Eccentric, you say?

by Robert Koehler on January 16, 2012

A Chinese man detained after throwing firebombs at Japan’s Embassy in Seoul as a protest over Tokyo’s wartime sexual enslavement of Asian women has shown eccentric behavior such as singing South Korea’s national anthem and cursing Japan in fluent Korean, officials said Monday.
[...]
While being detained at Seoul’s Jongno Police Station to face further interrogation, he cheered for South Korea, shouting “hurrah” at least twice in Korean and singing the country’s national anthem frequently, according to the officers there.

See more here.

{ 37 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Apodyopsis Gymnophoria January 16, 2012 at 2:46 pm: His grandmother was Korean, so I guess he is Kyopo and learnt Korean from his grandparents and maybe his parents.

He is eccentric in that he is in detention in a cheerful mood.

Does he think that Korea will recognize him as a hero and reward him?
2 Lliane January 16, 2012 at 3:49 pm: #1 : Well this could actually happen no ? We should ask the flag eater
3 wiessej January 16, 2012 at 4:08 pm: I guess “eccentric” could be defined as mentally ill, if one wants to stretch it.
4 wiessej January 16, 2012 at 4:13 pm: Oops…I mean to say:

I guess mentally ill could be defined as “eccentric”, if one wants to stretch it.
5 SomeguyinKorea January 16, 2012 at 4:50 pm: I empathize with his anger, but revenge is not the answer. Forgiveness and redemption go hand in hand. One rarely happens without the other.
6 Koreansentry January 16, 2012 at 4:59 pm: Actually his grand mother’s mother was ethnic Korean so he’s basically 100% Han Chinese, most Han Chinese have at least 10% Korean blood in them. This guy is simply crazy or he’s been paid by Beijing. He should be charged under terrorism law.
7 enomuseki January 16, 2012 at 5:56 pm: He committed a crime in foreign soil, he’s trying to buy back his innocence with ass kissing.
8 Brendon Carr January 16, 2012 at 7:50 pm: How on Earth can you say most Han Chinese have 10% Korean ancestry? That’s ridiculous. There are 800 million Han Chinese.
9 Arghaeri January 16, 2012 at 9:12 pm: More surely…
10 kuiwon January 17, 2012 at 12:02 am: #6 – I think he meant to say most Koreans have 10% Chinese ancestry. That would make more sense. There are a number of family clans in Korea whose progenitor immigrated from China. You can find the complete (at least I think it is complete) listing here: http://www.surname.info/2080-0248/naturalize.htm
11 WangKon936 January 17, 2012 at 1:18 am: I would have to say that 30% of “Han” Chinese probably have North Asian roots of people who had once spoken Tungustic or Altaic meaning probably a mix of Jurchen/Manchu, Xianbei, Xiongnu and other Manchurian, Turkic and Mongolic peoples, some of them including Korean or proto-Korean groups. However, it is probably impossible to determine just how “Koreanic” the Han Chinese are. One thing is certain… although the Chinese want the concept of “Han” to be singular in nature in more practical terms it is quite polyglot.
12 WangKon936 January 17, 2012 at 1:21 am: Brendon,

Back when there was more mixing between Koreanic and Sinic peoples (about the 2nd century A.D. or so), the population ratio was different. There were 8-10M Koreanic people and 50-60M Sinic people.
13 cm January 17, 2012 at 1:31 am: From #6:

우리나라의 외래 귀화(歸化) 성씨(姓氏)를 크게 나누면 중국계, 몽골계, 여진계, 위구르계, 아랍계, 베트남계, 일본계의 등으로 분류할 수 있다.

Chinese, Mongols, Manchus, Uighars, Arabs, Vietnamese, and Japanese.
14 kuiwon January 17, 2012 at 2:34 am: One thing is certain… although the Chinese want the concept of “Han” to be singular in nature in more practical terms it is quite polyglot.

I’m not sure whether this is even certain. Aren’t the 中共 (PRC) forwarding its own strain of multiculturalism?
15 WangKon936 January 17, 2012 at 3:24 am: “I’m not sure whether this is even certain. Aren’t the 中共 (PRC) forwarding its own strain of multiculturalism?”

