tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68801137047176713292012-02-01T10:17:55.277-08:00Finding out what South Korea's popular children's social studies comic book series Monnara Iunnara has to say about the world. The majority of this blog consists of direct quotes, many racist and antisemitic ones at that. They are being translated here in order to throw light on the counter-factual nature of many of the book series' claims. For new readers, you should start by reading Chapter 8, linked conveniently in the sidebar under Press. Please note that the books are not textbooks.Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.comBlogger441100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-12057976253484541122008-03-16T07:01:00.000-07:002008-03-16T07:13:58.291-07:00

The U.S. State Department has cited Monnara author Rhie Won-bok as Korea's representative to the world in the anti-semitism department in it's report, Contemporary Global Antisemitism. The document includes Rhie's 'wall of Jews' illustration along with the following:South Korean Comic Book Echoed Jewish Conspiracy TheoriesIn March 2007, a South Korean publisher agreed to pull a best-selling

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-65166512513760197202007-03-16T21:39:00.000-07:002007-03-16T23:04:16.349-07:00

ABC News reports Rhie said he would consider how to change the book and would undertake an "all-out revision.""I'm sorry to see things like a frog in a well," Rhie said Thursday, referring to a traditional Korean saying that a frog in a well is unaware of the larger world outside. "In the future, I will write books in a more responsible way." What is it with this guy and the stupid frog in the

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-39455461278216323142007-03-15T13:50:00.000-07:002007-03-15T14:31:16.818-07:00

Hang onto your copy of Monnara Iunnara Volume 10: The Americans, it's about to become a collector's item. The book is being taken out of print, according to Canada's CBC. Rabbi Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center is quoted as saying The net effect of what he's done here is a disaster and he just doesn't get it. I hope he will someday, but in the meantime this book's got to go. Apparently

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-9376644080606506702007-03-14T19:19:00.000-07:002007-03-14T19:56:47.876-07:00

Here's a black and white Rhie Won-bok comic which I believe comes from a newspaper. I found it here. It was placed on the website as some kind of proof of Rhie's racism, but it's highly incorrect to present it as such.The Era of Unlimited Service Competition: A Bank for Gays Opens1. This is a time when the marketing war among banks to attract new customers is heating up - we've already discussed

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-74700767755459815652007-03-14T18:19:00.000-07:002007-03-14T18:21:14.480-07:00

I received this in my inbox today. Too late notice for me to go, I'm afraid, but if anyone is in the area check it out. Naturally I will be following the outcome of Rabbi Cooper's visit closely.PRESS ADVISORY March 14, 2007WHAT: WIESENTHAL CENTER BRIEFING ON ANTISEMITIC COMIC BOOK CONTROVERSYWHEN: Thursday,

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-35997991217060987722007-03-10T20:51:00.000-08:002007-03-10T22:22:15.530-08:00

I thought the last pages of volume ten, about America's myopic ignorance, were anti-American enough, but volume eleven's final sentence is easily as bad. Rhie claims that America's great energy stems from America's refusal to lose ever, and that, seeing the exmple of the decadent Roman Empire, America must stay competitive by constantly creating 'competitors and enemies', i.e. China, Japan, and

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-86586377124191084102007-03-07T03:02:00.000-08:002007-03-07T12:39:45.723-08:00

Up until now I'd ignored the other volume of the series that I have, but tonight I flipped through it and again found that the last chapter expresses most of Rhie Won-bok's opinions. Here are some of the last few pages of Monnara Iunnara Volume 11: American History, Chapter 8: The Lonely World's Only Superpower: Today's America, from the New Frontier to the Iraq War. Fascinating stuff, for sure

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-31889664883833039242007-03-01T05:27:00.000-08:002007-03-04T13:24:59.929-08:00

Update 3/5: Rabbi Cooper won't be able to give a talk when he comes to Seoul this month. It's a busy life when you're fighting the good fight. I recommend to all that you do your part to help by going to any book store, picking up a copy of the book, flipping through it and tsk-ing loudly with an angry look on your face. You know, get the word out.The really funny thing about this book, for me

