Wonbok Lee

owner character[5]

South Korean cartoonist and professor . While working as a cartoonist, he was a professor at the Department of Visual Design at Duksung Women's University , and later served as the president of the same university. The main building is in Hansan .[6]

As a cartoonist , it can be said that he comes from a fairly elite background.[7] Most of his brothers are also university professors. His eldest brother is Lee Jeong- bok, professor of philosophy at Hanyang University , his third brother is Lee Chang-bok, professor of German literature at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies , and his fourth brother is Lee Jeong-chun, professor of journalism and broadcasting at Chung-Ang University, all in Germany. I come from a school that studied abroad . So, his family of professors was featured in a weekly magazine.

Although he is known as a pronoun of learning cartoons, he has been drawing various genres of works since 1962, when he was 16 years old . The early cartoons were influenced by American cartoons, and in the early and mid -1970s, Chiba Tetsuya was influenced by Chiba Tetsuya. However, since 1975, he studied abroad at Münster University in Germany , and he began to draw a cartoon of the so -called 'Lee Won -bok style', which is known today.

The current style is one that heavily references European comics. In other words, changing from Japanese style to European style was a huge hit. Because I studied abroad and lived in Europe for a long time, I was known as a ‘European guy’ in Korea during my time at Leeds. In the past, he has appeared as a panelist in programs featuring visits to Europe, and in particular, he has appeared as a reporter for KBS' <Happy World Travel> and as an honorary expedition leader for < Challenge Earth Exploration Team >.

According to a critique of the February 2004 issue of <Persons and Thoughts> by cartoon critic Park In-ha, professor at Chungkang University, Lee Won-bok's drawing style is often referred to as a 'cheerful cartoon', probably because of the two or three-headed characters and exaggerated effect symbols. The style of Lang's existing Myeongnang comics is vastly different.

The hands drawn by local cheerful cartoonists such as seniors Gil Chang-deok, Sinsu Shin, and Park Soo-dong are free and distorted and omitted depending on the situation, but the hands of the characters in Lee Won-bok-pyo's cartoons are without fail five fingers . The hands of the characters drawn by native cartoonists change endlessly, such as circles, three fingers, two fingers, and five fingers. The length of the arm is also drawn in the same proportion as the Lee Won-bokpyo characters, but it is lengthened and shortened as needed in the local cheerful comics such as Gil Chang-deok.

Professor Park also analyzed that this is because Lee Won-bok's comics do not continue in the vein of native cheerful comics, but are based on European and American authors such as Feyo, the author of <Smurfs>, and Uderzo, the author of <Asterix>. In this way, drawing with clear lines, which is rare in the Korean comics industry, is a very stable and most familiar drawing method, and is a drawing method with a low barrier to entry that can be easily understood and accepted by anyone.

As evidence of that evidence, the picture of the pure cartoon is not accepted by readers who are not used to the style, while Lee Won -bok's clear style is accepted by anyone. Even the 'familiar image' techniques that narrow the streets between readers, they wear hanbok for Koreans , and they wear unique wigs for Europeans , kimonos for Japanese , politicians and entrepreneurs , and North Koreans and Chinese to North Koreans and Chinese . .

However, familiar symbols like the ones above become solidified as a single symbol without giving readers any room for interpretation. For example, the people's uniform worn by North Koreans or Chinese people connotes control, oppression, and going against the times, while the suit worn by an entrepreneur connotes the mainstream, authority, and valuable work.

In the commentary section, in order to make it seem like a friendly conversation with young readers, informal speech is mainly used instead of formal speech or formal language such as '~이다', and contemporary trendy expressions, puns, and parodies are added to make it more fun. It was also a pioneer among Korean educational cartoonists in improving the depiction of black people. Starting with the Modern Civilization Diagnosis in the mid-1990s , instead of the stereotypical image of black people with perms and dark skin, dark skin and various hairstyles were depicted.

1946 October 4th Chungcheongnam-do Daejeon-bu (currently Daejeon Metropolitan City) He was born as the youngest of five sons and two daughters in a family that ran a factory and inn in Jung-gu . At one time, the inn run by Lee Won-bok's father was so prosperous that famous movie stars stayed there while filming, but with the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, the family collapsed, and after moving to Seoul in 1955, he spent his childhood in poverty, moving from place to place.

In the midst of this, he suffered the tragedy of losing his father and mother at the age of 10 and 20, respectively. In order to overcome this situation, after the eldest brother Lee Jeong-bok left to study philosophy in West Germany to make a living in 1966, the younger brothers also went to study in West Germany one after another.

Meanwhile, Lee Won-bok moved to Seoul with his family and attended Gongdeok Elementary School for two years before transferring to Dongdaemun Elementary School . Among them, he was deeply impressed by Kim Jong-rae's <30,000 Leagues in Search of Mother>, and said he enjoyed reading Park Ki-dang's cartoons.

After entering Gyeonggi Middle School in 1959, he worked in the art department with an artistic sense developed through watching cartoons, but he felt bored with still life and landscape painting, perhaps because he did not have the proper art tools and his interest in cartoons grew due to his family circumstances.

