Anti-American sentiment in Korea

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Anti-Americanism in Korea began with the earliest contact between the two nations and continued after the division of Korea. In both North Korea and South Korea, anti-Americanism after the Korean War has focused on the presence and behavior of American military personnel (USFK), aggravated especially by high-profile accidents or crimes by U.S. servicemembers, with various crimes including rape, assault among others. One of the most famous incidents was the road death of two 13-year-old girls as a convoy passed their village in 2002.^[1] The on-going U.S. military presence in South Korea, especially at Yongsan Garrison (on a base previously used by the Imperial Japanese Army from 1910-1945) in central Seoul, remains a contentious issue.

While protests have arisen over specific incidents, they are often reflective of deeper historical resentments. Robert Hathaway, director of the Wilson Center's Asia program, suggests: "the growth of anti-American sentiment in both Japan and South Korea must be seen not simply as a response to American policies and actions, but as reflective of deeper domestic trends and developments within these Asian countries."^[2] Korean anti-Americanism after the war was fueled by American occupation and support for authoritarian rule, a fact still evident during the country's democratic transition in the 1980s.^[3] Speaking to the Wilson Center, Katherine Moon notes that while the majority of South Koreans support the American alliance "anti-Americanism also represents the collective venting of accumulated grievances that in many instances have lain hidden for decades."^[2]

Contents 1 No Gun Ri Massacre 2 Yun Geum-i Murder Incident 3 Highway 56 Accident 4 Apolo Ohno 2002 Winter Olympics controversy 5 In popular culture 5.1 The Host 5.2 Fucking USA 6 US beef imports in South Korea 7 References 8 See also 9 External links

[edit] No Gun Ri Massacre

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No Gun Ri massacre was a massacre during the Korean War in which between eight and about 150 South Korean civilians were killed by soldiers of the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment between 1950-07-26 and 1950-07-29 near the village of No Gun Ri. This incident gained widespread attention when the Associated Press published a series of articles in 1999 that subsequently won the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting.^[4] The village is located in Hwanggan-myeon, Yeongdong County, Chungcheongbuk-do, in central South Korea. The 1999 Associated Press articles alleged that refugees at No Gun Ri were strafed from the air and machined gunned at close range by U.S. soldiers under direction of military policy. The AP reporting was partially based on a falsified firsthand account by Edward Daily.^[4] Army records suggest that Daily was never a machine gunner and was not present at No Gun Ri.^[5] The AP later corrected the false Daily claim and other details of the No Gun Ri articles. In 2001, the U.S. military responded to the AP account with a report that included detailed aerial photographs taken on August 6, 1950 and September 19, 1950.^[6]

[edit] Yun Geum-i Murder Incident

This section requires expansion.

A U.S. Army Soldier named Kenneth Lee Markle murdered a prostitute Yun Geum-i (윤금이) in 1992. This incident led to the South Korean public demanding a revision of the Status of Forces Agreement in South Korea.

IN DETAIL: At 1:00 AM, Oct. 28 1992, Yun Geum-i, who was 26 then and worked at a club near the US Army base in Dongducheon, South Korea, was murdered.
When her house lord found her dead at 16:30 of the day, she had been naked. Two bottles of beer were stuck inside her uterus and one bottle of coke was hung there. And an umbrella was inserted 27 cm along inside her anus up to the rectum. The finger print on the beer bottles helped find the murderer.
Private Kenneth Lee Markle, 20 at the time, who served in the 2nd Division, US Army beat her head and body to death with the bottles, putting them into the dying woman. Bizarrely, the whole of her body showed severe bruise too hard to be described. The private spread white detergent on her dead body and put matches into her mouth to get rid of the evidence. Her head was subsided by fracture bleeding copiously and that was the direct reason of her death on the record. Quoting from the facts above, however, it is reported in Korea as one of the most tragic sexual assaults committed by GIs.
Booked on charges in April 1993, the accused was sentenced to life imprisonment. But he appealed to the court in December of that year, reducing it to 15 years. He appealed again on April 29, 1994 to the supreme court, which rejected the appeal. Later, his custody was handed over to the Korean party on May 17 of the same year. August 14 of 2006, however, the prisoner was released on parole and flew back to the USA. He had been imprisoned for less than supposedly 15 years, 13 years 6 months 4 days totally.
During his trials and afterwards in Korea, Korean public anger was growing over the Korea and US authories' mishandling of the case. Human rights activists and the public have called for reform of investigations into the case and also for reform of the SOFA, the Status Of Forces Agreement between the two countries, which they claim have often infringed the human rights of Korean victims.

