tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329Tue, 04 Nov 2025 08:35:05 +0000KoreaJewsmediaAntisemitismKorean AmericanshistoryAfrican Americanactionhistorical distortionChinaRothschildconspiracycreditfinancenews mediaracism9-11Adam SmithAfghanistanAmerican cultureBMWBlackGDPGeorge BushHitlerImmigrantsIraqIsraelMilitary powerNapoleonNapoleonic WarNobel PrizePrometheusRockefellerSimon Wiesenthal CenterSteven SpielbergU.S. PresidentsYoko Kawashima Watkinscapitalismchildren's books.educationgaysheartinferiority complexjunglawmoney lendersmonopolymulticulturalismoppressionphotosprotestant work ethicservicesocietyterrorismtrustusurywelfare motherswhite trashFinding out what South Korea's popular children's social studies comic book series Monnara Iunnara has to say about the world. The majority of this blog consists of direct quotes, many racist and antisemitic ones at that. They are being translated here in order to throw light on the counter-factual nature of many of the book series' claims. For new readers, you should start by reading Chapter 8, linked conveniently in the sidebar under Press. Please note that the books are not textbooks.http://monnarakorea.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Joe Mondello)Blogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-1205797625348454112Sun, 16 Mar 2008 14:01:00 +00002008-03-16T07:13:58.291-07:00The U.S. State Department has cited Monnara author Rhie Won-bok as Korea's representative to the world in the anti-semitism department in it's report, Contemporary Global Antisemitism. The document includes Rhie's 'wall of Jews' illustration along with the following:South Korean Comic Book Echoed Jewish Conspiracy TheoriesIn March 2007, a South Korean publisher agreed to pull a best-selling http://monnarakorea.blogspot.com/2008/03/rhie-won-bok-representative-of-global.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Joe Mondello)77tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-6516651251376019720Sat, 17 Mar 2007 04:39:00 +00002007-03-16T23:04:16.349-07:00mediaABC News reports Rhie said he would consider how to change the book and would undertake an "all-out revision.""I'm sorry to see things like a frog in a well," Rhie said Thursday, referring to a traditional Korean saying that a frog in a well is unaware of the larger world outside. "In the future, I will write books in a more responsible way." What is it with this guy and the stupid frog in the http://monnarakorea.blogspot.com/2007/03/more-on-shelving.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Joe Mondello)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-3945546127821632314Thu, 15 Mar 2007 20:50:00 +00002007-03-15T14:31:16.818-07:00actionHang onto your copy of Monnara Iunnara Volume 10: The Americans, it's about to become a collector's item. The book is being taken out of print, according to Canada's CBC. Rabbi Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center is quoted as saying The net effect of what he's done here is a disaster and he just doesn't get it. I hope he will someday, but in the meantime this book's got to go. Apparently http://monnarakorea.blogspot.com/2007/03/volume-10-to-be-withdrawn-from-stores.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Joe Mondello)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-937664408060650670Thu, 15 Mar 2007 02:19:00 +00002007-03-14T19:56:47.876-07:00gaysHere's a black and white Rhie Won-bok comic which I believe comes from a newspaper. I found it here. It was placed on the website as some kind of proof of Rhie's racism, but it's highly incorrect to present it as such.The Era of Unlimited Service Competition: A Bank for Gays Opens1. This is a time when the marketing war among banks to attract new customers is heating up - we've already discussedhttp://monnarakorea.blogspot.com/2007/03/time-of-unlimited-service-competition.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Joe Mondello)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-7470076775545981565Thu, 15 Mar 2007 01:19:00 +00002007-03-14T18:21:14.480-07:00mediaI received this in my inbox today. Too late notice for me to go, I'm afraid, but if anyone is in the area check it out. Naturally I will be following the outcome of Rabbi Cooper's visit closely.PRESS ADVISORY March 14, 2007WHAT: WIESENTHAL CENTER BRIEFING ON ANTISEMITIC COMIC BOOK CONTROVERSYWHEN: Thursday, http://monnarakorea.blogspot.com/2007/03/wiesenthal-center-press-conference.