Recently, in the United States, incidents of unprovoked assaults targeting Asians are continuing. A Korean-American man in his twenties was assaulted in broad daylight, and an Asian-American elderly man in his eighties was attacked and killed on the street.

While condemning and responding to hate crimes are important at the government level, our reflection is also important as anxiety and suspicion have been reinforced by the pandemic.

We have to answer. Whether to easily relieve anxiety through hate and discrimination and make a weak choice to gain a sense of belonging as a majority, or to make a dignified choice with the minorities over the fear and aversion that comes from ignorance.

VANK has started a campaign to overcome the fear and hatred that comes from ignorance and to band together with Asians.

VANK has launched a campaign to share on social media with #WITHASIANS about daily practices to combat racial discrimination or experiences of encountering or witnessing racial discrimination on the world’s biggest petition site change.org.

<campaign petition link>

maywespeak.com/withasians

We also created and are distributing Digital Posters in Korean and English to encourage joining the campaign through social media channels.

On the poster, it shows a picture of holding hands together, and has a phrase “Overcome the Fear and Hatred that comes from Ignorance. Band together with Asians!”\

March 26, the day martyr Ahn Jung-geun died; Designating this day ‘the Day of Peace in East Asia’, as UN International Day is finishing the book, “A Treatise on Peace in the East” martyr Ahn wrote.

<A Treatise on Peace in the East>

The unfinished book for peace in the East that martyr Ahn wrote in March, 1910.

Today is March 1, Independence Movement day, when unknown freedom fighters launched a campaign for national independence without violence against the unjust aggression of Japanese imperialism.

Today, we live in an independent country, Republic of Korea, but it seems like we have a long way to go for Peace in East Asia that martyr Ahn dreamed of.

Still, Japan denies sex crimes of comfort women in war, and is trying to justify Japanese imperialism and colonial rule by fostering pro-Japanese scholars around the world.

China is not respecting the rights of other peoples’ enjoying and expressing their own cultures, and is fostering cyber-war comment corps that depreciates Korean culture and history.

In commemoration of March 1 Independence Movement Day, VANK is launching a campaign to look back on Ahn Jung-geun’s ‘Peace in East Asia’ spirit based on anti-colonialism, anti-imperialism and mutual solidarity, and to promise the future of Peace in East Asia.

VANK had started a Global Petition on the world’s biggest petition web site, targeting Korean·Chinese·Japanese government and the United Nations to designate March 26, the day martyr Ahn Jung-geun died, as ‘the Day of Peace in East Asia’.

VANK created Digital Posters in English and Korean introducing ‘the Day of Peace in East Asia’ and is working on to inform the world of martyr Ahn’s ‘Peace in East Asia’ spirit through social media channels.

Remember how the Kanto Massacre of Joseon People Started!

Asian Holocaust DID NOT fall suddenly from the skie.

VANK commencing petition about probe on “Great Kanto Earthquake Massacre of Joseon People”.

Recently, Professor M. Ramseyer, who defined comfort women victims as prostitues, is known to soon revise his thesis that distorted the facts regarding Massacre of Joseon People at Great Kanto Earthquake.

Harvard Law School Professor M. Ramseyer’s now known distorted thesis might be only one of the very many studies supported by Japanese right wings.

In order to stop Japanese right wing from authorizing the next second and third M. Ramseyer, VANK started a Global Petition to probe on Great Kanto Earthquake Massacre of Joseon people.

Above all, VANK created and is distributing digital posters to tell the world about this issue. On the poster says, “Sep. 1, 1923 Remember how the Kanto Massacre of Joseon People Started! Sep. 1, 1923 Asian Holocaust DID NOT fall suddenly from the skies.” It also describes “Please stop reducing and concealing the truth about the Great Kanto Earthquake massacre of Joseon people! Join the Global Petition to spread the truth to the world!” with the petition link, maywespeak.com/massacre

Stop Chinese netizens’ racist cyber-terror attacks regarding Korean culture!

Hanbok! Not all Beautiful are from China!

Gat! Not all Cool are from China!

Kimchi! Not all Reds are from China!

Stop Chinese netizens’ racist cyber-terror attacks regarding Korean culture!

