Cute Assassin Costume
October 23rd, 2009 by James
The Korean nationalist gunman independence activist who killed Ito Hirobumi now lives on in cute mascot form:
Independence activist Ahn Jung-geun remembered: Officials from the Ministry of Patriots & Veterans Affairs and citizens take part in a hand printing ceremony Wednesday, at the Yeouido Park in Seoul, to mark Ahn Jung-geun (1879-1910)’s 1909 assassination of Hirobumi Ito, a former prime minister of Japan, in Harbin, China. Ahn held Ito responsible for the annexation of Korea by Japan in 1910.
[from the Korea Times via ROK Drop]
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So he was assassinated in 1909 for something he was going to do in 1910? Did one of them mention anything about protecting John Connor?
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Assassin or a hero, is just a matter of point of view.
He is considered a hero in Korea and China but in Japan he would be considered an assassin, likewise, Japanese imperial army soldiers are considered heroes in Japan, but assassins all over Asia.
Honestly, I think normal japanese people simply don`t care about this man, and if you care to explain them about him, you would just disturb them. Only a worshiper of Japanese colonialism would care to call him an assassin in a public place like this.
If you feel uncomfortable about this costume, how do you think koreans and chinese feel about Yakusuni?
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The only reason this man is famous today is because he assassinated a Japanese leader. I don’t see anything wrong with using the word “assassin” to refer to someone who carried out a political assassination.
The word does not pass judgment on his political motivations, it just identifies this man as someone who carried out an assassination.
Dictionary.com:
Sure.
Can you also give me the definition of genocide, war crime or crime against humanity?
Also what is the definition of someone who mock others when they are honoring their war hero?
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This post is about Ahn Jung-geun, a man who assassinated a Japanese leader.
Even if Ahn Jung-geun’s act was righteous and the person killed was a terrible war criminal, that does not change the fact that the killing was an assassination. If he assassinated somebody, it’s not unfair to refer to him as an assassin.
Some Japanese think he is a terrorist. I specifically avoided that word because I think using that term would be unfair in this case. I didn’t expect anyone to have an emotional tantrum over the use of a fairly neutral term like “assassin.”
I think you need to relax and get a handle on your emotions.
Dr. Yu, can you provide a definition of “quisling” or “collaborator”? Here, let me help you with that:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Korean_collaborators_with_Imperial_Japan
Point of fact: Korea was not forcibly invaded, conquered, and turned into a Japanese colony. Koreans signed off on the annexation, more than a few actually thought it was a good idea. Just as more than a few thought it was a good idea to be a Russian colony. Japan may have taken advantage of Korea, but then again, the Koreans let themselves be taken advantage of. The whole peninsula was a colony-selectee due to the corruption and greed of… wait for it… the Korean ruling class.
Now, all that aside, an assassin is an assassin is an assassin. It doesn’t matter which side of history he was on or whether his cause was noble or not. And in 1909, there was as yet no “genocide”, “war crime” or “crime against humanity” that Ito or any other Japanese was as yet guilty of vis-a-vis Korea to mitigate what Ahn Jung-geun did.
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“assassin
n.
1. One who murders by surprise attack, especially one who carries out a plot to kill a prominent person.”
James,
That`s the perfect description of what the Japanese did to Korean last empress and emperor.
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You can call 李周会, 朴銑, and 尹錫禹 assassins, of course.
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“That`s the perfect description of what the Japanese did to Korean last empress and emperor.”
WangKon936 says:”One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter…”
Just kidding.
So was the emperor assassinated?
“There is much speculation that he was killed by poison that was administered by Japanese officials
”
(Emperor Gojong of the Korean Empire
From Wikipedia)
Speculation after speculation to fit Korean nationalism?
Seriously don’t Koreans have a better hero to worship?
Are the rest of heroes either pro-Japanese or a few North Koreans?
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Okay. Find me some photos of Japanese people honoring the assassins by turning them into cartoony costumes. I guarantee you I will make a blog post about it, and even call them assassins.