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-42945864938786011582007-02-28T04:36:00.000-08:002007-02-28T04:56:57.628-08:00

Well, it looks like we have something to thank old Mr. Rhie for today. The LA Times reports that in the wake of this controversy, Korean American leaders have formed deeper bonds with Jewish leaders. The Korean leaders made their first visit to the historic Wilshire Boulevard Temple, where they were welcomed as friends. That's nice to see. Contrast that with what they're saying over at

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-55574330196230023712007-02-25T13:10:00.000-08:002007-02-26T12:43:02.112-08:00

I have received a couple of comments from Korean readers of this page asking that I make clear the exact extent of the racist and antisemitic content in the Monnara series. First of all, I have received some criticism for repeating the statistic that 12 million books from the series have been sold. I never intended to imply that volume 10 sold 12 million copies. Unfortunately I don't have any

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-63133708310179524152007-02-25T04:30:00.000-08:002007-02-25T12:50:28.319-08:00

This passage is interesting mostly for Rhie's fearmongering about the so-called 'economic death sentence' of bad credit. Although Koreans certainly have a lot more cash than Americans do he also doesn't acknowledge the prevailing American view of this disparity, in which Americans are enjoying their houses and cars while they pay them off, while Koreans are going without in the time it takes

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-3438678482746557252007-02-25T01:53:00.000-08:002007-02-25T02:45:08.897-08:00

오늘 내가 첫번째 한국분께서 질문 많은 이메일 받았어. Mr. J씨 한국말로 아래 있는 이메일 보내셨어.I received my first email from a Korean today, asking several questions about this blog. "Mr. J" wrote the following in Korean:어째서 당신은 한국인과 유대인을 이간질(싸움) 시키려 합니까? 유대인에게도 한국인을 비난시키려는 의도입니까? 그런 책은 학교에서 학생들을 가르치는 교과서(text book)이 아닙니다. 어느 나라나, 인종 혐오 감정이 있는 private book(사적 출판물) 이 발간될 수 있습니다. 실제로 거의 유명하지 않는(that book is not famous in korea

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-79982397849100359472007-02-24T15:43:00.000-08:002007-02-25T02:42:17.461-08:00

Here. It looks like Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Wiesenthal Center is coming to Seoul March 15th to see about getting the book taken off shelves. The article describes the response of Gimm Young Publishing's director Eun-ju Park as a brief email to Rabbi Cooper explaining that she had sent an apology to Charles Kim, national president of the Korean American Coalition. Utterly shocking,

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-43866551559923264462007-02-22T12:51:00.000-08:002007-02-23T06:47:54.672-08:00

I love how Rhie seems to feel that the law is some kind of last resort when heart and common courtesy fail. More on 'heart'. The original Korean word is jung (rhymes with 'sung') and it is a word that Koreans claim is untranslatable and intrinsically Korean. I think the reasons Koreans claim that it is untranslatable are twofold: one, the best English translation would probably be 'warmth', and

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-86536402521440856592007-02-21T12:40:00.000-08:002007-02-21T13:03:18.755-08:00

That's the question Rhie Won-bok asks in Chapter 7: Credit is Life, How Americans Live. Seems unconnected until you understand Rhie's theory that American dependence on credit is based on racial factionalism, the underlying weakness of immigrant nations. A note to the reader: I have translated the word 민족국가 variously as 'monoracial nation' and 'nation state'. Be aware that this term refers to

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-91914910717423847432007-02-19T22:46:00.000-08:002007-02-20T12:37:17.453-08:00

This is an editorial by Shin Mun-yeong, chief editor of Veritas Books, published in the Chosun Ilbo on February 19th. I just translated it and I must say it is fascinating, definitely worth a read. It starts out telling a story about how the Wiesenthal Center and Rabbi Cooper caused a popular Japanese magazine to be shut down and a writer to commit seppuku over a quibbling disagreement about