VANK has recently been the target of the Chinese state-run media, the Global Times. On February 18th, the Chinese state media Global Times published an online article titled “Where did the Korean VANK come from? which is trying to confront China.” The Global Times reported that it was VANK that provoked the case in connection with the debate on the origin of kimchi, which took place at the end of last year. It also reported that VANK is still holding a signing campaign protesting “China is stealing Korean culture” on the world’s largest petition site. They said that in the past, VANK’s petition activities were related to Japan, regarding Dokdo and East Sea, but recently, that VANK is targeting China.

The Global Times has pointed out that VANK as the main culprit causing conflict in Korea-China relations, and expressed VANK as an obstacle to cultural exchange between Korea and China. However, VANK cannot be silent for fear of conflict over China’s denial of Korea’s history and culture as a whole, with malicious disregard and ridicule of Korea. If we let only one-sided view of China be known because of fear of conflict with China, after 100 years from now, the Korean cultures including Kimchi, Ssam, Gat, Hanbok will be known as Chinese culture, and Kim Yuna, Sohn Heungmin and Yun Dongju will be remebered as ethic Koreans of China. Our cultural identity will not be able to be connected with the community.

VANK’s claim is not just about Koreans’ nationalistic sentiment. We are claiming the right of a nation, guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to freely enjoy and express its culture according to its identity.

VANK is not trying to take away Chinese culture. We are not denying that we have been influenced by and influencing the countries and cultures around us. We want to shape our culture and freely enjoy and express that culture as an expression of identity, and in the process, we are protesting the malicious ridicule, demeaning, and neglect of some Chinese people. It is China that should be blamed for cultural hegemony.

VANK created a digital poster summarizing the racist cyber terrorism of Korean culture by Chinese netizens in English and Korean, and announced it to theworld through social media to raise awareness and form solidarity about the cultural rights protected by Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The poster states: “Hanbok! Not all Beautiful are from China! Gat! Not all Cool are from China! Kimchi! Not all Reds are from China! Stop Chinese netizens’ racist cyber-terror attacks regarding Korean culture!” demanding China to stop acts of violating other peoples’ right to express and enjoy their own cultures.

VANK will keep trying to tell the global community of China’s cultural hegemony, and make peace in East Asia.

Dandy ‘Gat’ ain’t from you, China!

China, it’s you again?

Dandy ‘Gat’ ain’t from you.

There’s no room here for Chinese cultural imperialists!

‘Gat’, the hat of Joseon, is receiving worldwide attention through ‘Kingdom’, a Netflix Original Series. Regarding Gat, Chinese netizens are arguing forcibly that Gat is of their own.

‘SKY: Children of the Light’, a mobile social adventure game developed and serviced by Thatgamecompany, LLC, released a new item called ‘Dancing Choreographer Spirit’s Hat’, which is a reminiscent of ‘gat’.

The item is originally designed in a similar shape to the Korean ‘gat’, and the clothes worn together remind us of ‘durumagi’, a traditional Korean overcoat, of Korean hanbok. Unlike the global server, on the Chinese server, the item was originally designed as a traditional Chinese hat rather than the shape of ‘gat’. Regarding this, Chinese users protested; “Isn’t the company recognizing ‘gat’ as a unique culture of Korea because the design of ‘gat’ is in a different appearance only on the Chinese server?”

After Chinese users protests, the company at first stated “Chinese culture influenced all Asian cultures. This hat item also used the Song and Ming Dynasty hats as the source of the design, and referenced many other elements of China.” But as Chinese users were not satisfied with the statement, Thatgamecompany even changed and added a description of the item as ‘Hat of Ming Dynasty in CHINA’.

China, interpreting and absorbing ethnic groups(peoples) around today’s borders, is ignoring the dignity of human beings by suppressing the unique traditions and expressions of other ethnic groups(peoples). The behaviors of Chinese users who claim that Hanbok or Gat is the clothing of Chinese Nation(Zhonghua Minzu), not admitting it as Korean traditional clothing, and accusing the company to delete it from in-game description are acts of denying and damaging the identity of other ethnic groups.