Around that time, my first cartoon work was published in the school newspaper in my second year of middle school, and as soon as I entered Gyeonggi High School , I went to the Boys Hankook Ilbo with the introduction of my friend, the son of an editorial staff member of the Boys Hankook Ilbo. At that time, Jo Pung-yeon (1914 ~ 1991), who noticed his drawing skills, entrusted him with cartoons for children's newspapers, and started walking on his path as a professional cartoonist.

Starting with the tracing of American cartoons Ivanho in 1963 , he only mimics cartoons that flowed from USFK, such as Tom Sawyer's Adventure and Marco Polo, but since 1964 From <Gift of Love> Due to the development, painting skills have improved, allowing them to draw creative cartoons.

But when there is gain, there is also loss. In high school, he failed to go to college, probably because he fell for a part-time job drawing comics rather than studying. In 1966, after taking another year, he entered Seoul National University's College of Engineering. After entering the Department of Architectural Engineering, he went to school for 6 years, but he did not graduate because he neglected his studies (major) while continuing to draw cartoons.

Since the early 1970s, he has worked in <New Boy> and other magazines using pen names such as 'Seong Chun-gyeong' and 'Lee Sang-kwon'. The pen names were taken from the names of Professor Lee Won-bok's friends. Borrowing a Japanese-style drawing style, he draws cartoons while touring moving dramas, adventures, comedies, robots, etc. In 1975, with the determination to study cartoons in earnest, he went to study at the University of Münster in West Germany and studied for 6 years until 1981. I was able to find my own shadow.

After graduating from the University of Münster in 1981, he continued to stay in Europe while drawing < Distant Country, Neighboring Country >. At the recommendation of his older brothers, he returned to Korea in 1984 and took up a position as a professor in the Department of Industrial Art (currently the Department of Visual Design) at Duksung Women's University . While focusing on cultural comics, he worked hard to nurture younger generations, including artist Seung-min Kim. Some of these students, including Kim Seung-min, formed the illustrator group ‘Grimtte’. Also, in 1986, he held a solo exhibition of his works at the invitation of the cities of Münster and Kotzfeld, West Germany.

Surprisingly, he was a cartoonist who worked in a variety of genres from the 1970s to the early 1980s, including touching dramas, adventures, comedies, and robots.

In 1987, after the release of a book in a distant country, Neighbors Country, which became a huge hit, he has been drawing only cultural cartoons since then. Until now, he has occupied the position of absolute leader in the Korean learning comics world . In Korean society, where learning and culture comics have taken root like a categorical imperative in the publishing world, he was also an icon in the Korean publishing industry during his Leeds days.

Like 《 Professor Wonbok Lee's World of Wine, Wine of the World 》, after the 2000s, color began to be introduced in earnest in existing black-and-white comics. Since the amount of work has been so extensive since ancient times, I received help from my students, the illustration team 'Grimtte', and even included a thank you note in the preface. There is a rumor that 'Lee Won-bok only writes the storyboard and has his students do the work', but it is said that Lee Won-bok himself does the inking and is only in charge of the color work.

Even if it is a color work, it is a perfect chore to work without taking up too much of Lee Won-bok's very simple drawing style, so this is definitely not an artist who will be the subject of controversy at the factory.

Anyway, even if you do this and that, the fun as a cultural cartoon is considerable. There are many jalbangs on the Internet parodying scenes from distant countries and neighboring countries . It had a lot of influence on those born in the 1980s and 1990s who subscribed as children, but recently, in drawing comics, they openly reveal their political inclinations, unverified speeches, and tend to admonish readers with one-sided narratives. I am also feeling the disappointment from that generation.

He had experience studying abroad and was selected as a person well versed in Europe in many ways , and once appeared as a panelist in a European-themed liberal arts program. She was also revealed in her broadcast appearances. Although she was younger than herself, she consistently spoke inappropriately to the female announcer (interviewer), who was a strict professional.

In particular, it has been mentioned above, but whether you have confirmed your identity with the success achieved in the popularity of learning comics in Korean society, as Professor Park In-ha pointed out, unilaterally/repeatedly indiscriminately indoctrinates your assertion, or has been involved in political propaganda from a narrow perspective based on academic cliqueism. The omissions were criticized.

After completing Distant Country, Neighboring Country , and World History Walk, he serialized the non-comic column ‘Korea in Lee Won-bok’s World’ in the JoongAng Ilbo for six months starting in April 2014. Although I have written articles several times before, it is rare to publish a full-scale column series.

2013 Munhwa Ilbo From the article In the case of East Asia , the tendency for independence is strong, so exclusive nationalist ideas such as China 's Sinocentrism , Japan 's imperial-style fascism, and Korea 's pure-bloodism are bound to persist, while in the case of Western Europe , due to the tendency to coexist, there is no conflict like before. Additionally, he gave character reviews on major politicians, including Lee Myung-bak, on JTBC's <Shin Yeri & Kang Chan-ho's Direct Talk> in June 2012 .

