Antisemitism in South Korea

Though the Jewish community in South Korea is virtually non-existent, South Korea had no traditional antisemitism until North Korean propaganda made caricatures of the “American imperialists” and “Japanese colonialists" as well as Jewish caricatures of hooked noses, unkempt facial hair that have bore similarities with Nazi Germany’s depiction of Jews during World War II. Similarly in North Korea, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un gave state officials copies of Mein Kampf as gifts on his birthday in January 2013. In contemporary South Korea, fringe anti-American extremist groups and far left ideologues have promoted Jewish conspiracy , but antisemitism has not become a widespread phenomenon in South Korea due to South Korea’s little knowledge of Jews and as well as lack of historical contact with a sizable Jewish population.

History

In 2000, a Seoul restaurant called the Fifth Reich (formerly, the Third Reich), featured a small photo of Hitler at the entrance and a larger one across from the bar. Waiters and waitresses wear swastika armbands and badges serve mixed drinks to young people who also buy Nazi paraphernalia. The Fifth Reich is one of at least three bars in Seoul that have decked themselves out in Nazi regalia during the year 2000. Young people are shown conversing at booths surrounded by statues of golden eagles with romanesque columns and large glass display cases of SS insignia. Nazi pins and Iron Crosses were featured on sale beside cash checkouts. Fascination with the icons and imagery of the Third Reich is a small has become troubling trend in South Korea that has been cited by the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Though the trend of Third Reich themed bars has since dissipated, South Korean teens still often cosplay as Gestapo agents.

In February 2007, a best-selling Korean comic book written by Rhie Won-bok from a series called “Distant Countries and Neighboring Countries" was defined as anti-Semitic in a U.S. State Department report. A contemporary global anti-semitism was submitted to the U.S. Congress on where the State Department stated that the book “recycles various Jewish conspiracy theories, such as Jewish control of the media, Jews profiting from war, and Jews causing the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center attacks.” Two examples of anti-Semitism were found in the book where a comic strip that showed a newspaper, a magazine, a television, and a radio, each with a Star of David, that was , “In a word, American public debate belongs to the Jews, and it’s no exaggeration to say that [U.S. media] are the voices of the Jews.” A second strip identified a man climbing a hill and then facing a brick wall inscribed with a Star of David and a stop sign. The caption reads, “The final obstacle [to success] is always a fortress called Jews.”

In May 2014, a survey by the Anti-Defamation League found that South Korea was the third most anti-Semitic country in Asia, behind only Malaysia and Armenia with 53 percent of South Koreans espousing negative stereotypes about Jews. In the survey, 59 percent of South Koreans believe that “Jews have too much power in the business world” and 57 percent are convinced that “Jews have too much power in international financial markets.”

In November 2014, The K-pop girl group Pritz garnered controversy with all-black outfits with arm bands that look similar to Nazi Swastikas. the group donned black dresses and red bands around their left arms with the bands had a while circle in the middle and an x-shaped black cross inside it. Pandagram, the entertainment agency that represented Pritz rejected the comparison, where they stated that when they were designing the costumes the 'thought never occurred' to them that the armbands and black outfits could be reminiscent of Nazi uniforms.

Paul Singer incident

On July 9th 2015, The South Korean chemical company Cheil announced plans to acquire Samsung C&T for $8 billion, in a transaction viewed as consolidating Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong's control over the Samsung Group. In a long-standing dispute between Singer and members of the Lee family over a merger between Samsung and Cheil Industries, Samsung and much of South Korean media published numerous depictions of Singer as an anthropomorphic vulture on its corporate website viciously exploiting children and poor people. Another cartoon depicted Singer people appear to be dying in the desert from dehydration. Underneath is the caption: 'Because of it, Congo suffered even more hardship' where it was to be believed to refer to Elliott Management's business dealings in Congo. A caricature featured anti-Semitic slurs featuring Elliot Singer as an axe-wielding extortionist profiteering from other people's misery. The cartoons were widespread throughout South Korean media and the anti-semitic cartoons were supported by many South Korean netizens.

A number of South Korean publications also characterized Singer as a “ruthless, greedy Jew,” with one even comparing him to Shylock, the Jewish moneylender from Shakespeare’s play, “The Merchant of Venice" written in 1596, in the form of a loan shark named Shylock. Mediapen.com, a South Korean news Web site wrote of Elliott’s past deeds naturally overlap with Shylock. Elliott’s nickname in the US is ‘vulture,’ a greedy bird that feeds off dead bodies. Elliott withstands any ethical criticism if it can win profit." MoneyToday, a mainstream South Korean media publication website have also perpetuated negative stereotypes regarding Jews and money where it wrote: “According to the finance industry, the fact that Elliott (Associates) and ISS are both Jewish institutions cannot be ignored. Elliott is led by a Jew, Paul E. Singer, and (International Shareholder Services) is an affiliate of Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI), whose key shareholders are Jewish. According to a source in the finance industry, Jews have a robust network demonstrating influence in a number of domains.”

Park Jae-seon, South Korea's top expert on Jews and former ambassador to Morocco and member of the preparation committee for the PyeongChang 2018 Olympics, warned of the outsized influence of Jews in global finance. South Korean ambassador to Morocco similarly made remarks expressed his concern about the influence of Jews in finance in an outburst stating "The scary thing about Jews is they are grabbing the currency markets and financial investment companies." Further remakrs by Park referring the Jewish network of capital with "their network is tight knit beyond one’s imagination.”

Samsung remained silent and unapologetic until the cartoons were denounced by Singer, the Anti-Defamation League, and the Simon Wiesenthal center as antisemitic. Elliott Associates, the American hedge fund that owned 7.1% of Samsung C&T's stock sparked an anti-semitic backlash in South Korean media citing disproportionate Jewish influence and blamed Jews for attempting to block the merger of Cheil Industries and Samsung C&T as well as bringing up economic antisemitic canards where one South Korean columnist Kim Ji-ho made shocking antisemitic literary illustrations writing that "Jewish money has long been known to be ruthless and merciless."Anti-Defamation League National director, Abraham Foxman and the The Simon Wiesenthal Center condemned the remarks and called on Samsung to issue an apology, to which Samsung issued on July 13th.

See also

• History of the Jews in South Korea