“Mad Rat”
There has been a “mad cow” or “mad dog,” but never has there been a “mad rat.” But a “mad rat” has appeared in the international community. The man with this rare nickname is the south Korean president, Lee Myung Bak.
“Troublemaking Rat”
Last year Monk Myongjin (Han Ki Jun by name), who is prestigious in the Buddhist circles in south Korea, wrote a book, titled, When People Feel Painful, Buddha Also Feels Painful. Comparing Lee Myung Bak to a rat in the book, the monk wrote, “When I tried to find what is most disobedient and troublemaking among those around man, it was a rat. It annoys man and gnaws at granary.” He continued that the “president,” who suppressed democracy, deceived people with sheer lies and committed acts of corruption, was the “worst president,” worse than Chon Doo Hwan, who had driven tanks to run over many people in Kwangju and suppressed democracy by force of arms. He particularly named Lee, who hurled obstacles on the road of the reunification of the Korean nation and kowtowed to the US and other foreign forces, a “rat from the US, not from the ROK, a dyed-to-the-wool US rat.” He wished that water would inundate the rat’s hole. Meanwhile, a picture was plastered on a bus-stop at Jongno in downtown Seoul toward the end of last year, drawing the attention of the passers-by. The picture portrayed Lee of blue skin colour (symbolic of the party in power at that time) holding his clenched fist. His cap was carrying swastika, drawn on his necktie was a spade (a tool for digging earth), and inscribed onhis arm band was the letter G (the Korean word for rat is pronounced as “g”).
The picture was hung in other places in Seoul the whole day. Those who saw the picture expressed their impressions on the Internet, like “Instead of being hell-bent on finding out who drew the picture, the authorities should think more why such a picture was drawn,” “The work is desirable, and if I steal it, am I to be arrested for stealing the masterpiece?” and “A picture of a rat cost USD 1 700, and how much is the work?” The last question refers to the verdict of a fine of USD 1 700 delivered to a university professor for drawing a rat, making a ridicule of Lee, on a poster giving publicity to the summit of Group 20 held in Seoul in 2010.

Recently, a book, denouncing Lee as a “disobedient rat,” was published in south Korea, and it has become a bestseller.
“Catch the Mad Rat”
Lee is a target of denunciation and hatred not only in south Korea. The mad rat committed acts of debasing the prestiges of the leaders of the DPRK, whom its people hold as dear as their life, thus driving the situation in the Korean peninsula to an unpredictable state.
The international community acknowledges that Kim Il Sung, who authored the immortal Juche idea and pioneered the cause of independence of mankind, was the “greatest of great men in the 20th century,” and Kim Jong Il, who defended socialism and added luster to it by dint of original Songun politics, was the “most outstanding statesman in the 21st century.” They call Kim Jong Un, who is carrying forward the cause of Juche and the cause of Songun, the “youngest leader in the world, sturdy and full of feelings,” describing his appearance in the
political circles as the “rebirth of President Kim Il Sung.” And Lee’s group of traitors slung mud at their prestige.
Isn’t Lee an imbecile with 2 megabytes of IQ as his name 2MB (an abbreviation of his real name) connotes? Doesn’t he know that the people of the DPRK, who are ready to defend their leader at the cost of their lives, would explode with wrath more violently than a volcano or an atomic bomb at his criminal acts? If he is ignorant of this truth clear to all, then he would be digging his own grave.
Among the classical novels of Korea, there is a fable, titled, “A Rat under Trial.” The rat, the main character of the fable, is under trial and then punished for stealing grain with its underlings from the country’s granary. The Korean people are unanimous in saying that Lee is just the rat, who escaped from the hell to revenge for the punishment of hundreds of years ago. They say that his face resembles that of a rat and his nature of biting at anybody at random is that of a rat.
“Catch the Lee Myung Bak group of rats!” This slogan resounds across the Korean peninsula.
The service personnel and people of the DPRK have already sentenced him to death. No one can check their execution of the sentence. And it is natural that the disobedient rat who brings only disaster to people, the mad rat, should be eliminated in time even though it takes much efforts.