Korea Upset at Israeli Breaches of Protocol

• CPT KIM
  9:31 am on December 5th, 2007 1

  I guess Israel Embassy in Seoul is keeping tabs on all Nazi bars in Korea.

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• GI Korea
  10:04 am on December 5th, 2007 2

  I think it was probably an honest mistake considering President Roh was caught with an improper Korean flag in his own country no less. So criticizing Israel for the same problem seems a tad bit hypocritical. This spat has media sensationalism written all over it to appeal to Korean nationalism to sell papers.

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• Tom
  10:20 am on December 5th, 2007 3

  The foreign minister may or may not have been upset, but the average Kim cares jack shit. So why are you fanning this non controversy into a big “KOREA UPSET” thread? You and some of your fellow expat blogsphere people have some serious issues.

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• ChickenHead
  12:01 pm on December 5th, 2007 4

  It was payback for a perceived slight.

  The Israelis were highly offended by something the Koreans said.

  Honestly, it was just a simple misunderstanding… nobody’s fault, really.

  The Koreans asked about drinking together but the Israelis thought they were being spoken down to and their mother was being called a sailor.

  Very ugly.

  The conversation went something like this…

  “So, Jew. Ma, she go ship… ah?”

  “Oy gevalt! Can you believe the meshuggeneh of these Korean nudnicks? Put them in the old, scratched Olvo for that! The one with no chozzerai! And give them that ongepotchket flag.”

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• GI Korea
  1:00 pm on December 5th, 2007 5

  I’m “fanning” this controversy?

  I’m not the one who published a story about how the Foreign Minister was upset in Korea’s largest newspaper the Chosun Ilbo. Did some disgruntled ex-pat wrote that story as well?

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• Knickerbocker
  1:15 pm on December 5th, 2007 6

  Couple of possibilities here:

  1. Perhaps the Israelis thought Roh’s administration would prefer they fly the North Korean flag. That’s an honest mistake.

  2. Another strong possibility is the fact that the South Korean Sunshine Policy is basically funding the North Korean nuclear weapons program, so the regime in Seoul is assisting the Syrians in the possible destruction of their country. Just a hunch though.

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• James
  2:08 pm on December 5th, 2007 7

  This reminds me of a similar incident that occurred during the 2002 World Cup. The opening ceremony held in Korea used a Japanese flag with a ridiculously oversized red sun in the center. During preparations the Japanese had told Korea that the flag was incorrect, but they were ignored and the flag was used anyway. It annoyed some Japanese netizens, but the Japanese government wasn’t petty enough to file official complaints.

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• Dr.Yu
  5:21 am on December 6th, 2007 8

  With so much attention this matter got in blogs like this, the Israel government will probably pay more attention to this kind of problem from now on.

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• CPT KIM
  9:03 am on December 6th, 2007 9

  James,

  What if Korean used Japanese flag upside?

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• ChickenHead
  9:31 am on December 6th, 2007 10

  “What if Korean used Japanese flag upside?”

  It becomes the Land of the Setting Sun.

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• GI Korea
  10:42 am on December 6th, 2007 11

  I don’t think Israel did anything intentionally wrong and all the attention being paid to it because the Korean foreign minister went to the media about it has probably not gone over well with the Israelis I would assume.

  This whole issue should have been handled quietly and diplomatically and not through the Chosun Ilbo.

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• Knickerbocker
  11:59 am on December 6th, 2007 12

  Good point, GI. It really is amateurish statesmanship to resolve things this way. It looks very small.

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