Dokdo-or-Takeshima?: Steve Barber in Korean News

22.8.08

Steve Barber in Korean News

The Korean newspaper, "Joongang Ilbo," has posted HERE a picture of 44-year-old Canadian Steve Barber, who they say has lived in Korea for nine years and operates an English Web site on Dokdo (http://www.dokdo-takeshima.com/), which the article says provides a massive amount of evidence in support of Korea's claim on the islets.

Those of you who may not recognize the name "Steve Barber" may know him better as Toadface, Frogmouth, Wedgie, Zippertrout, or one of the other aliases he used to post under before getting caught. (See HERE.)

Steve had claimed that he had no affiliation with Koreans and did all the research on his own. Here is what he wrote back in 2006:

Kanganese, don’t lump me together with other Koreans on the Dokdo issue. I have done my studies on this subject on my own. My only connection with Koreans on this is for gathering maps and documents. Unlike Ponta and Pacifist I’m not an errand-boy for my local political organization such as Shimane Prefecture. I’m not Korean nor am I a part of a political movement like Ponta.

The following email was discovered on the anti-Japanese Web site "Killzap.cafe," a name that looks very similar to "Killjap.cafe":

From: steve barber [mailto:maemi30@hotmail.com]Sent: Thursday, August 31,
2006 1:01 AMTo: spar@paran.comSubject: RE:
Hanmaumy

From: steve barber [mailto:maemi30@hotmail.com]Sent: Thursday, August 31, 2006 1:01 AMTo: spar@paran.comSubject: RE: Hanmaumy
Dr Mr Cho:
I went onto Hanmaumy’s website and just by the visual images I saw I can say his website is the best I’ve ever seen !! I’m very impressed.
The problem is that it is all in Korean language. Koreans already believe Dokdo is Korean land so Hanmaumy is in a sense wasting his time. We must get this valuable information out to the global community. If the Dokdo issue ever goes to the ICJ it is absolutely necessary that all of the related information be available to the public in English.
Mr Cho I must stress these days there are more Japanese working with foreigners promoting Takeshima is Japanese and they are doing it in English while working with idiots like Gerry Bevers. Like after WW2 Korea isn’t getting its message out there about Dokdo.
That being said, Mr Lovmo’s site is up and running and I’ve been working on my own to try to gather information and translate it but to be honest my lack of ability in Korean language makes it impossible to gather images on some of these Korean National Archives Websites because they are totally in Korean.
We should use Mr Lovmo’s site because it is already quite popular and it has the greatest amount of exposure on the English/Foreign Internet.
Please me must work together to get the message out there. I will do my best. In addtion please tell Hanmaumy I am going to gather images from his website and translate as well as I can for Mark.
I would love to meet both of you someday.
Yours Truly:Steve

Korea's "Maeil Kyeongje" newspaper has also written an article about Steve Barber HERE, which says that Steve Barber's college major was computer studies, but that he came to teach English in Korea, where he became interested in the Dokdo issue two years ago.

It also says that his Korean is not very good, so his 34-year-old Korean wife has been translating into English the Japanese and Korean documents for him.

The article quoted Steve Barber as saying that his consistent position has been that Dokdo was Korean territory in the past, is Korean territory now, and must be Korean territory in the future. (Well, I guess he can no longer claim that he is a neutral party.)

Anyway, for someone who needs his Korean wife to translate the Japanese and Korean documents for him, Steve Barber seems pretty confident in his belief that Dokdo is historically Korean territory. Well, maybe if I were a 44-year-old man with a 34-year-old Korean wife, I might start supporting Korea's claim, as well.

Now that Yonhap has reported on Mark Lovmo, an elementary school teacher in Minnesota who needed a Korean friend to translate for him, and Steve Barber, an Canadian English teacher in Korea who needs his Korean wife to translate for him, I wonder who will be the next Korean-illiterate, Dokdo-loving foreigner that Yonhap News finds to interview?

Here are more Korean newspaper and news sites reporting the Steve Barber article:

5 comments:

dokdo-takeshima.com22/8/08 14:09
Gerry, your comments are pretty sad to me and I feel sorry for you when I read your article. It's obviously a cheesy attempt to discredit all the data I've compiled most if not all are recognized as credible. So this flimsy mud-slinging really erodes what little credibility you may have had before.

Yes, I've posted on numerous websites, under numerous handles always with the same e-mail address attached. No big secret. Many other people do the same such as Matt your best friend who runs an anti-Korean website called Occidentism. In fact, I've always tried to separate my personal life from this issue, simply because it's a territorial dispute and not a personal issue at all. Even with posting my e-mail address to my website I get e-mails of garbled Japanese text and even one irate, cussing Korea who couldn't read English calling me derogatory Japanese names.

