I have been translating some of the many political banners I’ve seen in Seoul. Through these translations and analysis based thereupon, I hope to gain some better understanding the election. I am posting these here to discipline my analysis.
Previous posts on Korea Election 2016 here:
Post-338: “The Liars are at it Again”
Post-340: Against the “Sleeping National Assembly”
One banner has remained untouched for weeks. If you understand what it says, you may be surprised by its “survival”:
Here is my translation of the upper banner:
“국방 개혁”
…핵 위협엔 핵 보유가 답…
대한민국 자주국방 최상의 답은 핵무기 보유 입니다.
[기독당]
[The Christian Party]
“National Defense Reform”
…When Dealing with Nuclear Intimidation,
The Answer is Nuclear Armament…
The best way to guarantee the Republic of Korea’s self-sufficiency in national defense is to possess our own nuclear weapons capability.
This call for nuclear armament is actually quite shocking and troubling.
Most would say that this so-called Christian Party is too small to bother worrying about and that nobody who matters is serious about Seoul developing a nuclear weapons arsenal. On the other hand, here is a story from two months ago in which “a right-wing journalist” is quoted calling for nuclear armament.
So, what of the Christian Party? They won’t win any seats. What, though, of the fact that the banner remains standing while so many others have been torn down? (There is also an identical banner on the other side of the street, visible to all approaching the main gate to Yeongdeungpo Station. I have seen the same banner in other parts of Seoul, too.)
One more thing. Somebody has scrawled graffiti on this banner. You can see it at the top left. The graffiti says, “Obey the Teachings of the Bible!” [성경 말씀에 순종하시오!]. I interpret this to be meant in mocking derision of the banner’s belligerent message…from the self-proclaimed Christian Party. Would Jesus call for nuclear armament? And so on.