<html><head></head><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:Helvetica Neue-Light, Helvetica Neue Light, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, Sans-Serif;font-size:13px"><div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17437"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17438">Dear Professor Baker,<o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17439"></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17440"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17441"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17442"> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17443" dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17444">I am fully agreement with your opinion in this matter. Isolated
errors of smaller or greater significance are indeed to be dealt with in a
non-public manner, for they are not of public concern. In the case of recurrent
and pattern-like inaccuracies, however, there may be a need for public
discussion. Let me explain my point by an admittedly folksy analogy:<o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17445"></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17446"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17447"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17448"> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17449"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17450">Mr. Hunter goes hunting with his colleagues. He aims at a deer,
and shoots. He misses the deer but hits one of his colleagues in the leg. An
unfortunate incident, surely. Next month, however, the incident occurs again.
Mr. Hunter shoots at a deer, misses it, but hits one of his colleagues in the
leg. During his hunting career, Mr. Hunter shoots a number of deer; he also
misses a few. It also occurs, about twenty or more times, that Mr. Hunter
accidentally hits a fellow hunter, each time when he misses a deer. Of these
twenty-some cases, he hits one specific hunter at least eighteen times. One
might excuse the hunter who was hit eighteen times if he starts to think that
this matter is no longer the strictly private business of Mr. Hunter and the
deer. Should we accuse him of showing insufficient respect for Mr. Hunter if he
draws his colleagues’ attention to the recurrence of these shooting accidents?<o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17451"></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17452"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17453"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17454"> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17455"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17456">I also agree with the point that if the central argument of a book
seems to be in accordance of the known facts and only minor details are
inaccurate, the book can be usually acknowledged as reliable. Still, it is also
necessary to establish how the author reaches these conclusions. Let me use one
more analogy, this time a more scholarly one. Let’s suppose that we encounter a
book that describes the events of the Kwangju massacre in detail, day by day.
One of the sources that the author regularly and extensively cites to
reconstruct the orders that were given first to the paratroopers, and
then to the other military units, is titled “Secret Diary of President Park
Chung Hee, 1961-1980,” discovered by the author. Even if the described events
and orders are well in accordance with the currently known facts, and even if
we do know from alternative sources that President Park Chung Hee had a diary, one
might raise questions about this specific source, particularly if the author
extensively relied on it.    <o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17457"></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;line-height:normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17458"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17459"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17460"> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;line-height:normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17461"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17462">Case in point:<o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17463"></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;line-height:normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17464"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17465"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17466"> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;line-height:normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17467"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17468">On p. 83 of <i id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17469">Tyranny of the Weak</i>, the following
information is provided:<o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17470"></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;line-height:normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17471"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17472"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17473"> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;line-height:normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17474"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17475">The DPRK
frequently rotated the Korean employees of the East European embassies, a
problem Soviet ambassador Suzdalev told his Hungarian counterpart there was
little the East Europeans could do to address. 129<o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17476"></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;line-height:normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17477"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17478"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17479"> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;line-height:normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17480"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17481">Footnote 129:
Soviet Embassy in DPRK, Report, 29 September 1954. AVPRF, Fond 0102, Opis 10,
Papka 44, Delo 9.<o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17482"></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;line-height:normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17483"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17484"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17485"> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;line-height:normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17486"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17487">Since the author
clearly specifies that Szarvas told these words to the Hungarian ambassador, we can obtain evidence of the conversation from the Hungarian
side, too. The Hungarian ambassador did record the conversation, and the contents
of his report are in accordance with the description above. The Hungarian
report (dated 23 October 1954) also specifies, however, that this conversation
occurred on 21 October 1954. This raises the question of how a Russian document
dated 29 September could record a conversation that occurred on 21 October. One
may suppose that September is an accidental mistake, and the actual date of the
Russian document was 29 October. Still, it is remarkable that in <i id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17488">Kim Il Sung in the Khrushchev Era</i>, the
date of the first cited Hungarian document is also 29 September 1954:<o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17489"></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;line-height:normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17490"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17491"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17492"> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;line-height:normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17493"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17494">In fall 1954,
the Foreign Ministry began to replace the embassies’ Korean employees very
frequently so as to prevent them from becoming loyal to their foreign employers.
On 21 October, Szarvas discussed this problem with Suzdalev, who told him that
“one may raise the issue of . . . the Korean employees in the Foreign
M[inistry], but in any case they will reply that the replacement of the employees
occurred for political reasons.”107 <o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17495"></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;line-height:normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17496"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17497"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17498"> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;line-height:normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17499"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17500">Endnote 107:
Hungarian Embassy to the DPRK, Report, 29 September 1954, KA, 4. doboz, 5/e,
010941/1954; Hungarian Embassy to the DPRK, Report, 23 October 1954, KTS, 7.
doboz, 5/f, 001567/1954.<o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17501"></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;line-height:normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17502"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17503"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17504"> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;line-height:normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17505"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17506">As I said, it is
the recurrence of this kind of date discrepancy that raises real concern.
Similar cases may be found on the following pages: p. 126 (Footnote 148), p.
