Kim Jong Un’s Letter to South Korean Students: Police Conduct Investigation into April Fools’ Satire Posters Critical of Moon Jae-in Posted all over South Korean University Campuses

2019-4-1, Tara O

Satire posters criticizing the Moon Jae-in administration popped up all over South Korean university campuses to coincide with April Fools’ Day. The heading on the posters stated “Letter to South Korean students” and “Let’s overthrow the South Korean system” with  Kim Jong-un and Jeondaehyeop (전대협) listed at the bottom. The group claimed they posted in about 450 universities nationwide.

There are two Jeondaehyeop organizations.  The older Jeondaehyeop, also known as the National Council of Student Representatives, was a university student organization formed in 1987.  It was controlled by the “NL” (National Liberation) faction. This group, whose members are now in their 50s and many of whom are in the Moon administration and the ruling party, worshipped Kim Il Sung and looked to North Korea to usher in socialism/communism in South Korea and to unify the Korean Peninsula. They saw the U.S. as an obstacle to this goal, thus were (and still are) active in anti-U.S. activities

Im Jong-seok (임종석), President Moon Jae-in’s former Chief of Staff, was the third president of Jeondaehyeop and led many prominent pro-North Korea activities, including arranging for another student Lim Su-kyung’s (임수경) illegal visit to North Korea in 1989.  When Im was called a communist, he sued another citizen for libel. The fourth president of Jeondahyup Song Kap-seok (송갑석) said “North Korea is the only legitimate government on the Korean Peninsula, which guarantees justice and sovereignty, and only the unification by North Korea is the genuine motherland unification” (3:09).  Song is now a national assemblyman, Deoburreo Minjoo Party. Song was also the  Deputy Chief Administrator of Moon Jae-in’s presidential campaign and the Chairman of the Gwangju Regional Committee of the Rho Moo-hyun Foundation. (2:39)  For more information, see here and here

The new Jeondaehyeop, the one listed on these posters, is also a university student organization, but the ideology is diametrically opposed to the older Jeondaehyeop–it is not pro-North Korea.

The police in some districts took down the posters and are investigating to see whether there was a National Security Law violation, which includes praising the adversary.  They installed a police line and cordoned off the poster sites and conducted fingerprint identification and CCTV analysis. They will also conduct further investigations to judge whether the act constitutes contempt or libel, both of which are designated criminal offences in South Korea.

The National Security Law (NSL) makes praising, encouraging, and aiding anti-state groups or those under their control a crime.  The law has not been enforced when other actions that seem to more accurately fit the description of a violation of the NSL occurred.  The recent examples are 1) when the Baekdu Praise Committee held “welcome Kim Jong Un rallys” in the middle of Seoul, 2) when Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon praised Kim by saying he’s an “outstanding leader” who “considers his subjects’ livelihood as his utmost importance,” and 3) when  an activist group members visited elementary schools and had the students write postcards welcoming Kim Jong Un.  It is odd that the government is conducting an investigation to determine whether or not a violation of the National Security Law occurred in this situation.  Thus, the government acting in such a way brings up the issue of freedom of speech. It also raises the question of why the Moon administration is reacting so quickly and sensitively.

The media has been reporting this incident, but they have displayed pictures of the posters that are small or blurred to prevent people from reading the content.  What message did the posters display? Does the content explain why the Moon administration reacts so sensitively? See below for one of the posters in Korean with English translation below it.  It is written in North Korean style, including the font and syntax, with ample use of North Korean words and long sentences.

(English translation)

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<Letter to the Students of South Joseon [South Korea]>

 <South Joseon’s People’s Sun, President Moon Jae-in>

Dear leader president Moon Jae-in is chosen from above and is like the sun, and his leadership is perfect with no flaws and thus there should be no tolerance of any criticism even if one breaks his/her head.