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Joe Mondello)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-3599799121706098772Sun, 11 Mar 2007 04:51:00 +00002007-03-10T22:22:15.530-08:00ChinaterrorismI thought the last pages of volume ten, about America's myopic ignorance, were anti-American enough, but volume eleven's final sentence is easily as bad. Rhie claims that America's great energy stems from America's refusal to lose ever, and that, seeing the exmple of the decadent Roman Empire, America must stay competitive by constantly creating 'competitors and enemies', i.e. China, Japan, and http://monnarakorea.blogspot.com/2007/03/volume-11-american-history-pages-248.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Joe Mondello)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-8658637712419108410Wed, 07 Mar 2007 11:02:00 +00002007-03-07T12:39:45.723-08:009-11AfghanistanGeorge BushIraqJewsUp until now I'd ignored the other volume of the series that I have, but tonight I flipped through it and again found that the last chapter expresses most of Rhie Won-bok's opinions. Here are some of the last few pages of Monnara Iunnara Volume 11: American History, Chapter 8: The Lonely World's Only Superpower: Today's America, from the New Frontier to the Iraq War. Fascinating stuff, for surehttp://monnarakorea.blogspot.com/2007/03/volume-11-american-history-pages-245.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Joe Mondello)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-3188966488383303924Thu, 01 Mar 2007 13:27:00 +00002007-03-04T13:24:59.929-08:00serviceUpdate 3/5: Rabbi Cooper won't be able to give a talk when he comes to Seoul this month. It's a busy life when you're fighting the good fight. I recommend to all that you do your part to help by going to any book store, picking up a copy of the book, flipping through it and tsk-ing loudly with an angry look on your face. You know, get the word out.The really funny thing about this book, for mehttp://monnarakorea.blogspot.com/2007/03/chapter-7-credit-is-life-part-3-pages.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Joe Mondello)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-4294586493878601158Wed, 28 Feb 2007 12:36:00 +00002007-02-28T04:56:57.628-08:00mediaWell, it looks like we have something to thank old Mr. Rhie for today. The LA Times reports that in the wake of this controversy, Korean American leaders have formed deeper bonds with Jewish leaders. The Korean leaders made their first visit to the historic Wilshire Boulevard Temple, where they were welcomed as friends. That's nice to see. Contrast that with what they're saying over at http://monnarakorea.blogspot.com/2007/02/something-positive-coming-out-of-all.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Joe Mondello)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-5557433019623002371Sun, 25 Feb 2007 21:10:00 +00002007-02-26T12:43:02.112-08:00I have received a couple of comments from Korean readers of this page asking that I make clear the exact extent of the racist and antisemitic content in the Monnara series. First of all, I have received some criticism for repeating the statistic that 12 million books from the series have been sold. I never intended to imply that volume 10 sold 12 million copies. Unfortunately I don't have any http://monnarakorea.blogspot.com/2007/02/scale-of-problem.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Joe Mondello)8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-6313370831017952415Sun, 25 Feb 2007 12:30:00 +00002007-02-25T12:50:28.319-08:00creditThis passage is interesting mostly for Rhie's fearmongering about the so-called 'economic death sentence' of bad credit. Although Koreans certainly have a lot more cash than Americans do he also doesn't acknowledge the prevailing American view of this disparity, in which Americans are enjoying their houses and cars while they pay them off, while Koreans are going without in the time it takes http://monnarakorea.blogspot.com/2007/02/chapter-7-credit-is-life-part-2-pages.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Joe Mondello)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-343867848274655725Sun, 25 Feb 2007 09:53:00 +00002007-02-25T02:45:08.897-08:00오늘 내가 첫번째 한국분께서 질문 많은 이메일 받았어. Mr. J씨 한국말로 아래 있는 이메일 보내셨어.I received my first email from a Korean today, asking several questions about this blog. "Mr. J" wrote the following in Korean:어째서 당신은 한국인과 유대인을 이간질(싸움) 시키려 합니까? 