South Korean Media Doctors Photograph To Remove Japanese Flag

Popular South Korean actor Lee Byung-Hun celebrated his birthday on July 12th in Tokyo with a huge event held at the Budokan Hall in Tokyo. Here’s a photograph of the event that Japanese newspapers such as the Mainichi Shinbun ran:

And here’s how the same photo ran in several major South Korean news sources:

After Japanese netizens exposed this petty and immature act of nationalist photoshopping, the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo silently replaced the image with another in its article on the birthday party. I’m not sure about the other South Korean news organizations, though.

[via ZERO]

28 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - July 17, 2007 at 2:36 pm

Categories: Anti-Japan Tags:

kenji

typical korean sentiment. thats really childish though. another reason to hate korean nationalists.
Karina

I know the vast majority of Koreans are not like this, but this is just ridiculous.
Pingback: South Korean media caught with childish act | Asian Pop with YeinJee
http://higashiajia.wordpress.com Peter Pan

What’s troublesome about it is it’s the major media sources doing it. Sure one can find all kinds of examples of this in Japan… on 2ch. But never in a major newspaper. This doesn’t even compare.
http://takechanpoo.blogspot.com/ Takechanpoo

Spontaneous funs cannot do mass game like this absolutely.
I am sure these obasan “funs” were mobilized by specific organization.
madne0

I was half expecting them to have replaced the japanese flag with a south korean one.
nobu

Can anybody explain why they do this? Do they receive a lot of complaints from readers if they print Japanese national flag?
…

Childish indeed… and old.
Steve

Nationalism at it’s finest, they’re pretty much all the same, they deny the existence of other cultures and governments. This can be seen in Japan, Canada and in the US, to a certain extent, but like other comments, this is from a major media newspaper. Which is sad.

The world is slowly turning xenophobic… ‘internationalism’ is practically dead. I forget who said this, but I think it was a Japanese Nationalist commenting about being individualism and internationalism, that going ‘international’ kills your culture and slowly losing your community values by being an ‘individual’…

Not sure if that was right, but somewhere around that lines, someone else might have a better quote though.
Pingback: Its Beyond Me » Petty and Immature Act of Nationalist Photoshopping…
ponta

It seems it turned out to be the fan club that doctored the photo and sent it to Korean media. The fan club has issued the letter of apology.
http://byunghun.excite.co.jp/info/index.php?id=295

curious

ponta,
Was it the Japanese fan club that did this (their watermark is on all the pictures)? And if it was, was it a Japanese person in the fan club who did this? And if it was, did the Japanese fan club member do it because they thought the Japanese flag would offend Koreans who saw the picture?
Aki

ponta, the page you linked says that “BH entertainment” doctored the photo. BH entertainment is not a fan club but Lee Byeong-heon’s management agency.

Aki

BTW, the BH entertainment is a Korean company based on Seoul, Korea.

http://nhatkyviet.com Viet

I originally thought this was the work of a young ultra-nationalist technician over there. It is just too childish for a major newspaper to do. Assuming what ponta said is correct, the editor should be fired. The double-checking job is his.
curious

ponta,
Was it the Japanese fan club that did this (their watermark is on all the pictures)? And if it was, was it a Japanese person in the fan club who did this? And if it was, did the Japanese fan club member do it because they thought the Japanese flag would offend Koreans who saw the picture?

ponta

http://www.asianoffbeat.com/default.asp?Display=680
Seems GIKorea has an answer.

abcd

Did you even read that link you posted ponta? The guy who wrote it used wikipedia. Anyone can edit wikipedia and its not uncommon for 2chers to lie. Lee Byung Hun did not post that photo, in fact that same wikipedia link no longer mentions the altered photo.

