Nationalism Meets Socialism: North Korean Propaganda Extols Racial Purity

As one who takes the position that our problems with North Korea will only end with the inevitable destruction of its regime, it’s moments like this when I have to pause to thank the Korea Central News Agency for giving me gems like this one (ht to the Marmot):

A strange farce to hamstring the essential characters of the Korean nation and seek for “multiracial society” is now being held in south Korea. In this regard Rodong Sinmun today runs a signed commentary, which censures the farce as an unpardonable bid to negate the homogeneity of the nation, make south Korea multiracial and Americanize it. To deny the peculiarity and advantages of the homogeneous nation now that dominationism and colonialism are posing a threat to the destiny of weak nations is a treacherous act of weakening the spirit of the nation, the commentary says, and goes on: The south Korean pro-American traitorous forces advocating the theory of “multiracial society” are riffraffs who have not an iota of national soul, to say nothing of the elementary understanding of the view on the nation and social and historic development.

If the homogeneity of the nation is not kept, the nation and the destiny of individuals cannot be defended from the U.S. dominationist moves and the attempt of the Japanese reactionaries for invasion of Korea, which is revealed in their claim to Tok Islet, cannot be checked.

I officially no longer believe it’s possible to top the official idiocy we’ve heard on Tokdo. Ditto the gullibility of the Korean people who are so willingly distracted by it, away from matters of manifestly greater importance. If Tokdo is “uri ttang,” it seems odd that most of Korea’s territory and a dwindling, wretched third of its people dominated by an illegitimate democidal despot aren’t also “uri ttang.” And of course, North Korea puts its herrenvolk ideology into practice by killing babies it believes to be racially impure. Are these murdered infants also unworthy of South Korean outrage? The double standard and the ready acceptance thereof are both flat-out inexplicable to rational minds.

The theory of “multiracial society” is a poison and anti-reunification logic aimed to emasculate the basic idea in the era of independent reunification. The anti-national logic is advocated in south Korea, contrary to the aspiration of the fellow countrymen. This is ascribable to the criminal attempt of the pro-American elements including the Grand National Party to make the north and the south different in lineages, block the June 15 era of reunification and seek the permanent division of the nation and the manipulation of the U.S. behind the scene.

Another question this raises — are you as concerned as I am that this intemperate North Korean criticism of South Korean views on individual rights will ruin the spirit of inter-Korean reconciliation and present a setback for the six-party talks? Just checking . . . .

I’ve written about the politics of “racial purity” in today’s Korea here. And of course, the very idea of Korean racial purity is asinine. Koreans are already an ethnic mixture of indigenous peoples, Chinese, and Mongolians, and (gasp!) Japanese. If there’s one thing the North Koreans excel at, it’s propaganda, and there’s no denying that North Korea’s racial theories have a certain inherent appeal in South Korea. Without bringing the level of this post down to a personal diatriabe, my own recent visit to South Korea with my two children confirms that Hines Ward mania hasn’t transformed Korea into an open-minded society — not by a long shot. Scroll down to the bottom of this post, and you’ll see that South Korea’s ruling party isn’t above playing the “ethnic purty” card against America, either.

(To be fair to the South Koreans, there are some who are espousing relatively more enlightened views.)

But please — please do explain to me how North Korea’s regime is really misunderstood and poised on the precipice of opening, reform, and mature diplomatic resolution of its differences with the civilized world. Where is Selig Harrison when you have something in hand that just cries out to be stapled to the front of his face?