Hi Rachel! I'm glad you made it to this site! I am sorry it took me a few days to welcome you, but I was away for the weekend and not online.

I am so glad that you enjoy all of our fanfics, and I agree, it's a wonderful way to learn another language! I hope you have fun looking around the site.

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Dear EW, BR

It's true that I'm living in the hottest spot for WordWar 3.(US vs China) Most Korean young people do not pay attention to it, so I've just known about the bombing by your comment. It is really ridiculous, isn't it? Recently, I do not watch TV at all. Because all the media has been seized by ruling party(Senuri-Dang. Senuri means 'the new world', Dang means 'political party'). For now, Korea is not democratic country. It's very complicated story to explain.... EW in your point of view, the bombing may look very dangerous, but many Korean think this is carefully prepared <event> by South&North Korean ruling parties. On 4/19, general election is going to take place. This bombomb-show is to support Senuri-Dang candidates by threatening the old people.(who still has negative trauma during the Korean War.) These kind of <EVENTS> are ALWAYS happening just before the elections. What is more, these bombs are thrown on the sea, so there is no one even talk about it around me.



1.Korea was once Japan's colony during 1910~1945.

2.The ruling class eagerly sold their country to Japan.

3.After Japan was defeated by US, world war2, they supported US government, US gladly accepted them.

4.Korean War was the god-given chance for them. Traitors could gain masks of False War Heroes.

5.Several dictators ruled Korea almost for 30 years. During that period US supported Korean economy, so Korean people fantasized about dictation that strong leader brings economic prosperity.

6.During the era of dictators, a lot of Korean people died or severely tortured. If a drunken citizen murmured "stupid president!!!" at a bar, police dragged him to the torturing chambers.

7.In late 80's citizens finally defeated the dictators, the first direct presidential election was held.

8.Several days before the election, a passenger plane was blew up on its way to Seoul from Dubai. Government announced that it was done by North, appealing that decent Korean must protect the War Heroes...finally, the last dictator's close friend became the president.

9.Regarding the airplane terror, the families of victims still do not admit that it was done by the North. They say the terror was done by the Dictator. They're refusing their lost family to be called "the dead", they insists that their sons and daughters are still "missing".

10.Next president was a betrayer of his colleagues-who fought against the dictators together.

11.Next two presidents are the true democratic ones. Still beloved by half of Korean people.(the second one committed suicide after his resignation-2009)

12.Next one is a nasty fraud!! Even my father who loves those dictators admits that he is a fucking bastard!!!!! When he was a member of national council, his wife was captured by custom officers at the airport. They found BIG diamond rings on her toes. He himself evaded public medical insurance charges disguising his occupation as a low-wage gate guard of his own building. And a journalist found illegal prostitution chambers in his building, too. What i'm saying about him is just small minors. Now, you may wonder how this guy could be a president of a country.

13.To make the long story short, over a decade during the two democratic presidents, Korean people suffered from economic recession(it was caused by the dictators..). That fraud enticed Korean people saying that "Democracy itself does not provide you a meal!!! I'll make all the people rich! I'm the only one who can protect the price of your house!!!" Many Korean knew he was not a decent person, but they cast their votes for him hoping their house price would not collapse. (In Korea, an apartment house is a normal citizen's whole property.)

14.That fraud was afraid of being after his resignation. So he decided to slander Mr.Moon who was the most strong presidential candidate. He is also the closest colleague of President.Noh.(Who committed suicide in 2009. it was my wedding day I cried on the airplane all the way to the honeymoon).

15.the opposite candidate was Miss.Park who is a daughter of one of the dictators who was killed by his general in 1979. The dictator was drinking with female university students who were dragged by CheHongSa from their campus.(Che: collect, Hong: flowers, Sa: government officials) Many old people love him. They think economic prosperity is the most important thing, so 'minor faults' should be forgiven. Democracy in Korea was not given by themselves, it was implanted by US after World War 2. Now Korea is being chocked by it again. Old people still want to live in a Kingdom ruled by a Messiah. Young people are longing for the true democracy.
Anyway, the last presidential election 2012 in Korea was < Dictator's descendant VS Democracy Guardian >.


16.During the election campaign, Miss.Park and that fraud were alleged to hire people whose mission were writing nasty comments on Mr.Moon on the internet news articles and twitters. These days, almost every Korean people read portal site's news. Paper newspapers are only found in restaurants, hair saloon, etc. So the influence was dramatic.


17.Just one week before the election day, citizens who were tracking those people succeeded to catch one of them. Surprisingly, it was a young female- a NIS agent. (NIS: National Intelligence Service. it does the same work as CIA) She left countless nasty false and praises about the <Great Dictators> on the famous internet communities which were popular among young people.



18.The day before the election day, the final TV debate was held. Mr.Moon accused Miss.park that she and Mr.Lee(the fraud president) are committing serious crime. Miss.Park countered that Mr.Moon is abusing <a poor innocent young female(!!!)>. When the debate had just finished, the chief of the police agency announced on the TV that they didn't find any evidence on the NIS agent. It dramatically influenced the voters. Finally, Miss.Park became the president. Despite of using dirty means, she barely won Mr.Moon- 3.6% more than him.

19.Now the female agent and other NIS members are in the court. The chief police was just fired for his <personal wrong decision>.

