Korea: Independence Movements in Tibet and in Korea

As groups in other countries support Tibetans’ rage and criticize the violence of the Chinese government, Korean netizens are also busy making signature-seeking-campaigns or boycotting the Beijing Olympics. The participants who express their opinions on the internet and put their names on the campaigns are more and more.

The reasons why Koreans should understand Tibetans’ anger and support them seem to be related to the colonization times that they went through and the current situation, including historical conflicts between Korea and China, and North Korean defectors who are forcefully sent back to North Korea by the Chinese police.

Here is a post about why a netizen insists on the boycott against the Beijing Olympics.

최근 중국이 티벳 대규모 유혈 시위 진압 사태로 물의를 빚고 있습니다. 무려 100명 이상이 죽었다는 주장도 나오고 있습니다.한쪽에서는 티벳독립운동으로 죽어가고 한쪽에서는 올림픽한다며 흥겨워하는 것이 정말 아이러니한 모습입니다. 그러나 그뿐만이 아니라 지금도 중국은 북한에서 탈북한 탈북자들을 사형당하는줄 뻔히 알면서도 북한으로 돌려보내고 있습니다.

개인적으로 중국은 올림픽 개최할 자격이 없다고 생각합니다. 인권이 뭔지에 대한 개념이 없고 사람이 너무 많아서 그런지 사람 목숨 알기를 우습게 아는 것 같기도 합니다. 이번 티벳사태로 그 사실을 다시한번 확인한 것 같습니다. (그럼에도 중국정부는 ‘티벳사태가 올림픽에 아무런 악영향을 끼치지 못한다'고 말하고 있습니다.)

중국에게 올림픽은 단지 경제성장 과시하고픈 이벤트에 지나지 않으며 올림픽의 정신이 뭔지 개념도 없습니다. 그 뿐만이아니라 중국의 농 수산물, 중국산 음식물들은 이미 전세계에 신뢰를 잃어버린지 오래입니다. 최근의 일본 농약만두 사건때에도 중국은 자기들은 잘못이 없다면서 발뺌만 하더군요. 주변국강제합병, 역사왜곡, 동북공정/ 미성년자의 성매매와 아동학대등(청소년도 처형) 장기매매 인신매매문제 등 그 외에도 열거하자면 많지만 중략하고 중요한 것은 잘못된 것이 무엇인지 알고 고치려고 노력하는 자세를 보여주는 것이 아니라 중국은 무조건 덮고 진압하고 발뺌하는 후진스러운 마인드를 보여주고 있다는 것입니다.

할리우드 스타 리처드 기어는 “중국이 티베트 내 소요 사태들을 평화적으로 해결하지 않을 경우 베이징 올림픽 참가를 거부해야 한다”고 말했으며 유럽의 일부 정치인들은 이미 중국 올림픽 보이콧에 나선바 있습니다. 이번 보이콧 움직임으로 최소한 중국이 무력진압을 자제하고 자국의 약자 문제에 대해서 적극적인 대처를 보여줬으면 하는 바램입니다. 중국이 노력하는 모습을 보여준다면 즐겁게 올림픽을 볼 수 있겠지만 과연 그 근본적인 마인드가 변할지는 의문입니다…

Recently, deadly clashes of China against Tibetan protesters have given rise to public criticism. It’s assumed that more than 100 people were killed. On the one side, people die for the independence of Tibet and on the other side, people are excited about the Olympics. It’s ironical. In addition, China knows North Korean defectors will be executed when they go back to North Korea, but sends them to North Korea.

In my own opinion, China doesn’t have the qualification to hold Olympics. They don’t have any concept for human rights. Maybe they think that they have so many people and look down on a human’s life. We could see this again through this Tibet Protest. (But the Chinese government insists that ‘The Tibet Incident will not have a bad influence on the Olympics.’)

To China, the Olympics is an event to show off their economic growth. They don’t have any understanding of the spirit of the Olympics. In addition, agricultural and marine products from China, and food from China have lost the trust in the world. Recently, in the scandal of agrichemical dumplings that were exported to Japan, China rejected it as their fault. Forceful annexation of neighbors’ lands, distortion of history, China’s Northeastern project/sex trade of teenagers and child abuse (execution of teenagers), human organ sales… there are so many problems to list. But the most important thing is that they don’t show the attitude and efforts to recognize what they do wrong and try to correct, but they show the backward mind that tries to hide and suppress.