The first (and four-time) prime minister of Japan, Ito Hirobumi, was actually an opponent of the Japanese annexation of Korea at that time. So, it was utterly nonsense for the ignorant Korean terrorist to kill Ito in China.
By the way, does the Hatoyama administration really want to create a unified history textbook with Korea and China so that they will teach school kids this person as a freedom fighter?
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One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter…
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James,
Mocking Koreans in public won’t redeem nor change the fact that Japan committed atrocities in Korea.
Now, instead of spending your time provoking Koreans by putting your finger in their wounds, why don’t you spend your time helping the reconciliation effort of these two old enemies?
I think that could be a good job for such a prominent blog like this.
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I don’t think there’s any mocking going on. I think you’re being over sensitive. He shot and killed a politician.
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If mockery and sticking fingers in wounds is such a negative, perhaps you should mention that to the folks using the man who assassinated a Japanese PM as a mascot character?
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Indeed. That anime look is not to becoming of a national hero…
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James, this man speaks the truth! You shall start by making 10 “I’m sorry for what I did”-posts and give Dr.Yu all your assets.
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“The word does not pass judgment on his political motivations, it just identifies this man as someone who carried out an assassination.”
James, Please… That’s quite a lame defense.
Why don’t you read that definition again.
“1. One who murders by surprise attack, especially one who carries out a plot to kill a prominent person.”
Just look at the words, “murders”, “surprise attack”, “kill a prominent person”.
The word carries overwhelmingly negative connotation, especially in a form of noun. Your choice of the word, knowing full well of the history of the two country is distasteful at best.
Why don’t you just create a section called, “Anti-Korea” and file this article under it. In fact, probably 2/3rds of your posts that are filed under “anti-japan” really all belong to “anti-korea”.
“Cute Assassin Costume”?
Give me a break.
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That definition fits exactly what Ahn Jung-geun did. To a T. Therefore he was, by definition, an assassin. Negative connotation? Probably, but I have yet to see any word describing a person specifically as one who killed another that had a nice, positive connotation.
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Indeed. Who knows what a “freedom fighter” does? Even “killer” isn’t enough. Of course James could have used “murderer,” which isn’t at all positive. “Assassin” at least has a strong political connotation.
“Korea is a shithole country!” = anti-Korean statement.
“Korea is a country!” = anti-Korean statement.
“Korea is the supreme country on Earth!” = barely acceptable statement.
“Korea is the supreme country on Earth, Dokdo is Korean, and it’s the ‘East Sea’!” = ah, I see you finally begin to understand….
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“The word carries overwhelmingly negative connotation, especially in a form of noun. Your choice of the word, knowing full well of the history of the two country is distasteful at best.”
Hahaha, a negative connotation? Yes, because most cultures find killing other people, killing other people by means of surprise or stealth, and killing prominent figures as being BAD THINGS.
That doesn’t mean most cultures don’t also have exceptions for these things (e.g. times of war, etc…) but you have to realize how ironic it is that you’re accusing the literal description of this man’s actions as having “negative connotations” in (haha) his defense!
James didn’t say that he was a bad man. He didn’t say that what he did was bad. All he did was say he killed another guy, and it’s pretty hilarious that you’ve responded by saying that it sounds like what this guy did was pretty negative!
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http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/assassin
2 : a person who commits murder; especially : one who murders a politically important person either for hire or from fanatical motives
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I’m done James.
Have a nice day !!!
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Yes, James, you have clearly provoked all Koreans, every last one of them, with your fairly neutral interpretation of “reality”. I say that Ahn Jung-geun independence activized Hirobumi Ito in the chest. With a rifle.
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Gah same old again. Something is not put in terms Koreans prefer and then a whole rally with the “war crimes” card begins. One man’s hero is another man’s enemy I guess, comparable to the US calling sandinistas heroes while the soviets called them terrorists. This point in history is very old and I don’t see the need to revisit it, especially on Japan’s part. As for Koreans, I would see why they revere him a hero because I would guess they really had none for a prolonged period of time. Whatever floats their boat.
