<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" ><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;">In fact, one can observe significant differences in the use of abusive rhetoric not only between North Korea (the "East") and a somewhat simplified notion of the "West" but also between the various "rogues states" that George W. Bush (in)famously dubbed the Axis of Evil. Both North Korea and Iran use English-language websites to express their vehement dislike of certain foreign powers, but the terminology used by KCNA, and the topics covered by said news agency, are far more bizarre and redundant than what one can find in the English version of the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) or in "Tehran Times," even though His Excellency Ahmadinejad is hardly a novice in the fine art of public insults and abuse. What is most peculiar in KCNA propaganda is the sheer amount of un-newsworthy items, such as empty phrases and wholly invented events (which occasionally
alternate with regular business ads, with fax numbers and e-mail addresses carefully added). In this respect, IRNA is far more "professional." Maybe this is why its condolences on the occasion of the demise of the Dear Leader were limited to two (2) sentences_which was hardly the case in KCNA.<br><br>Balazs Szalontai<br><br>--- On <b>Wed, 23/5/12, Kye C Kim <i><kc.kim2@gmail.com></i></b> wrote:<br><blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"><br><br><div id="yiv950307527">So, ultimately how much does this rhetoric of hatred add to or subtract from that universal <br>consciousness that in toto constitute what is our life, even after we deduct the cost of the<br>band-aid....<br><br>Sorry to be directing a private response to your interesting posts. Following is just too much<br>
of a rushed jotting to post to the list. Nonetheless, I wanted to share some thoughts<br>prompted by your interesting comments as well as the questions they prompted, some of which were<br>
answered by Mr Hoare's response...)<br><br>These are indeed disturbing in the extreme? Blood curdling? Shocking? Somebody help me up?<br><br>And what fascinating detective work, using frequency, intensity, and time-line to divine what might<br>
be going on in the heads and hearts of the NK elite.<br>
<br>For all the rhetoric of hatred coming out of NK, it is precisely this cornucopia of linguistic infelicities<br>that presumably are not being 'polished' by the native English speakers that capture the readers.<br>
<br>So, is there a final polisher who is overriding the earlier polishing of the native speakers or are the<br>native polishers simply pulled out of the loop in the final version that ultimately becomes the face<br>of NK in the world media? Are they aware of the effect of "oddness" and "infelicity" produced by <br>
the rhetoric they are pushing out to the rest of the world in English? Could it be that this is precisely<br>the "effect" they are after?<br><br>West is not without its own inventory of invectives and choice curse words and yet such are almost<br>
never a part of the public discourse, and such phrasing would certainly be deemed "inappropriate" <br>by every standard. Today even the "Axis of Evil" statement would be viewed as an "extreme" <br>
expression and "ultra-extreme" rhetoric by the West.<br><br>Is one to conclude that the language of "discourse/rhetoric" is very much one of East is East and West is West,<br>with the twain meeting being nearly impossible. This is how it would seem to stand.<br>
<br>Now, Korean does have a modern tradition of "dressing down your opponents," even "a separate<br>and very theatrical language of provocation," most often seen in staged version of confrontation between<br>
generals and gang leaders, where exchanges of belittlements and denigrations do achieve certain<br>rhetorical artfulness. <br><br>But these recognizably Korean rhetoric of hatred/provocations do not necessarily degrade to the <br>
less than artful and infelicitous blusters we find in the NK English versions. <br><br>I guess the question is, "Is this possibly the result of BAD TRANSLATION/POLISHING?" <br><br>Several other questions immediately pop into mind: The Korean version of tough-talking is today best<br>
seen in the West in the WWE(World Wrestling Entertainment) where the rhetoric of challenge-belittlement<br>achieve their modern heights through the modern-day gladiators/rhetors on modern coliseums.<br><br>Even closer, the living rooms of the West can revel in the near artistry of the malediction of Debra Morgan<br>
(<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://dexter.wikia.com/wiki/Debra_Morgan">http://dexter.wikia.com/wiki/Debra_Morgan</a>) and Lieutenant Doakes(<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://dexter.wikia.com/wiki/James_Doakes">http://dexter.wikia.com/wiki/James_Doakes</a>)<br>