Richard Gere, Hollywood star, said, “In this situation, if the Chinese do not act in the proper way, change their ways, acknowledge what is going on, allow free access to communication, then I think that absolutely we have to boycott” and some European politicians also boycott against the Olympics. I hope that this movement will make China restrain the suppression by force and concern about the weak in their country. If they show these kinds of efforts, we can enjoy the Olympics. But I doubt whether their fundamental mind can be changed…

Interesting comments are below.

Bluesky is concerned about next steps from China.

티벳은 시작에 불과하다!!!

Tibet is just a beginning!!

Some netizens try to react more rationally. Realism in politics?

너무 감정적으로 대응하는 것은 아니라봅니다. 물론 중국이 올림픽을 개최할 자격이나, 자질이 있는 나라는 절대 아닙니다. IOC가 미친거죠. 하지만 보이콧이라뇨. 그것도 우리나라만… 차라리 IOC에 탄원서를 내는 쪽이… 그것은 개인이 할수 있는 문제가 아니지만.. 전 단지 티벳의 민족들이 불쌍할 뿐입니다. 그것을 보고만 있는 세계의 눈들을 뽑고 싶은 심정입니다. 올림픽의 모토는 세계의 평화인데, 중국은 평화를 모르는 나라입니다. 암튼 각설하고.. 보이콧이라는 극단적인 방법보다는 다른 평화적인 방법을 찾아야 한다고 봅니다. 보이콧도 하나의 일방적 폭력이라는 것을 왜 모르십니까?

I think that our reaction is way too emotional. Of course, China doesn’t have a qualification to hold the Olympics. The IOC was crazy. But boycott… and just our country… We’d rather send an appeal to the IOC… that should not be by individuals either… I just feel so sorry for Tibetans. I would like to pull eyes from all over the world that are just overlooking the incident. The motto for the Olympics is world peace. China is the country that doesn’t know what peace is. Anyway… rather than choosing the boycott, we should find other peaceful methods. Don’t you know that the boycott is also a kind of violence?

Historical ties between Korea and Tibet are mentioned a lot.

티베트 독립 지지 서명에 참여해주세요. 그리고 구체적으로 독립자금을 모아 전달 합시다. 티벳의 독립운동은 남의 일이 아닙니다.일제시대때 우리 한민족의 독립운동과 같은것입니다.

Please join a signature-seeking campaign to support the independence of Tibet. Let’s send funds for their independence. This independence movement is not just others’ business. It’s equal to independence movements that we had during the Japanese colonization period.

힘없이 36년간 일본의 식민지배를 받아온 우리대한민국은 뼈아픈 역사가 있는나라다 그런데 어찌 티벳민중들의 독립호소에 침묵하는가 중국의 눈치를살피며 살아야하는 비겁한나라인가 티벳이여 함께 통곡하노라.

Without power, we are a country with a painful history, having been colonized by Japan for 36 years. But how come we are silent toward Tibetans’ crying for independence? Are we such a cowardly country to study China? I cry for Tibet.

How about the security?

저렇게 위험천만한 곳에서 어떻게 올림픽을 해요.

Why do we have to have the Olympics in such a dangerous place?

What is the spirit of the Olympics?

올림픽의 개최의미가 점점 희박해져가는 것 같네요.개최국의 힘자랑하는 이벤트로 변해버린 것 같네요.

It seems that the meaning of the Olympics is getting weak. It’s like an event to show off how powerful the host country is.

올림픽 정신에 반하는 사고를 가진 나라에서 올림픽을 개최하는것은 절대 반대합니다.

I am absolutely against having the Olympics in a place that has a mind against the spirit of the Olympics.

But how about the national interest?

서명은 합니다만, 현실이…중국이 너무 커져 버렸지요. 중국이 우리나라를 왕따를 시키면 아니 전세계를 다 왕따를 시켜버리면 세계경제가 다 마비되죠…미국에선 메이드인차이나가 아닌 물건을 구하기란 보통 일이 아니라고 하죠…그렇지만 서명은 확실히 합니다.

I will join the campaign. But in reality… China is already way too powerful. If China will isolate Korea or exclude all other countries, the world economy will be frozen… In America, it is hard to find a product that is not made by China… But I participate in the campaign.