Not really:

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/01/17/rise_of_the_hans
16 kuiwon January 17, 2012 at 5:27 am: #15 – I can’t find a more recent article, but the PRC has affirmative action: http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19970826&slug=2556773

#13 – You forgot 여진계 which refers to Jurchen (i.e,. Manchu).
17 Charles Tilly January 17, 2012 at 6:04 am: I guess “eccentric” could be defined as mentally ill, if one wants to stretch it.

No need to “stretch” anything. Just follow this simple rule:

Rich=Eccentric

Poor=Mentally Ill
18 WangKon936 January 17, 2012 at 6:47 am: Kuiwon,

I thought 여진계 was just a generic word for “northern (Manchurian) barbarian” rather than a specific ethnic group like the Jurchens/Manchus. Btw… not all Jurchens were barbarians. Jurchens started the Chinese Jin and Qing Dynasties.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jin_Dynasty_(1115%E2%80%931234)
19 kuiwon January 17, 2012 at 7:16 am: #18 – The word 여진(女眞) — I believe — is the transliteration for the word “Jurchen.” I do not know whether this is a racial term or a regional term. Before the founding of the Jin Dynasty (金), however, they were differentiated into two: 생여진(生女眞) referred those that lived outside the Khitan Liao dynasty (거란, 契丹); and 숙여진(熟女眞) referred to those that lived under the yoke of the Khitan.

As to whether they were barbarian (夷, 이) or civilized (華, 화 or 夏, 하) is another question. I would recommend reading http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hua-Yi_distinction and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinocentrism as a start. So, even if they did start the Jin dynasty, whether they are barbarian or not is another question.

After all, Koreans during the Chosun dynasty after the fall of the Ming considered the Qing barbarians. This legacy can be even seen in the Korean words used today. The character 胡 (호), which means “barbarian” and was used by Koreans to refer to the Qing, appears in the words: 호떡 “Chinese pancakes”; 호주머니 “pockets”; 호빵 “Chinese steamed buns.”
20 WangKon936 January 17, 2012 at 7:29 am: Yes, you are right. 여진 is just sino-Korean for 女眞, which is Jurchen. Your sino-Korean is clearly much better than mine.
21 wiessej January 17, 2012 at 7:30 am: Charles –

I think you have something there. When I was young there was an old man who wandered around town. He looked like a hobo. His hair was all matted from poor personal hygiene, and he actually appeared like you may have heard Howard Hughes did late in his life. We all knew him as Old Man Kreider, and he had been quite rich in the 1950′s-60′s. He had grown children who were pretty well off that were my parents’ age. I don’t know why he became the way he was…but yeah…he was looked upon as being eccentric. In all reality, he was probably mentally ill – but being harmless, there was no legal justification to commit him to a mental institution against his will.
22 Sonagi January 17, 2012 at 7:35 am: Conversations with Chinese friends and comments made in TV programs and on tours of Chinese historical sites gave me the impression that the Chinese, too, considered the Jurchen invaders to be barbarians. In fact, Chinese like to brag that Chinese culture successfully assimilated any foreign invaders it could not defeat, noting the near extinction of the Manchu language while other minority languages survive.
23 Sonagi January 17, 2012 at 7:52 am: Aren’t the 中共 (PRC) forwarding its own strain of multiculturalism?

Yes, they do in a folk village sort of way. Chinese national holidays often include ethnic dances, and minority delegates to the National People’s Congress wear photogenic ethnic costumes while their Han counterparts provide a modern contrast with suits and ties. No televised celebration of the Oct. 1 anniversary of the founding of the PRC would be complete without a young woman dressed in Tibetan clothes singing some ditty about Tibetans and Han being children of the same mother, China.
24 Apodyopsis Gymnophoria January 17, 2012 at 9:31 am: #19

The character 胡 (호), which means “barbarian” and was used by Koreans to refer to the Qing, appears in the words: 호떡 “Chinese pancakes”; 호주머니 “pockets”; 호빵 “Chinese steamed buns.”

so Australians are also Chinese barbarians? 호주 – I always thought it means head of the household. 호 ??
25 kuiwon January 17, 2012 at 11:13 am: #24 – No. The 호 in 호주 is 濠. The 호 for household is 戶.
26 Apodyopsis Gymnophoria January 17, 2012 at 11:58 am: OK, I don’t trust Korean translations anymore anyway.

For years I thought these – http://dok.do/OiFFx7

were sesame leafs (ggaennip, 깻잎) because that is how the Korean word is translated into English.