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I honestly don’t understand why some people are freaking out about this post. I don’t see any bias or anti-Korean sentiment in what is reported here. You can view the guy as a hero and still call him an assassin. My country’s independence was won partially through what most would consider terrorist like actions in those days. If someone were to post a blog story about that it wouldn’t bother me in the least as long as it was factual. To be honest I had never heard of these guys before this post but did some reading and it was an interesting story. It’s easy to see both sides of it. Anyway, I think you guys should chill out, the English used here is correct in describing the situation.
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pixel_bomber,
I honestly don’t understand why some people are freaking out about this post.
I suggest you not to try to understand it.
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James, you are not provoking. They are exaggerating their ‘victimhood’. If the guy is offended by the word assassin, then you should use the word killer or murderer, instead. The guy did kill Ito Hirofumi.
According to the web page,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korea_under_Japanese_rule
General Hong Sa- Ik (Kou Shiyoku) was the Commander of the POW prison camps, using his Korean name!!! Colonel Eugene C. Jacobs wrote that Koreans were the most abusinve and were anxious to get blood on their bayonets (paraphrased).
Don’t forget Lieutenant Park Chong Hee, or I should say President. IF I can recall, President Park willingly went to the Army Academy and became a commissioned officer (generally, you have to be willing to be commissioned as an officer) and he is the most respected Korean President in the history of Korea.
Japan must have done something, ‘right’, as even the former President Kim Dae Jung acknowledged the contributions made by President Park.
When the terminolgy Japanese is used, you need to clarify, if they are ethnic Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese,Micronesian, etc, as they were ‘all Japanese’.
Korean author, Mr. Kim Wan Sop who wrote the book Shinnichiha no benmei would say the same thing, don’t exaggerate the claim of ‘victimhood’. The guy went to jail in Korea for slandering the dead. Also take a look at youtube video from cirrostratus2 titled- Why does the Korean tell a lie?
So before you claim about James needs to talk positive, opening wounds, Koreans need to take a good look at the ‘truth’ before getting hysterical. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying what Japan did was 100% good, but taking into consideration the European colonialism and Koreans not wanting to be progress in a backward country, it had 2 choices: 1) be a Russian colony or 2) be a Japanese colony.
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//Korean author, Mr. Kim Wan Sop who wrote the book Shinnichiha no benmei would say the same thing, don’t exaggerate the claim of ‘victimhood’. The guy went to jail in Korea for slandering the dead. Also take a look at youtube video from cirrostratus2 titled- Why does the Korean tell a lie?//
I was an expat in South Korea when I got to know his contributes.
He was a decent writer for magazines until he started to write controversial stuffs. He first got huge trouble from his writings that were criticizing the South Korean government. THEN AFTERWARDS he started to write stuffs criticizing South Korea in the point of favoring Japan.
Consider that his energy is more directed towards criticizing Korea instead of praising Japan…… He’s more close to an anti-South-Korea, not a pro-Japan per se.
Do you know why South Koreans don’t take him seriously in the long run? Because he’s not truly pro-Japan in the first place.
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BTW: Former Taiwan President Lee Teng Hui said that he was ‘Japanese’ until he was 22 years old, in a book he co- authored with Kobayashi Yasunori.
According to Ishihara Shintaro, when he was accompanying a former Japanese PM to Korea, President Park Chong Hee said despite some unpleasant events, he does highly view Japanese rule as being overall positive, because as being a poor farming family, without the Japanese, he never would hae received an education.
Seems like his children are benefitting, as she is a famous legislator.
If Japan was so bad, would Mr. Lee Teng Hui say such a thing.
If that was me, hell no.
The bottom line is that Koreans benefited from Japanese rule.
The elite is brainwashing the masses with anti- Japanese propaganda, while they are reaping all the ‘benefits’ as a willing collaborator.
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//The elite is brainwashing the masses with anti- Japanese propaganda, while they are reaping all the ‘benefits’ as a willing collaborator.//
In fact you have to blame the American government on this one.