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-1260107478345702502007-02-17T17:01:00.000-08:002007-02-17T17:41:49.400-08:00

Below is the letter Suxzanne Scholte of the North Korean human rights group Defense Forum sent to Korean American groups and politicians (as she put it, her Korean friends). She told me that she was very pleased with their response and that they had wanted to go as far as having a press conference with Rabbi Cooper of the Wiesenthal Center. Apparently this urgency and will to action was somehow

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-12859654108792935262007-02-17T00:46:00.000-08:002007-02-17T01:24:26.804-08:00

Google has a cached page from Hanbooks.com selling volume 10 (containing the chapter about the Jews) which is currently unavailable. The page describes the book as follows:This book, in the form of a comic book, introduces 8 keywords that will help understand the way Americans think and act, such as Constitution, election system, 50 states under 1 federal government, and the power of Jews.Great

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-44787330490017518882007-02-16T22:36:00.000-08:002007-02-16T22:38:28.518-08:00

Let it be known to the Korean government how damaging this book is to Korea's image. Go to The Korean Ministry of Culture and Tourism's website and lodge a complaint. Don't worry, it's in English for your convenience. And please, be polite.

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-38287272860534847862007-02-15T17:58:00.000-08:002007-02-15T18:28:33.275-08:00

According today's article in Herald Biz, Rhie Won-bok says:"During my ten years living in Germany I visited concentration camps and I know as well as anybody how much the Jews suffered and how cruel the Nazis' barbarity was.""I have no bias of any kind against Jews and I have always opposed racism." Starting with the next edition he plans to replace the problem portions.Pardon me, Mr. Rhie, but

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-86058422994092431092007-02-15T06:05:00.000-08:002007-02-15T13:18:48.104-08:00

Here. The response to this from the publisher and Rhie Won-bok has been deplorable, with seeingly no attempt to even address the problem to Jewish groups, no apology to Korea's children and parents for selling them a book full of racist lies, and an apology only to the Korean-American community for all the trouble this is causing them. Disgraceful. Here's the article."I will correct the parts

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com68tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-87146994913156012492007-02-15T02:05:00.000-08:002007-02-15T06:02:31.712-08:00

Here. I've gone ahead and translated the whole thing into English. It is a fascinating read, essentially justifying Monnara's claim that the Jews hold particular sway in America by declaring this natural and citing Korea's irrational nationalism as a mere part of a historical dialectic of nationalism ebbing and flowing in power and influence. Check it out.Monnara Iunnara and "So far from the

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com76tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-49845860316813448212007-02-14T21:27:00.000-08:002007-02-15T00:33:08.995-08:00

This MBC News report actually repeats the same stereotypes that Jews are complaining about in the first place. Tactless in the extreme.Anchor: Jews in America are demanding that the Korean best-selling world history comic book Monnara Iunnara defames Jews.Kim Won-tae ReportingReporter: American Jews are lashing back at Deokseong University professor Rhie Won-bok's comic book Monnara Iunnara,

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-19187963796066107552007-02-14T18:37:00.000-08:002007-02-15T01:02:38.521-08:00

Here's my translation of the SBS transcript, seemingly the meatier one. The more I think about it the angrier I get:Anchor: Jews in America claim that the ten million-selling educational comic book 'Monnara Iunnara' deprecates the Jews and distorts their history and a Jewish group demanding it be revised.In Los Angeles, O Dong-heon reportingReporter: In part of educational comic Monnara Iunnara,

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-63350185198665411202007-02-14T16:52:00.000-08:002007-02-14T17:59:44.967-08:00

Both SBS and MBC have picked up the story today. The gist of their coverage is that this problem is a bit of a pain for Koreans in America Here's a transcript of the MBC report and here is the SBS-TV report. I will translate as soon as possible.