[edit] Highway 56 Accident

On June 13, 2002, a U.S. military vehicle fatally crushed two 14-year-old South Korean girls, Shim Hyo-sun (심효순) and Shim Mi-seon (심미선), in Euijeongbu, Gyeonggi-do. The incident provoked anti-American sentiment in South Korea when an US military court found the soldiers involved, who were sent back to the United States immediately after the decision, not guilty. This prompted hundreds of thousands of South Koreans to protest against the U.S Army's continued presence.^[7]

[edit] Apolo Ohno 2002 Winter Olympics controversy

In Salt Lake City, Utah, Apolo Anton Ohno emerged as a popular athlete among US fans for reportedly charming them with his cheerful attitude and laid-back style. He became the face of short track speed skating in the US, which was a relatively new and unknown sport at the time, and carried the medal hopes of America in that sport.^[8] Ohno medaled in two events, although there was some controversy associated with the results.

In the 1500 m race, Ohno won the gold medal, with a time of 2:18.541. During the 1500 m final race, South Korean Kim Dong-Sung was first across the finish line, but was disqualified for blocking Ohno, in what is called cross tracking.^[9][10] Ohno was in second place with three laps remaining, and on his third attempt to pass on the final lap, Kim drifted slightly to the inside where Ohno raised his arms and came out of his crouch to signal that he was blocked. Fourth-place finisher of the same race, Fabio Carta of Italy, showed his disagreement with the decision saying that it was "absurd that the Korean was disqualified."^[11] China's Jiajun Li, who moved from bronze to silver, remained neutral saying: "I respect the decision of the referee, I'm not going to say any more."^[11] Steven Bradbury of Australia, the 1000 m gold medal winner, also shared his views: "Whether Dong-Sung moved across enough to be called for cross-tracking, I don't know, he obviously moved across a bit. It's the judge's interpretation. A lot of people will say it was right and a lot of people will say it's wrong. I've seen moves like that before that were not called. But I've seen them called too."^[11][12] The disqualification upset South Korean supporters, many of whom directed their anger at Ohno and the Olympic International Olympic Committee. A very large number of e-mails protesting the race results crashed the Olympic Committee's email server, and also thousands of accusatory letters, many of which were death threats, were sent to Ohno and the committee.^[13][14][15] Ohno shared his thoughts on the Koreans' hostile reaction by saying, "I was really bothered by it. I grew up around many Asian cultures, Korean one of them. A lot of my best friends were Korean growing up. I just didn't understand. Later on I realized that was built up by certain people and that was directed at me, negative energy from other things, not even resulting around the sport, but around politics, using me to stand on the pedestal as the anti-American sentiment."^[16]

[edit] In popular culture

[edit] The Host

The 2006 Korean monster film The Host has been described as anti-American. The film was in part inspired by an incident in 2000 in which a mortician working for the U.S. military in Seoul dumped a large amount of formaldehyde down the drain. In the film the dumped chemicals engender a horrible mutated monster from the river which menaces the inhabitants of Seoul.^[17]The American military situated in South Korea is portrayed as uncaring about the effects their activities have on the locals. The chemical agent used by the American military to combat the monster in the end, named "Agent Yellow" in a thinly-veiled reference to Agent Orange was also used to satirical effect.^[18] The CGI for the film was done by The Orphanage, which also did the CGI of The Day After Tomorrow.^[19]The director, Bong Joon-ho, commented on the issue: "It's a stretch to simplify The Host as an anti-American film, but there is certainly a metaphor and political commentary about the U.S."^[20]Because of its themes that can be seen as critical of the United States, the film was actually lauded by North Korean authorities,^[21] a rarity for a South Korean blockbuster film.

[edit] Fucking USA

"Fucking USA" is a protest song written by South Korean singer and activist Yoon Min-suk. Strongly anti-US Foreign policy and anti-Bush, the song was written in 2002 at a time when, following the Apolo Ohno Olympic controversy and an accident in which two Korean middle school students were killed under the wheels of a U.S. Army vehicle; anti-American sentiment in South Korea reached high levels.^[22]

[edit] US beef imports in South Korea

The Government of South Korea blocked most imports of US beef in 2003 because of fears over mad cow disease (BSE).^[23] The United States Department of Agriculture had identified two BSE-infected cows, and only one that was born in the USA (one of the animals actually came from Canada).^[24] When Lee Myung-bak was inaugurated some 5 years after the BSE infections in the US, he agreed to relax restrictions on beef imports from the US, while still banning the most risky parts of cattle (brain, spinal chord). This caused an outbreak of anti-US sentiment and even calls for impeachment.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Anti-Americanism
• Demonstrations at Yongsan Garrison
• Axis of evil

[edit] External links

• How the World Sees America videoblog: South Korea