Brian Myers lecture for RAS tonight

Tonight Brian Myers will be giving a lecture titled "Red Herring: North Korea's Juche Myth" for the Royal Asiatic Society:

Foreign observers chuckle at the North Korean personality cult, but when it touts the centrality of Kim Il Sung’s Juche Thought, they see no reason for skepticism. Researchers at top American universities quote from Kim’s colonial-era Juche speeches, which were not “discovered” until the 1970s, as if they were actual historical documents. But Pyongyang-watchers share North Korean tour-guides' reluctance to explain Juche. The standard practice is to breeze through its trite maxims – “man is the master of all things,” etc – before jumping to the real-world policy-making they somehow “translate into.” Thin though it may be, however, outsiders’ knowledge of the humanist pseudo-doctrine is sufficient to function as a cheese-cloth through which they view the reality. An implacable xenophobia rooted in Japanese race-theory is thus misperceived as a philosophically-grounded state-nationalism or patriotism compatible with Marxism-Leninism. In this way the Juche fallacy sustains the misperception of North Korea -- one of the most race-obsessed, most highly militarized countries in world history -- as a last bastion of what the LA Times calls “undiluted communism.” Juche is, in short, the reddest of red herrings. In today’s lecture, Brian Myers will present a preview of his upcoming book, explaining how the regime launched the Juche myth in 1967, how it won the West, and how it continues to serve Pyongyang's interests.

The lecture will be held at 7:30 pm tonight (Tuesday) in the Residents' Lounge on the 2nd floor of the Somerset Palace in Seoul, which is behind Jogyesa Temple, and is 7,000 won for non-members and free for members.

Media responses to the boxing ring incident

The 1988 Seoul Olympics

Prologue 1: "Why can't Americans be Punished?"

Part 1:  The Seoul Olympics, 25 years later
Part 2:  The 1988 Olympics and Korean fears of AIDS
Part 3:  Americans and bad first impressions
Part 4:  Reptilian Style: The 'live-or-die general war' against Hollywood
Part 5:  An attack in a boxing ring
Part 6:  Media responses to the boxing ring incident
Part 7:  No more lion: US swimmers' 'prank' becomes 'diplomatic incident'
Part 8:  KAIST catches Big Ben
Part 9:  Hankyoreh interviews Korean witness to theft by swimmers
Part 10: Stop me if you've heard this one: Four GIs head to Itaewon in a taxi...
Part 11: Taxi-kicking US runner taken to Itaewon police box
Part 12: NBC uses the power of t-shirts to insult Korea... again
Part 13: Cultivating outrage toward America
Part 14: Politicians engage in damage control
Part 15: Heaven on Earth
Part 16: Hustler magazine tramples the purity of the Korean race 
Part 17: Stolen gold

Part 6: Media responses to the boxing ring incident

Following (and during) the attack on a New Zealand referee following a boxing match in which a Korean boxer lost, the media went to work. When the Korean boxer, Byun Jong-il, held a 67 minute sit-down protest, officials eventually turned off the lights and left him in darkness. Or at least, he would have been in darkness if NBC hadn't decided to turn a spotlight on him. As this post puts it, "As tactful and considerate as ever, NBC followed the entire protest, even using split screens to show the boxer in the ring during other events." Some westerners agreed that NBC went too far (for criticism of an NBC interview with one of the attackers, scroll right here). Others thought it was the whole point of television to tell such a story. Koreans, on the other hand saw things differently, as Ian Baruma noted:

The Korean television cameras quickly averted their gaze, but NBC did not, rightly so: it was good TV. Why did the Korean security guard shed his blazer to indulge in some punching of his own? His honest answer was: "The Korean man, he win, so I pissed off." The immediate reaction in Korea was to blame the referee. "He was bribed by the Americans to get at us Koreans," was one comment I heard. But things clearly had got out of hand, and the papers called the rowdy behavior a national disgrace. "Referee number ten, Korean men number ten," was the opinion of my taxi driver, who had a more balanced view of the matter than many.

Recall what was in this this article:

During the news conference, one member of the South Korean media shouted at [Anwar Chowdhry, the president of the IABA], asking how the IABA felt about the "biased" officiating of Walker.

That same night, the president of the Korea Amateur Boxing Federation, Kim Seung-youn, offered his resignation and publicly apologized for the incident. But then, moments later, he placed much of the blame on Walker.

"As far as I know, the incident resulted from unfair refereeing," Kim said. "It was a sheer fraud. The referee violated the very ABCs of refereeing rules."

The Korea Herald, in an article subtitled “Yesterday’s controversy latest in a series of incidents,” which was clearly trying to normalize what happened, summarized the boxing controversies up to that point.

American middleweight Anthony Hembrick was disqualified for his failure to show up on time for his fight against Korean Ha Jong-ho Monday.

On the same day, the International Boxing Association overturned a loss suffered by Canadian featherweight Jamie Pagendam and forbade the referee who officiated the Canadian’s match Sunday from presiding over any further fights.

As for the boxing ‘ruckus,’ the Herald asserted that it was Keith Walker’s “incompetent officiating” that was the cause. “The referee was unfair. The Bulgarian committed many more fouls without having his points deducted,” Korean trainer Lee Hong-soo said.

Kim Tong-myong, a Korean boxing commentator, said the referee was apparently pressured by Jet Chev, Bulgarian chairman of the AIBA referee-jury commission, to officiate the fight in favour of Hristov.

“Chev has the authority to assign referees and judges to international tournaments,” Kim said. “Nobody dares displease him.”

Walker has been the nemesis of Korean boxing officials as he refereed Oh Kwang-soo’s controversial fight against American Michael Carbajal Wednesday [The day before]. The home fighter lost to the American on points.

“We were planning to appeal to the AIBA protest commission for the biased decision against Oh,” Korean coach Kim Seung-eun said. “We could not stand it any longer.”[…]

“It’s sheer fraud. The referee violated the very ABCs of the refereeing rules,” commentator Kim said.

The Yonhap News Agency quoted a Korean organizing official as saying, “I heard Mr. Chev telling the New Zealand referee just before the start of the fight “I know you are a very good referee.”