서명합니다…근데 이게 무슨 도움이 될까 의문스럽긴 하네요ㅜㅜ

I join it… but I doubt how much this will helpㅜㅜ

How about Korea, which had a successful Olympics at the time of continuous demonstrations and suppressions?

저기…우리나라 80년대 때 엄청난 사건이 많이 터졌져..대략 민주화 운동이라고나 할까..그때 우리나라 보면 지금 중국보다 심해여…시민한테 총이나 쏘는 우리나라는 올림픽 개최 가능하고..중국은 안된다?좀 어이없네여.

Hm… We also had so many bad incidents in the 1980s… protests for democracy.. at that time, we might have been worse than China. Korea was fine to hold the Olympics, but China is no way? It doesn’t make sense.

118 comments

  • Hooray for the voices of the Korean people! Don’t forget that China colonized Korea for 300 years and that China claims 1/3 or more of your country as its “territory since ancient times”, the same logic used to justify the smothering of Tibet and E. Turkestan.

    badbadchina.blogspot.com

  • Tenzin

    History deleted inside mainland China

    Currently, due to strong Chinese government censorship including Internet censorship, the news media is forbidden to report anything related to the protests. The event has been almost completely absent from Chinese media, including the Internet. No one is allowed to make any web sites related to the protests.[citation needed] A search on the Internet in Mainland China largely returns no results apart from the government-mandated version of the events and the official view, which are mostly found on Websites of People’s Daily and other heavily-controlled media.

    In January 2006, Google agreed to censor their mainland China site, Google.cn, to remove information about the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre as well as other topics such as Tibetan independence, the banned spiritual practice Falun Gong and the political status of Taiwan. When people search for those censored topics, it will list the following at the bottom of the page in Chinese, “According to the local laws, regulations and policies, part of the searching result is not shown.” The uncensored Wikipedia articles on the 1989 protests, both in English and Chinese Wikipedia, have been attributed as a cause of the blocking of Wikipedia by the government in mainland China.

    On May 15, 2007, the leader of the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong, Ma Lik, provoked much criticism when he said that “there was not a massacre” during the protests, as there was “no intentional and indiscriminate shooting.” He said this showed Hong Kong was “not mature enough” for believing foreigners’ rash claims that a massacre took place. He said that Hong Kong showed through its lack of patriotism and national identity, that it would thus “not be ready for democracy until 2022.” His remarks were met with wide condemnation.

    On June 4, 2007, the anniversary of the massacre, an ad reading, “Paying tribute to the strong-(willed) mothers of June 4 victims” was published in the Chengdu Evening News newspaper. The matter is currently being investigated by the Chinese government, and three editors have since been fired from the paper. The clerk who approved the ad had reportedly never heard of the June 4 crackdown and had been told that the date was a reference to a mining disaster.

    In 2006, the American PBS program “Frontline” broadcast a segment filmed at Peking University, many of whose students participated in the 1989 protests. Four students were shown a picture of the Tank man, but none of them could identify what was happening in the photo. Some responded that it was a military parade, or an artwork. [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=86339378131832537681

  • Tenzin

    History deleted inside mainland

    ChinaCurrently, due to strong Chinese government censorship including Internet censorship, the news media is forbidden to report anything related to the protests. The event has been almost completely absent from Chinese media, including the Internet. No one is allowed to make any web sites related to the protests.[citation needed] A search on the Internet in Mainland China largely returns no results apart from the government-mandated version of the events and the official view, which are mostly found on Websites of People’s Daily and other heavily-controlled media.

    In January 2006, Google agreed to censor their mainland China site, Google.cn, to remove information about the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre,[23] as well as other topics such as Tibetan independence, the banned spiritual practice Falun Gong and the political status of Taiwan. When people search for those censored topics, it will list the following at the bottom of the page in Chinese, “According to the local laws, regulations and policies, part of the searching result is not shown.” The uncensored Wikipedia articles on the 1989 protests, both in English and Chinese Wikipedia, have been attributed as a cause of the blocking of Wikipedia by the government in mainland China.