weekly while following the adventures Dexter, our favorite angel of death.<br><br>This is very different from the rhetoric of hatred we are seeing here. Does this have history? In the English<br>as it circulates in the world media, is the origin even possibly English? I could almost imagine that such<br>
rhetoric of hatred was very rampant, Japanese directed against Americans, and the reverse...Has it developed<br>and evolved? Is there directionality?<br><br>Another question is: Are the Western students of Korean cued into the world of Korean malediction as part<br>
of their language training? We can call to mind the near-international-race-incident that happened because of<br><div>the misinterpretation, according to one account, of all to common "네가 ...." <br><br>JoobaiLee<br>
5/21/2012</div>
<br><br><div class="yiv950307527gmail_quote">On Tue, May 22, 2012 at 8:32 PM, Kent Davy <span dir="ltr"><<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:kentdavy@me.com" target="_blank" href="/mc/compose?to=kentdavy@me.com">kentdavy@me.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="yiv950307527gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<div><div>Here's an interview with Paul White:</div><div><br></div><div><br><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.nknews.org/2012/04/the-british-voice-of-kim-il-sung/">http://www.nknews.org/2012/04/the-british-voice-of-kim-il-sung/</a><br>
<div><br></div><div><div><div><br></div></div></div></div><div><div class="yiv950307527h5"><div><br>On May 21, 2012, at 5:18 AM, <a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:jimhoare64@aol.co.uk" target="_blank" href="/mc/compose?to=jimhoare64@aol.co.uk">jimhoare64@aol.co.uk</a> wrote:<br><br></div><div>
</div><blockquote type="cite"><div><font color="black" face="arial"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font>I agree that KCNA did not seem to use polishers, The FLPH laid off the </font>remaining<font> foreign staff while we were there in 2001-02 and thereafter seemed to relay on Koreans - no doubt this explains the odd language.</font></font>
<div><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">But even when they did employ foreign staff, the Korean staff would often override what the native speakers had suggested.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">On a slightly different note, what use would one make of photographs of such people if one had them? </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Jim Hoare<br>
</font><br>
<br>
<div style="font-size:10pt;font-family:arial, helvetica;">-----Original Message-----<br>
From: Afostercarter <<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:Afostercarter@aol.com" target="_blank" href="/mc/compose?to=Afostercarter@aol.com">Afostercarter@aol.com</a>><br>
To: koreanstudies <<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws" target="_blank" href="/mc/compose?to=koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws">koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws</a>><br>
CC: jsburgeson <<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:jsburgeson@yahoo.com" target="_blank" href="/mc/compose?to=jsburgeson@yahoo.com">jsburgeson@yahoo.com</a>><br>
Sent: Sun, 20 May 2012 18:34<br>
Subject: Re: [KS] Foreign copy-editors and polishers in Pyongyang<br>
<br>
<div>
<font color="#000000" face="Book Antiqua" size="4">
<div>
<div><font size="4">Dear friends and colleagues,</font></div>
<div><font size="4"></font> </div>
<div><font size="4">Scott raises the question of native speakers of English
(etc)</font></div>
<div><font size="4">as copy-editors - also known as 'polishers' - in North
Korea.</font></div>
<div><font size="4"></font> </div>
<div><font size="4">Having in the past recruited at least two people for such
roles</font></div>
<div><font size="4">- Michael Harrold, and the late Andrew Holloway <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.aidanfc.net/a_year_in_pyongyang.html">http://www.aidanfc.net/a_year_in_pyongyang.html</a></font></div>
<div><font size="4">- this is a topic about which I'm curious, but not
up-to-date.</font></div>
<div><font size="4"></font> </div>
<div><font size="4">Michael, Andrew and others were hired by the DPRK</font></div>
<div><font size="4">Foreign Languages </font><font size="4">Publishing House (FLPH).
The texts</font></div>
<div><font size="4">they worked on were mostly books, as best I
recall.</font></div>
<div><font size="4"></font> </div>
<div><font size="4">By contrast, I've never heard of KCNA using
foreigners.</font></div>
<div><font size="4">My guess would be that they don't, given some
stilted</font></div>
<div><font size="4">expressions and the odd mistake.</font></div>
<div><font size="4"></font> </div>
<div><font size="4">For example, surely if a native English speaker
were</font></div>
<div><font size="4">involved they would have recommended a different
word</font></div>
