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Park Jae-Sang, better known as Psy, and his hit song “Oppa Gangnam Style”has taken the world by storm without any sign of slowing down. As the newly deemed King of Kpop joyously revels in his newfound fame, it might come as a surprise to some that he wasn’t always so congenial towards America. A video surfaced from a concert in 2004 where he smashed a miniature model of a tank on stage while the crowd raucously cheers, coupled with the lyrics: 싸이 rap : 이라크 포로를 고문해 댄 씨발양년놈들과 고문 하라고 시킨 개 씨발 양년놈들에 딸래미 애미 며느리 애비 코쟁이 모두 죽여 아주 천천히 죽여 고통스럽게 죽여 Translation: Kill those fucking Yankees who have been torturing Iraqi captives Kill those fucking Yankees who ordered them to torture Kill their daughters, mothers, daughters-in-law, and fathers Kill them all slowly and painfully. This song may have come around the time of the U.S.’s internationally maligned invasion of Iraq, but there’s an older context beneath all this. South Korea adhered to the Sunshine Policy towards North Korea up until Lee Myung-Bak’s presidency. The policy was intended to improve relations between the North and South with the (partial) aim of (eventual) reunification. Critics say that the downside of such a fool’s crusade is that the South opted for the North’s interests over the former’s closest ally, the United States. This included, as B.R. Myers alleges in his book The Cleanest Race, “encouraging an anti-American line in education and urging the media to ‘finlandize’ their coverage of the DPRK.” It doesn’t stop there. On June 13th, 2002, a military vehicle accidentally killed two teenage girls in what would later be deemed the “Yangju Highway Incident.” The tragedy sparked a greater wave of anti-American sentiment along with Apolo Ohno 2002 Winter Olympics controversy. The Korea Herald ran a story in Dec. 2002, on “Socially Active Celebrities” supporting the ROK’s Anti-American ’cause.’ Guess which celebrity’s name pops up? Flight of the Kiwi posted more excerpts from the article. This is all the more reason why its so curious that he’s beaming with America’s affection towards him. As of right now, the best defense on his end is that he was merely pandering to popular sentiments of the time. Either that or he could just be an opportunist as this one CNN iReport suggests. Nevertheless, the important question is how Americans will receive it if news of his previous opinions go viral.
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Linsanity may have died down, but one fan still remembers. Earlier this year we wrote about the song writer for K-Pop groups Girl’s Generation and Chocolat, Jenny Hyun. To bring you back up to speed, boxer Floyd Mayweather dismissed Lin’s achievements with what some perceived as racist. Ms. Hyun decided to up the ante with a racist diatribe against Mayweather of her own. Eventually, she dropped off the online stratosphere, claimingthat she was being admitted to a hospital for schizophrenia when the backlash proved too much. Regardless of what happened, it looks like she’s back on the map. Her website, blog, twitter, and other social networking accounts are online. And from the looks of things, she hasn’t quite learned her lesson either.
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New York Knicks player Jeremy Lin’s rise was guaranteed to eventually incite hate from both teams. It should come as no shock then that boxer Floyd Mayweather voiced his own criticisms of the Point Guard on the Twittersphere. After all, Mayweather released his own homophobic and racist rant against Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao on YouTube in the past. To his credit, he at least toned down his rhetoric (profanity wise) concerning his opinion towards Lin. “Jeremy Lin is a good player but all the hype is because he’s Asian,” Mayweather tweeted. “Black players do what he does every night and don’t get the same praise.” Alas, this entry isn’t about Mayweather so much as what swiftly followed. Jenny Hyun–co-writer of Kpop group Girls’ Generation’s “How Great is Your Love” and Chocolat’s “One More Day”–pulled a Kenneth Eng and combated racism with more racism. Her following tweets called for the genocide of African Americans among other things. It’s safe to say, her response wasn’t met with much praise and got to a point where she locked her Twitter account. She delivered a not so sincere apologized on her blog, all the while defending her inflammatory remarks. She deleted the apology. In its place stands a seemingly more sincere one written by a third party explaining that she suffers from a psychotic episode and is undergoing treatment at a hospital. Whether or not this was the subtle work of a hacker is yet to be revealed. However a closer inspection of her blog reveals that she identifies as Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, and Humanist. With a synchronicity like that, my bet’s on insanity.
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“Fans will also be able to view video clips of their idols’ departure and arrival at airports, as well as behind-the-scenes and rehearsal footage.” South Korean pop music continues to grow in global popularity and exposure. The French in particular seem to love the stuff. In May, hundreds of fans rallied in front of the Louvre in Paris to demand an extra show for the upcoming K-pop SM Town Live World Tour presented by SM Entertainment of Seoul. This same tour has visited Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Shanghai. In fact, the tour returns to Tokyo this September. In the meantime, K-pop fans will be able to view concert highlights from the June 10th and 11th Paris shows on the SM Entertainment YouTube channel and Facebook page. Apparently, K-pop fans from the U.S., Mexico, Australia and Italy are using the Facebook page to lobby for SM Town Live shows in their countries. Hey, it’s only K-pop, but we like it! (Korea Herald – K-pop Paris Tour)
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