It’s primarily due to articles like this one that OhMyNews finds itself in my doghouse. It’s a long piece on the pain (a word that appears over an over again) that has been inflicted, is being inflicted currently, and will be inflicted shortly on the long-suffering citizens of P’yeongt’aek as a result of plans to relocate American military facilities to the area. Keep in mind, just from reading the article, it would seem that the locals down there (excuse me, up there, if you’re writing from Kwangju) have some very legitimate reasons to bitch, especially to their own government. What I dislike, however, is not only does the piece lack any sort of perspective, but its general tone, quite frankly, borders on yellow journalism. I wasn’t even going to translate any of it for fear that some might get the wrong impression, but since I gather we’ll be hearing a lot of what’s contained in it as the Americans prepare to shift their installations that are north of the Han River to position further south, I figured that it wouldn’t hurt giving the English-speaking reader a little taste of OhMyNews journalism at its worst. Anyway, what you see below is just a small part, and it’s not copy-edited or anything, so give me a friggin’ break if you spot spelling and grammatical errors.
Last November, when it was announced that 240,000 p’yeong of farming land was to be expropriated from part of P’aengseong-eup [in P'yeongt'aek City], the heads of 71 villages got together and formed the P’aengseong Response Committee. Since last Dec. 26, they have been on a sit-down strike in a tent on a farm road. The villagers take 24-hour shifts watching out for and impeding moves from the Ministry of Defense to expropriate their land.
We entered the sit-down strike tent, and there the married women’s club members unburdened their hearts of their losses suffered from the U.S. military. Lee Ok-ja (59, P’yeongt’aek City, P’aengseong-uep, Daech’u-ri) said, “We’ve had land taken from us for the U.S. base, and rather than compensation, we’ve been forced from our homes naked or had to build and live in mud huts?? we’ve had to cry tears of blood.”
Lee Kyeong-bun (50, Daech’u-ri, president of the club) said, “Because of the ear-splitting sound from the American warplanes, our children go into convulsions, and because the American soldiers carelessly burn waste fuel, we couldn’t hang up our laundry,” and “I have nothing to ask the American military. The only thing I wish is that they would just go back to their own country quietly.”
The married-women’s club members shuddered as they recalled instances of rape and sexual harassment suffered at the hands of the American military. “Since we were frightened of the American military, we couldn’t go out at night, and because we never knew what misfortune might befall us, we couldn’t adorn ourselves as we would have liked,” they said. Their voices rose, saying, “Since we have lived suffering as much as we could suffer, and enduring as much as we could endure, they mustn’t do any more damage to us.”
Lee Su-yong (36, P’aengseong-eup, secretary general of the Response Committee) protested that the government and the U.S. military were turning the villagers, who have lived their lives being sacrificed for national security, into believers in anti-Americanism. He said, “The land of Daech’u-ri is the villagers’ land, not the nation’s land, and the villagers will put everything on the line and defend their land to the end.” Conveying the urgency of the situation, he said “The villagers oppose the turning over of land to the U.S. military with such a do-or-die spirit that they joke among themselves that they’d rather kick out the U.S. military and accept a nuclear waste dump.”
Lee also said, “The government and the U.S. military, by inflicting damage once again on the pure, simple-hearted villagers, are turning them into believers in anti-Americanism.” He revealed his struggle plans, saying, “From this year, we will unite with other groups from across the nation that oppose the U.S. base move and launch a struggle. In March, we are planning massive demonstrations.”
Kim Ji-t’ae (44, P’aengseong-eup, head of the Response Committee) said that the owners of the land on which the American base is to be expanded have agreed not to negotiate on selling the land. Kim said, “We cannot surrender one p’yeong of land to the American base. If they can take it, let them try.” He stressed that “If the government says it’s going to forcefully expropriate the land, it’ll have to prepare for even stronger resistance than they faced in Buan.”
In case you are unfamiliar with the fun that ensued in Buan, check out Jeff in Pusan’s post on that mess from last year — it’s a riot.
UPDATE: Kirk of It Makes a Difference to the Sheep comments on this over at his blog:
I actually feel no small amount of sympathy for the denizens of P’yongt’aek and its environs. I suspect that few Americans, particularly rural Americans would be all that pleased if a large military base was set up in their back-yard. I suspect that even fewer would welcome the development if the troops stationed there were not Americans but were French, German, Korean, or whatever. Still, there is NIMBY-ism galore here. Most South Koreans still want U.S. troops somewhere on the peninsula, they just don’t want them near them. Off course the uncompromising rhetoric of the protestors probably doesn’t bode well for any sort of compromise solution. If they make good on their claims, we will see a lot more of P’yongt’aek in the news in the months to come.
COMPLETELY UNRELATED UPDATE: Number of visits in last hour, mostly on account of Internet searches for Lee Sabi: 96
19 Comments
Actually, in a rather terrible sort of way, it _is_ “yellow journalism”…
I’m sorry that those folks would rather Americans weren’t there… maybe they think the “People’s Army” would care more about their tender sensibilities?
The problem I have with internet journalism anywhere is the trouble with verification. There have been some famous cases of mainstream journalists creating fictious people or quotes out of thin air in the US. Even in stories without convulsing babies from airplane noise, with net journalism, you know they don’t have the same kind of checks-n-balances of the regular print and video orgs.
Anyway, I hope Ohmygosh news and the mainstream media in Korea keep pumping out this type of story.
Even before 2002, I thought USFK was grossly kidding itself with the base consolidation plan.
Even if the local community didn’t effectively obstruct new construction, the well experienced groups would mobilize enough people from all over the nation to do it.
