Korean church group bashes 'Gay America'

CCK Chairman Hong Jae-chul, seen here in happier times, has been a reliable source of homophobic hatred.

By Kim Tong-hyung

Here’s your midweek update on the stories in entertainment and media you might have missed while reading about the Korean spy agency channeling WikiLeaks, political unrest in developing nations, or because your life is undoubtedly a lot more fulfilling than ours.

United States of ‘Jongbuk Gays’

After the U.S. Supreme Court made a historical decision to strike down a law denying federal benefits to gay couples, clearing the way for same-sex marriage in California, a furious response from Korea’s regressive Protestant church was as predictable as can be.

It came last Friday when the Christian Council of Korea (CCK), representing more than 45,000 churches with a combined 12 million followers, issued a statement denouncing America for “completely discarding” its Puritan beliefs.

“There is a reason that (God) made the United States a country to guide and show the way for the world, but (after the country) approved an act that is against the principles of the Bible, we fear that this divine blessing would even be relocated,” said Rev. Hong Jae-chul, CCK’s chairman, in a clumsy article that looked just as bad in English.

“Even countries like Russia are refusing to legalize same-sex marriage. There should be a movement of remorse and repentance in the U.S. that homosexuality was accepted there.”

One would think church leaders would have more respect for diversity in a country where the acceptance of Christian faith was a crime punishable by beheading just 100 years ago.

It’s hard to imagine the CCK’s statement having even a microscopic influence in the American debates about gay rights. However, the group’s words carry enormous political weight in Korea, where it has repeatedly derailed attempts by the government and lawmakers to introduce a comprehensive anti-discrimination law, because the bills always included protection for sexual minorities.

Most recently, lawmakers Kim Han-gil and Choi Won-shik of the opposition Democratic Party pulled back their draft anti-discrimination laws in May after an infuriated Hong vowed consequences and their offices were bombarded with hundreds of phone calls from angry churchgoers.

In continuing to claim that criticizing a person for sexual orientation is a right, the CCK is going as far as to declare the gay rights movement as a national security threat.

Church leaders such as Hong are often heard describing themselves as crusaders against corrupt, gay-loving leftists who are conspiring to weaken the core of this society to the benefit of the North Koreans. Hence the coining of the term, “Jongbuk Gays,” or “North Korea-sympathizing gays,” which has so far been the Internet hate word of the year.

But what does this make of Americans then?

Park worried about sexual harassers

After her former press secretary Yoon Chang-jung groped a young American intern assigned to help him during her presidential visit to Washington, Park Geun-hye seems petrified about seeing another sexual harasser on her entourage.

According to Cheong Wa Dae officials, members of Park’s delegation on her recent visit to China were ordered not to visit “foot massage shops and other customs businesses.”

If they decided to get a glass of beer in their leisure hours, they were required to report where they went, who went with them and the exact times of when the drinking started and ended. This was essentially another way of saying “do not drink at all.”

A smaller number of local interns were hired than those during the U.S. visit, with the female interns assigned only to female delegates.

“We were told not to go out (for drinks with the delegates) and don’t contact them personally. They basically said, ‘be careful and take care of yourself,”’ one of the interns told cable broadcaster YTN.

Wouldn’t things be a lot simpler if delegates just agreed to wear the electronic monitoring anklets used on rapists?

Park’s visit to China did end without an embarrassing sexual incident.

Can we stop trolling them?

The world probably has seen enough of this.

Ki Sung-yeung, a former Korea international footballer, wedded actress Han Hye-jin Monday at a lavish ceremony in Seoul, making them the country’s highest profile celebrity couple, with apologies to Jang Dong-gun and Ko So-young.

This was a day after the couple was featured on the SBS television talk show, “Healing Camp,” which exists for the sole purpose of enabling celebrities to sob in front of the camera. Ki’s on-air proposal to Han couldn’t have been more staged and artificial and Han’s teary response couldn’t have been more predictable.

And the nation of television viewers went to bed resisting the urge to peel the skin off their bodies.