I guess people are always out to get Korea, aren't they? Even if, as was noted by Sports Illustrated, Walker was not the nemesis they were looking for:

The incident resulted from a case of mistaken identity. The Korean officials and fans thought that Walker was Theodoras Vidalis, a Greek who the day before had refereed a highly controversial 3-2 decision awarded to Michael Carbajal of the U.S. over Oh Kwang Soo of South Korea.

"Yesterday," said Lee Heung Soo, the team trainer, immediately after the Byun-Hristov melee, "when the referee was asked why he called so many fouls on Oh, he said, "Shut up. We'll get the Korean again next time.' This is the same referee."

That it wasn't the same referee is no reason not to engage in conspiracy theories, however. (In another article the trainer is quoted as saying the referee from the day before also threatened to kill him.) The next day the Chicago Tribune interviewed Koreans to see how they felt about it.

"They should have broken his neck," said Yu [Byung Pil], still upset 24 hours after the decision and the resulting melee in the ring that had shaken the Olympic boxing competition.

Yu, who watched the fight on the tiny portable television set inside the delivery truck he drives, is not alone in his assessment. Nor is he alone in understanding the 67-minute sitdown protest in the ring by Byun after the decision was announced.

"Byun Jong Il did the right thing. It is the Korean way to protest in dignified silence," said Chang Chae Mo, a noodle shop owner in Seoul`s downtown Myongdong district.[...]

"We can never trust foreigners to treat us fairly," said Chang, serving up a bowl of kuk soo chan gol (beef noodle soup) to one of several customers who were pouring over accounts of the fight in their Korean language newspapers. "It has always been that way."

"Yes," grunted another man sitting on a nearby stool. "It seems like our medals are being stolen from us even though these are our Olympic Games."

I would imagine there were lots of people who found the incident disturbing or embarrassing, and that the reporter was searching for angry people to spice up his report. The immediate reaction in the media, however - beyond blaming the referee - was to hang its head in shame. This article quotes the Hankook Ilbo's editorial:

"Unforgiveable is the extreme act by some South Korean boxing officials and coaches who by force turned one part of the Olympics into a melee. They spoiled the festival of the entire world, a feast we prepared by taxing our labor,"

The Korea Herald translated part of an editorial by the Chosun Ilbo:

Again, the referee wasn't fair. And despite the calls for reflection and assertions that the host felt ashamed, as is noted in the book Korea Witness, "the recriminations proved short lived and were quickly channeled into anger against he United States." This is, in fact incorrect. It should say that they were simultaneously channeled into anger against the US. The case in point would be the Donga Ilbo's coverage.

On page two was an Editorial titled: "Olympic Boxing Ring Mayhem," which opens with this paragraph:

An Olympic Games cannot be expected to be perfect, and at these Seoul Olympics as well unscrupulous things contrary to the spirit of sports and ethics are happening. A weightlifter has been stripped of his gold medal for taking drugs and in the pentathlon currently in progress participating, athletes have also been caught for taking drugs. There has also been no shortage of disputes over refereeing decisions. In particular, in the case of boxing, doubts have been raised over the fairness of referees at these games.

Again, note the attempt to normalize the event by inserting it in a chain of other events. And, of course, the refereeing isn't fair. The rest of the editorial is summarized in a translation by the Korea Herald:

Ah, yes: Korea wanted to show off its "moral and ethical supremacy" and its "noble aim in hosting the Olympiad" (which clearly wasn't to win as many medals as possible). Plus there's the assertion that Koreans should stop being so humble. Well, that message would be received with great enthusiasm, to be sure. But the thing is, while that not-so-contrite editorial by the Donga Ilbo was on page 2, on page 14 (opposite an article about the 'ruckus,' as well as an article about students protesting a Hustler article about the Olympics) was a column titled 'Olympics in the eyes of the world,' in which a summary of foreign reports on the boxing incident is given; the title and subtitles tell us all we need to know.

"The Boxing ring incident is the biggest stain on the Seoul Olympics"
The US and Japanese media have special reports [on this] as if they were waiting for this [to happen]
NBC even delayed transmission of an awards ceremony to broadcast from the [boxing ring]

To be sure, the Western media were not being so forgiving.



On Saturday Sept 24 Korean Olympic committee president Kim Chong-ha resigned, and was described in a Korea Herald article the next day.

Kim told the press yesterday morning he resigned because he wants to assume moral responsibility for the incident as the head of the host National Olympic Committee. […]

Kim blamed American and Japanese media for playing up the incident as if the peace of the Olympics had been breached.

They may have 'played it up' because it was unprecedented for the Olympics. If we remember, AIBA President Anwar Chowdhry said "It was the most disgraceful incident I have ever seen in boxing, and I have no words to defend it." It would appear the Korean media decided not only to forget Chowdhry ever uttered those words, but - we'll look at this later - the Korean Olympic team also went on to ignore the suspensions AIBA handed down.

A particularly critical look at the Korean boxing team appeared in the LA Times, which noted the following:

A Canadian boxing official, Jerry Shears, said that South Korean boxing officials have unreasonable expectations of their boxers.

"Basically, the Koreans are trying to develop a world-class boxing program without teaching their kids how to box properly," he said.

"And on top of that, the coaches in the South Korean federation simply don't understand the rule book. On Thursday, they were the only ones in the building who believed their boxer had somehow been cheated. I couldn't find anyone else who thought the decision was unfair."

It seems hard not to think that AIBA 'suspended' Walker (who had already left the country) simply to placate the Koreans. And, well, who could blame them, really?

As for not being able to find anyone who thought the decision was unfair, the Korean writer of one astonishing article seemed to have no trouble. On September 29, the Korea Herald published excerpts of an article titled ‘Let’s be a Calm, Unflinching Host of the Greatest Party for Reconciliation” by Dr. Lee Shi-hyung, which appeared in the Joongang Ilbo on September 27. In it he describes going to a boxing arena “for the first time in my life.”

While there I struck up conversations with quite a few foreigners. I wanted to sample how the foreigners felt about the whole hullabaloo. Their predominant reactions caught me quite by surprise.