In addition, Professor Lee Won-bok picked two things he does not do in his autobiography <Cultivate with Cartoons>, which are golf and social networks. He once operated his own personal homepage (www.won-bok.com), but he closed the site around 2005.

In the story, whenever someone asks to borrow a road, people ask if it is a request from Japan during the Japanese invasions of Korea , and the most common line is "Sweet!" etc.

His hometown, Daejeon Metropolitan City , tried to build the 'Lee Won-bok Comic Creation Center' in Jung-gu Theme Neighborhood Park from 2015, but it has been suspended since the following year due to opposition from local residents.

The change in disposition of Lee Won-bok is meaningful not only in the personal history of the artist, but also needs to be noted because it is reflected in the direction of the work.

Even in the 1980s, during the time of “ Faraway Neighbors ,” he had leftist tendencies and from the Fifth Republic to the Roh Tae-woo government, he showed considerable leftist ideology to readers. In other words , he was close to the activists at the time. The fact that he viewed European-style individualism in a positive light, and especially the message that we must fight against dictators with violence, which he subtly hinted while positively describing the French Revolution from the French side , is still shocking to this day.[9]

In addition, in the story about Germany, a distant country, it was very popular among scholars in South America and developing countries at the time.[10] He even explained dependency theory . Of course, at this time, it was serialized in a children's newspaper, but it explained a theory that was extremely dangerous at the time to explain , " The Republic of Korea has a long history, and it has been a long time since independence, but why is it still like this? And why is Germany doing well and Korea like this, even though it suffered the same devastation of war ?" This information was shocking to the children at the time. In addition, he openly supported the socialist welfare policy of Western Europe , which provides government support from the cradle to the grave by deducting 50% of taxes . This is something I still support even now that I have converted to conservative tendencies. Among politicians from the center to the right, there are many similarities to Kim Jong-in and Yoo Seung-min in that they pursue a Western European welfare model .

In particular, regarding childcare policy, he compared France 's free childcare with Germany 's kindergarten (kindergarten) and openly criticized the German childcare policy.[11]

In any case, at least until the late 1980s, Lee Won-bok can be seen as close to left-wing tendencies . He himself studied for several years under the influence of the progressive German university academic culture due to the influence of the 1968 movement generation, and the reason can be found here.

In the early work, The Adventures of Si-gwan and Byeong-ho, there is a scene where Si-gwan and Byeong-ho encounter a group of communist protesters while traveling in Italy (they protested on the street outside their hotel room). When the adults say, “Communists are protesting again,” Si-gwan and Byeong-ho hide under the blanket. When adults ask why, they say, “Aren’t communists monsters with horns and big teeth?” I ask back. Then the adults open the window to show that they are people like us. When I realized the truth, I thought, “I can’t believe you treat me like a monster because of a difference in ideology!” The line is excellent. To put it simply, he was a person who understood the influence of contemporary anti-communist education on children.

Nevertheless, anti-communist tendencies were strongly expressed from this period. Before serializing the adventures of Si-gwan and Byeong-ho, he also drew an anti-communist cartoon called Burning Ground , and he also described the shortcomings of communism in Germany, a distant country, and planned an anti-communist cartoon series story at Eomungak around 1990 .[12] china These include “The Wind Blowing on the Continent,” which is based on the Cultural Revolution , “Exodus 1989,” which is based on East Germany , and “Romania and Ceauşescu,” which is based on Romania .

In these works, communism is criticized very harshly through the mouths of the characters . In particular, in the last scene of "Romania and Ceauşescu," the main character, a German journalist, openly says as he leaves Romania, 'Next is North Korea !' Even though these works were released after democratization, when censorship was significantly eased, their anti-communist tone is quite strong. Of course, the process of socialism's downfall was depicted in detail, saying that anti-virtue tendencies are not going anywhere .

Beginning with the educational comics World History/Korean History by Gyemunsa, which was in charge of supervision, signs began to appear, and with the passage of the Diagnosis of Modern Civilization , the inclination gradually shifted to the right-wing. If you look at the serial publication of Modern Civilization Diagnosis at the time, you will see that it was also influenced by the fact that it was serialized in the right-wing magazines Weekly Chosun and Monthly JoongAng . If you look at the actual Diagnosis of Modern Civilization, it is not overtly right-wing, but in fact, if you look at the serial version of Diagnosis of Modern Civilization, it is not like a cartoon serialized in a right-wing magazine, so it is not politically correct in the country.[13] Surprisingly, until the mid-1990s, they were politically close to gray molecules . In 1994, he published <Let’s Change Me First: The Story of Samsung’s New Management Through Comics>, which was used as an in-house training comic for Samsung.

