The Marmot’s Hole

Well, well, well, hasn’t Norbert been quite the provocateur recently. Well, at least this time he slugged out with the right Koreans. Reuters reports:

North Korean journalists scuffled with South Korean demonstrators holding an anti-North protest at the world university games on Sunday before riot police broke up the fight.

Trouble flared when at least four North Korean reporters rushed from the Taegu media center to confront a dozen activists protesting against human rights abuses in the North.

Over 100 riot police moved in quickly but it still took more than 10 minutes to restore order.

Protest organizer Norbert Vollertsen, a German doctor who spent over a year in North Korea as an aid worker, was hurt in the melee and was carried away by police on a stretcher.

The incident comes just days before a crucial meeting in Beijing, when diplomats from North and South Korea, the United States, China, Russia and Japan will discuss North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

Inter-Korean relations have been strained since last year when U.S. officials said North Korea had told them it was developing nuclear weapons.

The South Korean demonstrators held a large banner reading “Down with (North Korean leader) Kim Jong-il. Rescue our Northern brethren,” along with photographs of emaciated North Korean children.

As one North Korean journalist passed the gathering to enter the press center, he shouted: “Take that away immediately.”

Minutes later, he re-emerged with colleagues from the state-run North Korean media and fighting quickly broke out as one South Korean activist wrapped in a protest banner was punched to the ground.

South Korean activists called “You communists, come here!” as security officials bundled the North Korean delegates into the foyer of the media center and barricaded the doors.

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North Korea had initially threatened to boycott the university games in Taegu in protest against demonstrations in Seoul in which activists burned the North Korean flag and a poster of Kim Jong-il.

But Pyongyang reversed its threat after accepting an apology from South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun.

North and South finally marched together behind a borderless Korean flag at the opening ceremony on Thursday.

Following the fracas, however, one North Korean journalist called the protest a “blatant act of provocation (against North Korea).”

The North Korean delegation was scheduled to hold a news conference to denounce the protest later on Sunday, raising the possibility of a sudden pull-out from the games.

Vollertsen, who arrived for the protest wearing a neck brace and with his left leg in plaster, was knocked to the ground as fighting broke out and lay motionless for several minutes behind a tight security cordon before being carried away.

North and South Korea remain technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty.

My, oh my, oh my… I was kind of hoping that OhMyNews would carry the video footage of the fruckus, but alas, they aren’t. Nevertheless, the OhMyNews report of the event (with a typically slanted OhMyNews title “Conservative Group and North Korean Reports Class at U Media Center”) is pretty good, if for no other reason than it’s got some bitchin’ photos - check out that pissed off Nork reporter (all 50 pounds of him) rushing the protesters like he’s Reggie White. And poor Norbert’s on the ground again - perhaps this whole Korean demonstration thing isn’t his cup of tea. Actually, to tell you the truth, Korean rightists in general look somewhat out of place practicing the politics of the street - for Christ’s sake, they can hardly get the Nork flags to burn properly! However, the banners are pretty cool - the one that ISN’T translated (and hence, not in the Reuters report) reads “Only if Kim Jong-il dies will our North Korean brothers live!” Now that’s the spirit! I have to say, too, that I’m kind of surprised by the ages of the protestors - for a bunch of rightwing nutjobs like myself, they’re rather young. Shit, give ‘em those stupid red scarves and those dumb quasi-safari hats and you’d think they were Hanchongnyon.

OK, now normally, I’d say that international sports events are not the time to pull shit like this, especially near the sporting venues. Sports are about sports, not politics. However, this is not a normal time - frankly, this Universiade has been highly politicized from the very beginning, and most of those politics have been of the “We Are One” / “These games will help bring peace to the peninsula” extreme bullshit kind. Being that’s the case, I say, fight on my brothers!

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PS: Note to the North Koreans, who are now demanding an apology and that the protestors be punished: bite me - this is a free country, no thanks to you, and if you don’t like hearing free citizens voicing their opinion, then perhaps its best that you get your asses on the next flight back to Pyongyang, where you can go back to orchestrating anti-American demonstrations to your hearts’ content.

UPDATE: Take a look at this fine example of professionalism on the part of the Korean National Police:

The police in the area were apparently taken by surprise, and did not immediately react. During an exchange of punches, Norbert Vollertsen, a German doctor and advocate for North Korean defectors, fell and was sent to a hospital for treatment. Another protester, Jang Hyeong-ryeol, was also treated at a hospital for minor injuries.
The head of the Daegu Metropolitan Police Agency, Lee Byung-jin, said the incident occurred too abruptly for the 70 police on the scene to prevent it. He added that there would be no action taken against the North Koreans because, he said, they caused only minor injuries to the protesters. The latter, he added, broke no laws.

Jesus H. Christ. On a positive note, at least we can turn around and say to the anti-USFK crowd that the North Koreans didn’t even need a SOFA for the South Korean cops to drop the ball.

UPDATE II: Poor Norbert can’t catch a break. For those who read Korean, here is OhMyNews taking potshots at the guy. Not that I don’t think the man is more-than-slightly off-kilter, but you never read OhMyNews taking the same kind of shots at some of the much bigger nutjobs who organize/attend the never-ending anti-American demonstrations. Here’s just the conclusion of the OhMyNews piece (my translation):

But it’s a reality that there are those who criticize Vollertsen, saying that his actions are more to enhance his own personal fame than to improve the human rights of North Korean refugees.

This coming from people who couldn’t care less about the human rights of either North Korean refugees or those in the country they left behind. Bastards.