Check out this video from 2002 World Cup, which was hosted jointly by Japan and Korea.
Note how president Kim Dae Jung and his wife enter the box first, and then effectively block Japanese Emperor Akihito and Princess Michiko, all the time totally ignoring the efforts of the Japanese Imperial Couple to get past them to their seats at the far end of the box.
Had the roles been reversed, I’ll bet there would have been people in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul within minutes, cutting off their fingers and chewing on the Japanese flag.
Via Japan Probe
It’s also clear that it was planned. Jung completed ignored Akihito’s polite hand, and his wife ignored Michiko’s polite hand and bumbled about without actually making any effort to let her by.
All in all though, there’s bigger worries between the politicians of Japan and Korea than social pleasantries.
I used to admire Kim Dae Jung but that is pretty small of him.
I don’t think much of Kim Dae-jung either because remember he is the guy that secretly funneled in tens of millions of dollars into North Korea in order to secure the June 2000 summit. The money was key in keeping the oppressive NK regime in power not to mention all the political corruption for the Kim Dae-jung regime. He is not thought to highly of in Korea, though no one is thought of as lowly as the current Korean President Roh Moo-hyun.
[…] I’m not sure how this ranks with Bush I puking in the Japanese Prime Minister’s lap, but it certainly didn’t look good. […]
JP,
As I wrote on the Marmot’s Hole, I am surprised at your rather intemperate and perhaps oracular pronouncements on Kim Dae-jung’s supposed intentions here. While I am not exactly a fan of Kim Dae Jung (heck, who am I kidding? I think he is the greatest villain in modern South Korean history), I don’t think his blocking the Japanese Emperor was deliberate. The man, after all, was nearing 80 when this incident happened, and he has all kinds of physical ailments, not to mention that his sensory perception is severely dimmed. Combine all that with his legendary self-absorption, the incident is rather easy to explain as an accident.
GI Korea is also correct that Kim Dae-jung is not highly regarded in Korea. In fact, he was never highly regarded in Korea even prior to the “Cash for Summit” debacle outside Cholla, his home region, and the liberal pockets of Seoul (which often votes like New York as befits a stupendous metropolis). Perhaps most important, the portrait of DJ as a democratic icon, South Korea’s “Nelson Mandela,” etc. was a creation of American media. The natives always saw him for what he was: a self-serving, venal politician who took up the rhetorical mantle of democracy because that was the easiest way for him to get foreign attention and protection from the military regimes as an opposition politician.
Also, I should point out that DJ was more conciliatory toward Japan than perhaps any South Korean president with the exception of Park Chung-hee. I just don’t see Kim, who (unlike Roh) was rather slick and personally ingratiating, committing this kind of diplomatic faux pas deliberately.
Don’t hold back, Mr. Choe… tell us what you really think of Kim Dae-jung
Anyway, just to second what Mr. Choe has pointed out, I don’t think DJ was intentionally trying to embarrass the emperor. His situational awareness just failed him. And to be honest, DJ never really had the same kind of bone up his ass about Japan that some of the younger guys that have followed him have. Ironically, this is probably because he actually remembers the colonial period (his family probably colaborated, BTW. Or so I’ve read), knows how complicated a time it was, and perhaps therefore doesn’t really want to revisit it.
Won Joon Choe -
Thanks for taking the time to provide some background and your views.
If course, I have none of the knowledge about Kim that you do, and so I merely was able to report solely upon what it looked like.
Thanks again,
JP
Hey, Robert, I am rather generous to His Excellency Kim Dae-jung dae-tong-nyung gak-ha (I can’t Romanize)! I concede that Kim Il-sung was likely a worse man than His Excellency. Heck, I am even willing to entertain that Kim Jong-il is worse!
And JP, I hope I didn’t come off as too critical, in spite of my aggressive language. I have been lurking your sight for several years, and I have usually found your coverage of Korea-Japan issues objective and fair. This is one of the exceptions, and I feel even the Devil (and as Robert intimated, I really do think that harshly of Kim) must be given a fair hearing at times.
And JP, I hope I didn’t come off as too critical
Not at all. My reply to you was meant in all sincerity. I really did think your comments were informative and interesting.
Thanks again.
JP
[…] Japundit has an interesting video up of former Korean President Kim Dae-jung not allowing the Japanese Emperor and his wife to pass by him during the 2002 World Cup that is worth viewing. For those of us who have lived in Korea before this should be familiar. […]