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-30323990062449101522007-02-13T03:07:00.000-08:002007-02-15T12:44:54.463-08:00

This chapter is highly interesting, but not nearly as shocking as Chapter 8 and without as many unbelievable quotable affronts to human decency. Nonetheless his general thesis, that Americans are desperate slaves to their jobs and mildly pathetic, is amazing.p160)America is the strongest country in the world. No country can face America's military, economy, scientific skill, etc. The Swiss

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-43885405612424295502007-02-12T06:18:00.000-08:002007-02-12T05:43:57.124-08:00

It's worth it to check out Aron Ranen's inflammatory documentary "Black Hair" (handily collected for you at this old blog entry of mine) for an instance of Koreans being treated to the same sort of angry conspiracy theorizing as the Jews are in Mr. Rhie's book. The gist is that the Koreans have snuck into the Black hair care industry and vertically integrated retail, production and wholesaling.

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-50343059697962166922007-02-12T01:02:00.000-08:002007-02-11T05:20:52.823-08:00

The Korea Times picked up the article that YNet printed, with no significant changes and the same pictures, courtesy of Sonagi. I was unable to find a translation of the article on the Korean version of the site, but I'll keep an eye out for it. Hey, it's a start.

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-36588001295328235202007-02-10T15:14:00.000-08:002007-02-10T13:54:58.334-08:00

I thought it might be easier for everybody if I cut to the chase and put up as much offensive material from Monnara as I could find. So here are a few more pictures with shocking and offensive captions."Most crime in America is committed not by ethnic people (literally 'colored people') but by a social class called 'White Trash'" (page 135)"Even now [Blacks] can't overcome racism both visible

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-43629603841597263872007-02-10T07:07:00.000-08:002007-02-10T07:07:28.173-08:00

I've placed all the most provocative pictures from Chapter 8 together with captions here. I think they're decent quality scans and they give a pretty good idea of the gist of the book's antisemitism. Spread them around.

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-29936134953813089252007-02-10T03:56:00.000-08:002007-02-25T00:44:56.098-08:00

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7Part 7This is the end of the book. It starts off with what seems to be a bit of a change of heart, but proceeds to tie together all of Rhie Won-bok's negative views of the Jews and of America, essentially making Americans all out to be a bunch of rube cannon fodder for Jewish wars. highly insulting to all, no doubt about

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-52013040701918777192007-02-10T00:46:00.000-08:002007-02-10T02:23:41.570-08:00

Since starting this blog I have been dismayed by some of the comments I've seen citing Monnara Iunnara as proof that 'Koreans are antisemitic'. So it was good luck today that I came into possession of a book called "Jurassic Park's Steven Spielberg" (쥬라기 공원의 스티븐 스필버그), a children's biography of the director. Of particular interest is the chapter called "Where are my roots?". Below is a summary

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-28022806665607484482007-02-09T16:42:00.000-08:002007-02-25T00:43:25.814-08:00

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7I'll be back with more later today. I think this is enough for now.p240)Rockefeller was the top American conglomerate (Top 3: Rockefeller, DuPont and Mellon) There is ongoing dispute about whether or not he was a Jew but the matter is not clear. But the reason he is mistaken for a Jew is that his enterprise technique was

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-28696862708243715152007-02-08T19:47:00.000-08:002007-02-08T22:36:03.977-08:00

The Weisenthal center has sent this letter to the Gimm Young, publishers of the Monnara series. What a very positive development.Incidentally, someone a good bit more diligent than I has determined that the series as a whole has sold 10 million copies. So anyone wondering how popular the series is, consider that South Korea is a nation of about 48 million.

