The Korean National Assembly building in Seoul.
While a recent survey suggested that 70% of Japanese don’t trust Korea, it seems that even across the East Sea, Koreans are also not all that fond of Japan.
If an article reposted on Yahoo! Japan from Korea’s Yonhap news agency is to be believed, a South Korean politician has suggested that Korea change its standard time from being inline with Japan Standard Time. This would mean that KST would then be 30 minutes behind JST, as it was originally set in 1908. The politician claimed that this would “reaffirm Korea’s territorial rights and history”.
Articles like this are often attempts by the media to elicit a reaction from the internet right-wing, and in this case they have been somewhat successful. The article below was the most shared article on Facebook from Yahoo! Japan, as well as appearing on 2ch.net blogs.
From Yahoo! Japan:
Opposition Party Politician Proposes Change To Standard Time — Korea
On November 21, Cho Myung-Chul of the South Korean ruling party the Saenuri Party, raised a proposal entitled “Law Regarding Standard Time” in parliament, the mainstay of which was the idea that Korea change its standard time, which is currently the same as Japan Standard Time (JST) to the original Korean time.
Korea Standard Time (KST) is set as along the 135th meridian East of JST; however, the proposal suggests changing this to 127.5 meridian East so that it will pass directly through the centre of Korean territory. Should it be changed, KST will become 30 minutes later than at present.
In 1908, Korea set 127.5 meridian East as the meridan for its standard time, however in 1912, during the Japanese Occupation, this was aligned with JST on the instruction of the Governor General of Korea. After having returned KST to the 127.5th meridian East in 1954, it was once again changed in 1961 to 135th meridian East.
Representative Cho indicated that the 135th meridian East that is used for KST at present does not pass through Korean territory, and that it is even 278 km away from Dokdo [Takeshima], the easternmost point of Korea. Cho stated that “By changing standard time, we will reaffirm both our territorial rights and our history, and recover our national identity and the self esteem of our citizens.
[email protected]
Comments from Facebook:
Nobu Ho:
Please, go ahead.
Satoshi Nitta:
Is this news really necessary for Japan?
Norio Ohtsuki:
Whatever you want, Korea.
Daisuke Yamanoue:
How about doing what suits you?
Nagasaki Nagasaki:
Yeah. This isn’t really something that should make the news, is it? Honestly, just let them do what they want. The media is making too much fuss over this.
大場 俊二:
I had no idea they were the same. Hurry and make KST 30 mins later. The thing is, Korea is 30 years behind Japan.
丹羽 洋:
I kinda feel like “Please, go ahead”.
I don’t know why this made the news or why it’s being treated as news.
宮坂 明治:
This is irrelevant to citizens of Japan, and we don’t care about it either.
No need to go to the trouble of publishing it.
金子 鉄治:
Do as you please.
Comments from 2ch.net:
シャイニングウィザード(東京都)：
He’s a real idiot.
トペ スイシーダ(神奈川県)：
There is no cure for stupidity.
ファイヤーバードスプラッシュ(庭)：
Do what you want w
マスク剥ぎ(長野県)：
Even though they’re considering standard time, do they have to bring national identity, history, and self-esteem into it?
Irritating nation, Korea w
ダブルニードロップ(WiMAX)：
They should go for it.
But there’s no need to publicize it.
ニールキック(静岡県)：
Looks like this is gonna be chaotic, so they’d better off leaving it.
アトミックドロップ(三重県)：
I thought that this would be the media trolling, as usual, but this is actually for real.
フェイスロック(WiMAX)：
This’ll make a time different with the North, though?
超竜ボム(大阪府)：
I kinda feel sorry for this bastard.
TEKKAMAKI(愛知県)：
In their heads Koreans are 70 years behind us.
ジャストフェイスロック(WiMAX)：
Damn, this is already in the realm of mental illness.