He shows a gradual shift towards the right-wing politically, and has become economically right-wing through works such as <Capitalist Communism>, in which he worked with Song Byeong-rak, as well as <Korea, Koreans and the Korean Economy>, <World Economy in the Era of Globalization>, and <First-Class Citizens in a Rich Country>. According to Professor Park In-ha's commentary, in the 2002 Korean edition of <Distant Country, Neighboring Country>, the progress of democratization, including the great workers' struggle that took place after the June 29 Declaration in 1987, was simply placed on the same level as the 'chaotic situation after liberation on August 15, 1945' and 'national opinion' rather than chaos. He spoke as if 'unification' was important.



In the additional edition of <Walking in World History>, the left wing of the Republic of Korea was described as pro-North Korea . Here, people on the left are waving flags toward Kim Jong-il , calling themselves General . In the cartoon episode 'Ideal and Reality', he even quoted Karl Popper 's maxim and asked leftist believers in South Korea, an economic powerhouse, "Which is empty, the head or the heart?"

The French section, a distant and neighboring country, criticized academicism as a musty enemy of social development, while the Korean section criticized the problems of private education, tutoring, and prior learning.



He contributed this cartoon to the April 2002 issue of the Seoul National University Alumni Bulletin (...) Although he did not graduate from Seoul National University , he served as an editorial director for the Seoul National University Alumni Association as an academic associate and contributed cartoons . This is a cartoon depicting the confrontation between Lee Hoi-chang, a graduate of 'Seoul National University', and his opponent ( Kim Dae-jung , Roh Moo-hyun ), who was a graduate of 'Seoul National University' during his re-run for the presidential election . # The 'X' in the first round obviously meant that Lee Hoi -chang was defeated by Kim Dae-jung in the 15th presidential election .

Lee Hoi-chang's running t-shirt also has the 'sha' symbol, symbolizing Seoul National University, drawn on it. However, since it is a Seoul National University alumni newsletter, it would have looked at the presidential election from the perspective of Seoul National University alumni. In the first place, reporting on reunions is not journalism. The purpose of its existence is to provide school news to graduates who have graduated a long time ago.

Regarding this, some alumni of Seoul National University said that it was 'promoting academicism and gang politics' and pointed out that 'Professor Lee drew a cartoon showing the Gyeonggi High school flag being hoisted in the Blue House yard during the last presidential election in the alumni bulletin of Gyeonggi High School (August 10, 1997), from which former President Lee graduated . ' Furthermore, a journalist from Seoul National University said in an article in Pressian that "Professor Lee's cartoon is an anachronistic and anti-social act of promoting academic division that insults the entire Seoul National University," and argued, "Professor Lee, who drew this cartoon, should be expelled from the Alumni Association. At the same time, the Seoul National University Alumni Association officials who published these cartoons should be reprimanded, and the Alumni Association organization, which has served as a hangout for famous people, should also be disbanded in the future . "

It was also argued that "the degree of alumni can be tolerated as alumni," or "the freedom of creation and expression is to describe the political situation in the repository that represents the attention of the alumni." In response to this case, he explained in the Dong -A Ilbo article on April 12 , "It was a closed medium called alumni, and it was drawn without evil. It is forced to accuse of the edge of the academicist because it is assumed that Manpyeong will be disclosed to the outside due to the characteristics of alumni. In order to establish the word encounter, this must be made in daily newspapers and publishing comics, not alumni. Also, in this document, Lee Won -bok is called a academicist, and there is no other case. This is only the intention to attack and destroy the individual, so you should not commit an error in judging a person who has lived as a lifelong scholar and a cartoonist with a short event and a picture.

In addition, President Kim Dae- jung's ' government of the people ' is the government of the poor ( making the people poor), and President Roh Moo-hyun 's ' participation (參與: together) government' is '慘與 (participation: giving misery) government'.

In addition, as mentioned in the pro-Japanese advocacy section above, 'World History Walk' included a direct attack on the pro-Japanese biographical dictionary , saying that the historical scars of the Japanese invasion should not be touched anymore . The last cut depicts a person looking at the rising sun, asking to forget the remnants of the Japanese colonial era, along with the phrase that a new world has opened. This method of explanation is not limited to Professor Lee Won-bok's pro-Japanese advocacy or conversion to conservatism. This is also the overall problem with Professor Lee's commentary method. The habit of providing biased commentary centered on one's own propaganda has not changed since his youth. In short, Yoo Si-min has turned into a power banker .

The problem is that this tendency is also reflected in his recent works, and there is a theory that Professor Lee Won-bok at most follows the method of Nanami Shiono , who works as a coterie with ancient history. Shiono Nanami was also a leftist during her school days, but her political orientation may have flowed similarly, judging from her current far-right advocacy.



Around 2007 , he drew a cartoon that directly copied the Grand National Party's propaganda at the time, which claimed that the comprehensive real estate tax (comprehensive real estate tax) implemented by the participatory government was a "tax bomb" and published it as a supplement to the monthly Chosun magazine, which had a similar tendency. Later, this meme was parodied in Ddanji Ilbo with the opposite tendency through a composite of real-time images. #

Meanwhile, in 2002, he was criticized by netizens when he was revealed to have drawn an advertising cartoon for the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Federation of Korean Industries, which claimed that a five-day work week would kill the economy... Where are all the companies that are going bankrupt? However, while Japan alone, which is viewed favorably by right-wing groups including Lee Won-bok, has 14 public holidays (excluding Sundays) in 2021, Korea has only 8. Contrary to their claims, Japan is still the world's third largest economy despite having more holidays than Korea.