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-37659846982013792132007-02-07T22:32:00.000-08:002007-02-07T22:58:00.696-08:00

First off, check Ariana Eunjung Cha's article in today's Wall Street Journal about Chinese 'success' books teaching people how to get rich 'the Jewish way'. In an interesting parallel to the Monnara series, those Chinese books were written to capitalize on a boom in the 'success book' market in China. Monnara's last three volumes about the U.S. were written to take advantage of the currently

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-85384112655397163412007-02-06T23:31:00.000-08:002007-02-25T00:42:28.962-08:00

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7p235)The meeting of all the nations who won the Napoleonic War [The Congress ofVienna] opened in 1814. This Congress of Vienna was really the Jews' victoryfeast, as represented by Rothschild. In International finance and politics, ithad become impossible for anyone to ignore or obstruct the Jew.(Graphic shows nobleman in a wig

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-31458113149627032782007-02-05T23:58:00.000-08:002007-02-25T00:41:27.799-08:00

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7Part 4So far, I have been translating all of the narration in the book and leaving out the speech bubbles unless they are necessary for context or particularly interesting. The same is true of the pictures, which I only describe when they are quite shocking. The reason for doing so is that I think the pictures in the book

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-7564749363637417162007-02-04T20:34:00.000-08:002007-02-25T00:40:31.631-08:00

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7Part 3Thanks to the one and only Marmot for sending people this way. I've had some great feedback from like-minded people and some well appreciated help with my translation from Colin, and an offer to put Chapter 8 on Flickr and make it publicly available. I had considered it, but I'm not really equipped for it and my

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-43543122486313661172007-02-01T23:25:00.000-08:002007-02-25T00:38:58.838-08:00

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7Part 2Here is more of Chapter 8 of Monnara Iunnara (먼나라 이웃나라) Volume 10, dealing with the Jews. On page 225, author Rhie Won-bok was discussing the depredations that the Jews underwent, including prohibition from owning land and engaging in commerce or industry.p226)To top it all, They were forced to wear a badge indicating

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-47913731615592929212007-02-01T22:05:00.000-08:002007-02-01T05:06:07.322-08:00

Here's a gem from the chapter called "Credit is Life: How Americans Live"p218)Cars are more than a way to get around smoothly. They broadcast one's social status like the sound of a gong. People judge a person's station in life by looking at their car(Graphic shows two men looking at a man in sunglasses and a suit)First man: "That guy drives a Rolls Royce."Second man: "Wow, he's really

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-17446487850795212402007-02-01T18:47:00.000-08:002007-02-25T00:37:56.116-08:00

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7Part 1I was originally planning to translate the book from cover to cover in order. This morning I was flipping through the book on the bus and I got sucked into the eighth chapter, which deals with the history of Judaism. When I set out to translate this book I expected to find some interesting perspectives or factual errors.

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com47tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-24729724853023873972007-01-27T06:19:00.000-08:002007-01-27T07:11:58.375-08:00

Volume 10 of the series has two forwards. The first is included only in volumes 10-12 (Americans, American History, and American Presidents). Author Rhie Won-bok opens up the preface to the American volumes by saying thatKorea has complicated feelings about America. While it's true that one either glorifies the U.S. or opposes it, to look at it another way, the fact that it is so difficult to

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-38539937917938458882007-01-27T05:03:00.000-08:002007-01-27T05:41:29.611-08:00

Monnara was conceived by Rhie Won-Bok (이원복) . Born in Daejeon in 1946, Rhie (vexingly pronounced like the letter 'E') graduated from Seoul National University (long thought to be the best university in Korea). He subsequently attended University of Muenster, receiving a degree in design as well as Western art history. He is currently a professor of graphic design (산업미술, lit. industrial art) at

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6880113704717671329.post-27448849755187817102007-01-27T04:32:00.000-08:002007-01-29T01:05:29.897-08:00

My name is Joe Mondello. I am a 26 year old American living and working as an English teacher in Bucheon city, just Southwest of Seoul. Teaching English here in Korea over the last four years, I have become very familiar with the edutainment comic book series 'Distant Country, Neighboring Country' (먼나라 이웃나라 or Meonnara Iunnara). For the sake of simplicity, I am going to refer to the series as

Joe Mondellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10761076947867776348noreply@blogger.com0