New Media’s (an Asian American publication) Kenneth Kim reports that a lot of Koreans in Korea (particularly netizens) are mad as hell with their Korean American ”brethren” regarding the whole U.S. beef debate.
Per the article:
Last week, Korean American community organizations across the United States held meetings to rebut the South Koreans’ protests over the safety of U.S. beef and to clarify misunderstandings. At a press conference in Los Angeles, the immigrant community leaders tried to assure South Korean journalists that U.S. beef is one of the safest in the world and that the spreading rumors in Korea about the dangers of mad cow disease from U.S. beef was baseless scaremongering.
(Emphasis mine)
More:
Proving its position as the most wired country in the world, Korean cyberspace has crackled with South Koreans’ disappointment towards the immigrants. They accuse Korean Americans for not standing up for Korea, or worse – of being a lapdog of the American government. One reader of JoongAng Ilbo, a major daily newspaper in South Korea, wrote in the comment section, “Korean Americans are those who would aim guns at us if Korea goes to war against the United States.”
(Emphasis mine) Pretty intense. And what would this entire conversation be without mentioning the Jews?
When the media in South Korea reported the immigrant response, there was a backlash against Korean Americans from the homeland. It’s similar to American Jews being attacked for criticizing Israel’s Palestinian policy.
Well, not exactly the example that I’d use, but okay.
80 Comments
The gyopos - everyone’s fifth column.
If only they could be coaxed out of their bunkers.
Anyway, gotta love the old standby delusion of the Koreans “going to war”…against anyone. At least not until they assume the position for the Chinese.
Seouldout,
FYI-
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young-Oak_Kim
“Baseless scaremongering” (actually it was based on the interests of the Korean beef sector) had its willing KA supporters stateside, too, including some houewives and a certain blogging Princeton student.
slim,
You obviously don’t know much about the Korean American community and… the “unbiased, indepth reporting” of the 한겨레신문 has obviously been successful in making you go bite on that red herring.
The Los Angeles Korean American Federation, which is quoted in that article as being pro-U.S. beef, is the largest of it’s kind out of many other branch Korean American Federations across the country. It’s the organization (along with it’s sister organization in NY) that sets up participants to when Korean presidents wants to make a speech to Korean Americans during their visits to the U.S. It’s essentially the group that American politicians go to when they want to set-up a fundraiser, etc. I won’t say that they speak for all KorAms, because they don’t (particularly younger, more Americanized KorAms). However, they do generally speak for the consensus of old, professional and business minded KorAms. They’ve been around for awhile and have real organizational infrastructure including general officer elections, by-laws, etc.
These fly-by-night housewife organizations? Have no idea who or what they are (and I’m sure I’m not the only gyopo that would agree) or even if they are on the payroll of the 한겨레신문…
I’d reckon over 90% of average, everyday Koreans or KAs, don’t give a shit about the beef issue.
I’d say that 95% of Koreans and 80% of 1st to 1.5 generation KAs at least have some sort of opinion on the matter.
The kind of apathy you advocate is probably more prevalent with 2nd generation KAs.
“These fly-by-night housewife organizations? Have no idea who or what they are (and I’m sure I’m not the only gyopo that would agree) or even if they are on the payroll of the 한겨레신문…”
I asked that question the very first day that article was posted here. Noone has answered it.
“korean american” means having U.S. citizenship. therefore, they would merely be holding up their contractual obligations as stated in their oath of allegiance:
Sounds like a lot of hot air about nothing, same with this ad hoc “housewives group”. The allusion to Korean-Americans picking up guns was unwise on a couple of levels, however.
@5. I was merely noted that they existed and said nothing about their numbers.
Deluded Koreans.. If Korea went to “War” with America, there would be a big bang and then silence. Fucking Alderaan would be more active.
Please, please, please can we pull the troops out and kill the FTA? Slap reciprocal duties on garbage Korean “goods” and let the little dump fail.
read they don’t give a hoot about ignorant protesters or crackling nutizens.
from today’s WSJ:
Yeah,
That’s because dog meat isn’t regulated, because regulating it means that it’s actually a sizeable industry, which the Korean government doesn’t want to admit.
On other news, my mom said that the Korean newspapers are reporting that Korean chicken farmers are selling bird flu infected chicken (and reporting them as “destroyed”) to farms 30 or so miles away, so the bird flu is spreading faster then it should…
“THAN”, by god, “THAN”!