Recently, a series has been published in the JoongAng Ilbo through the prism of the history of a distant country and a neighboring country. Although it maintains a tendency to be critical of existing progressivism, it also clearly criticizes the 12.3 Civil War in the series after the 12.3 Civil War, so there is room for it to show a moderate appearance in the future as the proportion of criticism of the extreme right or conservatives increases.

In the foreword to the reprint of the School of Love , it is stated that he wandered due to the cultural shock he received in Europe and the clash between Korean traditions, and it appears that he changed his position in pursuit of his envy of social development . Currently published works show many nuances that seem to defend traditional Asian values ​​and criticize Western Christian civilization. However, many say that the field of view itself has narrowed significantly compared to the past . In a way, it is similar to the shortcomings of works that are mass-produced by changing the subject matter without objective research.

In the American version, Edward Said was cited to explain Orientalism and the will to break down the Western-centered view of history stood out, but in the Chinese version, there were comments that showed a very positive tone toward the Chinese Communist Party government's official view of history .[14] However, the conservative tendency remained, and he criticized the suppression of the student movement and the Chinese Communist Party's sickness for several pages.

Since the change in inclination, it has been criticized for its New Right view of history and conservative bias, but it is far from an extreme right-wing stance and maintains a perspective that may seem somewhat progressive when looking at the aspects described above and below. In the revised edition of the U.S. President's edition of "Distant Country, Neighboring Country," the Donald Trump administration was criticized with concern and described critically.

Previously, he was quite negative about Islam , but after reading Edward Said 's Orientalism quite late in life, he is now extremely anxious to defend Islam.[15] In fact, if you look at the diagnosis of modern civilization in the 90s, it seems to be going back and forth a bit. At times, he praises Islam without reservation, and in the part where he described Saudi Arabia's death penalty system and drug problem, he mentioned Allah while criticizing Saudi Arabia's lasciviousness .

Above all, errors in Islamic doctrine have become more severe since the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Man . Also, looking at the revised edition of Far and Neighboring Countries, the pro-Orthodox tendency has become stronger, with the Orthodox Church being viewed as the original and Catholicism as a modified version.

There is a lot of controversy regarding Lee Won-bok's expertise and subjectivity.

In fact, it is something that should be criticized because it is what comes from the work he wrote, but the following contents are excessively criticized and should be filtered to some extent. Lee Won -bok continues to revise his book (especially the neighboring neighboring countries), and accordingly, the deleted contents come back as many parts are modified, deleted, or past amendments. However, the following criticisms are revised and further pointed out about the newly added contents, but it is amended among the points that were pointed out and continued to point out the deleted parts.

For example, the difference in growth between Southern and Northern Europe disappeared a long time ago when it was revised, and the US-Philippines issue was later revised, with the US openly saying that it did not matter because the winners wanted to take more when explaining World War I.

Since there were some parts that were later revised after this was pointed out, the reader must ultimately read the book and evaluate the author for himself. As pointed out below, criticism without seeing it in person is the same as the wrong attitude shown by Lee Won-bok in his later works.

The current revised edition is 'Far Away Country: Beyond Era and Generation', published in October 2024, so it is a good idea to compare it directly.

While serving as the president of Duksung Women's University, he became a problem because he seemed to be covering up the sexual harassment case against Professor Park of the College of Fine Arts, which was controversial due to the MeToo incident at the time. #

The above picture shows the contents of forgetting the historical wounds of Japanese invasion in the 'Wound of History' of 'World History Walk' , which deals with the pro -Japanese personal dictionary . For reference, the 'Wound of History' went to the newspaper on February 25, 2008, when former President Lee Myung -bak took office, and a new era was opened in the last cut! With the phrase, I drew a look at the rising sun. There was also a drip that the rising sun refers to the long period because of this artist's pro -Japanese tendency. In 2008, it was referred to as '60 years of founding Korea', indirectly expressed in the controversy of national holidays . This episode was also discussed in the 2008 Feminist Journal article and the 2014 Kookmin Ilbo article .

In fact, while converting to conservatism, he also writes cartoons representing the New Right or conservative view of history. In the Korean version of <Distant Country, Neighboring Country> mentioned above, the situation after the June 29 Declaration in 1987 was described as 'a situation of chaos just like the liberation period in 1945.'[16] In addition, 1995 <Diagnosis of Modern Civilization> - ‘Let’s end liberation in 50 years’[17] , In the 42nd episode of <Walking in World History> in 2007, the opinion was presented to change Liberation Day to National Foundation Day, and the key content was, "To overcome the Japanese complex and move forward as a constructive nation, it must be changed to 'Independence Day.'" Thanks to these actions, he is now called the " Kim Wan-seop of the comics world" along with this person , and Professor Han Sang-kwon of the Department of History at Duksung Women's University also pointed out the 'National Day' part harshly. There were readers who left because they were disappointed with this part.