The majority of Korean politicians (obviously almost all of them are Chinilpa descendants) is taking a wrongful advantage of nationalism. And a lot of Korean citizens don’t take their politicians seriously in reality.
That’s because of pro-Americanism still going on in the National Assembly of Korea. Japanese people need to learn the fact that there is a serious competition going on between pro-Americanism and pro-Japanism in 80-90% of the Korean politics.
You want Korea to acknowledge more positively about Japan, you say? Then hate the American political presence in South Korea. It’s that simple.
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I prefer to…
BLAME CANADA!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYSYipouABI
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You know that this is a popular novelty song here in Canada, right?
If you start to know the whole general story about South Korean politics, you’ll also hate America.
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//Japanese people need to learn the fact that there is a serious competition going on between pro-Americanism and pro-Japanism in 80-90% of the Korean politics.//
Can you introduce us to serious journalism, or studies in Korea or elsewhere that picks up this “fact” in detail so a Japanese like myself can be informed, instead of just instigating hate against America.
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//Can you introduce us to serious journalism, or studies in Korea or elsewhere that picks up this “fact” in detail so a Japanese like myself can be informed, instead of just instigating hate against America.//
You don’t need those. You can think of this very thoughtful question in your own position: Why do Korean politicians openly criticize Japan despite the vast majority of them were literally benefited from Japan (and later some of them benefited from America) through their forefathers?
The first answer is that Syngman Rhee, the first president of South Korea who got into power with help from the Americans needed to compete with the “released Korean figures who collaborated with Japan”.
The very birth of South Korean politics was “competition between pro-Japan vs. pro-America factions”.
It’s a common historical trivia, if you think about it.
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So trivia. What happens after the Japanese and Koreans have a big hug and hate America together and kick them out of East Asia?
What’s your guess?
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That’s easy. The US pulls out and China eats them for lunch.
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//So trivia. What happens after the Japanese and Koreans have a big hug and hate America together and kick them out of East Asia?
What’s your guess?//
I think it would be better in the long run. Mostly because South Korea needs to reconcile with Japan some day. But this time with more optimal lookouts.
(I know I’m being very anti-American in Japan Probe, but I mostly relate anti-Americanism exclusively regarding with South Korean politics. Then again, I usually talk here to share infos on Korea.)
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MMMMMMMM…nothing like the good old-fashioned brand of stupidity.
Grate Splellling – Check
Nonsensical Argument – Check
Novel use of //Back\SLASH!// – Chickety Check!
Only one word can describe these posts and that word is AWESOMETASTICAL! This is the reason I occasionally visit Japan Probe…keep it up my Canuck brother! Why anyone would waste time trying to debate something with you is beyond me.
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You have a constant drumbeat, continual refrain: Blame the USA, blame the USA . . . blame the . . .
Fine, fine. Be a little more specific in your charges, then. Who in the US is encouraging or even financing right-wing ROK politicians to be anti-Japanese?
Otherwise, kindly piss off or have the ROK govt. dig up all the graves of the dead US military who died in defence of the ROK and ship them back home. Get Canada to defend the southern half of the peninsula next time.
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And yes, I know Canada gallantly took part in the Korean War. In your view, was Canada on the right side?
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It was the UN leadership, not American leadership that contributed the Korean War.
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“It was the UN leadership”
Doug MacArthur and “Chesty” Puller worked for the UN?!?
News to me.
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Yes, of course. You still didn’t answer the question. Was Canada, the hated, despicable USA, the UK, the UN itself on the right side in 1950-1952?
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Personally no, because the South Korean politics around 1945-1950 was dirty con jobs mostly by the American government.
The Korean War could be avoided if Syngman Rhee didn’t take absolute political power, based on the supported fact that the Soviet-backed North Korean government was illegal to begin with. And who put Rhee in power? America.
Rhee wasn’t the most suitable person to deal with the puppet government of the north and contributed America to open dialogues with the USSR. The American government shot right in his own foot because of this. The Korean War was essentially a diplomatic failure of the American government.
