The younger generations of South Korea have a very different view of the North and that is where the split between the ROK & US stems from. This article is show how different their view is. South Korean TV Show Invents Friendly Rivalry With North By GORDON FAIRCLOUGH Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL May 2, 2005; Page B1 SEOUL, South Korea -- The hottest Saturday-night TV program in South Korea this season has featured a quiz pitting elementary-school students from North Korea against kids from the South. The North Korean contestants -- models of socialist propriety, with identical white shirts and red kerchiefs knotted around their necks -- regularly beat their more-fashionable rivals from the capitalist South. The North's kids are good at math, nature and history. They know Korea's first capital was Pyongyang, not Seoul. They also can tell you that a cut-up sea slug will regenerate if thrown back in the ocean. The South Korean kids are stronger in astronomy, and did better naming famous inventors, explorers and musicians. The show, called "Exclamation Point," looks like a milestone in North-South cooperation, but it actually is a triumph of skillful editing. It melds footage from a quiz show aired last year in North Korea with scenes shot in a studio in Seoul, to produce what looks, at first glance, like a head-to-head competition. "Exclamation Point" is the latest in a string of South Korean TV shows and movies to portray Northerners as friendly, if a bit eccentric, while at times -- critics say -- glossing over unpleasant truths about the repressive Pyongyang regime. Kim Jin Kuk, the highest-scoring North Korean contestant on the quiz show 'Exclamation Point' A recent hit film, for example, follows the comic adventures of two North Korean marines accidentally blown ashore in South Korea. As the pair desperately try to get home, they befriend a girl in trouble and rescue her by outfighting South Korean hoodlums. That's a drastic departure from the propagandistic depictions of North Koreans as blood-thirsty automatons poised to invade the South that dominated the South Korean media during decades of Cold War hostility and anticommunist military governments in Seoul. This pop-culture U-turn, along with warming relations between the Koreas, is softening South Koreans' attitude toward their erstwhile enemy. It is also widening a perception gap with the U.S. about the threat posed by North Korea, even as tensions mount over the North's nuclear-weapons programs. In a February Gallup poll, Americans identified North Korea, along with Iraq, as their country's biggest enemies. Polls of South Koreans, by contrast, find that fewer and fewer believe the North poses an immediate threat. During a visit to Pyongyang in 2003, Kim Young Hee, the creator of "Exclamation Point," saw a North Korean quiz-show series and was determined to bring it to the South. "In the South there is still an unnecessarily negative view of the North," says Mr. Kim. "I wanted to change that." The South Korean producers took footage from episodes that aired in North Korea last year and edited in new scenes shot in Seoul, on a set that is a replica of the North Korean stage. The producers have redubbed parts of the Northern emcee's dialogue to make it appear as if she is bantering with the South Korean host. Casual viewers often think the quiz is a direct competition, despite disclaimers to the contrary. Lee Jae Kyoung, a communications professor at Ewha Women's University in Seoul, says South Korea's media outlets have fallen in behind the government policy of reconciliation and cooperation with North Korea. He says he fears shows such as "Exclamation Point" will lead to a false "romanticization of the North." Mr. Kim, the show's producer-director, says he believes it "reflects the reality of North Korea." And he dismisses critics as "those who think of North Korea as competition, or even as the enemy." The show has many supporters, but also detractors. "If we don't see things like this, how can we change our views of North Korea?" asks Chae Yong Suk, a 31-year-old trading-company executive and fan of the show. "I think it will help shrink the culture gap between North and South." Other viewers, however, complain that the quiz show is unfair, because the quiz questions, which are drawn from the original, North Korean version of the show, favor the North and make the South Korean kids look bad. "Only a few Southerners, who have strange beliefs, think that we must learn about the North," says Lee Eui Kyum, in a posting on the program's Web site. The show reveals plenty of differences between the two Koreas. The dialects spoken on either side of the demilitarized zone have diverged. South Koreans have adopted many English words. North Koreans haven't. Sometimes, the show resorts to subtitles to explain what the Northerners are saying. The North Korean children seldom s

For seasoned observers of Korea, I'd say that recent events have made it abundantly clear that the US-ROK alliance is on the way out. What I see is a South Korean president that is most likely a North Korean agent and most certainly guilty of treason against his country. Roh has replaced many pro-American leaders with DPRK sympathizers such as himself. It's all quite shocking - and veteran ROK politicians and military officers with an honest perspective on North Korean/Chinese intentions are horrified about the direction the ROK is going. This is, of course, why Roh is minimizing their influence in the government. If you look at the specifics it gets damned scary. We have Roh covering up all sorts of embarrassing episodes, such as North Korean intrusions and commando operations into the South (which they have always perpetrated but now the ROK is covering for them - an outrage), we have huge secret transfers of money to the North for no apparent reason at all - other than strengthening the DPRK. Not only this, but the South has publicly defended the North's development of nuclear weapons, and expressly legitimized the North's claim that they need these weapons to deter a menacing United States. This is a curious position for our South Korean "allies" to take, considering that if it wasn't for the US most of them could look forward to the glorius lives their brethren enjoy in the North. If there are any Koreans here, you should understand this: I know the US is not always sensitive to your needs and concerns. I know the US often acts selfishly and embarrases itself needlessly in the eyes of our allies. However, the bottom line is that we do not abandon our defense treaty obligations. The only South Korean alternative to US help when confronted with a "sudden" discovery of a latent and significant DPRK nuclear capability is capitulation. Open your eyes and see the truth - yes the Northern people are your blood - but they are ruled by a little Hitler and he cares nothing for them. He's murdered millions of them and he will do the same to you. This is a better alternative to a difficult and sometimes arrogant ally like the US? If so, I'm sorry my nation's forefathers left their blood there - you aren't worth it.

Darth Squirrel, I'm sorry if you feel let down by what you see with the President Roh is doing in Korea. I feel the the same way. If a government wants to be idealistic like Roh is than you can't deal with anyone. The current president beat out a former supreme court justice by appealing to the young voters in 20s and 30s, with promise of getting rid of the old and bringing in the new. I sometimes feel that former President Kim Dae Jung and current President Roh are somehow moles for North Korea. :) Sounds far fetched but looking at what they've done as the leader of S. Korea, it's not that hard to get that kind of feeling. BTW, did you know there was some allegation that Kim D.J. was arrested right before after the Korean War for being a red? Anyhow, I'd like to predict that the current ruling party of President Roh will lose out in the next Presidential election to be held in a few years, meaning the ruling party (also pro N Korea) will lose its power. President in Korea cannot be reelected like in US. Democracy in action. And well worth the blood of Americans and others in Korean War. I just want to ask for your patience. S. Korea needs the allies, not the naive, nationalistc ideals that Roh seems to be holding onto...

"If there are any Koreans here, you should understand this: I know the US is not always sensitive to your needs and concerns. I know the US often acts selfishly and embarrases itself needlessly in the eyes of our allies. However, the bottom line is that we do not abandon our defense treaty obligations. The only South Korean alternative to US help when confronted with a "sudden" discovery of a latent and significant DPRK nuclear capability is capitulation." If there are any Korean here, let me remind you of: http://www.gibbsmagazine.com/Korea.htm http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/55a/183.html http://www.kimsoft.com/korea/gikill.htm And yet what punishment did this criminal get? Did you every follow up on this story? The criminals were sent home with very little punishment. Why? Because it is simple. To remind you that who really control the country.