131 (Footnote 169), and p. 134 (Footnote 183). In each case, the date of the
cited Russian or East German document is earlier than the event described. In
each case, the date of the cited document is fully identical with one of the
Hungarian documents cited in the comparable parts of<i id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17507"> Kim Il Sung in the Khrushchev Era</i>.<o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17508"></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;line-height:normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17509"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17510"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17511"> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;line-height:normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17512"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17513"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17514"> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;line-height:normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17515"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17516">Due to these
recurrent and pattern-like inaccuracies, I concluded that it will be necessary
for me to see the actual sources cited by Professor Armstrong to decide how
reliable the source citations are. When Professor Armstrong contacted me
privately on 17 September, I asked him to send me a list of the inaccuracies he
had identified. I also asked him to scan the AVPRF documents cited in the
section of pp. <span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17517">54-126</span>. If I
can see the cited documents, it will be easy to reconstruct which ones contain
information compatible with the information provided in <i>Tyranny of the Weak</i>,
and which ones do not. On 17 September, Professor Armstrong expressed his readiness to start
preparing such a list of inaccuracies on 19 September. I welcomed his decision.
If I receive this list and the actual Russian documents, it will be far easier
for me to decide if this matter can be settled privately or not.<o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17518"></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;line-height:normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17519"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17520"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17521"> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;line-height:normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17522"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17523">All the best,<o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17524"></o:p></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17033">























































</div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;line-height:normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none" dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17525"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17526">Balazs Szalontai</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17527"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17528"></o:p></span></div><div class="qtdSeparateBR" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17060"><br><br></div><div class="yahoo_quoted" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17066" style="display: block;">  <div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue-Light, Helvetica Neue Light, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, Sans-Serif; font-size: 13px;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17065"> <div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, Sans-Serif; font-size: 16px;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17064"> <div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17063"> <font size="2" face="Arial" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17062"> <hr size="1" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474420814844_17061"> <b><span style="font-weight:bold;">From:</span></b> Don Baker <ubcdbaker@hotmail.com><br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> Korean Studies Discussion List <koreanstudies@koreanstudies.com> <br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Wednesday, 21 September 2016, 0:56<br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: [KS] Re-revised posting "Revoking a Recommendation"<br> </font> </div> <div class="y_msg_container"><br><div id="yiv3966179029"><style>#yiv3966179029 #yiv3966179029 --
.yiv3966179029hmmessage P
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#yiv3966179029 </style><div><div dir="ltr">I would like to add my voice to those calling for greater collegiality. When mistakes have been found in a work, and the author has agreed to correct those mistakes and, furthermore, the mistakes do not undermine the central argument of the work, then there is no need to keep attacking the mistakes made by that author in a public forum. <div><br clear="none"></div><div>Recently, I noticed a major mistake <span style="font-size:12pt;">in a widely-read work</span><font size="3"> about a very important event in the history of the ROK. I emailed the author privately to point out that mistake. Even though I did not receive a reply, since that book overall is a fine piece of scholarship, I see no need to attack that author for one mistake on one page of a book that is around 500 pages long. That's because I believe we need to show a little more respect for each other. Only if a mistake appears to be an </font>intentional<font size="3"> distortion of the facts and is also central to a argument that therefore becomes completely misleading (like the argument that DPRK agents instigated the 1980 protests against Chun Doo-hwan's military coup) is it necessary to initiate a public discussion of the matter. </font></div><div><br clear="none">Don Baker <div>Professor</div><div>Department of Asian Studies </div><div>University of British Columbia </div><div>Vancouver, Canada V6T 1Z2 </div><div>don.baker@ubc.ca</div><br clear="none"><br clear="none"><div class="yiv3966179029yqt4706481256" id="yiv3966179029yqtfd46860"><div>> To: hoffmann@koreanstudies.com; koreanstudies@koreanstudies.com<br clear="none">> From: marion.eggert@rub.de<br clear="none">> Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2016 07:32:48 +0200<br clear="none">> Subject: Re: [KS] Re-revised posting "Revoking a Recommendation"<br clear="none">> <br clear="none">> Dear Frank and all:<br clear="none">> <br clear="none">> Am 20.09.2016 um 05:01 schrieb Frank Hoffmann:<br clear="none">> >   I understand<br clear="none">> > you did not invent that style, you saw and copied that on Facebook and<br clear="none">> > Twitter, but still ...<br clear="none">> The difference being that Facebook and Twitter are not moderated. But <br clear="none">> this list is supposed to be.<br clear="none">> This is not to counter your point, Frank, which is well taken - just <br clear="none">> another aspect to consider when we discuss how we want to discuss on <br clear="none">> this list.<br clear="none">> <br clear="none">>   Regards,<br clear="none">> Marion<br clear="none">> <br clear="none">> <br clear="none"></div></div></div><div class="yiv3966179029yqt4706481256" id="yiv3966179029yqtfd87652">                                        </div></div></div></div><br><br></div> </div> </div>  </div></div></body></html>