South Korea brushes aside jihad terror financing fears, to partner with Malaysia on Islamic finance

If the Norks don't get them, this will. "South Korea to Learn From Malaysia on Islamic Finance," by Manirajan Ramasamy and Frances Yoon for Bloomberg, December 10:

Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- South Korea wants to learn about Islamic finance from Malaysia, President Lee Myung Bak said today following a local newspaper report that parliament had rejected a bill that would pave the way for a sale of sukuk....
The bill, which was first proposed to parliament by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance in September 2009 to help diversify funding sources, was scuttled earlier this year amid opposition from church leaders. A sale of sukuk would be South Korea's first.

Lee Man Sub, head pastor at the Korean Association of Church Communication, was among leaders seeking to stop the plan on concern Islamic charities would funnel contributions to terrorist activities from zakat, a tax paid by Muslims with wealth to be distributed to the poor and needy.

Shariah-compliant bond sales in South Korea could potentially reach $1 billion a year, Lee Yul Hee, head of the Islamic finance team at the Seoul-based Korea Investment & Securities Co., said in August. Malaysia is the world's biggest market for sukuk and a global hub for financing that complies with religious tenets.

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minoria | December 10, 2010 9:04 AM | Reply

There is a great TV channel that talks alotabout jihad and Islam,it's abnsat(aramaic broadcasting network),in English and Arabic.It'snow trying to raise funds to set upa 24 hr English only channel about JIHAD.

Their website is:

http://www.abnsat.com/abnnew/

LOTS OF VIDEOS BY THEM:

Go to the website and click on "Online videos"(left side of page)(they are also in YOUTUBE,write "abnsat":

http://www.abnsat.com/abnnew/index.php?option=com_hwdvideoshare&task=categories&Itemid=70

CHECK OUT THEIR PROGRAM "Jihad Exposed"(11 in all):

You can find them in youtube or here,in their website:

EXAMPLE 1:
"Peaceful Coexistence under Shariah,part 1":

http://www.abnsat.com/abnnew/index.php?option=com_hwdvideoshare&task=viewvideo&Itemid=70&video_id=464

EXAMPLE 2:(here PAMELA GELLER and ROBERT SPENCER speak)

"Would Sharia Help West?Part 1"
http://www.abnsat.com/abnnew/index.php?option=com_hwdvideoshare&task=viewvideo&Itemid=70&video_id=411

Part 2:

http://www.abnsat.com/abnnew/index.php?option=com_hwdvideoshare&task=viewvideo&Itemid=70&video_id=425

(they both have ANJEM CHOUDARY,of the UK,who wants Sharia there,plus a Muslim cleric who was deported from the UK,went to Lebanon and speaks for Sharia.He appeared in 2 programs and just a few days ago was arrested there for helping the terrorists)

ALSO CHECK OUT:

answeringmuslims.com
answering-islam.org
avraidire.com

gravenimage | December 10, 2010 9:06 AM | Reply

Lee Man Sub, head pastor at the Korean Association of Church Communication, was among leaders seeking to stop the plan on concern Islamic charities would funnel contributions to terrorist activities from zakat, a tax paid by Muslims with wealth to be distributed to the poor and needy.
.........................

Lee Man Sub is right to be concerned. "Zakat" is *not* a tax for the "poor and needy"—it is a tax to fund the spread of Islam. That may *sometimes* take the form of aid to the poor and needy, but is as likely—*more* likely—to fund Jihad, including Jihad terrorism.

South Korea has been increasingly foolish in their dealings with their irrational and bellicose "neighbor" to the north, and now they are opening themselves up to enabling the Jihad.

The Korean peninsula is one of the very few places in the world that has been virtually untouched by the baleful creed of Islam. That may change...

PMK replied to comment from gravenimage | December 10, 2010 9:42 AM | Reply

The Korean peninsula is one of the very few places in the world that has been virtually untouched by the baleful creed of Islam. That may change...

Looks like it has already. Otherwise, why would the question of Islamic financing have arisen? Obviously the South Koreans are looking to attract Muslim capital. Who in South Korea would look to buy "shariah-compliant bonds" but Muslims or institutions that do business with Muslims?

Islam was introduced to the peninsula by the Turks during the Korean War. They came as soldiers and spread the faith.
South Koreans opened themselves up to jihad long before 9/11.
In 1991 there weren't enough Muslims in South Korea for anyone to worry about. Twenty years later, they are attaining critical mass. They may not be anywhere close to a majority, but they can still have an impact.
Given the growth in South Korea's economy, how many people from neighboring countries are drawn to it, further inflating the Muslim population? Even if the South doesn't welcome immigrants, surely there is a lot of business travel, increasing exposure to Islam in all areas of the country.

Buraq | December 10, 2010 10:03 AM | Reply

Shari'a finance is a scam. And it won't take long for the people who really know about finance to sniff it out. A few innocents will be fleeced during the steep learning curve, but in the end it will be dumped as untrustworthy and unsafe.

Look at the way the Afghan savers found out about how their pure and pious Muslim leaders were plunging their arms up to their elbows in their clients' accounts to fish out money that didn't belong to them. They bought condos in Dubai whose values dropped like a stone a few years later. Did the pure and pious bank managers ask their clients' permission to spend their money on these dubious Dubai baubles. Course not! Arrogant crooks.

Add Shari'a finance to things like Ponzi and Pyramid schemes.

CommonSense02 | December 10, 2010 10:55 AM | Reply

Well, so much for South Korea. They had promise.

They're going to end up like the Philippines.

bluezion | December 10, 2010 12:23 PM | Reply

Islamic finance is popular because of the flood of money pouring into Muslim countries from their oil sales. (Hence, they have LOTS of money to spend and therefore get to dictate the terms.) Alternatives to MidEast oil for the US and our allies would fix this more effectively than any fear of terrorism or corrupt money managers ever could.

sheik yer'mami | December 10, 2010 12:24 PM | Reply

Clueless Japan is building retirement villages in Malaysia.