After the unfair pressure of Chinese users, Thatgamecompany, whose motto is to be ‘a game studio dedicated to creating timeless interactive entertainment that inspires human connection worldwide.’, has deserted their own motto and surrendered to the pressure. Their dream of bringing compassion and peace to the community, based on a common thread of humanity, is possible when they recognize, respect and enjoy each other’s cultural differences. Their motto can never be fulfilled on the basis of suppressing human dignity without acknowledging the cultural diversity of other peoples.

China’s ‘Northeast Project’, which distorts the history of Goguryeo into the history of China and promotes it to the world, is now expanding to the entire culture of Korea, a cultural powerhouse, including Korean celebrities, kimchi, hanbok, gat and so on.

If the international community neglects Chinese cultural hegemony, it will pose a great threat to peace in Northeast Asia, and cast a cloud to world peace.

Accordingly, VANK created a digital poster parodying the distortion of China in English and Korean and inform the world through social media, to gather global public opinion against China’s cultural hegemony.

The poster states “China’ it’s you again? Dandy ‘Gat’ ain’t from you. There is no room here for Chinese cultural imperialists!” in order to tell that the Chinese cannot take all the wonderful cultures of other ethnicities as their own.

VANK will keep trying to tell the global community of China’s cultural hegemony, and make peace in East Asia.

In Febraury 2021, Professor John Mark Ramseyer of Harvard Law School, who received Japanese medal, published a paper claiming that “the victim of Japanese military comfortwomen is a prostitute”. And this is becoming a huge problem.

The professor is about to publish the paper after the title ‘Contracting for sex in the Pacific War’ on a international academic journal on upcoming March, 2021.

In the thesis, the professor, not only claiming “Comfort Women are prostitutes” but also claiming the same as the Japanese right wings do, such as “The recruiters are responsible of the comfort women issue, not the Japanese government nor the Japanese military.”, “Comfort Women made a fortune.”

The problem is that the professor became a professor with money sponsored by a Japanese war-criminal corporation and was awarded a medal from the Japanese government in recognition of his work in promoting Japan.

Above all, VANK thinks that it is a big problem that the Japanese government is trying to make the Japanese right-wing view of history as an international standard through the public confidence of a professor at a world famous university like Harvard University.

Accordingly, VANK has produced and is distributing digital posters that properly inform the international community about the issue before the professor’s thesis is spread to the international community.

On the poster, Professor John Mark Ramseyer is sitting next to a Statue of Peace, and on the background shows Japanese imperialist aggression of 100 years ago. Also, the poster describes as follows:

“Professor John Mark Ramseyer,

are you a Harvard Law School professor of the 21st century?

Or a professor of Japanese Imperial university hundred years ago?

Your paper, which distorts Japanese war crimes, rationalizes the invasion of neighboring countries and is being used as a megaphone by the Japanese government to take no responsibility for the war of aggression.

Quit being a puppet of Japanese government!”

VANK distributes digital posters that request the United Nations to correct the marking problem of “Chinese New Year”.

In January, 2020, VANK started a petition on the world’s largest petition site (change.org) to correct “Chinese New Year” to “Lunar New Year” on the official United Nations site and stamps issued by the United Nations, and for this, VANK has created and is distributing digital posters relevant to the topic.

In the description of the stamps issued by the United Nations in 2020, it marked ‘Chines Lunar Calendar’ as if it was only Chinese to commemorate the Lunar New Year.

The problem is that a year after that, in 2021, a new stamp issued by the United Nations was issued by marking only ‘Chinese Lunar Calendar’ again.

Despite the fact that Lunar New Year is celebrated by Asian people together, even though we have raised issued to the United Nations last year, VANK believes that it is a serious problem that the United Nations once again limited the festivals(holidays) of Asian countries and peoples only as Chinese holidays.

Above all, the UN, which should control conflicts and disputes around the world and understand and respect other culture among the UN member states, might seem like it is bluntly supporting China’s cultural hegemony.

This action by the UN is obviously disregarding Asian people such as Koreans, Vietnamese, and Filipinos, whom celebrate the Lunar New Years culture different from China.

It also violates the UN spirit of understanding and respecting the cultures and histories around the world.