Regulating it means it not only exists but is officially sanctioned, which invites criticism of Korea as backwards and images of the country as barbaric for allowing the consumption of dogs.
The Brigitte Bardots of the world would never stop with the picketing and the whinging, dragging down Korea’s rep the whole time like Clinton campaigning against Obama.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/422338.stm
and also from today’s WSJ:
i’m guessing korean americans know exactly how significant this deal is.
WSJ
Keep America Open to Trade
By CARLOS M. GUTIERREZ and ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER
May 12, 2008; Page A15
“KA supporters stateside, too, including some houewives and a certain blogging Princeton student.”
May I ask who this blogging Princeton student is?
I’m a Korea-American.. and had a tasty cut of American Prime Rib the other week =9
If push came to shove, I’m an American citizen first.
But South Korea should remember this, it is not the United States that would push South Korea away. America views South Korea and Japan as close allies and friends.
It’d only be a crazy commie bastard like former President Roh Moo-Hyun that would ruin friendship w/ America. Lee Myung-Bak should lock up all the commie South-Koreans.. or better yet send them to North Korea.
# 19,
So others could spam the site?…
I got my mother’s opinion on this and she thinks it’s basically rich Koreans holding down poor Koreans. She said that only the rich ones can afford to eat the expensive Korean beef (is it really $25/lb vs $2/lb?), while poor people eat mostly pork and other foods. She also thinks the Koreans protesting are idiots.
North Korea against U.S. beef exports to South Korea:
http://tongilkorea.net/2008/05.....o-s-korea/
This KCNA site and its comments are trippy.
May the Buddha heals these people.
#5, These Korean American Federations are true lapdog of Korean Gov. along with PyoungTong (평통:민주평화통일자문위원회The Advisory on Democratic Peaceful Unification),they do change their colors depends Chungwadae’s color. It is known that some of General officer or president enjoying same status as an national assemblyman or a provincial governor when they visit Korea.
The idiocy knows no end.
Most Korean nationals seem to hate everyone.
If it isn’t the US, it’s Japan. If it’s not the Chinese, it’s foreign men and/or English teachers (not the good looking white girls of course). If it isn’t one of those groups, it’s Gyopos.
When are these better than everyone else, enlightened people going to stop using the whole “victim thing” as an excuse for racism and discrimination? I believe they never will. Good luck with it all Korea!
By-the-way, thanks Korea! This story is something else I can print off and/or email to those thinking of coming here.
Good job Korea!!
What is this supposed “backlash against Korean Americans from the homeland” stuff? Is this real? Is it a pure fabrication of the media?
Likewise, I’ve heard of Korean claims that there was anti-Korean sentiment and even actions in the States in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings. But from what I understand there were no backlashes whatsoever.
What’s the truth? Does the SK media just fictionalize? Is this the result of OhMyNews?
#22,
She isn’t the only one who thinks that way. One of my students, a guy that keeps quiet for most of the class in spite of the fact that he has a good grasp of English (he’s a bit of an intellectual, not to keen on the platitudes that the rest of the class wants to discuss), said exactly the same thing when I brought up the subject of mad cow disease in class.
@27 - Rather thinly sourced at NAM. It would be useful to hear if any of our KA correspondents here are getting any real noise on this.
“Korean cyberspace has crackled with South Koreans’ disappointment towards the immigrants. They accuse Korean Americans for not standing up for Korea, or worse – of being a lapdog of the American government. One reader of JoongAng Ilbo, a major daily newspaper in South Korea, wrote in the comment section, “Korean Americans are those who would aim guns at us if Korea goes to war against the United States.”
yes.
The standard is not so much Is it true? as Is it Truthy? Truthiness is a key determinant of Koreans’ views and attitudes toward the United States. Factiness is a peripheral concern. This is what you would have in the US if the primary opinion leaders were Huffington Post, Daily Kos, and firedoglake.
#27,
All media fictionalizes, but yeah, the Korean media is pretty bad at it. You should have been here in 97-98. Every second ‘word’ out of the mouths of reporters was ‘IMF’. I guess it worked because an awful lot of people still think that the IMF caused the Korean economy to go tits up (not to say that the IMF doesn’t protect the vested interests of its member countries).