The equally clueless pensioners will be in for some surprises....

gravenimage replied to comment from PMK | December 10, 2010 2:22 PM | Reply

PMK wrote:

South Korea still has a tiny Muslim population, PMK—according to Wikipedia (yes, I know, not always reliable) they make up less than 0.1% of the populace.

Still, South Korea has been making the same all-too-familiar mistakes every other first world nation has—letting in immigrants and "guest workers" (who, oddly, never ever leave) from Pakistan, Malaysia, and Iraq. The first mega-mosque was build in Seoul in 1976 using Malaysian funds.

Some idiot South Koreans working in Saudi Arabia decided to convert and have taken their vicious creed with them back home to South Korea.

Still, the Muslim population in South Korea itself is still—thankfully—tiny.

My guess is that this moronic "Shari'ah finance" deal is less about pressure from Muslims in South Korea, and more about a foolish desire to drum up business in Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Middle East.

Not only is "Shari'ah finance" essentially a scam, though, but soon enough the South Koreans—no matter how scrupulous they are on their end—will find themselves enabling the funding of violent Jihad and the general spread of Islam.

Iceman | December 10, 2010 3:08 PM | Reply

They think that being friendly to Muslims makes Muslims less inclined to do bad things to them. Muslims see it as a sign of weakness and are more likely to do bad things, they like easy targets.

yinyangsun | December 11, 2010 12:38 AM | Reply

"US attempts to shut down an Iranian bank in Malaysia suspected of gun-running were shoved aside, according to Internet whistleblower Wikileaks."

yinyangsun replied to comment from sheik yer'mami | December 11, 2010 12:41 AM | Reply

East Asians are really clueless about Islam. Most of them are under the impression that Islam is a mild mannered religion of the oppressed.

dumbledoresarmy | December 11, 2010 2:33 AM | Reply

Let's not get *too* pessimistic here.

After all, the bill to 'pave the way for a sale of sukuk' was scuttled, due at least in part to opposition from some Korean Christians who seem to be a bit more cluey than others.

"...parliament had rejected a bill that would pave the way for a sale of sukuk....
The bill, which was first proposed to parliament by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance in September 2009 to help diversify funding sources, **was scuttled earlier this year amid opposition from church leaders**".

Looks like those 'church leaders' have no intention of becoming dhimmis or allowing their country to go down the dhimmi route. They should be applauded and encouraged. Let's hope they keep on making noise, lots of it.

The article names one of them: perhaps we jihadwatchers need to find out how we can send him a letter or email of encouragement.

"Lee Man Sub, head pastor at the Korean Association of Church Communication, was among leaders seeking to stop the plan on concern Islamic charities would funnel contributions to terrorist activities from zakat, a tax paid by Muslims with wealth to be distributed to the poor and needy."

Let's ask Pastor Lee Man Sub whether he's read ex-Muslim Patrick Sookhdeo's useful booklet, "Understanding Shari'a Finance: The Muslim Challenge to Western Economics". (As a leading pastor in S Korea he probably knows English). That book should be getting translated into as many languages as possible - including Korean!, as fast as possible; and be placed on the desks of politicians and of persons involved in finance at all levels from humble suburban accountants all the way up to CEOs of national banks.

In any case: I think Lee Man Sub, bless him, should get some credit for being a non-dhimmi.

Let's not forget that South Korean Christians have sent out a *lot* of missionaries to all kinds of places...including the 'silk road' countries. Let's not forget those South Korean Christians who were kidnapped and held to ransom by the Taliban in Afghanistan, not so long ago...one at least was murdered. *Some* Korean Christians, from their experiences in the mission field in Islamised Central Asia, may be sending bad news home about the nature of Islam.

I know that the Barnabas Fund people - being an Anglican organisation - are utilising their church connections to try to spread accurate info about Islam to many places where the local Christians know little or nothing (and are, therefore, in danger of being snookered by Muslim spin-doctors and stealth jihadists). I know they are trying to 'wake up' the churches in the Caribbean; I wouldn't be at all surprised if they were having a go in S Korea as well.

dumbledoresarmy | December 11, 2010 2:45 AM | Reply

There's another story, from August this year, that is worth reading by way of background.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-08-25/korea-revives-sukuk-bill-opposed-by-pastors-islamic-finance.html

Korea Revives Sukuk Bill Opposed by Pastors: Islamic Finance

August 25, 2010, 9:22 PM EDT

Among other things, that report tells us:

'"There are about 35,000 Muslim residents in South Korea and more than 100,000 Muslim foreign workers, said Cho Min-Haeng, director of administration at the Korean Muslim Federation in Seoul. The country has a population of about 49 million.

'Protestants and Roman Catholics together make up the largest religious group in South Korea, comprising 18.3 percent and 10.9 percent, respectively, according to a 2005 population census from the statistics office. About 23 percent are Buddhist and the rest are mostly non-religious, the census said.'

And this bit that suggests Lee Man Sub has done his homework:

'Approving the tax “will be like pouring gasoline over a burning fire,” said Lee, whose organization represents the nation’s Christian groups in the media in Seoul.

'“That money can be used for terrorism, or money-laundering in our banks.

' It’s unfair to give them a tax advantage and with all that money pouring in, they could take control over our economy.”...

There are no flies on Lee Man Sub!

'He also cited concern proceeds would fund Islamic schools and infrastructure at home, which will mean “more Koreans may become Muslim.”

Green Infidel | December 11, 2010 3:17 AM | Reply

Any visits to Jihadwatch from South Korea? If there are, it might just be Lee Man Sub...

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