Because of the information provided by the United Nations, the ‘Lunar New Year’ holidays is imprinted as ‘Chinese New Year.’ This is fostering conflict by spreading incorrect awareness across the world by conspicuously disregarding Asians countries such as Korea, Vietnam, and the Philippines, which are member states of the United Nations with different cultures from China.

Even though each country has different cultures and traditions in their respective countries, international organization such as the United Nations defying different cultures and traditions only as Chinese culture is against the trend of respecting the unique culture and identity of countries in the globalization era of the 21st century. It is also an obstacle to world peace, where we respect each other.

For your reference, foreign media has recognized this error in countries where mislabeled the ‘Lunar New Year’ as ‘Chinese New Year’, and has rectified it.

One of them is the Australian press ‘The Australian’, according to the press, on 30th of January 2019, Sydney’s festival name has been changed from ‘Chinese New Year’ to ‘Lunar New Year’.

Sydney has officially rebranded its annual celebration of ‘Chinese New Year’ to the ‘Lunar New Year’ Festival, ending years of controversy surrounding the name of the most significant cultural event celebrated by Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean and other Asian communities in Australia.

Also, after two years of complaint by VANK, just before the Lunar New Year Holidays of 2021, the error regarding ‘Lunar New Year’ on the worldwide well-known portal site Google has been corrected.

In the past, if you were to search ‘Lunar New Year’ on Google search bar, the result that comes on the top and on Google Knowledge Graph on the right side defined ‘Lunar New Year’ as ‘Chinese New Year’. However, after VANK members’ steady efforts, if you search ‘Lunar New Year’ now, the top result and the Google Knowledge Graph shows ‘Lunar New Year’ on top.

The UN should also recognize the seriousness of the ‘Lunar New Years’ marking problem and correct it as well.

Following last year’s campaign, through the Global Petition campaign (http://maywespeak.com/lunar), we now proceed with the campaign that ask for the UN to correct its error on marking ‘Lunar New Years’.

In accordance with the spirit of the United Nations, which respects the cultures of each country, the ‘Chinese Lunar Calendar’ mark on the stamp also needs to be quickly rectified.

Please actively persuade the United Nations through VANK’s digital posters.

Some Chinese netizens have been persisting that Korean food culture are from China, and are insulting and condemning those who are enjoying Korean food.

For example, regarding a YouTube video of a Korean YouTuber eating kimchi and ssam, Chinese netizens claimed that the YouTuber stole Chinese culture, and they committed cyber terrorism, leaving malicious comments such as ‘Piss off, you YouTubers who claim that ssam and kimchi are from Korea.’

Even more embarrassing, a Chinese media company(上海素贤广告传媒有限公司) that was working with the YouTuber suddenly unilaterally terminated the contract with the YouTuber. The notice of termination is also ridiculous. The company stated that ‘the YouTuber caused bad influence on the Chinese public, so the company has decided to terminate all cooperation with the YouTuber. Our company is firmly opposed to any acts of insulting China, and it also resolutely safeguards the dignity of our country and the people from the ones insulting China’s attitudes and remarks.’

We cannot really understand what content in the video of a Korean YouTuber eating Korean food has seriously given adverse affects to China, insulted China, or harmed the dignity of the Chinese people.

But what is obvious is that Chinese netizens and the company are trying to steal Korea’s native food culture and claiming that kimchi and ssam are native food cultures of China.

This is not the first time in China’s acts of stealing Korean culture and claiming that Korean culture belongs to Chinese.

China has already distorted the history of Goguryeo and Balhae as the history of China for decades and has been promoting these to the world as their own history. China has been insisting various historical and cultural distortions as the following: Hanbok is a Chinese traditional attire, Taegeukgi (national flag of Korea) was invented by a Chinese, Korean children’s song and folk song are Chinese songs, and world-class football player Son Heung-min’s ancestors are Chinese.

This is a form of chauvinism and Zhounghua(Chinese) nationalism merged together, and in reality beyond cyberspace, these actions and claims are being blatantly conducted by China.

Accordingly, VANK has created and distributed digital poster to the world, telling the world about Chinese netizens’, Chinese companies’, and the Chinese government’s wrongfulness of blatant acts to steal Korean culture.

This digital poster by VANK is to stop China from threatening peace in Asia by telling world citizens about China’s cultural and history hegemony.

