<W Contribution> "False advertisement" in the middle of New York, The song of Korea = Gunkanjima where the person who caused the national shame is still alive.

""This time, I made a big mistake...This is not a photo of Koreans forced to dig coal on Gunkanjima. But, turned out to be Japanese miners... I used this photo for an ad in Times Square in New York... anyway, it can't be helped because the advertisement on Times Square has already dropped. The video uploaded to YouTube will be re-edited and uploaded again after removing this photo."

This is a part of the text posted on his Facebook page on July 25th 2017 by a person named "Seo Kyoung-Duk" who is a professor at Sungshin Women's University. With the support of various backers and the production team of the movie "Battleship Island" which was about to open at that time, this person produced a 15-second video called "The Truth of Battleship Island" in July 2017. It was advertised on the electric bulletin board of Times Square in New York from the 3rd to the 9th. It was issued 1000 times a day, for a total of 7000 times.

In the video, a photograph of a thin miner lying down in a coal mine and digging coal appeared. However, it became clear that the main model in the photo was a Japanese miner, not a Korean miner, and the location was not Gunkanjima but the "Chikuho" coal mine in Fukuoka Prefecture. The period was also a photograph taken during the Meiji era, around 1890, long before the recruitment of Koreans.

In addition, there was a scene in which several thin men were standing side by side in the video, but this was also a photo titled 'Road construction death by abuse' in an article from "Asahikawa Newspaper" in Hokkaido dated September 9th, 1926, which had nothing to do with Gunkanjima. Before such a fact, the person was forced to post a sentence apologizing for his omission.

In the advertisement of the video material at that time, the English sentence "Gunkanjima is Hell Island" appeared in large subtitles, and the expression that 120 people died also appeared. By the way, it is doubtful that there is an objective basis for the death toll of "120". If there is no verification and if you bring this photo and paste it, the number of "120 people" also seems to have little basis.

Even more problematic is the fact that "120 Killed" was written. As if 120 people had been killed by someone. Even assuming that the number of fatalities of "120" is true, those 120 are fatalities due to accidents at work, not killed by anyone.

In a nutshell, the video "The Truth of Gunkanjima" made by this person covers false photographs, sparsely-founded numbers (120 people), and malicious expressions (Killed). It has become a "distorted promotional material".

This person wrote at the very end of the apology: "I sincerely apologize to the many people who supported me, and I would like to say that I am sorry."

It was the Japanese people who suffered the most from the fact that such images were screened 7,000 times a week in the middle of New York. If this person had any conscience, he would have first apologized to the defamed Japanese people before apologizing to his domestic backers. However, this person apologizing to the Japanese people or showing minimal regret is unheard of.

In such a case, any Japanese person could file an unlimited number of proceedings against this person in a court in New York on suspicion of defamation. And some judges may sentenced them to "punitive damages" and in some cases, it can lead to destruction. We should be grateful that the other party are Japanese.

Last year, the person distributed materials to major media outlets around the world with a claim that "Japan is distorting the history of Gunkanjima." People who cause controversy by distorted images and making false advertisements without knowing other people will be the first to cry "historical distortion", so he is really the typical example of "Naeronambul (romance if I do it, affair if others do it : double standard)".

However, it is said that as one difficulty has passed and another difficulty appears, but this time the person is enthusiastic that he intends to use the Tokyo Olympics to develop a campaign called "Rising Sun Flag = War Criminal Flag" targeting the media all over the world. Given the history of false advertising that has caused national shame, it is deeply concerned that this person will again be exposed to national shame.

*This article is a Japanese translation of a contribution by Mr. LUDA, a conservative Korean conservative fund. The Korean version has already been published in the Korean media. We are responsible for the accuracy of the translation.