Most of them felt that Koreans deserve a pat on the back for a job well done. An elderly gentleman practically covered with Olympics badges spoke excitedly, “I think Korean should have torn the arena apart. If that kind of outrageous refereeing had taken place in a hot-tempered country, people would have probably shot up the whole place.” He explained to me how crooked the referees and judges were by enumerating concrete examples.[…]

“From now on they will give a second thought before pulling a dirty deal like that. Look how quickly they disqualified the referee in question. They must have felt a needle-sharp pain going through their heart when Koreans erupted in anger over the verdict,” he said.

A youngster from Central America wearing a jogging outfit also voiced a view in a similar vein. He said Koreans did rightfully give them what they had deserved all along, adding that he truly envied the sheer guts displayed in the boxing ring assault.

In my opinion, Korea had put up with that sort of injustice long enough. Koreans actually did a service to amateur boxing by breaking the whole mess wide open,” he said.

Statements by other foreigners more or less struck a similar chord. They were not expressing their views merely to please me. All in all, they seemed to term the incident a “heroic deed” that once and for all cleaned away the atmosphere in which unfair refereeing was the order of the day. It took more than courage to challenge the seemingly impregnable bastion of amateur boxing.

Of course, there were a few who said the protest at the ring was a bit too long and Korea should have resorted to a more reasonable means to put forward their grievances. But the general sentiment prevailing among the foreigners I met was that Korea did well to unmask the sordid side of the international amateur boxing for its own good.

Then I discovered, to my great astonishment, that the whole mess didn’t end right there. The entire issue seemed to be revolving around the United States and its NBC-TV, which was brazen enough to brand the incident a “riot” in sharp contrast to the general mood looking at it as a “heroic deed.”

That's quite the jaw-dropping piece of creative writing. When faced with criticism for violating norms, simply retreat into an alternate reality in which your acts are in fact "heroic deeds."

Here are two opinion pieces from the Korea Times about the incident. The first, from October 5, is about how boxer Byun Jong-il was victimized by the referee (and perhaps by the Bulgarians):

Not a lot of nuance there. Another piece from September 30 has more of interest:

Note how NBC is "arrogant, biased and malicious" while the attack on a referee is "unfortunate". Despite this, he does get at one of the main causes for the anti-Americanism about to sweep the country:

"Of course, if we can, we like to see our young Korean athletes win many medals at the Games, but the most important thing what Korean wants is to have the proud Korea correctly appreciated by the world and many visiting friends. Biased and unfriendly views on Korea and Koreans of the past, was what we wanted to correct by means of hosting the Games. 

This, and other comments like it, deserve more attention (which they will get) but amid the sports conspiracy theories was the feeling that NBC - and thereby America itself - was trying its best to humiliate Korea during its big moment on the world stage - a feeling cultivated with great care and attention by the media, especially the Donga Ilbo. And from this point on, any action by an American (or by NBC) that could be construed as an insult to the Korean people would be focused on and portrayed that way by the media. And unfortunately for the US, its athletes, as well as NBC staffers, were going to give the Korean media plenty of material to work with.

Speaking of the Olympics

 A 79-year-old man in Tokyo who was evicted in 1964 to make way for the Olympic stadium will be evicted again to make way for the stadium for the 2020 Olympics.

I seem to remember a similar story of some farmer being evicted from Pyongtaek in 2006 to make way for the expansion of Camp Humphreys who had been evicted when Yongsan Garrison was built. Except that that would have made him 100 years old, since Yongsan was built by the Japanese in 1906. Oops.

An attack in a boxing ring

The 1988 Seoul Olympics

The 1988 Seoul Olympics

Prologue 1: "Why can't Americans be Punished?"

Part 1:  The Seoul Olympics, 25 years later
Part 2:  The 1988 Olympics and Korean fears of AIDS
Part 3:  Americans and bad first impressions
Part 4:  Reptilian Style: The 'live-or-die general war' against Hollywood
Part 5:  An attack in a boxing ring
Part 6:  Media responses to the boxing ring incident
Part 7:  No more lion: US swimmers' 'prank' becomes 'diplomatic incident'
Part 8:  KAIST catches Big Ben
Part 9:  Hankyoreh interviews Korean witness to theft by swimmers
Part 10: Stop me if you've heard this one: Four GIs head to Itaewon in a taxi...
Part 11: Taxi-kicking US runner taken to Itaewon police box
Part 12: NBC uses the power of t-shirts to insult Korea... again
Part 13: Cultivating outrage toward America
Part 14: Politicians engage in damage control
Part 15: Heaven on Earth
Part 16: Hustler magazine tramples the purity of the Korean race 
Part 17: Stolen gold

Part 5: An attack in a boxing ring

On September 22, New Zealand referee Keith Walker penalized Korean boxer Byun Jong-il in a match against Bulgarian boxer Alexander Hristov, which caused the Korean boxer to lose based on points. The result can be seen below (mostly in Japanese):



A more uncut version, which features more of the match but no close-ups of the brawl (and may be KBS footage, since they didn't want to show what was happening), is here:



As this article notes,

According to interviews with Korean boxing officials, members of the IABA and security personnel, the ugly mood surrounding the fight actually began developing four years ago at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, when the South Koreans felt the judging of fights had been prejudicial toward the Americans.

When they departed the United States, several members of the team offered the same parting words: "Next time, we'll fight in our city."

But the frustration of the South Koreans didn't end when the Olympics began here last week. In fact, it increased - most notably when one of the national heroes, Oh Kwang-Soo, lost a controversial 3-2 decision to U.S. boxer Michael Carbajal.

This is commented on by Sports Illustrated:

The incident resulted from a case of mistaken identity. The Korean officials and fans thought that Walker was Theodoras Vidalis, a Greek who the day before had refereed a highly controversial 3-2 decision awarded to Michael Carbajal of the U.S. over Oh Kwang Soo of South Korea.

"Yesterday," said Lee Heung Soo, the team trainer, immediately after the Byun-Hristov melee, "when the referee was asked why he called so many fouls on Oh, he said, "Shut up. We'll get the Korean again next time.' This is the same referee."

It wasn't. No matter. The fires were lit, and when Walker repeatedly cautioned Byun for leading with his head and deducted a point in each of the first two rounds, tempers flared. During the second round Kim Sung Eun, the Korean coach, climbed onto the ring apron to loudly berate Walker. Byun could have been disqualified on the spot for Kim's action; instead. Walker sent Kim back to his position on the floor, and the bout resumed.

