Comments on: Orthodoxy, or more revisionism? (History news round up II)

By: Frog in a Well - The Japan History Group Blog

Frog in a Well - The Japan History Group Blog — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 07:35:46 +0000

[...] Owen Miller, at the Korea blog, asks some hard questions (he’s good at that), and catching some really bad rhetoric [...]

By: Owen

Owen — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 14:20:24 +0000

Thanks. Fixed the link.

Indeed, I doubt whether many NLs have spent too much time reading Marx. Who needs Marx anyway? He’s so passe, particularly when you have Kim Jong-il to light the way. Having said that, not all NL apostates have strayed into the rightwing twilight zone, some have actually become very good Marxists and socialists (in my opinion).

By: trachys

trachys — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 13:57:43 +0000

Oi, that link to the Hanky leads to a Gmail account. I've given up trying to guess the password, but the article is here. This guy Choi Hong-jae (did he even read Marx?) might enjoy today's post over at Lenin's Tomb, if he sees "juche" when he reads "Stalinism" ...

By: Owen

Owen — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 11:16:46 +0000

I'd never associated the 뉴 라이트 with the Neocons before to be honest. I actually think they are quite different phenomena, although with some similarities now that I come to think about it. In both cases they seem to constitute attempts by a section of the right to delineate itself from the previous right. However, in the case of the US the Neocons defined themselves in contrast to the 'realist' or religious conservatism of the past, while in South Korea the New Right has been defining itself as a 'rational conservatism' against the 'old conservatives' associated with corruption, dictatorship, and the military. It is also interesting to note that quite a few of these Korean new rightists do actually fit the definition Andy gives above for a Neocon, although in many cases they come not from the progressive wing of Korean politics as such but straight from the pro-North jucheist camp. See for example this recent article in Hankyoreh on Choi Hong-jae, leader of the Liberty Union.

By: Andy

Andy — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 08:02:06 +0000

The working definition of new right (or neocon) I use is a person who arrives at a conservative conclusion after working his or her way trough a progressive (American English: liberal) viewpoint.

The most prominent ‘neocon’ in Korea that comes to mind is Kim Moon-soo, the current Governor of Gyeoongi province. Most of these “new right” guys don’t seem to qualify.