It was some nationalistic group that mailed the photo to the Chosun Ilbo. Honestly though this could have easily been an honest error by the Chosun Ilbo. The person who wrote the article probably wasnt at the event in Tokyo. When he received pictures he just posted it onto his article. Makes sense because the article written by the Chosun ilbo said nothing bad about Japan.

ponta

According to what I read on another Japanese blog, a Japanese person called the Japanese office of the singer’s fan club to ask the truth, the person concerned said he sent the “normal” photo. to Korean office of the singer’s fan club. It is likely that “painting white” happened among Korean people, including the singer , of the office for the singer. But nobody knows for sure.
If the Korean media want to clear itself of being immature, nationalistic, I think they should investigate the case and report it on their own media. That will make a good arcticle and it will give them an good opportunity to reflect on what they have been doing.

abcd

So basically you trust not only wikipedia(which can be edited by anyone) but you also trust some anonymous persons blog site over the internet? Let me guess, you also believe everything they say on 2ch?
ponta

Hey just read my comment. I said noboy knows for sure.But one thing is certain; Korean media should have checked the fact, and Korean media still need to clear itself of being immature nationalism.
abcd

The Journalist who wrote that article for the chosun ilbo said nothing anti-japanese. All he did was write about the actors birthday and posted pictures. Incidentally one of the pictures involved a blank flag. Honestly if someone were to look at the picture for the very first time ever, they would see nothing wrong with it. Its only after you mention the deleted flag that you can see whats potentialy wrong about it.

How exactly is the Korean media immature? Doesnt the Japanese regularly air programs that deny past wrongdoings? Another thing that confuses me-

Why is their a giant Japanese flag hanging at some Korean actors birthday in the first place?
http://www.japanprobe.com James

The Journalist who wrote that article for the chosun ilbo said nothing anti-japanese. All he did was write about the actors birthday and posted pictures.

It would be pretty hard for anyone, regardless of their political leanings, to spin a simple story about a birthday party into something anti-Japanese. The articles contents and the person who wrote the article have absolutely nothing to do with the event in question, which is the photoshopping of this photograph. According to Japanese sites, it was displayed in its doctored form on news sites other than the Chosun Iblo’s, which makes the claim that a fan club or agency did the photoshopping more likely.

Why is their a giant Japanese flag hanging at some Korean actors birthday in the first place?

The Budokan could be considered Japan’s “national” arena/sporting hall, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the flag was displayed at all times. I really can’t see any problem with a Japanese arena having the flag of its country on display.
ponta

“How exactly is the Korean media immature?”

It is so immature that it does not investigate why the error which is insulting to both Japan and Korea happened and reprot it on the media.

If you want to how immature it is, you might want to read the following post.
“What, besides being a nuisance on a subway, is really worthy of national news coverage?
”
http://metropolitician.blogs.com/scribblings_of_the_metrop/2007/07/whatever-ytn.html

If you want me to give you more instances, I would be happy to help you.

abc

“The articles contents and the person who wrote the article have absolutely nothing to do with the event in question, which is the photoshopping of this photograph.
According to Japanese sites, it was displayed in its doctored form on news sites other than the Chosun Iblo’s, which makes the claim that a fan club or agency did the photoshopping more likely.”

Oh yes it does, it was ponta and his ilk who accuse to chosun ilbo of being “immature” for posting the picture. And until someone provides any concrete evidence that the agency was responsible, im going to take any of those claims made by certain people here with a grain of salt.

“It is so immature that it does not investigate why the error which is insulting to both Japan and Korea happened and reprot it on the media.”

Wait a minute, so the Korean media is immature for not investigating something so pointless as this? Something that it has no responsibility or control over? All they did was post a picture they got from some other source. I find it funny how you accuse them of being immature. I noticed how Japanese people flip out and accuse everyone and anything critical of japan as anti japanese. The Korean media doesnt care enough about this incident to waste their own money and time investigating this.

ponta

At least Chosun ilbo is more mature than you. It apologized.

Bangaroo

Not just Korean is doing this, China and Russia do this all the time, replacing other nation’s flag is very popular in mass media from China & Russia.

I guess Korean ppl are very nationalistic and have bad feelings about Japanese or Chinese due to they have been victimized.

The fact is Korean ppl are one of the most non racist ppl in the world compare it to other races, you know which ppls I’m talking about.

maono

haha “Koreans most non racist?”
I have a friend who is half korean, he came to korean and visit some family members. Just when he go out grocery shopping, he spoke to the young female clerk in english. Then in korean, the clerk insulted him for being a “half breed” and called him a disgrace to all koreans. Koreans are racist and are no different to N. Korea – well they try to be different.

South Korean Media Doctors Photograph To Remove Japanese Flag

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