charismatic figure to rally around like Putin.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/427fc2…..fd2ac.html
Looks like more chics that guys. Most of them short and chunky. Couldn’t make the short track speed skating team?
… there are no real Leftists in Korea.
According the the learned opinion of Erik Ritter von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, who made the study of the Left his life work, Nationalism is Leftist and Patriotism is Rightist.
Thus, I’ve come to the conclusion that there are no real Rightists in Korea, just collectivists of various stripes.
The original Nazis were, after all, the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei. They were collectivists who built a massive Welfare-Warfare state. There was nothing “conservative” about their Social Darwinism and Eugenics programs, both of which were championed by “progressives” of the day.
The history of 20th Century Europe can be read as a Leftist Civil War.
please forgive my manners, mins0306; i forgot to welcome you. i find your style and choice of topics agnate to the other contributors here. you are a great choice. good luck.
I, as a German national, am in full accordance with The Western Confucian on this issue:
The Nazis were certainly not “conservative”, quite the contrary.
On the other hand, even many Germans are not really aware of this fact, as the postwar generations had a tendency to see the Third Reich as the brainchild of Prussian ideology (which may have been unlikeable but was based on very different premises).
The Ko family are descendants of Jumong. Jumong chose the word “Ko” which is included in Koguryo as his family name.
So some Koguryo family names did make it to modern Korea.
I’m burning my Be The Reds! tee-shirt.
Funny. A reason for a foreigner to feel insecure, especially criminals.
#21.
Ok…but really, big deal. I’ve got some pretty amazing dudes in my family tree. You don’t see me dressing up and goose-stepping.
Mansei and Sieg Heil. They are similar terms used in similar circumstances. Mansei means “Live 10,000 years,” the Japanese equivalent being Bonzai. Interesting bit from the Nihongi regarding the origin of Bonzai, they got it from Korean diplomats (Silla I think) when they heard news of some victory of their kingdom over some other kingdom on the Korean peninsula, the Silla diplomats cheered. Mansei became Manzai in the Japanese pronounciation and the Americans popularized the romanization of Banzai during WWII. Mansei is of course originated from the Chinese Won Sui (Won being myriad, or 10,000 and Sui for year).
Now Sieg Heil’s origins are not German but Roman, originally meant to salute the Ceasars when they returned from victory against some barbarian or another. Even the one handed salute is Roman in origin, so much so that modern film depictions omit or reduce the frequency of the salute for fear of associating Romans with Nazism. Well it’s sufficent to say that both terms have ancient, non-native, origins. Only makes sense as both China and Rome would be models of civilization to non-Chinese and non-Roman peoples.
Now regarding Nazi uniforms. It’s actually fairly popular with nationalistic extremists in Japan, Korea and Taiwan. These people advocate a simple and virluent nationalism and their more disconnected association with the horrors of Nazism allows them to look at it more dispassionately. I think Nazi symbols, tactics, charisma and organization (not their racist thinking I hope!) appeals to groups who want to create nationalistic organizations that require as little critical thinking as possible.
Nice to know that the fashion and political sense of some 60-odd years ago can be carried on by the misguided youth of today (who obviously should have paid more attention in history class.) And the sound effects in the YouTube video were just *precious*.
Scary stuff. But let’s keep in mind that it appears to have been a Korean or Koreans who posted the video, including the snarky comment pointing out the equivalence between this group and Hitler youth of another age. So at least there are some prescient Koreans who are on top of these things.
Sewing, you’re right. That snarky comment impressed me too.
As WangKon rightly notes “with as little critical thinking as possible.” I wonder if these groups would be so willing to mimic the trappings of Nazism if they realized how the Nazis felt about non-arians and Asians in general. I’m reminded of the controversy (or lack there of) surrounding the “Nazi Bar” in Shinchon a few years ago.
As for the no-leftist claim - nationalism is a convenient political tool which can be used by the left as well as the right, and you find the left using it effectively in states that have experienced colonialism and foreign domination, whereas in imperialist and expansionist powers, the right tends to be nationalist. The difference between left and right derives from the class composition of respective political coalitions. Nazis may have thrown a few crumbs to the workers, but big business got the state contracts and repressive labor conditions they desired. Leftists, on the other hand, desire collective property ownership, better working conditions, etc. In the case of a medium power like Korea, foreign politics plays a relatively greater role, and nationalism tends to trump domestic politics for the left. Take the recent FTA deal, for instance. In relatively labor abundant Korea the big unions and their members should be big winners from free trade with the more capital abundant US. But, they were strongly opposed to the agreement, mainly for nationalist concerns.
Dokdo,
I don’t think Asians who adopt Nazi propaganda tactics really care about what they thought about non-Arian peoples. They appreciate Nazism’s pure ability to unify the masses, the powerful slogans, organization and unity, all stuff that leaves a lasting impression with Confucians.
Check these links out:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new.....iwan15.xml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N.....Asian_rise
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N.....fare_Party
Any of you guys remember the old 60’s Star Trek episode “Patterns of Force”? Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock beam down to be shocked that this planet is a mirror image of Nazi Germany. A Federation observer comes into a planet racked by war and unifies it by becoming their “Hitler” if you will, and instituting Nazism because because it was the “most efficient system Earth ever knew.” Of course the episode ends with the Federation guy acknowledging that he had made a grave mistake. (Synopsis found here: http://www.ericweisstein.com/f.....Force.html)
Now, of course, something like Nazism can only be sustained by a charismatic dictator and is thus inherently totalitarianistic and non-democratic.
I think that’s a popular misperception about Nazi rule being an efficient system. You know Hitler had something like 4 different intelligence agencies all spying on one another because he was so worried about being overthrown. Maybe Hogan’s Heroes portrayal of bumbling Nazis and Colonel Clink is more accurate.
This is precisely the psychological antique that resides in the Korean psyche that I once mentioned. This tribalism is like a sleeping tiger because if it was awakened, the results would be potentially terrible and would entail suffering, at the very least.
#32. Well said. White men should know this very well.
Wasn’t World War I and World War II in Europe basically a giant tribal war, fueled by ultra, ultra, ultra nationalism?
I’m quite confident it was.
Thanks for the reminder.
Koreans, Korea, don’t fight China or Japan. Trade with them. Don’t kill’em. Koreans may never recover warring with them.
By the way, the Nazis regarded Asians, and all non-Europeans, as the lowest rung in the racial heirarchy, as “Untermenschen” literally “Under-human,” to be subject, along with homosexuals and the disabled, to eugenics policies, including compulsory sterilization - which makes the three legged crow Korean group officially idiots for dressing up in their uniforms.
The Nazis were pragmatic, however, and designated the Japanese as “honorary aryans” during the war, a great goal for the 3 legged crow group to work towards.
I want to address what Tom Coyner said, because I simply could not agree more! I teach at the biggest English academy in Gwangju, and I happen to teach a high level debate class. These kids are all very bright, well educated and from upper class families. Not long ago I asked for suggestions for debate topics, and the idea “kick all of the foreigners out of Korea” was pitched. Well, having studied comtemporary German history at the graduate level, I agreed it would be an interesting topic. Long story short, the negative team focused exclusively on economic reasons, as kicking all of the foreigners out, like me, would obviously have an adverse impact. The affirmative team’s contention that miscegenation was a major issue went totally unchallenged. So I asked, are you all really worried that if native Koreans ‘breed’ with foreigners, the quality and purity of the ‘Korean race’ will be negatively affected? All agreed. So I asked one more, and in my opinion far more telling question: should there be anti-miscegenation laws? All agreed. Sound familiar? Hail Victory indeed.
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