In addition, the modern Korean elites who are "unjustly accused of being pro-Japanese", which Lee Won-bok gives as an example, are in fact the generation after the influence of pro-Japanese factions weakened after the Korean War, so contrary to popular belief, they are far from being pro-Japanese. Apart from the political controversy, based on the views of Park Hee-jeong, a reporter for the <Feminist Journal Ilda> mentioned above, the story of the 'scars of history' discussed in the above cartoon and at the end of the French version of <A Distant Neighbor Country> (added from the 1998 edition) is a matter of disagreement. There is room for that, but the view of not talking about the scars of history mentioned above is not courtesy when meeting foreigners, but just talking from the position of the strong. In fact, there are some foreigners who do not get offended by talking about tragedies in history and treat them calmly.

However, on the other hand, the importance of properly recognizing past history was mentioned several times in the previous revised edition of A Distant Country , a Neighboring Country , and for example, in the first edition of the French version, it was mentioned that Japan distorts past history. If it continues in this way, Japanese youth and future generations will look down on Korea and other countries with a distorted view of history.[18] He was very concerned and pointed out such issues, and did not hesitate to make blunt remarks such as, "If this does not stop, Japan's imperialism will revive again."

Some people look at these two and see them as a contradiction or say that their thoughts have changed, but this is not true. The controversial statement is about the attitude we should take toward Japan , and the statement below is about the attitude Japan should take, and is said to different people. Attitude toward Japan from a typical conservative perspective. Lee Won-bok also expressed his position in the Japan section published after he was evaluated as having changed his ideology, saying, "We cannot forget the historical wrongs Japan committed against us, but we must boldly develop a new relationship for the future," and "Let's look at Japan as a foreign country objectively, without emotions." In the Australian part (page 191) of Volume 4 of World History published in 2014 , he criticizes Japan for not properly apologizing. There is. The debate over this is now divided depending on the political stance of the so-called right or left, but first of all, it is not contradictory.

It has the typical problem of people who read a book and solve the story. Without sufficient expertise, content is produced by relying excessively on the shallow information that individuals have encountered, thereby producing numerous errors.

Representatively, distant countries and neighboring countries are famous for many errors and distortions of facts, so they are repeatedly pointed out by various experts. As an example of an open statement of facts that are different from the facts, there is a part where it is explained that the physical development of southern European adolescents is much faster than that of northern European adolescents, but it is said that there is no statistically significant difference in reality. Another example was the Western historian Joo Gyeong- cheol's 2002 book The History of Teiresias, which was criticized for portraying Muslims as rats when dealing with the weakening of the Frankish kingdom . For more information, see Distant Countries/Neighbor Countries/Problems .

In the first volume overview of World History, published in 2006, it was written that there were only five countries that had never been colonized or invaded another country: Switzerland in Europe , Liberia and Ethiopia in Africa , and Thailand and Nepal in Asia . In the case of Switzerland , it was included because it was a landlocked country with no way to the sea, and its national power was so weak that it could not establish a colony. Of course, there are cases like Liechtenstein and Andorra in Europe , but attacking a small country the size of a city-state like this is very peripheral, so it is not something to talk about in the overview section.

Moreover, in the case of Thailand , it seems to have been included because it was the only country in Southeast Asia that remained a sovereign country in the 19th and 20th centuries when Western powers such as Britain , the United States , the Netherlands , and France colonized Southeast Asia and left it as a buffer zone to avoid conflict with each other. In fact, contrary to this perception, Thailand also invaded, stole land, and plundered other Southeast Asian neighbors such as Malaysia , Laos , and Cambodia until the modern era, and used kings, queens, princesses, etc. He committed all kinds of cruel acts, including killing royal family members and selling them into slavery .

In fact, if you say to the locals of Thailand's neighboring Southeast Asian countries, such as Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos, that have fought or been invaded by Thailand, that Thailand is a country that is ruled by someone else or has never been invaded, you may be scolded or stoned. This is because for those countries, they were more vicious countries than Japan, Britain, or France, which occupied or colonized their countries during the era of modern imperialism and World War II . In addition, in the cartoons Horizontal and Vertical World History, Balkan Peninsula and Everything in Europe and Everything in the World, the Eastern European country Bulgaria voluntarily joined hands with Nazi Germany during World War II and actively participated in the Axis powers in World War II, and was depicted as a war criminal country in World War II like Nazi Germany or the Japanese Empire.

Although it supported the Nazi German army in its invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece in the early stages of World War II, Bulgaria was in fact a puppet state or vassal state of the Nazi German army in the late interwar period, and was forced to join the Axis Alliance under pressure from the Nazis, making it closer to a war victim than a war criminal or aggressor country.

