A South Korean publisher pulled copies of an anti-Semitic educational comic following complaints from Jewish and Korean-American leaders. The Associated Press reported Thursday that ”Far Countries, Near Countries,” by Rhie Won-bok, is designed to teach children about other nations and has sold more than 10 million copies since its 1987 publication. The section on Jews claims they control the United States, bear partial blame for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and block hard-working Korean Americans from attaining success. The Simon Wiesenthal Center and the National Korean-American Coalition, among others, met together with the author. Rhie has said that he is not anti-Semitic but that his assertions about Jews are “commonly believed.” Still, he told the AP on Thursday that he would undertake an “all-out revision.” ”I’m sorry to see things like a frog in a well,” Rhie said, referring to a traditional Korean saying that a frog in a well is unaware of the larger world outside. ”In the future, I will write books in a more responsible way.” In addition, Seoul-based Gimm-Young Publishers Inc. agreed to translate into Korean a book by the Wiesenthal Center that exposes anti-Semitic formulations.
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