In Fact, they are the “perilla” leaf, which is not even closely related to sesame at all.

In Japan they are called shiso (紫蘇) which DOES translate to perilla.
27 WangKon936 January 17, 2012 at 12:38 pm: Yes, Sonagi. The Chinese idea of “multiculturalism” is a bit odd.
28 kuiwon January 17, 2012 at 1:47 pm: #22 – Random question. I recently saw the movie “War of the Arrows” (최종병기활) . Was the language spoken by actors portraying the invading Manchu Barbarians actually Manchurian? It didn’t sound Mandarin.
29 Sperwer January 17, 2012 at 2:10 pm: Yes, they do in a folk village sort of way.

I recently was at the Yunnan folk village in Kunming. It was the most pathetic of such ersatz simulacra that I have ever seen – and Yunnan is the province where the various ethnic minorities nearly outnumber the Han Chinese.
30 깊은 구멍 속에 January 17, 2012 at 2:35 pm: @26 – Actually the word is translated that way because it includes the sesame plant most people wouldn’t have a clew what a perilla is.

The Korean definition for 깻잎 says “들깻잎과 참깻잎을 통틀어 이르는 말. 반찬감이나 한약재로 쓰인다.” Which means it includes leaves from both 들깨 and 참깨. 들깨 is Perilla (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perilla) and 참깨 is Sesame (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedaliaceae) both plants are somewhat related as they fall in the order Lamiales.
31 깊은 구멍 속에 January 17, 2012 at 2:36 pm: @30 “and most people wouldn’t have a clue what a perilla is”
32 Q January 17, 2012 at 8:54 pm: This Japanese minister may look as much eccentric as the Chinese.

http://www.seoul.co.kr/news/newsView.php?id=20120117800067
33 Q January 17, 2012 at 9:11 pm: Kiwon,

Korean scholars in Chosun were possessed by the idea of Korea being little China (小中華). That’s a reason why Chosun was invaded by Manchus. Ethnically saying, Koreans are relatives of Mongolians and Manchurian. The founders of Jin (金) and Qing (靑) are Shilla royal family lineage, thus says ‘흠정만주원류고(欽定滿洲源流考)’, the official royal record of Qing dynasty.

Chosun and Jurchen are actually the same word (조선 = 쥬신).

단재는 ‘조선상고사’를 통해 우리 민족을 서술하면서 이 책을 직접 언급했다. 즉, ‘조선(朝鮮)’의 어원이 ‘조용한 아침의 나라’가 아니며 “‘만주원류고’에 조선의 원래 발음은 쥬신이고 그 뜻은 주신(珠申)의 소속 관경(管境)인데 관경의 뜻은 우리 배달민족이 살고 있는 온 누리”라고 밝혀 주신에서 숙신과 조선이 나왔다고 주장했다.

http://news.donga.com/3//20090125/8688501/1
34 Q January 17, 2012 at 10:12 pm: 女真酋長乃新羅人 “여진의 지도자는 신라인이다” (松漠記聞 송막기문, history record of Souther Song dynasty)

金則本我國平州之人, 稱我爲父母之國。”금나라의 근본은 우리나라 평주사람이다. 나(고려)를 일컬어 부모의 나라라했다.” (高麗史 고려사)

其初酋長本新羅人 여진의 초기지도자는 신라인이다. (金志 금지)

金之始祖諱函普，初從高麗來，年已六十餘矣 “금의 시조 함보는 처음에 고려에서왔을 때 60세였다.” (金史 금사)

The following passages are from 흠정만주원류고(欽定滿洲源流考)

因滿族自新羅 “만주족은 신라로부터 나와…”

新羅王金姓則金之遠派 “신라성씨 김이 금나라의 원류이다.”

金之始祖諱哈富(舊作函普)初從髙麗來 “금의 시조 함보는 처음에 고려로부터 왔다.”
35 PineForest January 17, 2012 at 11:41 pm: Any chance this guy was a VANK created and programmed femmebot who had a sex change?
36 WangKon936 January 18, 2012 at 1:37 am: kuiwon,

Apparently that language was Manchu.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Arrows

Look at “language” section.
37 Brand One Car January 18, 2012 at 7:17 am: I’m a hotshot lawyer and I drive a fancy car.

Korea rocks. Deal with it.