    On May 15, 2007, the leader of the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong, Ma Lik, provoked much criticism when he said that “there was not a massacre” during the protests, as there was “no intentional and indiscriminate shooting.” He said this showed Hong Kong was “not mature enough” for believing foreigners’ rash claims that a massacre took place. He said that Hong Kong showed through its lack of patriotism and national identity, that it would thus “not be ready for democracy until 2022.”[24] His remarks were met with wide condemnation.

    On June 4, 2007, the anniversary of the massacre, an ad reading, “Paying tribute to the strong-(willed) mothers of June 4 victims” was published in the Chengdu Evening News newspaper. The matter is currently being investigated by the Chinese government, and three editors have since been fired from the paper.[25][26] The clerk who approved the ad had reportedly never heard of the June 4 crackdown and had been told that the date was a reference to a mining disaster.[27]

    In 2006, the American PBS program “Frontline” broadcast a segment filmed at Peking University, many of whose students participated in the 1989 protests. Four students were shown a picture of the Tank man, but none of them could identify what was happening in the photo. Some responded that it was a military parade, or an artwork. [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=86339378131832537681

  • Tenzin

    History deleted inside mainland China

    Currently, due to strong Chinese government censorship including Internet censorship, the news media is forbidden to report anything related to the protests. The event has been almost completely absent from Chinese media, including the Internet. No one is allowed to make any web sites related to the protests.[citation needed] A search on the Internet in Mainland China largely returns no results apart from the government-mandated version of the events and the official view, which are mostly found on Websites of People’s Daily and other heavily-controlled media.

    In January 2006, Google agreed to censor their mainland China site, Google.cn, to remove information about the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre,[23] as well as other topics such as Tibetan independence, the banned spiritual practice Falun Gong and the political status of Taiwan. When people search for those censored topics, it will list the following at the bottom of the page in Chinese, “According to the local laws, regulations and policies, part of the searching result is not shown.” The uncensored Wikipedia articles on the 1989 protests, both in English and Chinese Wikipedia, have been attributed as a cause of the blocking of Wikipedia by the government in mainland China.

    On May 15, 2007, the leader of the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong, Ma Lik, provoked much criticism when he said that “there was not a massacre” during the protests, as there was “no intentional and indiscriminate shooting.” He said this showed Hong Kong was “not mature enough” for believing foreigners’ rash claims that a massacre took place. He said that Hong Kong showed through its lack of patriotism and national identity, that it would thus “not be ready for democracy until 2022.”[24] His remarks were met with wide condemnation.

    On June 4, 2007, the anniversary of the massacre, an ad reading, “Paying tribute to the strong-(willed) mothers of June 4 victims” was published in the Chengdu Evening News newspaper. The matter is currently being investigated by the Chinese government, and three editors have since been fired from the paper.[25][26] The clerk who approved the ad had reportedly never heard of the June 4 crackdown and had been told that the date was a reference to a mining disaster.[27]

    In 2006, the American PBS program “Frontline” broadcast a segment filmed at Peking University, many of whose students participated in the 1989 protests. Four students were shown a picture of the Tank man, but none of them could identify what was happening in the photo. Some responded that it was a military parade, or an artwork. [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=86339378131832537681

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  • yaya

    Tibet Protest? No,it is really a riot in Tibet! Thugs killed many common people .Their relatives are crying .Do you still think it is just a protest?
    You don’t appreciate China as you like ,but don’t distort the truth,and don’t be for the mobs and the killers.Because the people who were killed couldn’t close their eyes!!

  • yaya

    Tibet was , is and will be a part of China!

  • mahathir_fan

    I put a video up over the weekend on Dalai Lama’s rule in Tibet:

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=bFSS826ETlk

    Some of the people here mention the Tiananmen incident and try to draw parallels. Here is the video evidence –

    Tiananen massaccre is a myth:
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=SbX0gAk3zRA

    Also, do not listen to Westerners. Even the religion they founded is based on wrong information and lies:
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=1-vJN1l71NQ

  • mahathir_fan

    I posted a video on the Dalai Lama’s rule in Tibet:
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=bFSS826ETlk

    Also, some people here mention the parallels to the Tiananmen massacre.

    Tiananmen massacre is a lie, it never happened and we have eyewitness:
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=SbX0gAk3zRA

    Do not listen to Westerners. They even got their entire religion wrong. Christianity is built on lies and part of the difficulty as a Christian myself is to try and identify what are the truth and what are lies:
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=1-vJN1l71NQ

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