"The Marmot's Hole" Shows Off Its Anti-Japanese Bias

Wikipedia discribes "The Marmot's Hole" HERE as a popular weblog by American Robert J. Koehler that focuses on topics dealing with Korean politics and society. Wikipedia also writes that the blog "can serve as a good introduction to Korea, but the neutrality of the content is debatable."

In a July 12 post entitled, "Wanna buy a 'Takeshima belongs to Japan' stake?," Robert Koehler writes about a Japanese man who is selling on the Internet meter-long, stake-like sticks that read, "Takeshima is Japanese Territory." Takeshima is the Japanese name for Liancourt Rocks, a small grouping of barren rocks in the Sea of Japan that is the object of a territorial dispute between Korea and Japan. Koreans call them "Dokdo."

Robert writes the following:

Nobuyuki Suzuki, everybody’s favorite Japanese right-wing ASSHAT, is apparently selling “Takeshima belongs to Japan” stakes at his blog:

"Asshat" is a pejorative, slang word used to refer to an "obnoxiously ingnorant person." It implies that the person is wearing his ass as a hat.

Robert also writes--

Anyway, the ASSHAT also mentioned the guy who recently attempted a short cut through the Japanese embassy’s security by driving his truck through the front gate:

Notice that Robert refers to the Japanese man who is selling sticks with "Takeshima is Japanese territory" on them as an "asshat," but refers to a Korean man who rams his 1-ton, "Dokdo-is-Korean-Territory" truck into the Japanese Embassy as "the guy."

By the way, Robert did not even mention the incident of the Korean man ramming his truck into the Japanese Embassy until this post of the Japanese man selling his Takeshima sticks.

Anyway, "asshat" seems to be Robert's new favorite word because he also used it in a June 27 post entitled "Well, at least you're being asshats in your own country this time," which reports on Japanese protesting an exhibit of Comfort Women photos in Tokyo.

Before that, on June 22, Robert posted "Japanese Right-wing Asshat Records Himself Messing with Comfort Woman Statue, which reported on the man selling "Takeshima" sticks above showing off his sticks in a video of himself next to the "Comfort Woman" statue in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, which Korean activist erected to taunt Japan.

Here is the video:



However, when a group of twenty Koreans went to the Japanese island of Tsushima and protested in front of Tsuhima City Hall that both Dokdo and Tsushima were Korean territory, Robert reported on that incident with a post simply entitled, "Well, I've Heard Tsushima Is Pretty This Time of Year."

Here is the video of that protest:



Japan Probe reported on the Korean protest in Tsushima HERE.

So, is the neutrality of The Marmot's Hole really debatable, especially when the man behind the blog wanders Korea wearing the traditional Korean clothing hanbok and brags about his eating of dogmeat?

Man Rams Truck into Gate of Japan's Seoul Embassy

At 4:55 a.m. on July 9th, a 62-year-old man from Seongnam City, South Korea drove a 1-ton truck into the front gate of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, South Korea. Attached to the truck was a sign that read, "Dokdo Is Our Land." The man has been arrested.

(Photo from Joong-ang Ilbo Article HERE)

According to Seoul police, there were no injuries, but the front gate of the embassy has been pushed in about one meter.

The man told police that he was protesting a recent incident in which a Japanese man videotaped himself standing next to a "Comfort Women" memorial in front of the embassy with a stick that read, "Takeshima is Japanese Territory." Takeshima is the Japanese name for Dokdo, a small group of rocky islets that is the subject of a territorial dispute between Japan and South Korea. South Korea has illegally occupied the islets since the 1950s.

According to THIS Wall Street Journal blog article, police said the man had a hand-written note in his pocket that read as follows:

“... driving a stake at the comfort woman’s statue is doomed to God’s wrath. If I die please cremate me and scatter my ashes in the waters near Dokdo.”

The name "Comfort Women" was a euphemism that was once used by both Koreans and Japanese to refer to prostitutes, especially prostitutes for the military. Japan provided comfort women for its troops during World War II, and South Korea provided them for Korean and UN troops during the Korean War and beyond. The Korean newspaper Dong-a Ilbo reported in an October 1959 article HERE that there were 261,089 "comfort women" working in Korea in 1959 and that 66% of them were infected with a venereal disease.

UPDATE 1: In its report on the story HERE, United Press International (UPI) reports the Japanese protester videotaped himself with a sign reading "Dokdo is Japanese territory" when, in fact, the sign read, "Takeshima is Japanese territory." UPI also mistakenly reported the disputed islets are in the South China Sea when they are, in fact, in the Sea of Japan. Did UPI simply make a stupid mistake, or did they do it to avoid using the name Sea of Japan?

Nobuyuki later posted a video clip on his blog showing him setting up his protest, which read "Dokdo is Japanese territory," a reference to Japan's claim to the disputed islands in the South China Sea.

UPDATE 2: Korea's Yonhap News Agency reports HERE that the man who rammed his 1-ton truck into the gate of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, South Korea was put under arrest on July 12. That means he is now in jail because the judge fears he would try to repeat the crime since the man, himself said he would do so until his will was fulfilled.

One problem with the Yonhap News article is that it implies that it is only "Japan's extreme rightists" who claim "Dokdo is Japanese territory," when, in fact, the Japanese government makes the same claim and has the historical evidence to back it up, unlike Korea. Also, Yonhap also said the stick read "Dokdo is Japanese territory" when, in fact, it said, "Takeshima is Japanese territory." Takeshima is the Japanese name for Liancourt Rocks, which Koreans call "Dokdo." Here is the problem sentence from the Yonhap article:

The slim white post tied to the statue read "Dokdo is Japanese territory," a claim in line with those by Japan's extreme rightists.

UPDATE 3: THIS LINK has a YTN video of the Korean man ramming his truck into the front gate of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.