“America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between”. – Oscar Wilde

By Jugraj Singh

The barbaric arrest, detention, shackling and expulsion of more than 300 highly educated South Korean engineers and professionals from a Hyundai-LG battery plant in Ellabell, Georgia, USA by ICE has shown the world America’s legacy of racism, imperialism, the colonizer mentality and hypocrisy.

I am shocked, appalled and in disbelief that the American establishment would stoop so low in abusing the human rights of South Koreans. How can America treat the citizens of their only “ally” in mainland Asia inhumanely?

I have seen interviews of the families in South Korea and they were very upsetting to watch:       

Jang Young-Seol, an Engineer at LG Energy Solution, said “Nobody is going to stay and work when it’s like this. Since there is a limited number of people (available to obtain the visas) and the factory still needs to run, it is difficult for workers to leave the country for the U.S.”

Park Jung-Ae, the wife of a worker detained by the U.S. raid, said “I saw (the South Korean workers in Georgia) being tied up and taken away on the news. After seeing that, I just couldn’t sleep from then on. They went there to help the U.S. The U.S. side also wanted them to work there, but now they are being treated like criminals, which feels very unpleasant. Since they’re not actual criminals, the fact that they were taken away like that…I think that’s a real problem.”

Hwang In-Sung, the brother of a worker detained by the U.S. raid, said “My biggest worry was our parents who worry about my younger brother who was detained during the U.S. immigration raid…we’ve been able to keep checking the progress through the news reports.”

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said “without clearer, fairer Visa rules, companies would be very hesitant to expand operations in America.”

I am reminded of the great playwright and brilliant thinker Oscar Wilde and his quote about the true character of America after he visited America in January 1882. When incidents such as this upset me, I speak to my Professor for guidance.

He told me a story from the Panchtantra (similar to Aesop’s fables) which illustrates America’s barbaric mistreatment of South Korea. A poor man is travelling through a jungle and he hears the roars and cries of a lion asking for help (this story takes place in an ancient time when humans and animals could communicate with each other). The lion is in pain from a long needle-like thorn in his side which he is unable to remove. The lion asks the man to remove the thorn for him and in return promises to give him gold and jewels which had been hidden in a secret location long ago but forgotten. The man is terrified and hesitant to help the lion, but eventually agrees after the lion gives him his word that he will not eat or harm the man. After the man removes the thorn, the lion keeps his word and the two become best friends, and the lion promises to visit the man on the anniversary of their friendship. After selling some of the gold and jewels, the poor man has now become a very rich and powerful man. On the anniversary of their friendship, the man throws a lavish party and invites all of his friends. When the lion arrives, all of the man’s friends are scared of the lion, so he tells them “eihdey toh na daaro, eih te mera paltu kutta varga hai” (do not fear him, he is like a pet dog to me). The lion quietly left the party. A few days later, the lion returned to see the man and brought with him an axe. The man asked the lion why he brought the axe and the lion requested the man “eis kohaarey de naal meri gaardaan te vaar kar poorey jor naal” (take this axe and hit my neck with all of your might). The man refused and finally the lion threatened that if he did not do as he asked, he would kill him. So, the man took the axe and landed a blow so severe that it nearly killed the lion. The lion disappeared. Years later, the lion came to visit the man. The man asked why the lion had made him strike his neck. The lion explained that he wanted to show the man that the pain and trauma from the axe was far less than the insult to his dignity which the man had caused by calling him his pet dog. The axe injury, although nearly fatal, had healed with time, but the insult to one’s dignity can never be healed. The lion left that day and never came back and the man, after realizing his mistake, became an empty and broken man.

Why did America behave barbarically towards South Korea and dishonor South Koreans? The answer is complex, and there are three major reasons.

The American establishment has an alliance with white Americans and the American establishment is intellectually dominated by Zionist Jews, who are the masters in a master-servant relation with white Anglo Saxon Protestants (WASPs) and Catholics. To make the servants feel good about themselves, the myths of white privilege and white racial superiority are propagated. Therefore, whites feel racially superior to all non-Anglo Saxon and non-European whites. Furthermore, whites see the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America as third world countries and the populations as mostly poor, illiterate beggars.

Unfortunately, the perception of South Korea as a poor, war torn, third world country by white American soldiers during and after the Korean War has continued to persist despite radical socioeconomic progress and advancement by South Korea. After the Korean War ended, South Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world. In 1960, South Korea’s GDP per capita was about $80. In slightly more than 60 years, thanks to intelligent economic policies and the resilience and hard work of South Koreans (known as the “Miracle on the Han River”), South Korea’s GDP per capita in 2023 (the latest available figure) was $33,121.37!

The white mentality towards South Korea is stuck in the late 19th century. In 1884, America began sending Protestant Christian missionaries to modern-day South Korea in order to colonize Korea under the guise of missionary work. In 1900, 1% of modern-day South Koreans were Christian. Currently, between 30% and 31% of South Koreans are Christian: 20% Protestant and 10%-11% Catholic. This explosion of Christianity has unfortunately strengthened the colonizer mentality present in white Americans and makes them feel that South Korea is an American colony and that they own South Korea and South Koreans in the same way as they owned African American slaves.