# 22,
My mother (who, incidently is a house wife, duh) said pretty much the same thing.
Then again, she is from a generation where seperation from rich and poor was much more pronounced.
# 25,
It’s true that the KA LA Federation does have members that later run for office in South Korea, however, I don’t think any of the current officers are National Assembly members.
It was that they feared there might be a backlash coming like in 1992 when white cops were acquitted of beating a black motorist and a lot of Korean stores got attacked.
http://www.iht.com/articles/20.....oreans.php
And the Korean media really does suck.
Hardly surprising that this would come up. It is pretty much forbidden to have an opposing opinion on issues of national pride etc.
Just ask the footie commentator or the reporter who called the molotov cocktail wielding students shameful.
It is no wonder the media sucks. If they try not to suck, they get fired due to nutizen backlash.
I tried finding pictures of Prominent Korean Koreans in the United States at a Macdonald’s or Burger King. I did not succeed. It would be cool posting pictures of “rich and famous” Korean’s chowing down on beef in the US, and then trying to contact them for comment. hah
I hope all those Korean Korean kids in the US studying to be rich and famous SKY school alumni are enjoying their sloppy joes!
I never fail to be impressed at how you can work in an anti-liberal whine into almost any thread.
Judge Judy, it seems you are preoccupied with naturalized Korean Americans and forget Korean Americans born between Korean citizens on the soil of America.
These babies get US citizenship without pledging that oath.
As long as US maintains jus soli, there are US citizens who are more faithful to foreign countries.
@40 there is another law that covers this then. Treason committed by US Citizens, (sarcasm on)whether they were forced to take the oath Judy refers to above, or whether they are citizens because an unfortunate birth in the USA (sarcasm off), is punishable by death. These poor people just can’t win.
#35 No, I mean they do get treatments like national assemblyman start from VIP entrance in Incheon airport…In return, whenever there’s politician or ruling party member visit to LA or NY they get welcome party and treatments from these KorAm member.
You’re welcome! Did I mention that I’m rich, and handsome? Oops, gotcha — I just did.
I am talking about the personal identity and values.
Why should a person born on the soil of US between a foreign couple be faithful to the US government? What is the philosophy behind this? “There is a law” is not an answer I am seeking.
On the other hand, it is just natural that a baby inherits his/her parents’ citizenship. Since the parents give birth to the baby and raises the baby, s/he should be faithful to the country his/her parents belong.
Well, I know the debate between jus soli and jus sanguinis is long and indecisive.
For those who are naturalized, this is not an issue because their identities are solved. But for those Koreans who get US citizenship by birth, their identity is not solved yet, and it is just rude to tell them “you must be faithful to US government.”
KAs are, after all, Americans.
If Koreans attack the US, KA will kill any Hanguk as GermanAmerican have killed Gerries and ItalianAmericans have killed Italians during WWII, let alone young Nisei who “volunteer” to kill Japs.
KAs are Americans. We joined the enterprise called America. This is where we work, live and enjoy.
We are not Hanguk any more. The earlier KAs get this through their heads, they will be better off. At least, they will be able to understand the second generation KAs.
America will truly become “International Enterprise” when Obama becomes the president of the United States of America.
KAs will be able to call this land “home”, as many minorities would.
#44 I’d have to disagree. I’m Korean-American and an American citizen, and I know where my loyalties lie. Much like the Japanese-American Nisei who fought against Imperial Japan for the US, despite their families being put into camps, my loyalties lie w/ America.
I believe that Korea’s interest lie w/ America’s and therefore don’t see there being a conflict of interest anyway, so the above is more hypothetical at this point.
Finally I would view myself as even more caring about South Korea’s strength and place in the world than Korean liberals who would have the country surrender to the communist North. And I hope that when Korea is one day unified, it realizes its interests still lie w/ being friends with American and hopefully Japan.
To Baduk, Obama is from the same leftist philosophy of racial grievance that the Korean liberals derive their anger from.
I am glad you got the American part right, but unfortunately Obama is no American.
I recommend you read Ron Paul’s Revolution.
I favor restricting birthright citizenship to children with at least one parent with citizenship or permanent residence. However, it is not only parents, but schools and communities that develop national identity. A child raised in the US will be culturally American regardless of the parents’ citizenship. A child born in the US to foreign parents and raised outside the US will not be.
