"Koreans insist everything is discrimination and demand the Japanese for concessions. We are now protesting against this filth, garbage, and these maggots without fear!" These are the words of Makoto Sakurai, the leader of Zaitokukai.

Zaitokukai members express their outright hatred towards Korea and China, and hold right-wing views on the amendment of Article 9, the basis of the "Peace Constitution"--such as the renunciation of war and the disapproval of the right of belligerency--and on paying respects at the Yasukuni Shrine.

Japan's left are also a target of their attacks. Zaitokukai, which claims to support patriotic, anti-Korea, anti-China, anti-left views, resembles Ilbe, which plainly reveals their hatred based on patriotic, anti-progressive, anti-women, anti-foreigner sentiments.

The Internet and Patriotism (Netto to Aikoku) written by Koichi Yasuda is a window through which we can observe the Ilbe phenomenon in Korea. The book's Korean publisher stressed the resemblance between the far right groups of young people in Korea and Japan in the book's advertisement, "If Korea has Ilbe, Japan has Zaitokukai." The young far-right in both countries share xenophobic views, yet are different in their behaviors. We focused on the book to study the similarities and differences.

First, the two groups share the common characteristic that they use the internet to study far-right ideology, hatred, and rage. "I opened my eyes to politics through Ilbe." These are the words of a high school sophomore who was interviewed by The Kyunghyang Shinmun.

There were many Ilbe users who thought they learned "new information" on modern and contemporary Korean history, opposition politicians and progressive intellectuals. Zaitokukai members also say, "We opened our eyes to the truth [through the internet]."

Zaitokukai is a group which derived from the Net right groups. They were born from 2channel, a far right internet community similar to Ilbe. For Ilbe users and the Net right, the online community is a tool and medium, which strengthens their political beliefs and ideals.

Another thing the two have in common is that they quickly and widely spread inaccurate or lopsided information. Just as one can easily find distorted historical facts on the May 18 pro-democracy movement in Ilbe, the "Korean Occupation Forces" incident is plastered on online communities and blogs frequently visited by the Net right.

They claim that Koreans in Japan established a unit called the Korean Occupation Forces after Japan's defeat and carried out all kinds of outrageous acts. A picture of Japan's armed police officers searching the "Federation of Korean Residents in Japan" passes through the internet disguised as the group of armed Koreans in Japan. The privileges they claim Koreans in Japan enjoy include the exemption from water charges and NHK subscription fees.

The far right groups of the two countries also share the same blatant use of degrading and derogatory language. Zaitokukai slights Koreans calling them chonko, and Ilbe members use the derogatory term, hongeo (skate) to name those from the Honam region.

However, Ilbe also has many differences from Zaitokukai and Japan's Net right. Unlike Ilbe, for which offline gatherings are taboo, Zaitokukai and Japan's Net right come out onto the streets to act. If Ilbe hides under the anonymity of the internet, Zaitokukai and the Net right come out onto the street and show that they are "conservatives in action."

In December 2009, Zaitokukai members visited Utoro, a town in Kyoto, and bullied the Koreans to return to Korea. In February last year, they also staged a demonstration against the Korean actress Kim Tae-hee in front of Rohto Pharmaceuticals in Japan.

The Net right was also at the center of a demonstration of 6,000 people in front of Fuji TV in August 2011 against Korean programs, a well known incident in Korea as well. The Japanese groups appear in the press and openly state their claims.

Zaitokukai is a grassroots civic group which is maintained by the voluntary fees of its members and has branches nationwide. Members identify themselves as ordinary citizens and strictly express their respect for the elders.

Meanwhile, Ilbe members call each other gaeyi (short for bulletin users, but pronounced as 'gay'), and do not recognize heroes or commentators. In a way, a kind of egalitarianism prevails.

Members of Zaitokukai and the Net right regard themselves as socially vulnerable, which is another difference from Ilbe. Some even think they are engaging in a class struggle or a resistance movement as the economically and socially excluded weaker party.

Claiming to have studied in the U.S. or claiming to be doctors and teachers in an attempt to prove that Ilbe members are respected members of society is a characteristic uniquely Korean.

There is also a difference in the group's relationship with the conservatives and far right groups in the two countries. Zaitokukai and the Net right are in conflict with the existing right and New Right groups.

The New Right in Japan emerged in the 1960s as a rightist group criticizing the conservative right, dependent on the Liberal Democratic Party and the U.S., and fought against state authority under an anti-U.S. and anti-capital slogan.

Sakurai was influenced by the "activism" of the New Right activists in the early to mid 2000s. However, Zaitokukai fell out with the New Right when a number of representatives and activists of the New Right criticized Zaitokukai for its flippant remarks and loss of a sense of reality claiming, "Zaitokukai has no philosophy."

Zaitokukai members hate being classified as a right-wing group so much that they will shout to silence the Japanese right-wing group, when they play military songs during one of Zaitokukai's demonstrations.

After the Great East Japan Earthquake, Zaitokukai has turned toward the issue of protecting its nuclear power plants, while the New Right opposes nuclear power plants on grounds of protecting their land.