There is subconscious bias and prejudice against Koreans by white Americans because the Koreans were the first people to militarily defeat Americans in the Korean War; the defeat was humiliating and devastating for Anglo Saxons: Nearly 37,000 Americans were killed and 92,000 wounded and more than 1,100 British were killed and 2,600 wounded. It is this anti-Korean bias and prejudice that is responsible for the barbaric mistreatment of the South Koreans.

Punjabis who had entered the US illegally were transported in military airplanes, unlike South Koreans, who were allowed to return on a special Korean Air charter flight, and were returned to Punjab in February, 2025. American hypocrisy and misogyny were on full display. Punjabi women were seen entering and exiting the airplanes with leg shackles. American law is clear that women who have not been found guilty of any crime will not be shackled under any circumstance. The Americans violated their own laws.

I have seen videos online of South Korean demonstrations against America and thousands of South Koreans marching and protesting outside the American embassy in Seoul screaming “TRUMP LEAVE THE EARTH” and “LET US TAKE REVENGE ON USA” and with signs that read “CONDEMN THE UNITED STATES” “CONDONE TRUMP, RELEASE THEM IMMEDIATELY” and “LET’S FIGHT”. One activist declared that America must “Be humble, respectful, and behave properly.”

A protestor said, “As a Korean citizen, I feel deeply humiliated by U.S. actions.” Some protestors warned that Washington’s arrogance will backfire and lead to global diplomatic isolation.  

A young woman protestor said, “I saw a video of over 300 citizens being escorted in chains and cable cars. I was very shocked as a Korean citizen, and I thought, “This can’t happen again, can it? Especially now, in the name of the US-Korea alliance, we’ve recently had a summit between the two leaders, and we’ve seen some of the things that have happened since then that are not really in the spirit of the alliance, and we have to make sure that our people are released, and that’s why I’m here today with such a desire.”

A young male protestor said, “I could not stay silent after seeing Koreans bound in chains. Easterners shouldn’t distinguish it from Westerners, but the problem is that if you’re in a situation where you’re going to have to do due process of law, you have to do it within due process of law. And I was very angry when I heard that they were chained and treated as if we were prisoners.”

One powerful image has remained with me. A video shows South Koreans hitting an effigy of Donald Trump with an attached sign that demanded “CUT OFF DIPLOMATIC TIES” in Seoul and a South Korean man in a wheelchair is handed a toy hammer with which he keeps on hitting the poster.

Unlike South Koreans, there were no demonstrations against America for the deeply insulting manner of returning Punjabis and other Indians to India. Everyone could have been sent back on commercial airplanes. The reason that Punjabis did not protest America is that Punjabis are a people without dignity: “saadi ankh kadh di mar chuki hai” (Our Dignity died long ago).  

After the Green Revolution of the 60s, the Punjabi elite sold their souls to American imperialism and for all practical purposes, Punjab became an American colony. Punjab has been dying a slow death ever since with Punjab’s youth struggling with unemployment and drowning in drug addiction while the marginal farmers drown in debt and seeing no way out of their problems, some commit suicide.  

South Korea gives me hope that one day Punjab may rid itself of the shackles of American imperialism and rise like a Phoenix. How can South Korea avenge this grave insult to its dignity?

South Korea can begin by recognizing the State of Palestine. This act in and of itself would be a huge slap across the face of the American establishment. White Americans are loyal to Israel and have chosen to do absolutely nothing to stop the genocide of Palestinian people by the Zionist Israelis.

What truly disgusts me about white American Christians is that they know that Palestine and the Palestinian people are at the center of Christianity: Jesus Christ was born, Crucified and Resurrected in Palestine. Jesus Christ was, is, and will forever remain a Palestinian.

I consider the Zionist Israelis the world’s most despicable criminals who should not even be considered human. No humans in the world are so cruel, heartless and mentally sick as to enjoy forcing and watching innocent babies starve to death.

South Korea and South Koreans should demand that all American soldiers leave their country immediately.

South Korea should begin reunification with North Korea. As long as America controls South Korea through its military bases and military presence in South Korea, America will never allow the Koreas to re-unify, just as America will never allow eastern and western Punjab to re-unify. America has continued the British imperialist policy of Divide and Rule and benefits greatly from creating instability in Asia and encouraging hostilities.

South Korea should meet immediately with legendary leader Vladimir Putin and President Xi Jinping and join BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). South Korea joining BRICS and SCO would give the American establishment a heart attack and their hemorrhoids would rupture.

I conclude with the response that BRICS and SCO leaders will give when South Korea joins them and returns to its rightful place in the Asian Brotherhood:

형제들이여, 우리와 함께 하세요!

hyeongjedeul-iyeo, uliwa hamkke haseyo!

Come Brothers, Join Us!

Jugraj Singh MD, MHA is a US-based writer on international affairs.