Fabricated hero stories

In 2002, American football player Pat Tillman gave up a glamorous pro career to enlist in the U.S. Army. Americans, reeling from the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in the previous year, were impressed by Tillman`s sense of duty. In April 2004, U.S. forces said Tillman was killed while rescuing fellow soldiers in combat in Afghanistan. President George W. Bush honored him with a medal and Americans mourned for him at his funeral. His mother, however, said the military glorified her son`s death for propaganda purposes. A month later, the Pentagon admitted that Tillman was killed by friendly fire.

In 2003, the U.S. military said Pvt. Jessica Lynch fought the enemy alone and was rescued after being tortured in the Iraq War. She became an overnight hero and fueled American anger toward the Iraqi forces that allegedly tormented her. It turned out, however, that she was injured in a car accident, not in combat, and that Iraqi forces treated her, not tortured her. Whether killed by friendly fire or injured in a car accident, soldiers are heroes. The U.S. military asked for trouble after it tried to create fiction for the sake of war and honor.

Even worsen is lionizing dictators who make their people suffer. The Nazis propagated that Adolf Hitler was a war hero on the frontline in World War I, when he was only a messenger delivering mail and painting pictures. The Kim dynasty of North Korea is a true master of manipulation. The North Korean propaganda machine says Kim Il Sung crossed a wide river on a leaf, Kim Jong Il shot 38-under par on a 72-hole golf course and scored 11 holes in one, and Kim Jong Un is the "genius of geniuses" commanding the armed forces in his 20s. Why are they letting their people die of hunger?

The death of a policeman in Korea while trying to rescue someone in heavy floods last summer was allegedly fabricated. A source testified that the officer was carried away by currents after waiting for an order of his superior who said, "Wait until the water reaches your neck," at a container facility. If this is true, the fabrication was meant to save the superior from blame. Given the potential for disgrace to both the dead policeman and his superior, the case should be thoroughly probed.

Editorial Writer Lee Hyeong-sam (hans@donga.com)