[LETTERS TO THE EDITOR]Unfair cut in article on circumcision

It is sometimes difficult to translate an article written in one language into another. There was slight but important mistranslation when the JoongAng Daily used my article in English (“Stay the knife and spare the boy” about male circumcision in South Korea Dec. 29).
Although grammatically correct, the sentence, “Jews say that their financial and political power in the United Sates saved” circumcision, reads as if Jews are boasting of their power. That was not what I meant to say at all. It should have begun: “Some Jews I personally know said that...”
These Jews indeed are my friends, some of whom are doctors and scientists, some are Israeli Jews, some are American Jews, and some are east-European Jews. Many of them oppose male circumcision, some strongly. I have been truly impressed with this kind of diversity and tolerance amongst Jews, who tolerate different views better than many other people.

by Kim Dai-sik