유대인에게도 한국인을 비난시키려는 의도입니까? 그런 책은 학교에서 학생들을 가르치는 교과서(text book)이 아닙니다. 어느 나라나, 인종 혐오 감정이 있는 private book(사적 출판물) 이 발간될 수 있습니다. 실제로 거의 유명하지 않는(that book is not famous in koreahttp://monnarakorea.blogspot.com/2007/02/blog-post.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Joe Mondello)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-7998239784910035947Sat, 24 Feb 2007 23:43:00 +00002007-02-25T02:42:17.461-08:00mediaHere. It looks like Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Wiesenthal Center is coming to Seoul March 15th to see about getting the book taken off shelves. The article describes the response of Gimm Young Publishing's director Eun-ju Park as a brief email to Rabbi Cooper explaining that she had sent an apology to Charles Kim, national president of the Korean American Coalition. Utterly shocking, http://monnarakorea.blogspot.com/2007/02/la-times-reports-on-story.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Joe Mondello)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-4386655155992326446Thu, 22 Feb 2007 20:51:00 +00002007-02-23T06:47:54.672-08:00creditjunglawmulticulturalismtrustI love how Rhie seems to feel that the law is some kind of last resort when heart and common courtesy fail. More on 'heart'. The original Korean word is jung (rhymes with 'sung') and it is a word that Koreans claim is untranslatable and intrinsically Korean. I think the reasons Koreans claim that it is untranslatable are twofold: one, the best English translation would probably be 'warmth', and http://monnarakorea.blogspot.com/2007/02/chapter-7-credit-is-life-pages-192-194.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Joe Mondello)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-8653640252144085659Wed, 21 Feb 2007 20:40:00 +00002007-02-21T13:03:18.755-08:00heartThat's the question Rhie Won-bok asks in Chapter 7: Credit is Life, How Americans Live. Seems unconnected until you understand Rhie's theory that American dependence on credit is based on racial factionalism, the underlying weakness of immigrant nations. A note to the reader: I have translated the word 민족국가 variously as 'monoracial nation' and 'nation state'. Be aware that this term refers tohttp://monnarakorea.blogspot.com/2007/02/what-is-biggest-difference-between.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Joe Mondello)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-9191491071742384743Tue, 20 Feb 2007 06:46:00 +00002007-02-20T12:37:17.453-08:00mediaThis is an editorial by Shin Mun-yeong, chief editor of Veritas Books, published in the Chosun Ilbo on February 19th. I just translated it and I must say it is fascinating, definitely worth a read. It starts out telling a story about how the Wiesenthal Center and Rabbi Cooper caused a popular Japanese magazine to be shut down and a writer to commit seppuku over a quibbling disagreement about http://monnarakorea.blogspot.com/2007/02/chosun-ilbo-tells-us-what-monnaras.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Joe Mondello)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-126010747834570250Sun, 18 Feb 2007 01:01:00 +00002007-02-17T17:41:49.400-08:00actionBelow is the letter Suxzanne Scholte of the North Korean human rights group Defense Forum sent to Korean American groups and politicians (as she put it, her Korean friends). She told me that she was very pleased with their response and that they had wanted to go as far as having a press conference with Rabbi Cooper of the Wiesenthal Center. Apparently this urgency and will to action was somehow http://monnarakorea.blogspot.com/2007/02/suzanne-scholtes-letter.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Joe Mondello)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-1285965410879293526Sat, 17 Feb 2007 08:46:00 +00002007-02-17T01:24:26.804-08:00Google has a cached page from Hanbooks.com selling volume 10 (containing the chapter about the Jews) which is currently unavailable. The page describes the book as follows:This book, in the form of a comic book, introduces 8 keywords that will help understand the way Americans think and act, such as Constitution, election system, 50 states under 1 federal government, and the power of Jews.Great http://monnarakorea.blogspot.com/2007/02/hanbooks-pulls-volume-10.