20.Many people was upset by this, they held large protests in front of Seoul City Hall, but TV media didn't come to the site....now, everyone is just exhausted...me, too.
These days TV reporters say Miss.Park wore very beautiful Korean traditional costumes during her official trip abroad, she shed tears at the banquet hearing Korean immigrant's dramatic stories....she is raising cute puppies in the presidential residence....Miss.Park's fashion sense is so elegant, a foreign president complimented that...bla bla....What the fuck....


That's why I don't watch TV at all these days.
The recent bombing is for:

1.Election show to support Miss.Park's fellows.
2.To take off people's attention on the court.(NIS agents)

In 1997, Senuri-Dang's presidential candidate requested North Korea to shot soldiers guarding the border lines. In South Korea, every male have to serve two years in military. So most soldiers are college or university students. How horrible. isn't it?? But major media did not report about it sincerely. The contaminated supreme court only punished his subordinates. What is more, none of his own sons served as soldiers, because of <health problems.>



So, if your TV says North Korea attacked South Korea, you could regard as below.

1.Election is coming soon~! Wee-Hee!!
2.Senuri-Dang wants to take off public attentions on their corruptions!



I just want you to know that at many Korean people do not regard Miss.Park as their true president. She raped my country. We're just helplessly awaiting for the next presidential election. Knowing that Senuri-Dang will do EVERYTHING to win, so we're really frustrated... When I was young, election day was nothing more than an holiday. I really reprimand myself...I took democracy for granted, just like oxygen in the air. I accepted media without any doubts, my concerns were clothes, nice restaurants, dates etc... When President.Noh(suicide) was nearly been impeached by Senuri-Dang, I hoped that he would be kicked out so I could go to theme parks or somewhere else on the election day...really embarrassing. Now I'm paying for it. Collapsed democracy can't protect me anymore. I just hope that Senuri-Dang would not request North Korea to throw bombs in residential area in Seoul. Of course, during the decade of two democratic presidents, North Korea used to attack South Korea. But the attacks were not MUTUALLY PREPARED at least. Purpose of the attack was to soothe Kim's frustrated generals or to gain ace cards against US.







Ha...anyway everybody here pay attention to your own democracy systems....or you gonna pay for it someday.


Thank you EW for worrying me.

Rachel, I think that every democracy struggles with the powerful trying to manipulate everyone. It's up to the voters to stay informed and catch on and try not to fall for it, yet that's a lot harder than it seems, apparently. :/

I'm quite interested in the answers to James' questions, too! He's kind of our resident Gatchaman historian.

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Eagle Whisperer

I'm glad to hear you're all right, Rachel! And thanks for explaining the political situation in South Korea; the American media rarely says anything about what it's like in South Korea. Instead, we get stories that show Kim Jong Un as another crazy guy who might start a war because he's young and might feel like he's not being taken seriously.

There's one thing I found funny -- when you said that "Dang" means "political party" in Korean. Well, in some English-speaking regions, "dang" is used instead of "damn". It just seems right that a political party's name is also a swear-word!

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“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them." --Ray Bradbury

Rachel - first of all, thank you for the explanations of the political reality in South Korea. It's true that, in Europe, we don't seem to care much about it, unless there's a crisis (I'm Greek but I live in Belgium).

And you're absolutely right when you say "everybody here pay attention to your own democracy systems....or you gonna pay for it someday" -- this is what is happening back home...

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They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Naturally, they became heroes -- Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan.

Jublke// thank you for the welcome
Others// Thank you for listening Korean's situation.
James// I contacted other Korean blogger, but he refused to share the film worrying about illegal distribution on the internet. I've just found that Korean National Cinema Archives are preserving the films. Maybe there will be no problem for me to visit KNCA and watch the movie there, but I'm not sure they would lend it to me. If I could get the film, I'll make English subtitles for you. I'm going to call KNCA tomorrow. The blogger complimented that the movie is really well-made masterpiece. It was made by SamJung Production, which produced Gatchaman animation cells. Under Tatsnoko's agreement, SamJung made the film for Cinemas in 1980. Quality of every drawing was awesome, scenario was well organized and action scenes were very powerful. The blogger complimented that Korean Cinema version is far better than original Gatchaman. I'm really excited! Anyway, I'll post the results tomorrow.

Fascinating stuff, both on the Gatch front and political. That newscaster looks very confused.

That'd be awesome to see the Korean version subtitled in English! How exciting! I suppose it's too old to be able to purchase a legitimate copy? (Perhaps there's a used one ...)

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Eagle Whisperer

Today I called KNCA.
They said < Doksuri-O-HyungJe > is a movie film roll, not a video tape. It is sleeping deep in the archives for eternal preservation, not available for public inspection. Ah...!!

Next I contacted <Korean Animation Archives> operated by government, But they didn't have the video tape too. In 1880's there were only six animations released for theaters in Korea. So I expected I could find it but I just failed.

I also called five used video tape wholesalers. Only two shops knew about the tape. They told me that the video tape is so rare, so give in. I whined repeatedly, one of them promised me to keep searching it, and the other said that he would contact private collectors whether they could provide their item for copying. SamJung finished its business so long long time ago, so I think copyright will not be a problem. But if I find out that its copyright is still valid, I can only provide screenshots. please note.

I have to laugh at what you are saying, Rachel! I can see exactly why the younger teenagers are frustrated with their parents' attitudes, yet at the same time, I agree with the parents that Crowds is *not* Gatchaman and doesn't deserve the name!

I can see how living under such censorship as a child has impacted you, but I'm glad to see that it has made you stronger, and not more fearful.

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