Europe is the only place of significance where people died of eating beef.
Ironically, people are quoting European studies to discredit American beef.
Don’t look too much at American beef protests as localized to the Korean psych.
I think the European Union protested against importing American beef within the last 8 years, citing Mad Cow disease concerns, with underlying intents to save subsidized EU farmers.
It’s the same bull shit across the world.
If I’m not wrong, Japan pulled the same on US beef not too long ago.
Just because a US gyopo riding his Japanese zero, I mean his Toyota, and listening to his Ari-rang, I mean K-pop, says the US beef he eats is safe, doesn’t mean a Korean-Korean in Korea can’t pull the same shit that EU and Japan pulled on America, because of underlying intent to protect its own farmers. This is not unique to Korea. At all.
All liberals and commies should die.
Nationalism is for idiots. Look at any country, and you’ll find most of its enemies are internal. When Casius Clay refused to fight in Vietnam, he pointed out correctly that no Vietnamese person had ever called him a nigger.
Koreans treat each other like garbage. Why would a person risk his neck to protect such people? The common unifying thread is one of, which is the lesser evil. Koreans dislike foreigners more than they dislike each other. In such an environment the only way to create National unity is to invent imagined external enemies. It’s irrelevant whether a person is born in a country or is naturalised. What is needed are intelligent citizens. A learn by rote education system doesn’t encourage that.
“I favor restricting birthright citizenship to children with at least one parent with citizenship or permanent residence.”
Does that mean this person born to foreign parents will have to swear in after 5 years? Five years after the age of “consent”? 5 years after the age of 18?
wjk,
What is it with you and KAs driving Japanese cars?
You don’t even want to get into a discussion of the Asian financial crisis with 99% of the Korean population. “Truthiness” abounds but facts are elusive. It’s interesting that the well-educated native economists for the most part revere Stiglitz for his critique of the IMF’s methodology, but at the same time it’s very disconcerting that the same economists cannot clearly articulate what it was about Stiglitz’s critique that they agree with.
By the way, I changed my gravatar, and it shows up as the new gravatar while I’m typing but then keeps giving me my old noh-nothing-as-oompah-loompah gravatar. Is there possibly a gravatar cache on the server that may be keeping my old one?
Jeffrey Sachs, Economist at Harvard thinks that the IMF placed too many austere conditions on the bail out loan. Out of the affected countries (Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea) only South Korea has recovered fully.
This is probably the reason why the Asian countries want a regional lender of last resort, an alternative to the IMF.
http://afp.google.com/article/.....DXtHoFuWnA
# 27,
You have a point. Koreans, when not fighting foreign invaders (real or imagined) are busy fighting each other.
Well, sometimes Koreans fight both the invader and themselves at the same time (Imjin War prime example).
Sachs may be right. However, the Korean government used the IMF as a scape-goat to push reforms that they felt the nation needed but were otherwise politically impossible.
Anyways, the IMF responded to, not caused, the AFC.
speaking of scapegoats, here’s the latest…a working-level govt. official
http://news.naver.com/main/rea.....0001954833
I think he was trying to be ironic and give us a witty American example of the retarded knee-jerk reactions we are mocking the Koreans for.
I like the “truthiness” vs. “factiness” idea and wish I could see it developed further.
#48.
Even though I’m not an Obama supporter, please explain how he is not an American?
#51 I must agree in part…
I think Korean nationalism is a thinly veiled excuse for selfishness. Defining one’s self through opposition to that which is different is a lame excuse for ignorance and displays an inability to accept responsability for one’s own personal growth.
Thank goodness this is (or at least seems to me ) to be the dying vestige of the last generation.
Hard to blame a country whose history is one of foreign occupation.
Now if you will excuse me I have to check my hair and if it looks alright, think I’ll get a burger and fries.
day4night — Ask and ye shall receive:
Truthy: George Bush is a racist, and doesn’t care about black people.
Facty: George Bush has appointed more minority (and female) Americans to his own cabinet than any President in American history, including the “first black President”. George Bush has done more to help the poor in Africa — a place I’m told is full of blacks — than any President in American history.
The facts would seem to point in the direction other than the “truthy” direction, yet the truthiness of George Bush’s racism is well accepted.