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Joe Mondello)9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-4478733049001751888Sat, 17 Feb 2007 06:36:00 +00002007-02-16T22:38:28.518-08:00actionLet it be known to the Korean government how damaging this book is to Korea's image. Go to The Korean Ministry of Culture and Tourism's website and lodge a complaint. Don't worry, it's in English for your convenience. And please, be polite.http://monnarakorea.blogspot.com/2007/02/register-your-disgust.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Joe Mondello)8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-3828727286053484786Fri, 16 Feb 2007 01:58:00 +00002007-02-15T18:28:33.275-08:00AntisemitismmediaAccording today's article in Herald Biz, Rhie Won-bok says:"During my ten years living in Germany I visited concentration camps and I know as well as anybody how much the Jews suffered and how cruel the Nazis' barbarity was.""I have no bias of any kind against Jews and I have always opposed racism." Starting with the next edition he plans to replace the problem portions.Pardon me, Mr. Rhie, but http://monnarakorea.blogspot.com/2007/02/rhie-according-to-rhie.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Joe Mondello)8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-8605842299409243109Thu, 15 Feb 2007 14:05:00 +00002007-02-15T13:18:48.104-08:00Here. The response to this from the publisher and Rhie Won-bok has been deplorable, with seeingly no attempt to even address the problem to Jewish groups, no apology to Korea's children and parents for selling them a book full of racist lies, and an apology only to the Korean-American community for all the trouble this is causing them. Disgraceful. Here's the article."I will correct the parts http://monnarakorea.blogspot.com/2007/02/rhie-won-bok-apologizes-to-korean.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Joe Mondello)90tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-8714699491315601249Thu, 15 Feb 2007 10:05:00 +00002007-02-15T06:02:31.712-08:00PrometheusYoko Kawashima WatkinsHere. I've gone ahead and translated the whole thing into English. It is a fascinating read, essentially justifying Monnara's claim that the Jews hold particular sway in America by declaring this natural and citing Korea's irrational nationalism as a mere part of a historical dialectic of nationalism ebbing and flowing in power and influence. Check it out.Monnara Iunnara and "So far from the http://monnarakorea.blogspot.com/2007/02/prometheus-compares-monnara-and-so-far.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Joe Mondello)77tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-4984586031681344821Thu, 15 Feb 2007 05:27:00 +00002007-02-15T00:33:08.995-08:00Korean AmericansmediaThis MBC News report actually repeats the same stereotypes that Jews are complaining about in the first place. Tactless in the extreme.Anchor: Jews in America are demanding that the Korean best-selling world history comic book Monnara Iunnara defames Jews.Kim Won-tae ReportingReporter: American Jews are lashing back at Deokseong University professor Rhie Won-bok's comic book Monnara Iunnara, http://monnarakorea.blogspot.com/2007/02/mbc-news-report.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Joe Mondello)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-1918796379606610755Thu, 15 Feb 2007 02:37:00 +00002007-02-15T01:02:38.521-08:00Korean AmericansmediaHere's my translation of the SBS transcript, seemingly the meatier one. The more I think about it the angrier I get:Anchor: Jews in America claim that the ten million-selling educational comic book 'Monnara Iunnara' deprecates the Jews and distorts their history and a Jewish group demanding it be revised.In Los Angeles, O Dong-heon reportingReporter: In part of educational comic Monnara Iunnara, http://monnarakorea.blogspot.com/2007/02/sbs-tv-report-on-monnara.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Joe Mondello)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-6335018519866541120Thu, 15 Feb 2007 00:52:00 +00002007-02-14T17:59:44.967-08:00mediaBoth SBS and MBC have picked up the story today. The gist of their coverage is that this problem is a bit of a pain for Koreans in America Here's a transcript of the MBC report and here is the SBS-TV report. I will translate as soon as possible.http://monnarakorea.blogspot.com/2007/02/tv-takes-notice.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Joe Mondello)1