[KS] Official end of WWII in Asia

[David Mason]

Well surely, Prof. Frank, you are aware that one nation's martyr-hero is usually the other nation's terrorist criminal -- pretty much a constant throughout human history.  I always bring this up when teaching my students about Korea's cultural history and we come to Nongye (1592) -- still a highly-honored hero in today's SK, her shrines visited and Jangsu-gun & Jinju-shi proudly promoting her image (I wonder if she's still lionized in the North, does anyone know?) -- what's the diff beteen her and today's Iraqi suicide-bombers that target American soldiers?  
 
Raising the question makes the Korean students uncomfortable, which is good, get 'em to think about such issues; amuses the other students, but they are reminded that almost every country has such cases.  It's usually not resolvable on either side -- just a real good case for discussion of values.
     

Sincere Regards,
David
 
David A. Mason
Professor of Korean Tourism, Kyung Hee University
Main Website: http://www.san-shin.org
also http://zozayong.com and http://baekdu-daegan.com
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   --   John Muir
 

--- On Sun, 9/5/10, Kwang On Yoo <lovehankook at gmail.com> wrote:


From: Kwang On Yoo <lovehankook at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [KS] Official end of WWII in Asia
To: "Ruediger Frank" <ruediger.frank at univie.ac.at>, "Korean Studies Discussion List" <koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws>
Date: Sunday, September 5, 2010, 9:30 AM


Dear Mr. Frank,

I understand your distaste but desperate time bears desperate heroism.

Kwang-On Yoo


On Sun, Sep 5, 2010 at 7:32 AM, Ruediger Frank <ruediger.frank at univie.ac.at> wrote:


Dear all,
am I the only one who has second thoughts regarding this thread? 
Let me put it this way: In today's world, would Mr. Yoon's deeds be regarded as an act of heroism? Or as an example of another -ism? Not that such a discussion would lead us very far on this list, but I find it interesting to observe how blowing up a person (or ripping off one of his legs) with a bomb can be interpreted in very different ways depending on... on what? On context? On culture? On vantage point? 
Best wishes,
Rudiger Frank


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