I qualify as a Korean-American and I guess based on the netizens I am an American lapdog…oh wait…crap…I am an American military officer to boot…there…I have really done it now…not to mention that I give a very subtle hint in my own blog about why talking about this beef import thing is misguided…oh well, I guess my name would just have to be on the list of pro-American when the next generation of Koreans finally come out with it and brand me an anti-Korean traitor…like the current generation of Koreans did for the pro-Japanese list where they listed people like Former President Park Jung-Hee and composer Ahn Ick-Tae (sp?) — the person who composed the Korean national anthem. I would grant you that they may have been pro-Japanese during the occupation, but these same guys also contributed greatly to building Korea to where it is today. Oh well, what can I say…
Well, I guess based on some of these Korean netizens, I would be right up there with those Koreans who were deemed pro-Japanese during the Japanese colonial rule of Korea…not only do I qualify as a Korean-American, I am also an American military officer…
Oh well…
I just have to say to them… wake up and smell the reality that is around you. KORUS FTA is NOT about the beef…
@44: That sort of thinking was what got many of your co-ethnics interned.
# 67,
Are you talking about executive order 9066?
It was racist paranoia that created that, not any real incidents of Japanese Americans being loyal to Japan. Case in point, the few incidents of JAs actually spying for Japan were all in the Hawaiian islands, never in the continental U.S. But… all the interned JAs were in the continential U.S. and not the Hawaiian islands. They were just too important to the economy there.
Personally, I have a problem with sending American citizens to concentration camps without due process, don’t you?
Yes, I do. Notice I didn’t say it was justified.
Read what he wrote: he said that children born in America of immigrant parents should retain loyalty to their parents’ homeland.
I wrote that that type of thinking was used as a justification of/rationalization for the internment of U.S. citizens of Japanese descent. Implicitly, I was calling into question his way of thinking by noting what it could lead to.
Is that clear enough for you now?
Ah, thanks for the clarification.
Fair enough–that’s something I would not want to be seen as supporting.
Nah, sorry for the misunderstanding.
OK Brendon so would you go so far as to say that empiricism as developed especially during the Enlightenment (Hume, for example) has not really penetrated Korean culture beyond the hard sciences? Because that’s my impression.
dogbert, do you think people have the right to dissent to their own government or country? If they do have such rights, the government cannot detain such dissenters, even if not detaining them leads to collapse of the country. I find Americans have a tendency to put national security above human rights, and that bothers me a lot.
Nice article at Dong-A. Eni Faleomavaega, Democrat Congressman and chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia said,”I was shocked to learn that some Koreans attacked Korean Americans for siding with the U.S. exporters.”
If he knew something about Korean history, then he wouldn’t be so shocked. Koreans attack their kind all the time and have been doing it for centuries.
http://english.donga.com/srv/s.....8051443168
# 38,
Next time I’m at Hwarosarang, I’ll take pictures of their “wall of Famous Koreans enjoying our LA galbi” and post them up.
@74: there have always been limits on the right of dissent, and you are naïve if you think this is an absolute right any sovereign will protect at the expense of its own existence. Especially during wartime.
I’m actually torn on the issue. Security vs. Freedom. Hummm…
I would say that executive order 9066 interning Japanese Americans was excessive, but Lincoln declaring martial law and suspending the writ of habeas corpus in the border states probably saved said states from sliding into the confederacy.
It has to be done with extreme discretion because each time you do it you warp the constitution and set a precedent that can be followed by less scrupulous leaders.
Also, the Japanese-Americans who were interned (or at least most of them) were not even dissenters. Their only “crime” was to be born as ethnic Japanese.
This beef uproar reminds me of the IMF restrictions on South Korea around 2000. During that time, South Korean Nationals held equally distorted perspectives on the “evil” IMF and how the IMF was responsible for all their economic woes. I was there visiting at the time and listening in disbelief. “Because of the IMF” started any sentence about the economy. A few of my cousins and friends who watch international news and knew better and told me that the Koreans are told this crap everywhere they go, TV, school, friends. They can’t possibly blame themselves for the mess they were in. There is no point in trying to educate them. They want to believe that South Korea is unjustly being victimized by the IMF/UN.
It’s hopeless to try convincing them. It’s probably already permeated their language. Instead of “because of the IMF,” it might be “beware the beef.”