When the decision was announced, Lee, the trainer, was the first man to storm into the ring. Others followed. One man whipped off his yellow jacket, which identified him as an Olympic security man, and began swinging wildly at Walker, who did little more than retreat. A plastic water bottle and two chairs flew into the ring.

On the floor, another of the yellow-jackets ripped the scoring sheets from the hands of Emil Zhechev, a Bulgarian and the president of the Referee Committee of the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA), and shredded them. Still not satisfied, the same Korean official picked up a Ping-Pong ball container used for randomly selecting officials for bouts and tried to beat Zhechev over the head with it. Stan Hamilton, an American boxing judge and referee, blocked the blow and suffered a badly cut hand.

As the ring filled with attackers, other referees climbed through the ropes to protect Walker. The bravest of those was Osvaldo Rafael Bisball, a Puerto Rican of slight build who placed himself between Walker—now cowering in a corner—and the angry swarm. "He's my compadre," said Bisball, shrugging off any suggestion of heroics. "I had to help him."

One Korean official in a gray suit leapt into the ring and, gesturing with his arms, seemed to be urging spectators to join the attack. Fortunately the fans were more dismayed by the violence of their countrymen than they were by Byun's defeat. "I feel dirty," one teary-eyed Korean onlooker said through an equally upset translator after police had led the trembling Walker from the ring.[...]

But before Walker could leave the arena, another security official let loose a vicious taekwondo kick at his head. The kick missed, probably by intent, and smashed into a pipe, bending it.

This article continues:

Eyewitnesses said the security force didn't arrive for at least a full minute, even though it was taking place no more than a few feet away from some of them.

"Part of the problem we had with the incident was that our policemen did not know who were plainclothes men in the ring, and who weren't," [the security manager of the Chamshil Students' Gym, Kim Jong-Min] explained. "The plainclothes men we had in the stands didn't want to incite a riot by racing into the ring. They feared a total rampage."

Considering the circumstances, that was probably a good idea on their part. Mind you, several sources indicate that at least some of the security there were taking part. As the LA Times notes,

Within minutes, armed South Korean security men were stationed at every arena-level entrance, combing everyone with metal detectors. Attendance at the time of the riot was an estimated 3,500.

Walker was rescued from the ring and taken to a room off the arena floor. Jerry Shears of Canada, an official with the International Amateur Boxing Assn. (AIBA) said that Walker had told him he was going home.

"Walker wants to go home, he doesn't want to stay," Shears said. "It's impossible for him to stay in this environment."[...]

Walker, interviewed at the Seoul airport as he was about to board a plane for New Zealand, told NBC-TV he had reviewed the film of the bout and stood by his decision.

"I really don't believe I did a bad job," Walker said. He said he watched the replay while in police custody for his own protection.

Walker said he was shocked at the reaction of the crowd and the South Korean officials. He said that during the melee he was punched and kicked, liquid was thrown in his face, he had his hair pulled, and one man "nearly pulled my ear off."

Asked if he had been told to leave the country for his own safety, Walker said, "I told me to leave the country."

This article continues:

"It was a tense situation," said Walker. "I felt the crowd was inciting the Korean, and he thought he could get away with those sort of antics in the ring.

"I was hit many times, not so much in the face. It was not a very safe scene at all. . . . I didn't feel very safe among the police, I can assure you of that."

According to this article, "Within an hour of the incident, the New Zealand embassy here reported death threats directed at Walker." The LA Times continues:

Byun, apparently in protest of the decision, remained in the ring, alone, for 1 hour 7 minutes after the decision. Initially, he sat on the floor directly in front of the NBC cameras.

Later, he moved to a chair that had been brought to his corner. Two bouts were postponed while he sat there, and when the arena lights were turned off after the morning session, NBC put a spotlight on him.

Byun's sit-in was not a first. Another Korean boxer, Dong Kih Choh, did the same thing in 1964 at the Tokyo Olympics.

According to David Wallechinsky's "Complete Book of the Olympics," after 1 minute 6 seconds of the 1st round of his quarterfinal bout against Soviet boxer Stanislaw Sorokin, Dong was disqualified for holding his head too low.

The distraught Korean sat down in the middle of the ring and refused to leave, staying there for 51 minutes, until officials finally persuaded him to leave.

Here are a few photos of Dong and his 1964 sit-in protest:

The judges have left.

Korean supporters in Tokyo.

This article describes the immediate repercussions of the 'ruckus':

At an emergency session of the International Amateur Boxing Association [that] night, the board handed down a sweeping list of decisions designed to prevent a recurrence of the violence.

For their involvement in the incident that involved at least a dozen boxing officials, spectators and arena personnel - many of whom attacked referee Keith Walker in the ring after the decision - the board suspended indefinitely:

* Team trainer Lee Heung-Soo, who started the confrontation when he stormed the referee after the bout.

* Assistant coach of the Korean boxing team, Lee Han-Seung, for joining the fray.

* Boxer Byun Jong-Il, for remaining in the ring a total of 64 minutes after the bout to protest the 4-1 decision in favor of Bulgaria's Alexandar Hristov.

* Three other Korean boxing officials - including two members of the operations' staff [Yang Kang-il and Yu Jae-joon] - who were identified from videotapes of the two-minute disturbance.

* The referee, Walker, of New Zealand, for committing "a series of lapses" in the course of the bout.

The LA Times adds:

The International Amateur Boxing Assn. (AIBA from its French initials) announced the disqualifications and also rejected a Korean protest to take the victory away from Alexandar Hristov of Bulgaria.

"We are very sorry about what happened this morning," said AIBA President Anwar Chowdhry of Pakistan. "AIBA has no excuse to offer. It was the most disgraceful incident I have ever seen in boxing, and I have no words to defend it."

This article continues:

Anwar Chowdhry, the president of the IABA, said at a news conference attended by more than 500 media representatives from around the world late last night that he had "received assurances that no such incidents will be repeated in the future" before agreeing to permit the boxing tournament to continue.[...]

Perhaps the most surprising decision was the action taken against Walker, who most ring experts felt had called a fair fight. Chowdhry declined to specify why the referee was removed from the competition - in fact, Walker was planning to leave anyway - but he did say that the Protest Commission found "some mistakes" in Walker's handling of the bout.