That's because it's not well known. The relationship between Bulgaria and Germany cannot be considered particularly good either. (For details , refer to the Distant Country/Bad Relationship and Second Republic of Poland sections.) In the early days of World War II, it participated in the Axis Alliance under the threat of the Nazi German army, and even during the Axis period, it was treated differently and was treated as a base for Nazi troops. The atrocities committed by German Nazi soldiers and officers stationed in Bulgaria were so serious that they plundered local residents, raped and abused local women, and the feelings of local Bulgarians toward Germany at the time were truly beyond those of plunderers and thugs.

Perhaps for this reason, when Nazi Germany was defeated at the end of World War II and the Soviet Army entered, many of its citizens cheered the Soviet Union's progress, saying that it was better to have the Soviet Union, which called itself a liberator, than the Nazi army, which did not treat people like people and only plundered.

Moreover, after World War II, when Germany attempted to become a permanent member of the United Nations, Bulgaria supported the position of Eastern European countries, such as the Czech Republic and Poland, which suffered war damage from the Nazis during World War II, and who opposed Germany's advancement to the permanent membership. At the same time, under the justification that Germany was a war criminal country in World War II, they questioned Germany's genocidal atrocities such as the Holocaust committed by the Nazis during World War II and the damage inflicted on their own citizens at home, and opposed Germany's becoming a permanent member of the United Nations.

Furthermore, as the Syrian civil war broke out in the 2010s and Syrian refugees poured into the European continent in large numbers, causing a refugee crisis in Europe , Germany demanded that Eastern European Balkan countries such as Serbia, Bulgaria, and Macedonia, which are geographically close to the Middle East and Turkey, accept the refugees. Bulgaria opposed and refused Germany's demand to accept Syrian refugees, saying, "Why should your rich and wealthy country, Germany, take them in? Why should a country like ours, which is struggling to make a living, take in these Muslim beggar bastards?"

Even one Bulgarian female college student said on her country's website, "I hate Türkiye, who ruled for 500 years during the Ottoman Empire and committed exploitation and massacre, but I hate Germany, which forced our country to sign an alliance treaty during the Nazi era, turning our country into a battlefield, forcing our country, which is struggling to make a living, to accept Syrian war refugees fleeing to Europe from war-torn Syria, and abusing its economic power to act as a boss to our country and other poor Eastern European countries and interfere in their internal affairs. I even wrote a post saying, “I don’t like it.” Recently, there has been a growing disapproval or negative view of Germany, which acts as a leading country in the European Union and interferes in the internal affairs of many Eastern European countries.

In addition, in the world of European affairs, Nikolai Bobrykov, a Russian general who enforced Finland's coercive colonial rule when Finland was a Russian colony, was portrayed as having been killed by a bomb from a Finnish independence activist, but in reality, Bobrikov was killed by a bullet. Also, the descriptions that seem to have never been seen on a map are rather serious, such as saying that the Russian territory west of the Ural Mountains is smaller than Ukraine and that Alaska, formerly a Russian territory, is more than twice the size of Australia. The area of ​​Alaska is less than a quarter of that of Australia, let alone more than twice that of Australia. From the beginning, Australia itself is large enough to be classified as a separate continent in Oceania, and even though Alaska is the largest of the American states, there is no comparison. Nynorsk was also written as Landsmol. In the Italian section, it was written that Augustus built the Pax Romana in 42 BC.

In addition, it seems like he speaks bitterly about the United States, such as the massacre of Native Americans or the Iraq War, but he also shows a very pro-American attitude and is very supportive of the United States. Cambodia in World History Southeast Asia While mentioning the Khmer Rouge massacre , it was relatively short-lived that there were casualties in Cambodia and Laos as a result of the US military's bombing of the Vietnamese border area, and in the Philippines , the US even copied the same story, which was being talked about in the US, by saying that the US ruled the Philippines in a moderate manner, unlike other Western colonial empires.

In fact, the United States also tenaciously pursued all profitable projects in the Philippines and even committed massacres. The United States even committed atrocities in the Philippines, such as using the Philippines to help achieve independence from Spain during the Spanish-American War, then backstabbing the country when Spain withdrew, killing Filipinos who were fighting for independence, and annexing the Philippines as a colony.

With Far Country, Neighbor Country approaching 20 years ago, new countries were published, but the problem was that the writing skills were worse than 20 years ago, and commentary books that confused even the target countries were published as educational comics. This is China, Japan, and the United States. The European version of Far Country, Neighboring Country contained at least the 'actual experience' that Lee Won-bok gained while studying abroad in Europe, so it was at least honest. However, although there were field trips and experience working as a visiting professor at UC Irvine in the recently released China, Japan, and the United States, these are stories told solely from data. Unlike when writing the European side, when writing the American side, it is negative to the extent of being biased. Most of these works are really very personal commentary, so you need to look at them with caution.

In addition to these, there are many other points that clearly deserve criticism, such as the numerous errors and distortions of facts.

In fact, the author, Lee Won-bok, dropped out of the Department of Architecture at Seoul National University and graduated/majored in design and Western art history from the University of Münster in Germany. His main major was art, and there is no basis to believe that he has historical or economic knowledge equivalent to that of other majors. The fact that his books contain numerous errors in the facts, even before his political inclinations, is due to such unprofessionalism. To put it harshly, he is nothing more than a snob who relies on the authority of Seoul National University .

