Anti-American sentiment in Korea

The 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 and assault, among others. The 2002 Yangju highway incident especially ignited Anti-American passions.^[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, Katharine 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]

Taft–Katsura Agreement

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The Taft–Katsura Agreement (Japanese: 桂・タフト協定 Katsura-Tafuto Kyōtei) was a set of notes taken during conversations between United States Secretary of War William Howard Taft and Prime Minister of Japan Katsura Taro on 29 July 1905. The notes were discovered in 1924; there was never a signed agreement or secret treaty, only a memorandum of a conversation regarding Japanese-American relations. Some Korean historians have assumed that, in the discussions, the United States recognized Japan's sphere of influence in Korea; in exchange, Japan recognized the United States's sphere of influence in the Philippines. However, American historians examining official records report no agreement was ever made —- the two men discussed current events but came to no new policy or agreement. They both restated the well-known official policies of their own governments. Indeed, Taft was very careful to indicate these were his private opinions and he was not an official representative of the U.S. government (Taft was Secretary of War, not US Secretary of State).

This agreement evoked negative Korean reaction. Some Korean historians (e.g., Ki-baik Lee, author of A New History of Korea, (Harvard U. Press, 1984) believe that the Taft–Katsura Agreement violated the "Korean–American Treaty of Amity and Commerce" signed at Incheon on May 22, 1882 because the Joseon Government considered that treaty constituted a de facto mutual defense treaty while the Americans did not. The Joseon Dynasty, however, ended in 1897. In recent years, while the Taft–Katsura Agreement is all but an obscure footnote in history, the Agreement is attacked by some left-leaning Korean activists as an example of how the United States cannot be trusted with regards to Korean security and sovereignty issues.

Pre-Korean War

After the Japanese defeat in World War II the United States set up a self-declared government, United States Army Military Government in Korea, in Korea which pursued a number of very unpopular policies. In brief, the military government first supported the same Japanese colonial government. Then it removed the Japanese officials but retained them as advisors. At the same time the Koreans, before the Americans had arrived, had developed their own popular-based government, the People's Republic of Korea. This popular government was ignored, censored, and then eventually outlawed by decree of the U.S. military government. The military government also created an advisory council for which the majority of seats were offered to the nascent Korea Democratic Party (KDP) which mainly consisted of large landowners, wealthy businesspeople, and former colonial officials. The military government, and this advisory council, set up elections for a legislature.

The elections were boycotted and protested throughout the country by the peasantry. The uprising was suppressed with police, U.S. troops and tanks, and declarations of martial law. The only representatives elected that were not of the KDP or its allies were from Jeju-do. Upon arrival in Seoul, they^[who?] were kidnapped and killed.^{[citation needed]} Furthermore, the U.S.'s refusal to consult existing popular organizations in the south, as agreed upon at the Moscow Conference, and thus paving the way towards a divided Korea, embittered the majority of Koreans. Finally, pushing for United Nations elections that would not be observed by the USSR-controlled north, over legal objections, enshrined a divided Korea, which the majority of Koreans opposed.^[4]

The Geneva Conference of 1954

The armistice at the end of the Korean War required that a political conference be pursued where the question of a unified Korea would be addressed. Despite many proposals for independent national elections and a unified, democratic, independent Korea no declaration for a unified Korea was adopted. Some participants and analysts blame the U.S. for obstructing efforts towards unification.^[5][6][7]

No Gun Ri massacre

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.^[8] 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.^[8] Army records suggest that Daily was never a machine gunner and was not present at No Gun Ri.^[9] 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.^[10]

Gwangju massacre

The Gwangju democratization movement was a popular uprising in 1980 in the city of Gwangju. The U.S. supported the military dictator, Chun Doo-hwan, whom the protests were against. In addition, it is alleged that the U.S. was also complicit in the brutal crackdown that followed.

Busan American Cultural Service building arson

On March 12, 1982 in Busan arsonists set fire to the American Cultural Center. They killed one and injured several others. Moon Bu Shik and Kim Hyon Jang were sentenced to death but later commuted to life sentences and then to 20 years.^{[11][12][13][14][15]}

Yun Geum-i murder

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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.^{[citation needed]}

At 1:00 AM, October 28, 1992, Yun Geum-i, who was 26 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 was 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 fingerprints on the beer bottles helped find the murderer.

Private Kenneth Lee Markle, 20 at the time, who served in the 2nd Division, had beaten her head and body to death with the bottles, putting them into the dying woman. The whole of her body showed severe bruising. The private spread white detergent on her dead body and put matches into her mouth to get rid of the evidence. Her head fracture had bleed copiously and was the direct cause of her death. Based on reported facts, the death was seen as one of the most tragic sexual assaults committed by GIs.

After a trial in April 1993, the accused was sentenced to life imprisonment. He appealed to the court in December of that year, and the sentence was reduced to 15 years. He appealed again on April 29, 1994, to the Supreme Court, which rejected the appeal. Custody of Markle was handed over to the Korean government on May 17, 1994. On August 14, 2006, Markle was released on parole and flown back to the USA. He had been imprisoned a total of 13 years, 6 months, 4 days.

During his trials and afterwards in Korea, Korean public anger was growing over the Korea and US authorities' handling 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.

Yangju highway incident

On June 13, 2002, a U.S. military vehicle fatally injured two 14-year-old South Korean girls, Shin Hyo-sun (신효순) and Shim Mi-seon (심미선), who were walking along a street in Euijeongbu, Gyeonggi-do. The incident provoked anti-American sentiment in South Korea when a 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.^{[16] [17]}

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.^[18] 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.^[19][20] 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."^[21] China's Li Jiajun, who moved from bronze to silver, remained neutral saying: "I respect the decision of the referee, I'm not going to say any more."^[21] 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."^[21][22]

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.^[19][23][24] 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."^[25]

US beef imports in South Korea

South Koreans protesting Lee Myung-bak's ties with the US. Cheonggyecheon, Seoul, May 3, 2008

The Government of South Korea blocked most imports of US beef in 2003 because of fears over mad cow disease (BSE).^[26] 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).^[27] 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 cord). This caused an outbreak of anti-US sentiment and even calls for his impeachment.

In popular culture

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.^[28] 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.^[29]

The CGI for the film was done by The Orphanage, which also did the CGI of The Day After Tomorrow.^[30] 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."^[31] Because of its themes that can be seen as critical of the United States, the film was actually lauded by North Korean authorities,^[32] a rarity for a South Korean blockbuster film.

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 its record high levels.^[33]

See also

• Anti-Americanism
• Demonstrations at Yongsan Garrison
• Axis of evil
• Anti-Japanese sentiment in Korea
• Busan American Council Fire Accidents

References

External links

• How the World Sees America videoblog: South Korea
• Yun Geum-i murder Incident