And he apparently wasn't alone. Even while the South Koreans were expressing their embarrassment over the melee, many were not at all sympathetic toward Walker, who sustained only a few cuts and bruises in the altercation.

During the news conference, one member of the South Korean media shouted at Chowdhry, asking how the IABA felt about the "biased" officiating of Walker.

That same night, the president of the Korea Amateur Boxing Federation, Kim Seung-youn, offered his resignation and publicly apologized for the incident. But then, moments later, he placed much of the blame on Walker.

"As far as I know, the incident resulted from unfair refereeing," Kim said. "It was a sheer fraud. The referee violated the very ABCs of refereeing rules."

You can already note the anger and sense of victimization involved in this incident. But it was in fact this event - involving a Korean, a Bulgarian, and a Kiwi - which set off a wave of anti-Americanism in Korea. And all of that was related to the responses of both the US media - particularly NBC - and the Korean media to the incident.

As for another reason why the assault ruckus happened, according to this post,

it transpired that [Byun's] protest had equally to do with surprise as with disappointment. He had been secretly promised a medal by the South Korean authorities who had many shady dealings in rigging boxing. [...] (Seoul’s corruptions got an entire chapter in the go-to book on Olympic corruption, The New Lords of the Rings.)

We'll save the tale of a stolen boxing medal for another day.

Job broker busted for using foreign students as native speakers in after school programs and hagwons in Busan

It took me awhile to get around to this. On September 5, Yonhap broke the following story about busts in Busan:

Unqualified foreigners active as native speaking instructors in after school classes
  
Job brokers interviewed them on the street and even employed someone with a sex crime on their criminal record

(Busan - Yonhap News) Unqualified foreigners have been caught for working as native speaking English instructors in Busan elementary school after-school classes and private hagwons.

It's been revealed that a job broker indiscriminately hired foreign students not from English-speaking countries after 'street interviews,' took in fees and introduced them to schools and hagwons.

The international crimes division of the Busan police announced on September 5 that 12 unqualified native speaking English instructors and the 4 managers of after school programs who hired them had been booked without detention. Eight job brokers and private hagwon owners were also booked without detention.

Six foreign students including 37-year-old Algerian Sabri had worked since February last year until recently at 11 elementary schools in Busan and Gyeongsangnam-do in the after school programs as native speaking English instructors. The other six foreign students worked at private hagwons as English instructors.

Anyone wanting to work in Korea as native speaking English instructors must be from countries where English is the mother tongue and have a bachelor's degree. These seven countries are the US, UK, Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, but the unqualified instructors who were caught were students from places like Russia, Iran, Kenya, Cameroon and Algeria.

The unqualified instructor from Cameroon had, in 2011, sexually assaulted a woman in a bar in Busan, but worked openly in a hagwon as a native speaking instructor.

Native speaking instructor job broker Mr. Son (43) procured foreign students without native speaking instructor qualifications via so-called 'street interviews' and then introduced them to companies that operated after school programs and English hagwons.

The foreign students were recruited by approaching them in places like coffee shops around universities or via the internet, and he did not quibble over whether or not they were qualified.

By introducing fraudulent, unqualified instructors who didn't even have English skills or, of course, correct pronunciation, and receiving 30% of the tuition fees, police found that Mr. Son made 10 million won in undeserved profit.

International crime division head Jo Jung-hyeok said, "The unqualified English instructors who were caught taught elementary school students with the English they had learned before coming to Korea to study, but their ability wasn't even at the level of everyday practical English."

As well, he added that "The Office of Education is strict about native speaking instructor qualifications but due to the small number of people overseeing this and the serious shortage of native speaking instructors in schools, unqualified instructors are able to teach."

The police together with the Busan Office of Education will begin an investigation into the operators of after school programs.

Other media outlets joined in on the fun, especially YTN, which published three different articles. Some of the titles:

YTN: Cameroon and Iran-born 'native speaking teachers' of English?';
Gukje Sinmun: 'Unqualified native speaking instructor openly teaches classes in school';
KBS: ' Unqualified instructors hired after 'interview on street';
Asia News: 'Unqualified native speaking instructor with sex crime on criminal record teaches class'

Only the Busan Ilbo and NoCut News had titles which made clear brokers or hagwon bosses had been arrested.

Here's a graphic from Asia News explaining how the money flowed (another less colourful one is here):

One wonders how the scam was discovered. Did one of the teachers' Korean coworkers finally realize that their native speaker wasn't quite up to snuff? Or was it something else?

Reptilian Style: The 'live-or-die general war' against Hollywood

The 1988 Seoul Olympics

Prologue 1: "Why can't Americans be Punished?"

Part 1:  The Seoul Olympics, 25 years later
Part 2:  The 1988 Olympics and Korean fears of AIDS
Part 3:  Americans and bad first impressions
Part 4:  Reptilian Style: The 'live-or-die general war' against Hollywood
Part 5:  An attack in a boxing ring
Part 6:  Media responses to the boxing ring incident
Part 7:  No more lion: US swimmers' 'prank' becomes 'diplomatic incident'
Part 8:  KAIST catches Big Ben
Part 9:  Hankyoreh interviews Korean witness to theft by swimmers
Part 10: Stop me if you've heard this one: Four GIs head to Itaewon in a taxi...
Part 11: Taxi-kicking US runner taken to Itaewon police box
Part 12: NBC uses the power of t-shirts to insult Korea... again
Part 13: Cultivating outrage toward America
Part 14: Politicians engage in damage control
Part 15: Heaven on Earth
Part 16: Hustler magazine tramples the purity of the Korean race 
Part 17: Stolen gold

Part 4: Reptilian Style: The 'live-or-die general war' against Hollywood

It wasn't just the US military presence in Korea or fear of Americans bringing AIDS or the American team goofing off during the opening ceremony that created bad impressions of America; there was also the long standing issue of the US trying to rectify the trade imbalance between Korea and the US by liberalizing the Korean economy - opening it up to American products - that created friction between the two countries.
In early 1988, with the Olympics on the horizon, the US began a new set of negotiations with the ROK which, it was predicted would lead to anti-Americanism, especially in regard to the importation of American beef (an issue which has been around for a long time)...