South Korean People’s Mother-Father President Moon Jae-in crushed the dirty self-employed and small business owners’ hideous pursuit of profit and established the law of the traditional four classes of society (scholars, farmers, artisans, and tradesmen) with his miraculous income-led growth; forever gave time off to the youths who had groaned under hard labor with his minimum wage increase; and when “JeokpaeIlbaeJahandang” [jeokpae (accumulated evil) Ilbe (conservative website) Liberty Korea Party (Jahandang, an acronym for the main opposition party)] displeased the feeling of the Great Power [China] using fine dust as an excuse, prevented South Korean dust from damaging China by defying the west wind [wind from the west; China is west of Korea] through vehicle control and various regulations, thereby restoring Sinocentric order by currying favor with the Great Power and correcting China-South Korea relations.

By dismantling the nuclear power plants, he made the South Korean people realize the importance of energy and made everyone shut off lights even at home and caused a candlelight revolution; discontinued three major military exercises with U.S. forces in Korea, which are the main obstacle to revolution; disarmed South Korea by dismantling the five forward deployed infantry divisions, giving up the Northern Limit Line, blowing up GPs [guard posts at the DMZ], and removing anti-tank barriers and Han River barbed wire fence.  As a result, preparations are completed for this land’s key national organizations and facilities to be taken over by North Korea’s military as soon as it receives an order. Now, no matter how much the Jeokpae bunch blow rubbish or flail, they can’t slow down even a bit the clock of South Korea’s revolution.

<3 Great Tactics Doctrine>

Meanwhile, our Supreme Commander comrade, in order to paralyze South Korea’s systems and to change South Korean people’s minds toward revolution, ordered the following tactics and issued written instructions to us at Jeondaehyeop. The entirety of the instructions are made public below.  South Korean students, obey the instructions reverently.

First, if you cannot criticize the message, then criticize the messenger.  If anyone criticize our revolution, then unconditionally denounce them as Liberty Korea Party part-timers on the Ilbe level.

Second, use beautiful words like peace, pro-environment, human rights, and unconditionally accuse the other side of being rough talkers, jeokpae, pro-Japan, conservative dumbheads, and warmongers.  Paralyze the South Korean people’s ability to distinguish truth from lies. By using the tactic of terminology confusion, we will always have the competitive edge, and anti-revolutionaries will not even have a chance to put forward their argument.

Third, suppress all males in their 20s and take away all their rights.  Put them at the bottom of the society and make them support all other generations.  Make them compete with foreign laborers, prevent them from obtaining economic power by using all pretexts, take away all their employment opportunities and make them into a vagabond of the civil servant exams.  Take away all their hopes and never again allow the production of outstanding individuals in this generation. Mark them as sex offenders and emasculate them socially. Label them as hideous sexual monsters by all necessary means–public opinion, news, media, drama, arts, literature, education, etc.–and suppress and strangle them even more and annihilate this generation itself.  Destroy the peaceful relations between sexes and pursue machine-like sexual equality to divide and alienate men and women. Make the older generation take the side of women and completely isolate them from the horizontal and vertical structures. Men and women at nature are supposed to coexist. Thus, if you kill men, then women also die. In this way, one generation can completely be destroyed. A society with its young generation destroyed is left only with collapse.

Implement my Three Great Tactics faithfully to tear down all the trust in South Korean society, to make them blind, to make them unable to distinguish self-interest through all kinds of lies and propaganda, induce all kinds of conflict in the realms of generation and gender, and make them fight each other, leading to self-destruction.  In that way, lay the foundation to control the state’s and society’s systems. Employment will be impossible specifically for South Korean youths, except the offspring of the aristocratic labor union. Give up getting qualifications and good grades and be engrossed in using shovels and pickaxes to be prepared for the soon-to-arrive compulsory labor draft.  Thus work hard in the mines of a glorious unified motherland and be designated as people’s labor heroes and pass on the honor throughout the generations.

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea State Affairs Council Chairman Kim Jong Un

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Jeondaehyeop also announced a candlelight vigil near exit #2 of Hyehwa Subway Station, Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the afternoon of April 6 to demand the resignation of President Moon.