Dae Ryeong Kim's articles

The Background of Ideological Division in Contemporary Korean Society

Korean People Movements against Anti-Americanism

 

A recent international news coverage on anti-Americanism in South Korea may illustrate that there can be difference between reality and what is reported. Was there really anti-American rally last December? There is a sense that the name “anti-American rally” was given by foreigners without seeing the other side. It was North Korean spies who organized the rally disguising themselves as the human rights activists. Those spies for psychological warfare are here not to steal information from South to North Korea, but to bring North Korean anti-Americanism to South. And they found their opportunities when two Korean girls died from an accident in which two GIs were involved on duty. But North Korean spies, who disguised themselves as the human rights activists, kept saying a lie that it was intentional crime by American soldiers.

It should be noted that North Korea instills anti-American sentiments in South Korea for its political interest. By doing this anti-American activity, the Northern Communist regime seeks to inflict harm on the Korean-U.S. alliance. Why has, then, the South Korean society been so much vulnerable to the attack of psychological warfare from North? The unique geo-political situation in the Korean peninsula may explain it.

For people in South Korea, North Korea has been a mystery always. The North Communist regime and the South free democracy can never be reconciled. The two states are in enmity, yet the two peoples are emotionally attached. The two Koreas have been taking two different directions since 1945. Yet, the two Koreas had shared the same heritage prior to 1945. For South Koreans, North Korea is the enemy state that can never be an eternal enemy. It is an enemy because it threatens security. Otherwise, it is a brother who can be forgiven. Yet, the grim reality is that the good-will intention from South is returned by bad-will from North. Being the prodigal son who still remains evil, North Korea is known, yet unknown country to people in South Korea.

In addition to these geo-political factor there are some sociological factors that anti-American activists have exploited to organize their rally. They include Internet, virtual reality, and compassion.

The first sociological factor to be considered is the Internet culture. The challenge of the Internet culture is that when it is used by evil ones like North Korean spies it makes possible for them to manipulate information for intentionally distorted communication. As the Internet generation, the Korean teenagers are also the generation for whom feeling is the big word. And when they come as a group, feeling becomes what determines action.

For earlier generations, there was no much confusion between true and false, even though they were less educated. But the new generation lives in the age of virtual reality. It is the age of information when one has every information. Yet, many seem to lack discernment. And this condition is what the North Korean spies exploit to instill anti-American sentiments among youngsters. Their psychological warfare is keep giving false information and it had visible results for the rally in last December.

The second sociological factor is virtual reality. The world of virtual reality is the world of speed. It is the world where it takes less than a second to get new information from the other corner of the world. The older generation was slower in action, yet deeper in thinking. But the opposite seems to be the case for the new generation. It is often feeling rather than reasoning that drives them to act. They have young energy and they want to do something. And they are often hungry for group action. Six months prior to the rally of December, the teenagers enjoyed great time to cheer World Cup games at the same site. So teenagers came again because they felt it was another cultural gathering.

The world of virtual reality is the world where group opinion shapes one’s action. The innovation of new technology has changed the way people are related by bring the web community. This is even truer with teenagers. And for them the opinion of the web community is a principle factor that shapes one’s opinion. This is another condition that the left-wing activists exploited for organizing anti-American rally. Anti-American activists are using Internet, the very technology from America, for their anti-American propaganda!

Another factor that needs to be consedered is compassion. It is ironical that the virtue of compassion gives chance to the wrong propaganda of anti-Americanism. This is what Suzanne Fields expresses in her article, “The demonstrators doth demonstrate too much,” she expresses: “The worldwide anti-war movement hasn't accomplished much, but it has made George Bush and not Saddam Hussein the villain in certain European precincts. The demonstrators, who might have attacked Franklin D. Roosevelt instead of Adolf Hitler two generations ago, are looking through the wrong end of their binoculars. They're appealing to abstract notions of compassion instead of real issues of humanity” (The Washington Times, March 3, 2003). And we ask, “Why are their such strange compassion for the enemy?”

Compassion is universally shared emotion that can be exploited by the Communists who organize anti-American rally or the anti-war campaign. They say, “We should have compassion for the smaller and weaker nation when the larger and stronger nation go to war against it.” There might be some genuine anti-war activists, but quite many are organized by the Communists or anti-American activists. And the trap is that people tend to buy the compassion logic without seeing the sight of who is threatening world peace. Once, bio-chemical weapon is at hand, Iraq is never a smaller country for terrorism. It will have immense power for which the world might no longer have a solution.

What happened in South Korea last December was something like that. The disguised compassion logic plays a role in shaping the public opinion. In our plural society and in this age of information, people have all sources of information. What happens is that there is a group of people who forgets who really the enemy of their nation is.

They do not say about our need to fight terrorism. All they speak about is that the smaller country deserves compassion. Yet, this simple logic has become a strong factor that shapes public opinion. This is one of the sociological factors that grow anti-war campaigns around the world. And the same sociological factor anti-American activists exploited to organize what appeared to be anti-American rally in Seoul, Korea last December.

This rally attracted international attention. But with its sudden eruption, the anti-American movements are on its way to decline. Of course, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il now pushes even more for psychological warfare in South Korea. But seeing how his spies deceived Korean teenagers to organize anti-American rally now Korean citizens take counter-action to crush up any anti-American activities. As the presence of North Korea spies once exposed from the rally of December, never again people will allow such anti-American rally happen in South Korea. And the sociological factors anti-American activists have exploited for their psychological warfare is being used by patriotic Koreans to fight anti-Americanism. And one visible form of the new Korean people movements against anti-Americanism is the rally of March 1, when nearly a half million of Koreans gathered together in front of Seoul's City Hall. Yes, whatever makes the headline of the international newspaper, people in South Korea are fiercely fighting the attack of anti-Americanism.

  © This article was written and posted in 2001.

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