... and the dropping of import duties on American cigarettes.

Cigarettes became the new cause of the left:

I could only think when I read the above articles that, "Wow, you kids really don't want to study, do you?"

Nonghyup would, in 1990, distribute a comic to elementary school kids to encourage them to spy on their parents to stop them from buying imported products, including cigarettes.

After explaining to the smokers that he's stomping a pack of foreign cigarettes because foreign cigarettes hurt Korean farmers and break their hearts by forcing them to leave their homes, the two smokers feel embarrassed and decide never to smoke foreign cigarettes again.

As this book chapter on the Korean film industry reveals, Korea's film market was also targeted by the US for liberalization:

In 1988, in order to maintain preferential trade status and probably to appear pro-American, the government of the newly elected president Roh Tae-woo (1988–1993) capitulated to MPEA demands, granting Hollywood distributors an opening that had been sealed to insulate Korea from external, mostly ideological, influences. MPL amendments reduced screen quota restrictions, and censorship measures limiting the number of films and film prints were removed. MPEA member companies could now open branch offices in Seoul and directly distribute Hollywood films. The floodgate for change had been pried open, and the MPEA surged forward with a deluge of films. Korean cinema was expanding from the outside in and the inside out. During president Roh’s administration the Screen Quota System [SQS] remained fortified under neo-liberal economic and cultural policies; Roh’s Ministry of Culture mandated that every cinema must screen domestic films for a minimum of 106 days a year, or 29 per cent of total screening days. Although the government had preserved the integrity of the SQS, US distributors now had greater access to Korean audiences – a hostile foray that would soon encounter aggressive and highly organized resistance.

In September 1988, shortly after UIP opened its direct-distribution office and immediately before the Seoul Olympic Games, hundreds of filmmakers, stars, cultural protection advocates, opposition political party members, academics and film students protested against the Hollywood majors’ penetration of Korea by marching in the Myongdong ‘peace district’ area of Seoul. This was the first of many well-organized events designed to lure the world’s attention to the fight to protect Korea’s film industry. One of the first directly distributed US films was Paramount’s Fatal Attraction (1987). Protestors picketed Seoul cinemas screening this violent story about adultery. Red signs screamed ‘Yankee, go home’ and ‘Down with American movies’, drawing a frenzy of media attention (Park and Segers 1988). Protests called for a boycott of Fatal Attraction and other directly distributed American films because they were seen as a cultural invasion and a threat to Korea’s film industry. Staunch supporters of the industry had the reasonable fear that US pictures would dominate the market: in 1985 only 30 foreign films were imported, while in 1988 the figure increased fivefold to 176. Of dire concern was the prospect of US companies sucking the creative cinematic livelihood and all profits out of Korea’s film industry.

The Korea Herald reported the following on September 17 - the day the Olympics opened:

Korean film circles are up in arms over the granting of screen time to United International Pictures.

According to the Motion Picture Producers Association of Korea, nine cinemas around the country struck deals to show foreign films exclusively supplied by UIP, the overseas distributor for Paramount, Universal, and MGM/UA.

The members of the association staged rallies yesterday at the Korea Theatre in Myongdong and the Shinyoung theatre in Shinchong-dong.

The protesters voiced strong objections against the direct distribution by UIP, arguing that the American penetration through the huge mobilization of funds will, for certain, destroy the poorly financed Korean film industry.

UIP has been keeping a low profile as public and industry concern about the American film ‘invasion’ has been widespread since the film market liberalization a couple of years ago.

The owners of cinemas have promised to give no play time to any UIP-supplied titled, according to a cinema owner. He said the ‘traitors’ would ‘suffer.’

‘We are going to intimidate the betrayers into nullifying the deals and our fight is a live-or-die general war,” stressed Lee Tae-won, president of the producers association in an interview with the Korea Herald.

After saying that they would try to get the offending threaters investigated and even shut down for tax evasion or violations of the screen law, the protesters asserted that

The focus of the protest, however, is not on the legal distribution of films by UIP, but on the offering of places to screen pictures. “We don’t object to UIP’s operation here, as is vested in the laws,” said Lee Nak-hoon, president of Hyundai Filco. “But we can reprimand the cinema for providing the Americans with a beachhead in Korea.”

In other words, "We don't want to stop you from eating, or anything like that, since you do have that right, but we'll intimidate anyone who sells you food in order to get them to stop. But we're not against you eating or anything." Pretty soon they drop all pretenses and begin acting like thugs, because, hey, the Korean middleman who contributes nothing more than his passport to a foreign venture is a sacred part of Korean culture, apparently.

Protest in front of the Korea Theater in Myongdong on September 16.

As reported by the Korea Herald on September 22, on September 19, directors also began holding protests, and were shocked to find out that UIP would release Fatal Attraction in Korean theaters willing to show it on September 24, a week after the Olympics started.

“UIP’s dealing with Korean theatres without overt consultations with Korean directors or manifestations through mass media clearly shows America has looked down on Korean cinema circuit, demonstrating a high-handed attitude to the disregard of the Korean people,” asserted director Kim Sung-soo.

“As for the quality of Korean films, we directors cannot be exonerated from public accusations, but UIP’s ‘sneaking’ infiltration is a fatal blow to our pride,” director Choi Young-chul said in a strong rebuke against the American distributor releasing “Fatal Attraction.”

"Down with American films!" shout directors at the Guild of Film Directors' office.

“Fatal Attraction’ is ‘fatal’ to Korean audiences,” say striking directors. The poster, framed in black ink, hangs on the Guild of Film Directors office wall.

As reported by the Korea Herald on September 25, the previous day – the day Fatal Attraction opened – about 300 people from the film industry protested in front of the Korea Theater in Myong-dong and as well as a smaller protest at the Shinyoung theatre in Shinchong-dong.

Protest in front of the Korea Theater in Myongdong on September 24.

It notes that the “protesters promised in advance not to resort to violent clashes with any party including “innocent” theatregoers.” This attitude would change by the end of the week.

On October 1, the Korea Times reported that

On Wednesday [Sept. 28], dozens of movie directors stormed into Shinyong Theatre, one of two theatres in Seoul showing “Fatal Attraction,” to stop the screening of the movie. The protesters drove out 30 spectators and wrote “Drive out Yankee movies” with spray cans on the screen and walls.