Good night. Even if you will criticize me with absolute zeal, I don’t mind. I get this often.
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Good night to you, my friend. I might be very wrong, but I suspect you support the gulag govt. of the Dear Leader. Heaven knows he’s not corrupt. The best you can do is cite nearly 60 yr old history viewed from the perspective of the official USSR/PRC line. Maintain that line in the ROK now, some pampered college kids will cheer you and old folks who know better will mock you. Deviate from that line in the happy Peep’s Rep of NK and you’ll disappear. Best wishes.
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I can only imagine what the above comments must be: I’m half afraid to look, half too cowardly.
In the Southern States of the U.S., Frank and Jessie James are still celebrated as heroes. No doubt they did a few charitable deeds, but they were killers nevertheless. Time takes away the horror and adds a veneer of romance. Japanese/Korean history is tragic and complicated and Japan has a lot to be ashamed of, but I don’t find Ito’s assassin the least bit cute.
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> Japanese/Korean history is tragic and complicated and Japan has a lot to be ashamed of
For example?
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For example, Japanese didn’t get much angry even when the assassin of their first PM somehow became a cute mascot. (This is especially ridiculous when you consider the fact he helped the annexation by shooting the PM who was against it.) Japanese have to be ashamed of neglecting the funny acts of their neighbors.
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During the great Kanto earthquake of 1923, many hundreds of ethnic Koreans were killed by Japanese civilians who feared that they were poisoning wells. This is well documented (i.e., not only to be found on Wikipedia or similar). I lived in Japan for 17 years and knew many Japanese and Korean people who knew of this and referred to it. And while many Koreans collaborated with the Japanese during WWII (including the guards at POW camps or those working with the Japanese on the Burma Railroad) surely everyone recognizes that the Korean ‘comfort women’ forcibly recruited or tricked into employment by the military cannot be accused of this.
During the years I spent in Japan, I knew dozens of Japanese Koreans. Most of them considered themselves Japanese, not Korean, and they identified with Japan in every possible way. They were irritated by people who implied that the Japanese were the bad guys and the Koreans were the innocent victims. But during my time in Japan, I also heard many disparaging references to Koreans and their coarseness, their lack of integrity, tendency to lie, cheat, etc. Coincidentally, I am told that my Japanese sounds Korean over the telephone; on countless occasions, I was mistaken for being Korean on the phone and treated with a certain contempt until I managed to convince my interlocutors that I was American. But I also met many Japanese people who got on well with Koreans and were fascinated with their culture.
Clearly, Japanese/Korean relations are complicated and the history between these two peoples is troubled. All we can do is try to separate the truth from the lies, work towards mutual understanding, and do our best not to fan the fires of hatred.
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> surely everyone recognizes that the Korean ‘comfort women’ forcibly recruited or tricked into employment by the military cannot be accused of this.
Why don’t you stop using cheap rhetoric like this to make Japanese/Korean history look “tragic and complicated”?
Most “comfort women” became prostitutes to support their family financially. Although some were tricked into employment by recruiters (if not by their parents) for commissions, it is not the military who forced or tricked those girls into “comfort women.” So called comfort stations were owned and managed privately, thus “comfort women” were not employed by the military.
There are always tragedies on the individual level, and the annexation period is not the exception. However, if you “try to separate the truth from the lies,” you will find that Japanese/Korean history is not that “tragic and complicated.”
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MaryWitzl,
I don’t understand your mostly pointless comparison and subsequent argument. Comparison with an Iraqi man who threw his shoes at someone might be somewhat better than yours.
Shoud we head for another irrelevant point with citations from Chaplin’s “Monsieur Verdoux”?
One murder makes a villain, Millions a hero. Numbers sanctify.
Who will be the next candidate of comparison? What kind of debate will start off then?
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Worshiping assassins is a japanese speciality.
The people in the videos below dont look cute but seem to be very proud of their “achievements”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R9yG0KnzNU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2Fq7h13U2g&feature=related
I`m sure the day we criate a shrine and honor this man there, the Japanenses will praise it.
