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catman
Joined: 18 Jul 2004
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 Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 5:10 pm Post subject: '34 Percent of Army Cadets Regard US as Main Enemy� |
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By Kim Yon-se
Staff Reporter
A poll shows that 34 percent of first-year army cadets called the United States the main enemy of South Korea, a former superintendent of the Korea Military Academy (KMA) said.
Kim Choong-bae, president of the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, disclosed a past survey of 250 KMA entrants to single out "the country's main enemy'' while serving as the military academy's superintendent in 2004.
Kim was quoted by a newspaper as saying, "While the majority ― or 34 percent ― picked the U.S., 33 percent said they regarded North Korea as the main enemy.''
He said the result was unbelievable, stressing the respondents were those who were supposed to be military officers. The KMA did not make the result public during the Roh Moo-hyun administration, which ended last February.
Kim hinted that he had been forced not to notify the public of the result, expressing uneasiness about contents of some high and middle schools textbooks.
Citing his meeting with the 250 cadet freshmen, the military expert argued that the hostile sentiment against the "ally" is due to "inappropriate'' education in schools.
In addition, according to a survey of a group of conscripted soldiers conducted by the Ministry of Defense, about 75 percent of them said they have anti-U.S. sentiment.
Various polls on college students or elementary school students have shown that major enemies of South Korea include North Korea, Japan and the U.S.
Meanwhile, North Korea had been found to label the U.S. and Japan as its main enemies. There has been no document or official commentaries from Pyongyang which describe South Korea as the main enemy of the North.
North Korea had reportedly defined the U.S. a "mortal enemy'' and Japan a "longstanding enemy,'' some military officials said.
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 5:17 pm Post subject: |
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| Not surprising in the least, given the pervasiveness and ubiquity of harsh antiAmerican sentiment in the press, in the literature, and on film today. |
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Mr Crowley
Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Location: Suwon
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 5:30 pm Post subject: |
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| Korean middle and high schools are the breeding grounds for nationalism, and anti-americanism. |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 5:52 pm Post subject: |
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| Mr Crowley wrote: |
| ...the breeding grounds for nationalism, and anti-americanism. |
This is the connection that interests me, too. Does South Korean nationalism necessarily entail antiAmericanism? If so, why? |
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caniff
Joined: 03 Feb 2004
Location: All over the map
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 5:54 pm Post subject: |
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| Ingrates. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 6:08 pm Post subject: |
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This shows one of the drawbacks of a conscript army, since in almost any country there is going to be a certain percentage of the population that doesn't go along with the government's foreign policy and alliances. But in most countries, those people are not required to do military service.
Of course, I realize that in its current situation, Korea has no choice but to rely on a conscript army. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 6:10 pm Post subject: |
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| This is the connection that interests me, too. Does South Korean nationalism necessarily entail antiAmericanism? If so, why? |
From what I've seen, it does entail a certain hostility toward outside powers supposedly seeking to dominate Korea. Which outside powers get defined as the bad guy will depend on the political leanings of the person doing the defining. |
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Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 6:17 pm Post subject: |
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| Gopher wrote: |
| Mr Crowley wrote: |
| ...the breeding grounds for nationalism, and anti-americanism. |
This is the connection that interests me, too. Does South Korean nationalism necessarily entail antiAmericanism? If so, why? |
I think it's out of resentment, about being the smaller weaker less powerful member of an alliance.
Personally, I found it really bloody irritating. My students would start on an anti-American rant and I'd think 'here we go....  ' All of it very emotional; I doubt many of them would really understand why they were supposed to be angry with the US. They just are. It feels good to be aggreived, I suppose. (I've seen similar sorts of crap from 7th generation so called 'Irish' Americans). I taught at a winter camp one year, and had a 12 year old boy absolutely seething with hatred toward me, being openly confrontational, until he learnt to his shock that I was British, not American. A person with white skin and green eyes who is not American?  Another thing to find irritating. |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 6:35 pm Post subject: |
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| On the other hand wrote: |
| From what I've seen, it does entail a certain hostility toward outside powers supposedly seeking to dominate Korea. Which outside powers get defined as the bad guy will depend on the political leanings of the person doing the defining. |
How is either the United States or Japan seeking "to dominate" South Korea? How is North Korea coming off as the good guy? And how is China hardly even registered as a player? I doubt you know the answers to these questions, as they seek to understand antiAmerican South Koreans' perspectives. I thought I would throw them onto this thread in any case.
Japan makes more sense than the others, of course. In a cultural sense, South Koreans never stopped fighting the Second World War. |
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catman
Joined: 18 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 6:40 pm Post subject: |
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Citing his meeting with the 250 cadet freshmen, the military expert argued that the hostile sentiment against the "ally" is due to "inappropriate'' education in schools.
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Unfortunately too many think the US started the Korean War. A sentiment I've heard more than once. |
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Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 6:46 pm Post subject: |
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| Korea would be one of the most advanced countries in the world now, if the evil US had not plotted to keep her down. Oh yeah. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 6:54 pm Post subject: |
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| How is either the United States or Japan seeking "to dominate" South Korea? How is North Korea coming off as the good guy? And how is China hardly even registered as a player? |
I think you should re-read my post...
| Quote: |
| From what I've seen, it does entail a certain hostility toward outside powers supposedly seeking to dominate Korea. |
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Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 6:59 pm Post subject: |
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| On the other hand wrote: |
| Quote: |
| How is either the United States or Japan seeking "to dominate" South Korea? How is North Korea coming off as the good guy? And how is China hardly even registered as a player? |
I think you should re-read my post...
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| From what I've seen, it does entail a certain hostility toward outside powers supposedly seeking to dominate Korea. |
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I don't understand the discrepency. I think Gopher's curious about how they supposedly dominate South Korea in the Korean (hysterical nationalists) mind. I don't think he was chiding you.
I recall having a few conversations with my uni students about how the US was doing so - but I can't really remember what they were waffling off about, but at the time it sounded so absolutely silly, I was trying not to grin. |
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agentX
Joined: 12 Oct 2007
Location: Jeolla province
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 7:04 pm Post subject: |
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Well now, that's not good.
The poll is from 2004, so I hope the 2007 and 2008 polls are higher. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 7:06 pm Post subject: |
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I don't understand the discrepency. I think Gopher's curious about how they supposedly dominate South Korea in the Korean (hysterical nationalists) mind. I don't think he was chiding you.
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Umm, do people here really have that much trouble with the word "supposedly"? I'm not saying that the US, or any country, is dominating Korea. I'm saying that Korean nationalists think that Korea is being dominated by foreign powers, and that which country is supposedly doing the domination is going to vary depending on which nationalist narrative you're listening to.
Gopher asked if South Korean nationalism entails anti-Americanism. I replied that it entails the idea of some sort of foreign domination, American or otherwise. That's all I'm saying. If you want to argue against the nationalist narratives, you should probably find someone who believes them. |
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