Yeah, y'know, I think 1936 just called, and it wants its brownshirts back.

Here's a photo from the Korea Herald from September 30 of the protests in front of the Shinyong Theatre in Sinchon on the 28th (the same day). Directors and screenwriters are quoted as shouting "Drive out American movies."

As the Hankyoreh reported on September 20, MPAA head Jack Valenti said "that threats have been received that “live snakes will be set loose” in theatres dealing directly with American film companies in order to surprise the audience and cause them to flee."

As the LA Times reported on October 11, this wasn't an empty threat, and things were far, far uglier than the Korean papers were letting on.

The other night, about 80 persons ran screaming out of a movie theater in Seoul at which "Fatal Attraction" was showing.

But it wasn't the suspense on the screen that horrified the movie fans. It was snakes in the theater.

An attempt to sabotage the showing of the Academy Award-winning film has developed into the latest in a series of emotional flare-ups between the United States and South Korea. As the first movie that a foreign company has imported here under a newly won right to distribute directly to theaters, the picture has become the target of what diplomats here call "a campaign of intimidation and violence."

Led by Korean producers-importers who have pocketed most of the profits from screenings of U.S. films to date, the campaign is taking its toll daily.

Raising a banner of an alleged need to protect Korean culture, the Korean middlemen have won support from directors, producers, film stars and even newspapers, which have refused advertising for the film. Two theaters in Pusan, one in Inchon and one in Kwangju, which had booked "Fatal Attraction," have backed down and are not screening it. And would-be patrons at eight theaters throughout the country that are showing it have been driven away in droves.

On Monday, one of the two theaters showing the film in Seoul said it will stop screenings on Thursday.

Patrons are "abused or taunted. People are afraid to go in," said Mike S. Pae, general manager of Universal International Pictures (Korea), importers of the film. Prospects for profits are "terrible," he added.

Protestors, led by Lee Tae Won, a major film distributor and president of the Korean Motion Picture Producers Assn., started staging sit-ins and rallies at the entrances of two Seoul theaters when the film opened during the Olympics. Ink was splattered on signs advertising the movie, and, on one occasion, demonstrators broke into a theater, painted the screen with graffiti, and lined up on stage, shouting slogans as the movie was being shown.

"Thugs," according to a diplomat here, who asked to have his identity kept secret, "attacked and beat up employees of one of the cinemas in Seoul and made threats of violence and arson" against owners of both Seoul theaters.

Then came the snakes.

Two days after the movie opened, eight nonpoisonous garden snakes were found in one Seoul theater. Two days after that, snakes were found in the women's restroom. At the other theater, snakes were let loose twice, the last time sending 80 patrons "running out of the theater in panic," Pae said.

That incident occurred during the last showing of the day, after demonstrators had gone home and about 480 persons had entered the theater. For most showings, the audience has not exceeded 40 persons, Pae said.

The protesters, he added, "are barbaric."

Police, who have detained some of the protesters but released all of them without filing charges, "have not been cooperative," Pae charged. [...]

The imbroglio marks the fourth time that an American trade dispute has stirred up a nationalistic furor here. Exports of Korean photo albums to the United States and imports of American beef and cigarettes were the focal points of earlier outbursts.

Already, the furor has turned into a new diplomatic issue.

Click the link to read the rest of the story. Worth reiterating is that this was all taking place during the Olympics, and things would get worse the next year, when poisonous snakes were let loose in one theater, along with four bottles of hydrochloric acid planted in the aisles.

As is later noted in the LA Times story, 'Except for the Economic Planning Board, the diplomat said, "everyone in the Korean government is unsympathetic."' This would be because by the time that story was written, an Olympics-inspired anti-American wave had washed over Korea. We'll look at the incident that opened the floodgates next.

Americans and bad first impressions

The 1988 Seoul Olympics

Prologue 1: "Why can't Americans be Punished?"

Part 1:  The Seoul Olympics, 25 years later
Part 2:  The 1988 Olympics and Korean fears of AIDS
Part 3:  Americans and bad first impressions
Part 4:  Reptilian Style: The 'live-or-die general war' against Hollywood
Part 5:  An attack in a boxing ring
Part 6:  Media responses to the boxing ring incident
Part 7:  No more lion: US swimmers' 'prank' becomes 'diplomatic incident'
Part 8:  KAIST catches Big Ben
Part 9:  Hankyoreh interviews Korean witness to theft by swimmers
Part 10: Stop me if you've heard this one: Four GIs head to Itaewon in a taxi...
Part 11: Taxi-kicking US runner taken to Itaewon police box
Part 12: NBC uses the power of t-shirts to insult Korea... again
Part 13: Cultivating outrage toward America
Part 14: Politicians engage in damage control
Part 15: Heaven on Earth
Part 16: Hustler magazine tramples the purity of the Korean race 
Part 17: Stolen gold

Part 3: Americans and bad first impressions

[Update]
Commenter Kkachi left a link to the full opening ceremony in which the Americans enter at 1:17:13. Now that I've seen it, I'm left scratching my head as to what the big deal was. I'll add screenshots below.

[Original post]

On September 17, the day the Olympics opened, the Hankyoreh published the following column:

One American athlete's arrogance and the US flag

Hwang Ji-woo, special Olympics correspondent

It's strange. For some time when I saw the US flag I suddenly felt afraid. The flag's 'stars and stripes' fly an image in my unconscious of a tussock moth with stripes and black spots.

He goes on to talk about a 'May 1980 syndrome' and how athletes come to Korea as if preparing for a world war. After saying that the foreigners in Seoul seem to see the Olympics not as a festival but as a war, he continues:

Our country's young women* who are embarrassed in front of foreigners asking directions, are not simply 'language impaired." It may be that this repulsion is the unloading of a post-Sinmi Yangyo historical group unconcious[ness]. Trailing behind the black cloak of the missionary who appears like a fool, like a crazed person wanting to be persecuted, comes the battleship cannon. Finally soldiers and diplomats come, businessmen and hoodlums come, and tourists come. Tourists are, so to speak, the missionaries who complete the domination of the discovered colony. This is because their 'shopping' is 'pillage' without bloodshed. Taxi drivers and merchants defend against pillage in which foreigners twist things and accuse them of overcharging.