In addition, far away neighbors openly tracing a few cuts of the French cartoon Asterix with little difference . No matter how much the author is an open fan who does not hide his affection for Asterix, it is not justified to use a specific part without permission without clearly stating that it is an homage. There is a distinct difference between appearing as a parody of the contents or characters in a work and copying a specific composition of a specific scene that appears in a work.

Of course, the plagiarism days of Chiba Tetsuya , who copied Japanese cartoons as they were, is a dark history that he himself regrets. At the time, Professor Lee Won-bok was the most popular writer, so it was a very problematic story. In fact, like most senior writers, they couldn't be free from the plagiarism problem of Korean writers before the opening of culture.

Like most senior Korean cartoonists, including Son Sang-ik , he is quite critical of Japanese cartoons. Thanks to this, he was criticized by his junior cartoonists , Song Rak-hyeon and Park Moo-jik, saying, "It is absurd for a man who was passionate about European comics and even raised a plagiarism controversy to criticize Japanese comics for having incorrect Western influences!"

For example, ' Tezuka Osamu did not cost much production, so the capital was worse than Walt Disney .' Tezuka Osamu saved production costs at feature TV Annie, but the theater version never spared no production costs. In the end, just as martial arts should be closed due to financial difficulties, Tezuka did not dig deeply about the production cost, but wrote it to the production of TV. It was desperate to make the anime for the trilogy at a low price in Latin America and to save the production cost. In other words, even though both are the same problem, Disney is a speech.

In his 1991 book <Cartoons of the World / World of Comics>, he also said, "Disney is an immortal work full of artistry, while Tezuka's work is focused on interest." As mentioned above, they generally show a critical view of Japanese comics, such as 'The wrong Western style is being spread by drawing romance comics that are copied from Japanese comics.' Comics critic Son Sang-ik also made a similar argument in the romance comics section of the second volume of <Korea Comics Tongsa> published in 1998. In fact, it's closer to belittling than criticizing. Moreover, Osamu Tezuka is a national writer who created a cultural industry in his boarding house. There is a lot of criticism that undervaluing something just because it requires less capital is a golden rule . a great father-in-law

In fact, it was a time when the professor was getting older and feeling a bit embarrassed by society. In particular, the dichotomous view introduced in <Cartoons of the World...> was refuted by comics critic Professor Park In-ha and others in <I Want to See Anime> published in 1998, saying, "Although Disney was full of artistry, it had American-style commercialism, and Tezuka's work was able to find warm emotion and fun even in the interestism."

In the past, a professor who had copied and drawn Japanese comics and had subtly expressed his admiration for academic background criticized that 'the system of academic background and aristocratic superiority in Japanese comics enters into romance comics!' This deserves criticism as a double standard and is the only positive review. The work that gave the award is ‘Sassy Girl Jo Ro-ri’[19] That's about it.

In the "Contemporary Global Anti-Semitism Report" submitted to Congress by the U.S. State Department, it said that Korean comic books were spreading Jewish conspiracy theories and cited two scenes from Lee Won-bok's "Distant Country, Neighboring Country" as an example. The report said that 'Distant Neighboring Country' is "reciting various Jewish conspiracy theories, such as that Jews control the American media, are benefiting from the war, and that Jews caused the 9/11 terrorist attacks ." As a specific example, the report introduced a scene in this comic book with a photo showing a newspaper, magazine, TV, and radio with the 'Star of David' symbolizing Judaism engraved on it, and an explanatory text that said, "In short, it is not an exaggeration to say that the American media is Jewish and the voice of the Jewish people itself." The report pointed out that in another scene, a man is climbing a hill, depicting a brick wall with the word "Stop" written on top of it along with the "Star of David," and writing, "The last thing you run into is the Jewish wall." #

American Jewish circles also condemned expressions such as "Jews are taking over Hollywood, turning the Jewish people into innocent victims and the Arab world into violent groups" and "Koreans are achieving success in the United States, but the Jewish barrier stands in the way" as anti-Semitism. #

There was such a big stir that the American Jewish community demanded an explanation from Korean Americans . # Why do you ask that of Korean Americans? The image of Korea deteriorated. In the end, Lee Won-bok apologized for this in January 2009 and deleted the content.

Sometimes, when I write reviews of other books, I write content that is so unrelated to the content of the book that I wonder if I have actually read this book. One of them is a book review of <Gavrilo Princip>.[20]

There is also a nickname that people who are critical of the transmission tendency of Lee Won -bok and 'Um Buggi' and the dual standard of the dual standards. But if you look at this nickname, it doesn't seem to care much.

Since 2011, he said he started the wine business, which he had shown interest in before. In cooperation with LG International, a Chilean wine that is not well known in Korea was released under the name of "Lee Won-bok Wine". All proceeds are donated to scholarship projects.

Currently, most of Lee Won-bok's works are copyrighted by Kim Yeong- sa.