My Korean wife translates some of my Korean data. Gerry I suggest you scare yourself up a Korean wife to do the same for you too, because you have made errors with your translations in the past. What's worse is you are so stubborn that even when a Korean points out your mistakes, you don't have the integrity to correct them.

Anyway, now we can focus on who the phantom posters are on this blog. Are we supposed to give any credibility to this blog when everyone here posts under anonymous handles?

I mean who the Hell are you guys anyway?
ReplyDelete
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pacifist22/8/08 14:33
Hi Steve,

You look more handsome than I expected from the name of toadface!
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Anonymous22/8/08 22:25
This Garry is getting desperate.
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Matt@Occidentalism.org23/8/08 01:06
I wonder if the newspaper saw my post asking why they don't interview Steve Barber rather than Mark Lovmo.

I have to hand it to Steve that he comes out and debates the issue (unlike Lovmo), and even though I often disagree with his positions and theories, he is at least willing to discuss the issue.

I only have 2 handles that I know of, Matt and shakuhachi, both of which handles link back to occidentalism.org if you click on them. I never created multiple handles to drum up an image of support, which is what I think Gerry is referring to in your case, Steve.

BTW, Occidentalism is not an anti-Korean site, and anti-Koreanism is not a real phenomenon along the lines of anti-semitism. By suggesting that Occidentalism is somehow racist you are trivializing real incidents of racism that occur on this planet.
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ponta23/8/08 17:52
Hellooooo,Steeeeeeve.nice to see you.
You look nice...with Dokdo mark on the jaw, ...ops, is that beard?
Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy discussions on Dokdo.
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NE Shore of Ulleungdo (鬱陵島 - 울릉도)

This satellite photo shows Ulleungdo's neighboring islands of Gwaneumdo (觀音島) and Jukdo (竹島) off Ulleungdo's east shore. Gwaneumdo is only about 100 meters offshore and looks more like a cape than an island. Jukdo is about 2 km offshore. The old Korean name for Jukdo was "Usando" (于山島), as many of Korea's old maps show. Koreans claim that Usando was Korea's old name for "Dokdo" (Liancourt Rocks), but they have no documents or maps to prove it. Also, Liancourt Rocks is about ninety-two kilometers southeast of Ulleungdo and are essentially two islands, but all of Korea's old maps show it as one island just off shore of Ulleungdo.

"Cheonggudo" (靑邱圖) Atlas (1860 - 1872)

This Korean map of Ulleungdo (鬱陵島 - 울릉도) showed it with a small island off its eastern shore labeled as "Usan" (于山). Hash marks at the bottom of the map showed that Usan was less than 4 km off Ulleungdo's east shore. That would mean that it would be Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo, which is about 2.2 km off Ulleungdo's east shore. Koreans claim that Usando was the old name for Dokdo (Liancourt Rocks), but Dokdo is 92 km southeast of Ulleungdo and is essentially two islands, not one. The map is stored in the National Library of Korea.

"Cheonggudo" (靑邱圖) Atlas (1834)

This Korean map of Ulleungdo (鬱陵島 - 울릉도) showed Usan (于山 - 우산) as a neighboring island just off Ulleungdo's east shore. The hash marks at the bottom of the map showed the island to be about 4 km offshore. Usando was the old Korean name for Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo, which is about 2.2 km of Ulleungdo's east shore. Koreans claim that Usando was the old Korean name for "Dokdo" (Liancourt Rocks), which is 92 km southeast of Ulleungdo, but this map and many others prove that claim false. The map is stored in Seoul National University's Kyujanggak Center for Korean Studies.

"Dong Yeodo" (東輿圖) Atlas (1795 - 1800)

This map showed Ulleungdo (鬱陵島 - 울릉도) with a neighboring island labeled as "Usan" (于山 - 우산). Usando (于山島) was the old Korean name for Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo (竹島 - 죽도), which is about 2.2 km off Ulleungdo's east shore. Koreans claim that Usando was the old name for "Dokdo" (Liancourt Rocks), which is 92 km southeast of Ulleungdo, but this map and many others prove that claim wrong. The map is stored in Japan's "University of Tsukuba Library" (筑波大学附属図書館).

"Joseon-do" (朝鮮圖) - 1800 - 1822

This map of Ullelungdo (鬱陵島) is from the Korean atlas "Joseon-do" (朝鮮圖), which is believed to have been made sometime between 1800 and 1822. Ulleungdo is shown with a neighboring island labeled as Usan (于山). Koreans claim that Usando (于山島) was the old Korean name for Dokdo (Liancourt Rocks), but this map and many others show that it was Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo (竹島), which is Ulleungdo's largest neighboring island and only two kilometers off Ulleungdo's east shore. The map is stored in the Osaka Nakanoshima Library (中之島圖書館).

"Gwandong Bangyeo" (關東方輿) - late 1800s?)