<div><font size="4">- be it technical or colloquial - for "bottom hole" in
the </font></div>
<div><font size="4">third sentence of the </font><font size="4">caption to the
cartoon below.</font></div>
<div><font size="4"></font> </div>
<div><font size="4">There are other linguistic infelicities here as
well,</font></div>
<div><font size="4">not least the title. Either tear apart or tear to
pieces,</font></div>
<div><font size="4">but not tear apart to pieces.</font></div>
<div><font size="4"></font> </div>
<div><font size="4">(</font><font size="4">On the substance: In my article I likened
doing the research</font></div>
<div><font size="4">for this to wading through sewage. You can see
why.)</font></div>
<div><font size="4"></font> </div>
<div><font size="4">- But back to polishers. FLPH still uses at least one, but he
</font></div>
<div><font size="4">lives in Beijing. See an interesting interview with
Paul White</font></div>
<div><font size="4">at Tad Farrell's ever more indispensable
NKNews:</font></div>
<div><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.nknews.org/2012/04/the-british-voice-of-kim-il-sung/"><font size="3">http://www.nknews.org/2012/04/the-british-voice-of-kim-il-sung/</font></a></div>
<div><font size="4"></font> </div>
<div><font size="4">Kind regards</font></div>
<div><font size="4">Aidan FC</font></div>
<div><font size="4"></font> </div>
<div>
<div style="MARGIN:0cm 0cm 0pt;" class="yiv950307527MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:Cambria;" lang="EN-GB"><font size="3">Aidan
Foster-Carter</font></span></b></div>
<div style="MARGIN:0cm 0cm 0pt;" class="yiv950307527MsoNormal"><font size="3"><i><span style="font-family:Cambria;" lang="EN-GB">Honorary Senior Research
Fellow in Sociology & Modern Korea, Leeds University, UK</span></i><span style="font-family:Cambria;"></span></font></div>
<div style="MARGIN:0cm 0cm 0pt;" class="yiv950307527MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:Cambria;" lang="EN-GB"> </span></i><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:Cambria;" lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div style="MARGIN:0cm 0cm 0pt;" class="yiv950307527MsoNormal"><font size="3"><i><span style="font-family:Cambria;" lang="EN-GB">E</span></i><span style="font-family:Cambria;" lang="EN-GB">: <a rel="nofollow" title="mailto:afostercarter@aol.com" ymailto="mailto:afostercarter@aol.com" target="_blank" href="/mc/compose?to=afostercarter@aol.com">afostercarter@aol.com</a><span> </span><a rel="nofollow" title="mailto:afostercarter@yahoo.com" ymailto="mailto:afostercarter@yahoo.com" target="_blank" href="/mc/compose?to=afostercarter@yahoo.com">afostercarter@yahoo.com</a><span> </span><i><span style="FONT-FAMILY:Cambria;">W</span></i>: <a rel="nofollow" title="http://www.aidanfc.net/" target="_blank" href="http://www.aidanfc.net/">www.aidanfc.net</a><span> </span></span></font></div>
<div style="MARGIN:0cm 0cm 0pt;" class="yiv950307527MsoNormal"><font size="3"><span style="font-family:Cambria;" lang="EN-GB"><span></span></span></font> </div>
<div style="MARGIN:0cm 0cm 0pt;" class="yiv950307527MsoNormal"><font size="3"><span style="font-family:Cambria;" lang="EN-GB"><span></span>**************</span></font></div>
<div style="MARGIN:0cm 0cm 0pt;" class="yiv950307527MsoNormal"><font size="3"><span style="font-family:Cambria;" lang="EN-GB"></span></font> </div>
</div>
<div><font size="4">From <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.kcna.kp/2mb/eindex.html">http://www.kcna.kp/2mb/eindex.html</a> (cartoon
5)</font></div>
<div><font size="4"></font> </div>
<div><img width="450"><br>
<center><b><font face="Cambria">Tear Apart Lee Myung Bak to
Pieces</font></b></center><br>
<font face="Cambria">The dirty hairy body of
rat-like Myung Bak is being stabbed with bayonets. One is right in his neck and
the heart has already burst open. Blood is flowing out of its filthy bottom
hole. This is not too much to Lee as he committed only sordid acts of flunkeyism
and treachery. And this is not all. It is the strong will and pledge of the army
and people of the DPRK to tear apart Lee Myung Bak to
pieces</font>.</div>
<div><font size="4"></font> </div>
<div><font size="4">_______________</font></div>
<div><font size="4"></font> </div>
<div>In a message dated 5/20/2012 11:27:17 GMT Daylight Time,
<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:jsburgeson@yahoo.com" target="_blank" href="/mc/compose?to=jsburgeson@yahoo.com">jsburgeson@yahoo.com</a> writes:</div>
<blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT:blue 2px solid;PADDING-LEFT:5px;MARGIN-LEFT:5px;"><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR:transparent;" color="#000000" face="Arial" size="2">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Thanks for the great article, Aiden! Did you have to put
bandaids on your eye-balls after reading so much slashing, violent
fulmination?