The difference between honoring Ahn Jung Gun and the japanese soldiers is that the korean “assassin” is a indenpendence fighter while the japanese soldiers are nothing but simple and plain assassins fighting for the japanese “one thousand year kingdom” crime. Koreans, chinese, philipins, americans, australians, etc died because of this ambition.
I know, you guys are proud of this ….
You are right, killing is wrong, than you admit that the japanese royal army is nothing but a bunch or royal assassins, right? after all, no matter what the motivation, assassination is assassination, or you will just pretend that japanese soldiers didn`t kill a sinlge man during WWII? or no matter how many people they killed you will just say that their motivation was valid while the korean motivation was wrong.
If someone is going to answer my post, please tell me why japanese soldires killing milions of people is right, but korean indpendence fighter killing its enemy is wrong. Please, don`t use the same lame tactic of insulting koreans to deviate from the discusison here. Be objective.
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I don’t think anyone will deny people died at the hands of Japanese soldiers during WWII (I assume that is what you refer to). You are just getting hung up on the actual meaning of the word assassin. A soldier CAN be an assassin but just killing an enemy does not make you one. Please check the definition that was posted earlier. I can’t really debate who is right or wrong here. All I have is what’s written in history. Seems like the guy got a lot of respect, even from his Japanese captors. But at the same time it looks like he may have inadvertently killed a guy that was on his side. Either way please try to understand that very few Japanese actually think marching around Yasukuni shrine is cool.
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So you put emphasis on the motivation of the character (from a distinctly Korean subjective standpoint) to distinguish Ahn Jung Gun as an “independence fighter” above Japanese soldiers who you consider to be all just criminals.
But then you disregard the commonly accepted implication that the word “assassin” carries in motive or methods, lumping professional soldiers fighting a war to a lone civilian acting on his own beliefs in the same camp and labeling them all assassins. Putting aside what is right or wrong, waging war in the conventional sense is hardly “assassination”.
I hope it’s not too insulting when I say your comment sounds a bit contradictory and confused.
I think checking the meaning that people give to the word “assassin” first would put you on the same page as most everyone else here.
And by the way, the Thousand Year Kingdom is what Nazi Germany called itself along with “Third Reich” and has little to do with Imperial Japan.
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Do you seriously not realise the difference between army soldiers and an assassin? Or are you just trying to stir things up? The later, I hope, as otherwise you come off as an idiot. You also utterly fail to realise that the point of this item is not that the Koreans honour this guy, but that he is made into a cute non-threatening kiddie cartoon mascot.
“Japanenses”?
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…[a long rant omitted]… Be objective.
You should have started from the very last point yourself.
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WOW this guy is a korean hero.?
he made korea an annexation with Japan.
Ito was opposite the annexation.
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Furthermore, assassination of an important political figure could be considered a specious pretense for starting war, at least, from the viewpoint of international (actually, the great powers’) standard in the mid or late 19th century where murder of Christian missionaries could have triggered off invasion.
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Probably this guy tried to start WWI five years earlier and put his mane on history books.
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If he’d succeeded, I’m sure things would have gotten pretty hairy.
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“…put his mane on history books.”
You think he might have got the lion’s share of attention, then?
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Very punny OT…
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When I visited Ahn Jung-geun Memorial Hall in Seoul in the late 1980s, it was rather a deserted place. When I entered the hall, I was the only visitor there. I stayed there for about 30 minutes, but there was no other visitor during my stay in the hall. I thought that Ahn was not popular in Korea. The weird nationalism like this is perhaps a result of the education during Roh Moo-hyun’s administration.
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//The weird nationalism like this is perhaps a result of the education during Roh Moo-hyun’s administration.//
More like since Park Chung-hee to today.
Remember, mainstream Korean nationalism is not “true” nationalism.
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I guess people forget that he was also a devoted Roman Catholic. And Roman Catholicism does have substantial pressure in the South Korean public to promote him.
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