Carl Lewis, who is vying for 4 track medals, came to Seoul. Though only a ruler's 'mercenary', he demanded 50 police to protect him as an 'emperor' at Kimpo Airport. Asking with distrust, 'Are you really cops?' and crudely saying 'God-damn,' his coarse, haughty attitude clearly betrayed the twisted racism among American black people, looking down on Asian people even more than white people do.

Athletes from Africa, where he should find his "roots"** say that "the black people are not free as long as Mandela is in prison." Carl Lewis, who cannot be compared to this, is a degenerate American.***

Korean people will despise the honor of the American flag and the strength and speed that arise from 'his black skin colored white.'

*처녀, literally 'virgins')
**Refers to the TV show 'Roots,' which was known in Korea.
***타락한 can be translated as corrupt, depraved, decadent, or degenerate.

That's quite the piece of writing. One has to appreciate the portrayal of American tourists as imperialist plunderers. It goes to show how critical some people were of the US prior to the Olympics, and the 'haughty attitude' of at least one arriving athlete and the actions of the American Olympic team at the opening ceremony helped to set the tone for the criticism that would follow. Of course, loutish behaviour by Americans in Korea hadn't really helped things in the days before the Olympics, and since those involved were children of USFK personnel, anti-American protesters were given another target. As Stars and Stripes reported on September 13:

Woman Assaulted Near Yongsan Will Not Miscarry

South Korean police said doctors have determined the 31-year-old pregnant Korean woman who police say was kicked and beaten by a pair of American teen-agers last week will not miscarry.

A Yongsan police spokesman said Saturday Cho Kyong-ok will be hospitalized about two weeks for treatment of injuries she received when she was attacked near the U.S. Army's Yongsan South Post.

Korean police arrested two youths aged 17 and 18, both the sons of U.S. Forces Korea personnel, on suspicion of attacking the woman. USFK and police spokesmen said the youths are in American custody while the incident is being investigated by both Korean and U.S. authorities.

Meanwhile, 40 to 50 Korean students from several Seoul universities demonstrated in front of the Hamilton Hotel in Itaewon for about 20 minutes Friday evening, demanding that the youths be turned over to Korean police.

Witnesses said there was no violence, but police took eight students into custody before the demonstrators were dispersed.

USFK said Korean police turned the two American youths over to American authorities under the ROK-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement. They are being made available to Korean authorities during the investigation, USFK said.

This incident was already on the minds of many who watched the Olympics opening ceremony and helped prime them to find further fault with Americans and America in general. As one columnist wrote,

[T]here was no ignoring the Americans as they marched in. More than 620 of them in all, they dressed in boring uniforms but wore an American attitude that set them apart from the other nations as surely as the turbans and dashikis marked the members of some delegations. Their easy stride -- not quite a swagger -- and self-confident smiles served notice that the Yanks had arrived.

And yes, some wore Mickey Mouse ears and carried signs like "Hi Mom, I'm here." The solemn high priests of the Olympics were not amused. They looked out upon the proceedings and they saw that they were bad.

As the New York Times reported,

Some wore Mickey Mouse ears, some held signs that said, ''Hi, Mom,'' and others scooted in and out of the procession so the NBC cameras could get a better view of them.

Yes, indeed, many of the American athletes had a good time in the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games last Saturday.

Too good a time, as far as the International Olympic Committee is concernd.

In a strongly worded letter to Evie Dennis, the United States team's chief of mission, an I.O.C. official said that Juan Antonio Samaranch, the I.O.C. president, and other members of the organization's executive board had found the Americans' behavior ''scandalous,'' and that their actions ''has given to the whole world a very bad impression of your delegation.''

Raymond Gafner, an I.O.C. member from Switzerland and the chief administrator of the I.O.C., also told Dennis that I.O.C. officials were especially disturbed that some of the signs held up by Americans included the NBC logo. NBC is televising the Olymics in the United States.

He concluded the letter by saying he hoped the deportment of the American delegation in the closing ceremonies Oct. 2 would be more appropriate.

Robert Helmick, the president of the United States Olympic Committee, said he disagreed with Gafner's interpretation. Helmick acknowledged that some American athletes might have gotten a little carried away, but, he said, ''Their behavior certainly was not scandalous.''

I've never been able to find video of the incident, and the only photos I could find were the two below, which don't really show much [Update - the video is linked above, and some screenshots are below]:

"Hi Mom, I'm here." "Hi Mom, send won."

 "NBC" "Peace on Earth" (and perhaps a Korean flag below 'NBC')

Some of the women move out of line to take photos of each other, and a few of the men dart around in addition to some holding the banners. I didn't see any Mickey Mouse ears.

The episode is mentioned in 'Let the games begin,' a chapter in the book Korea Witness:

Mike Breen, the president of the SFCC, said the show was tremendous. But the Americans were accused of lowering the tone and upsetting the host nation. During the traditional march-past of national Olympic teams into the Olympics stadium the US team broke ranks and ran amok, banged into other teams, jigging around and generally playing the fool.

"The US team marched in and behaved badly, carrying cards saying 'I Love You Mom' and such like," Breen recalled. "There was the Korean team, in their smart uniforms and in perfect order. It was their big moment in history, and the felt that the US had disrespected that."

Ian Baruma also noted reactions to the 'mass games' aspects of the opening ceremony:

I had lunch with a Korean government spokesman who did little else but talk about the crass attitudes of Americans. The American press, he said, had ignored the deep significance of the opening ceremony. They willfully refused to understand Korean culture. The Europeans, they were quite different. The Germans, especially: they understood the symbolic depth of the ceremony. Well, I thought with an element of spite (I must confess here that the Dutch defeat of Germany during the European soccer championship made me as happy as a Korean watching the Japanese go down): they would, wouldn't they.

The opening ceremony has also been remembered for its unintentional charring of doves, but it certainly wasn't mentioned in the Korean press at the time (the Korea Times called the opening ceremony the "closest thing to perfection").



As for the disordered marching of the American athletes, as it's put in Korea Witness, "The incident generated a ripple of anti-Americanism that had turned into a wave by the time the closing ceremony came around two weeks later."