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Any chance you can dig up photos of some of the foreign devils who
copy-edited this stuff in English? One wonders if they have PTSD by now;
hopefully they were sharp enough to ask in advance to be paid in
soju!</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
<br>
--- On <b>Fri, 5/18/12, Aidan Foster-Carter
<i><<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:afostercarter@aol.com" target="_blank" href="/mc/compose?to=afostercarter@aol.com">afostercarter@aol.com</a>></i></b> wrote:<br>
<blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT:rgb(16,16,255) 2px solid;PADDING-LEFT:5px;MARGIN-LEFT:5px;"><br>
From:
Aidan Foster-Carter <<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:afostercarter@aol.com" target="_blank" href="/mc/compose?to=afostercarter@aol.com">afostercarter@aol.com</a>><br>
Subject: [KS] (no
subject)<br>
To: <a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:Koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws" target="_blank" href="/mc/compose?to=Koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws">Koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws</a><br>
Date: Friday, May 18,
2012, 9:56 AM<br>
<br>
<div><font color="black" face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size="3">
<div style="font-size:large;"><font size="4">Dear friends and colleagues,</font></div>
<div style="font-size:large;"><font size="4"></font> </div>
<div style="font-size:large;"><font size="4">Just to let you know that the new issue of <i>Comparative
Connections</i></font></div>
<div style="font-size:large;"><font size="4">- the thrice-yearly online journal published by Pacific
Forum-CSIS -</font></div>
<div style="font-size:large;"><font size="4">includes what I think is the first full account and detailed
analysis</font></div>
<div style="font-size:large;"><font size="4">in English of </font><font size="4">North
Korea's ongoing bloodthirsty fulminations</font></div>
<div style="font-size:large;"><font size="4">against </font><font size="4">South Korea and especially its
President, Lee Myung-bak.</font></div>
<div style="font-size:large;"><font size="4"></font> </div>
<div style="font-size:large;"><font size="4">
<div><font size="4">In over 40 years of following North Korea, I've read
tons of rich</font></div>
<div><font size="4">DPRK invective - but never anything as bizarre and
nasty as this.</font></div>
</font></div>
<div style="font-size:large;"><font size="4">(They don't much care for Park Geun-hye, either; for all
that she</font></div>
<div style="font-size:large;"><font size="4">dined with Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang less than a decade
ago.)</font></div>
<div style="font-size:large;"><font size="4"></font> </div>
<div style="font-size:large;"><font size="4">In case of interest, this article is freely available to all
at</font></div>
<div style="font-size:large;"><a rel="nofollow" style="COLOR:blue;" title="http://csis.org/files/publication/1201qnk_sk.pdf" target="_blank" href="http://csis.org/files/publication/1201qnk_sk.pdf"><font size="4">http://csis.org/files/publication/1201qnk_sk.pdf</font></a></div>
<div style="font-size:large;"><font size="4">The full issue, which as ever also has three further articles
on Korea</font></div>
<div style="font-size:large;"><font size="4">covering the two Koreas' relations with the US, China
and Japan,</font></div>
<div style="font-size:large;"><font size="4">can be accessed at </font><a rel="nofollow" style="COLOR:blue;" title="http://csis.org/program/comparative-connections" target="_blank" href="http://csis.org/program/comparative-connections"><font size="4">http://csis.org/program/comparative-connections</font></a></div>
<div style="font-size:large;"><font size="4"></font> </div>
<div style="font-size:large;"><font size="4">All good wishes</font></div>
<div style="font-size:large;"><font size="4">Aidan FC</font></div>
<div style="font-size:large;"><font size="4"></font> </div>
<div style="font-size:large;">
<div style="MARGIN:0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b><span style="FONT-FAMILY:Cambria;" lang="EN-GB">Aidan
Foster-Carter</span></b></div>
<div style="MARGIN:0cm 0cm 0pt;"><font size="3"><i><span style="FONT-FAMILY:Cambria;" lang="EN-GB">Honorary
Senior Research Fellow in Sociology & Modern Korea, Leeds
University, UK</span></i><span style="FONT-FAMILY:Cambria;"></span></font></div>
<div style="MARGIN:0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i><span style="FONT-FAMILY:Cambria;FONT-SIZE:8pt;" lang="EN-GB"></span></i><span style="FONT-FAMILY:Cambria;FONT-SIZE:8pt;" lang="EN-GB"></span> </div>
<div style="MARGIN:0cm 0cm 0pt;"><font size="3"><i><span style="FONT-FAMILY:Cambria;" lang="EN-GB">E</span></i><span style="FONT-FAMILY:Cambria;" lang="EN-GB">: <a rel="nofollow" style="COLOR:blue;" title="http://mc/compose?to=afostercarter@aol.com">afostercarter@aol.com</a> <a rel="nofollow" style="COLOR:blue;" title="http://mc/compose?to=afostercarter@yahoo.com">afostercarter@yahoo.com</a> <i>W</i>: <a rel="nofollow" style="COLOR:blue;" title="http://www.aidanfc.net/" target="_blank" href="http://www.aidanfc.net/">www.aidanfc.net</a> </span></font></div>
</div>
<div style="font-size:large;"><font size="4"></font> </div>
<div style="font-size:large;"><font size="4"></font> </div>
</font></div>
</blockquote></div>
</td></tr></tbody></table></font></blockquote></div>
<div></div>
<div><font size="4"></font> </div>
</font>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</font>
</div></blockquote></div></div></div>
</blockquote></div><br>
</div></blockquote></td></tr></table>