The poster displays a dining table drawn of a Chinese national flag, saying “Did pizza, hamburger, kimchi and ssam all come from China?” with the petition link on the bottom.

With this poster, VANK warns worldwide citizens that Chinese government is insisting Korea’s kimchi and ssam are Chinese dishes for now, but someday that China will claim that all the foods from around the world come from China. We ask the global village to jointly respond to China’s cultural hegemony.

China’s cultural hegemony should be stopped!

The Chinese government formulated a policy for the implementation of Northeast Project from 2002 to 2007, and since then, the history of Goguryeo and Balhae are being known to the world as Chinese history.

If Korea does not respond properly this time, it will pose a great threat to peace in Asia.

The distortion and derogation of Korea in “The Rough Guide to Korea”, a guidebook enjoyed by tourists from all over the world, is very serious.

The “Rough Guides” which publishes “The Rough Guide to Korea” is a British publisher established in 1982 and has been publishing guidebooks of more than 200 places around the world, and this book is a famous travel guide for Europeans.

As VANK has gone through analysis of the contents that introduce Korea on the most recent edition of “The Rough Guide to Korea”(published in Nov. 2018), it describes beyond a specific field in so much variety and shocking contents.

On this guidebook, it describes Taekwondo incorrectly by saying: “Most Korean martial arts are variations of those that originated in China or Japan. Taekwondo (태권도) is the best known – developed in Tang-dynasty China, it was given a Korean twist during the Three Kingdoms period, going on to become one of the country’s most famed exports, and an Olympic sport to boot.”

It also marked Ulleungdo as under the jurisdiction of Gangwon-do on the map of Korea, and described “1248 – Korea becomes a vassal state of Mongol Khaans” on a chronological table of Korean history.

“this time by the Japanese in 1876 – resulted in the Treaty of Ganghwa, …. From this point to the present day, Korea would be a ship largely steered along by foreign powers.”, “Korea remains one of the most homogenous societies on Earth, and traces of the “Hermit Kingdom” remain, …” are one of the main distorted descriptions about Korean history on this book.

Regarding K-pop it says: “K-pop. While the term(K-pop) is broad, it usually refers to saccharine boy- and girl-band pap, which since the turn of the century has been accompanying music videos become ever more raunchy.”, deliberately cutting down on Korean pop culture.

On the fourth edition of “The Rough Guide to Korea” guidebook has more than 36 confirmed distortions of Korea including sexual discrimination, racial discrimination, regional discrimination, defaming Korean society, defaming Korean ladies, defaming Provisional Government of Korea, Korean history distortion, Korean culture distortion, and Descriptive errors on Korea.

The book has been sold online through Amazon and publisher’s web site, and on various book stores around the world.

From the standpoint of a foreigner, before traveling to a new country, buying or borrowing a guidebook that introduces the country is one of the things that we do.

If a Korean guidebook disparages Korea as above, it can give wrong and distorted perception of Korea to people around the world who visit Korea and can cause serious problems that could lead to preconceptions about Korea, Koreans, Korean culture and history.

Above all, more people around the world have become interested in Korea than ever before, and as the number of people around the world who want to learn Korean language is increasing. With 100 million Hallyu(Korean Wave) fans worldwide through BTS, BLACKPINK, Korean dramas and movies, the errors, distortions and degradation of the guidebook introducing Korea as such must be corrected and rectified.

Accordingly, VANK has created Digital Posters that request the “Rough Guides”(the publisher of the 4th edition of The rough Guide to Korea) to rectify the errors, distortions, and disparagements.

On the Digital Poster, it gives a list of errors about Korea on “The Rough Guide to Korea” at a glance, and emphasizes that this book is not a Korea guidebook, but a book for degrading Korea.

Also, the poster presents a petition link (http://maywespeak.com/guidebook) on World’s biggest petition web site ’change.org’ to request the publisher to rectify the errors.

It is important to correct the errors about Korea in overseas Korean tourist guidebooks that foreigners would buy and read before visiting Korea.

In order to actively respond to Korean travel guidebooks that has made distorted descriptions of Korea, VANK will collect information from overseas Korean guidebooks at an early stage, request corrections, and accurately inform tourists around the world about Korean tourism.