This map of Ulleungdo comes from an atlas entitled "Gwandong Bangyeo" (關東方輿), which was probably made in the late 1800s since the map is very similarly to another map of Ulleungdo that was made between 1884 and 1894. The mapmaker used gridlines to help show relative size and distance. The map shows Ulleungdo with a small island off its east shore labeled as "Usan" (于山), which was the old Korean name for Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo (竹島 - 죽도). Jukdo is Ulleungdo's largest neighoring island and is about two kilometers off Ulleungdo's east shore. Koreans claim that Usando was the old Korean name for "Dokdo" (Liancourt Rocks), but they have no maps or documents to prove it. The map is stored in the Korean National Library.

"Joseon Jido" (朝鮮地圖) Atlas (1750 - 1768)

This Korean map of Ulleungdo (鬱陵島 - 울릉도) showed "Usan" (于山 - 우산) as a neighboring island. The grid lines on the map helped show the small island's relative distance from Ulleungdo. Usando (于山島 - 우산도) was the old Korean name for Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo (竹島 - 죽도), which is about 2.2 km off Ulleungdo's east shore. Korean's claim that Usando was the old name for "Dokdo" (Liancourt Rocks), but this map and many others prove that claim false.

Inspector's Map of Ulleungdo (1711)

The map is an inspector's map that showed Ulleungdo with an island off its east shore labeled as "the so-called Usando" (所謂于山島). The small island was also labeled as having "fields of haejang bamboo" (海長竹田). Koreans claim that Usando was Dokdo (Liancourt Rocks), but this map shows that it could not have been Dokdo since Dokdo is just rocks without the soil to grow haejang bamboo. Also, Usando was shown as a neighboring island of Ulleungdo, but Dokdo is 92 km southeast of Ulleungdo. Stored in Seoul Nat'l University's Kyujanggak Institute of Korean Studies.

"Haejwa Jeondo" (海左全圖) - mid 1800s

This old Korean map showed Ulleungdo (鬱陵島 - 울릉도) with a small neighboring island just off its east shore labeled as "Usan" (于山 - 우산). Koreans claim that Usando (于山島 - 우산도) was the old name for Dokdo (Liancourt Rocks), but this map is evidence against the Korean claim. Liancourt Rocks is essentially two islands 92 kilometers southeast of Ulleungdo, but the Usan on this map is just off Ulleungdo's east shore and is only one island. In fact, Usando was the old name for Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo (竹島 - 죽도), which is only two kilometers off Ulleungdo's east shore.

Carte de la Coree (1846)

This map was made iin 1846 by Kim Dae-geon (金大建), who was Korea's first Catholic priest. He made this map for the benefit of the French priest he works with. He was killed by the Joseon government the same year this map was made. The map shows Ulleungdo labeled in French as "Oulangto" and its neighboring island of Usando labeled as "Ousan." Koreans claim that Usando (于山島 - 우산도) was the old name for Dokdo (Liancourt Rock), but this map shows Usando as one island just of the east shore of Ulleungdo. That tells us that Usando was almost certainly Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo (竹島 - 죽도), which is only 2 kilometers off Ulleungdo's east shore. Also, this island could not have been Liancourt Rocks since Liancourt Rocks is essentially two islands not one. The original of this map is stored in the National Library of France.

Joseon Jeondo (朝鮮全圖) from the "Gakdo Jido" (各道地圖) Atlas (latter 18th c.)

This old Korean map showed an island labeled as "Usando" (于山島 - 우산도) just off the east shore of Ulleundo (鬱陵島 - 울릉도). Koreans claim that Usando was the old name for Dokdo (Liancourt Rocks), but this map is more evidence against that claim. Liancourt Rocks is essentially two islands ninety-two kilometers southeast of Ulleungdo, but this map shows Usando as one island just off Ulleungdo's east shore. Usando was, in fact, the old name for Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo (竹島 - 죽도), which is about two kilometers off Ulleungdo's east shore. This map is stored in Korea's Yeongnam University Museum.

"Joseon Jido" (朝鮮地圖) Atlas (1898)

"Donggyeong San Cheon - Paldo Jido (東京山川八道地圖) Atlas (date unknown)

"Jeongukdo" (全國圖) from the "Dongguk Daecheondo" (東國大全圖) - 1740

This old Korean map shows Ulleungdo (鬱陵島 - 울릉도) with a small neighboring island just off its east shore labeled as "Usando" (于山島 - 우산도). Koreans claim that Usando was the old name for Dokdo, but this map is evidence against that claim. Liancourt Rocks is essentially two islands ninety-two kilometers southeast of Ulleungdo, but the Usando on this map is one island just off the east shore of Ulleungdo. Usando was, in fact, the old name for Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo (竹島 - 죽도), which is about two kilometers off Ulleungdo's east shore. This map is stored in the Korean National Museum.

竹島問題の歴史

22.8.08

Steve Barber in Korean News

5 comments: