One of the most disturbing trends in anti-Americanism in Korea has been the
promotion of hate among elementary school students.
I did not notice this element in the
anti-US culture until around 2001, and I taught children in
Korea for half of my 4 years there (roughly 1996-2000). It
was not surprising to hear a young person from time to time say,
"I hate Japan!" Memories of the colonial rule from 1910 or
1905 to 1945 are still fresh, and there are many reminders of it
in pop culture and especially education. But, I had never
gotten the sense the kind of anti-US / USFK indoctrination
Koreans receive at university was being transferred to primary
and secondary school education as well.
This was being naive on my part.
Korea's teachers are produced at university, no?
But,
it seemed generally understood in Korean society that university
was the time for radicalism but such things were not appropriate
for pure-minded youth.
That is no longer the case.
And it was also naive not to
recognize that, historically speaking, movements like the fringe
pro-Pyongyang ones in South Korean society - did tend to target
youth as a means to effect the society as a whole long term.
This is what is going on today in Korea.
And thankfully, it is not without
its detractors.
A significant chunk of the Korean
people have been shocked at some of the propaganda aimed at
youth that sometimes goes on in the classroom: primarily the
classrooms of members of the rather anti-US Korea Teachers
Union. This is not an official Korean government
organization but is a member of the also highly anti-US umbrella
trade union.
To see how vile the message these
guys aim at the youth,
see this video KTU promoted as a means to give an
"alternative" interpretation of "globalization" just before the
APEC (an Asia regional economic group) met in Pusan in 2005.
It is a jaw dropper. The cynical, cold blooded use of
clips of the passenger planes slamming
into the World Trade Center with background music of
Louis Armstrong singing, "What a wonderful world" is truly
breath taking.
[Update July
2006 - The KTU has been
in the news again. There were several items that hit
the presses. One of them was a booklet distributed to its
members that contained material directly taken from a North
Korean textbook without crediting its source. These are
extreme views in Korean society. The "average" Korean
would not agree with these actions, but this union, its 90,000
members, and the inability of the society to effectively counter
them (having strong groups actively working to counter their
arguments) is a sign of the general trend that has produced the
KTU. The KTU might represent the fringe, but they are not
dinasaurs. They are no fading away.]
But, again, such things have brought
a strong - but far from overwhelming - reaction by Korea's
conservative grounds and a good number of parents.
The fact that some Koreans and some in the media have recognized the vile nature
of such brain-washing of hate for a nation is encouraging ----
but it is crucial to understand the organized nature of what is clearly a
strategy by the anti-US elements.
I have already devoted a couple of pages in the previous newsletters
to it.
Teaching Hate
Teaching Hate II
Here we can see some of the details as told by the Korean press.
Anti-War Workers, Teachers Make Threats
On Tuesday, the Federation of Korean Trade Unions said that if the National
Assembly endorses the bill to dispatch troops, the federation would accuse those who supported it of
being war criminals and try to get them defeated in the next election. If troops are sent, the federation said,
it will try to get President Roh Moo-hyun impeached and wage a full strike.
(Choson Ilbo 3-26-2003)
(click image below to go to
the union's English webpages)
The first backlash against KTU came after a neutral
news story. The news thought it was worth showing the national pride
elementary students were showing during one of the larger spikes in anti-US
activity - with a spike being generally more and more of Average Korean Society
focusing on core anti-US issues the radical groups try to push 365 days a year.
The report was about 3 middle school girls whose teacher proudly displayed them
in art class --- pricking their finger and writing out anti-US slogans - just
like they had witnessed the radical anti-US civic group leaders due at protests.
(This style of protest is used on other issues unrelated to USFK or the US in
Korea too). Although the teacher, and apparently the news org who first
reported it, thought it was an example of good civic pride, viewers were not
thrilled to see such strong geopolitical claptrap being encouraged among the
youth.
Then came revelations about a highly anti-American
"lesson plan" - that contained many, many pages - located on the KTU website and
distributed to its several tens of thousands of members. The blatant
nature of the propaganda value of the "teaching" material also (thankfully)
created a backlash, but --- it found some sort of favor with President Roh
Mun-Hyun. He criticized the plan intially, but then changed his mind after
discussing it with his base of support - the one that carries as part of its
platform a healthy dose of "bad America" and "USFK cancer."
Roh told the press the Union was merely anti-war,
not anti-American.
"There is some exaggeration about the anti-Americanism class. In the
process, people got it all wrong," he said.
The Education Ministry briefed the president that the class materials
used by the teachers` organization were likely to trigger anti-American sentiment among students.
Nonetheless, President Roh backed down and directed that the matter not be considered any longer. (Donga-Ilbo
4-30-2003)
I have
translated one of the "questions" in one of the lesson plans used in
elementary school for you to see how non-anti-American is
the group.
Teachers’ war propaganda
Teaching material provided by the Unification
Committee of the teachers union says: “The current Iraq war is
one-sided massacre without cause
at the minimum level.”
It further says: “The blood Iraqis bleed
today heralds the death of Korean people tomorrow.
This war is a prelude to a worldwide war
and perhaps a step toward a war on the Korean Peninsula.”
This means that they do not hesitate to bully students who do not share
their ideology. This is hardly an education. This is an act of ideological indoctrination with the
intention of making students slaves of certain political thought.
The material also carries wretched photos of children victimized during
the Gulf War and an article on the
Nogun-ri massacre during
the Korean War.(3-28-2003)
Anti-War Teaching Material Sparks Controversy
"There is
no such person but fools
who believe the reason U.S. President George W. Bush gave for the war against Iraq. Then, why do you think the United States
decided to declare war against the Middle Eastern country?"
The choices for the answer to the question are as follows:
A: Because the U.S. wants to extort oil from Iraq.
B: Because the U.S. is worried the European Union may join forces to
demand more equal status from the country.
C: Because the U.S. wants to sell technology-based arms to other
countries.
D: Because the U.S. want to protect the world
peace by stripping Saddam Hussein of the reign.
The answer is D.
I have seen the lesson. The
purpose of
these survey questions are to pick the answer that doesn't fit and is incorrect. It is the same as
the sample question
I translated on another page on this site.
Here is another example.
Q: What action should we not take in connection
with the war in Iraq?
A: Attend anti-war candlelight protests.
B: Wear anti-war badges.
C: Participate in signature-collection drives.
D: Watch CNN.
The answer is D again.
Each question has five to eight points. Those who score 100 are
considered to love peace, the country and its people.
Those who score 80-89 points
are required to
make more efforts to love peace....and those who get less than 80 points
are
regarded as pseudo-Koreans who have the spirit of Americans,
according to the evaluation standard the association has provided.
The teachers' association, with tens of thousands of members nationwide,
has opposed the Iraqi war and publicly denounced the United States for raising tension on the Korean
peninsula. Korea Times 3-28-2003