Why do I like this fact? Because it is the most likely way USFK will pull out of Korea. It will help solidify the disgust of USFK leaders and US politicians about our committment to SK and SK’s disdain for the nation and men who have made that committment. The bold obstructionism is also the best chance for a steady stream of news that the US media could/might cover to let the rest of America know what people who have lived in Korea understand.
And if you look at some of the items from the conservative element in Korea, you see even those who favor smoothing over relations with the US can’t help but add negatives to it —
I’m talking about views like, “USFK should’t leave Seoul, because it is just an evil plot to give them the freedom to bomb North Korea and then run away before the North can kill them, but millions of us will die!”
In short, with “friendly support” so twisted as that, its seems the greenlight for the exodus of USFK could be just around the corner. Great.
I still think the chances are less than 50%, but they have gone up more than I ever imagined just a few short years ago.
Wow, that piece sounds indistinguishable from KCNA.
In unrelated news, the Blue House announced today that it has a fantastic new strategy for obtaining voluntary community cooperation on the location of new nuclear waste dumps.
To be fair, I wouldn’t exactly characterize OhMyNews as typical of Korean reporting. Still, it is influential in certain quarters, and with that in mind, reporting of the style found in the linked piece really does a diservice to the site’s readers. Like I said, it’s not as if the residents have nothing to complain about, but come on, sound pollution? Yeah, it sucks, but it’s just as serious an issue near major Korean air force installations — I used to go to T’angeumdae in Ch’ungju to watch the KF-16s land, and I’ll tell you, those things were loud. Heck, we have Korean F-5s taking off and landing all the time at nearby Kwangju AFB, and not only are they loud as hell, but the base is smack dab in the middle of some prime Jeolla-do farmland. I shudder to imagine the noise levels at the massive Korean base in Seosan, Ch’ungnam Province — they’ve probably got F-16s running training missions there non-stop. To my knowledge, OhMyNews hasn’t run any [emotionally-charged] exclusives on the pain and suffering residents of those locales have endured as a result of Korean air force pilots doing their jobs, or the sacrifices families in those towns (heck, the entire nation) have made in the name in national security.
Oh My News is a special category of media, but it shares a “feelings are more impotrant than facts” approach with much of the more mainstream media. (Recall coverage of the Ohno skating dispute, the schoolgirls’ deaths, etc…)
On a related note, though, check out parts of what BBC reporter/sexer-upper Andrew Gilligan submitted to the Hutton inquiry. He argued that reporters should be allowed a “margin for error”: “It is important to have in mind that in the context of political reporting, it can be right to report matters, even if it later turns out that they are untrue.”
(this courtesy of Taranto’s opinionjournal.com)
OhMyNews, as usual, has only talked to one side of the argument. There are the landowners and shopkeepers who will welcome an expanded USFK presence, although I believe the NIMBY sentiment is especially strong in this country. What interests me most is the question of whether the political leadership here will use the legitimate local opposition in Pyongtaek to pass the buck on the whole base transfer. I don’t see members of parliament or the Roh Blue House sticking out their necks to help USFK — even after the 4.15 election. What better way to halt a process many Koreans feel uncomfortable with — and don’t want to pay for — than to get it bogged down in bitter, Buan-style skirmishes? Conservatives don’t want the (outmoded) USFK “tripwire” to leave. Leftists love to give Uncle Sam a black eye and such strife always goes down well with the left’s spiritual patrons in Pyongyang. Whether by accident or by design, we could have a mess in coming years that will make Nov/Dec 2002 look like a pro-US lovefest. Perhaps Roh should seriosly contemplate a “whither USFK” referundum…..
Personally, I think the USFK should insist on a USFK referendum. I think it would really help things PR-wise. Make statements about how the USFK has noticed a rise in anti-Americanism and how many in Korean society now feel Korea can take care of itself … we are here at your request and for your benefit … and if you don’t want us we will leave (ask the Phillipines) so here’s your chance to decide.
This way if the Korean populace votes for the USFK to stay the charges of American imperialism ring ALOT more hollow and if they vote for the USFK to leave, the U.S. won’t get accused of abandoning an ally. Open up some healthy debate in Korea too about the direction of its future foreign policy. I’m tired of the helpless victim routine … have Koreans take responsibility for deciding whether or not there are U.S. troops in Korea.
First, on Ohmygosh news, we shouldn’t forget it is The Source President Roh sanctioned after his election as he was at the same time calling on his supporters in Korea to attack the mainstream conservative press. Couple this with the fact that Korea is a much, much, much bigger internet society, very gung-ho about it in fact, and the damage an Ohmygosh news or another internet outlet - that doesn’t have the same kind of checks as the mainstream media - should’t be down played too much.
Next, what Slim wrote about the Korean gov using the coming protests to kill the base plan they don’t like is exactly what I was thinking. I can’t think of a single significant element of Korean society that isn’t going to make base changes a huge mess. And I say great. I’m all for any situation that gets all sides of Korea helping push USFK out — whether intentionally or not…
Next, I think a referendum would do little. Korean society has absolutely no trouble living the the hypocrisy. A referendum would simply show what they already accept —- that they don’t want USFK to leave (yet) but they are more than willing to give tacit approval to the vocal minority a minority that speaks pretty much what most Koreans feel but aren’t motivated to do something about. A referendum would simply give USFK and people like myself something to point to, but I don’t think it would make even a tiny dent in the situation.
Actually, a referendum would be great. Then the people in SoKor would have some accountability for their choices. If they want ‘outsiders’ to leave so bad… fine. Good luck surviving the situations with all their oh-so-friendly neighbors. If they want to practice the sink-or-swim approach, I am all for it. Odds are against them, but they might surprise the world (and OH what a boost to their national pride THAT would be). But if they vote the other way, then all their complaints will ring hollow as Ari(w)rong has pointed out. Re-do the thing every few years until the US leaves. The point of the referendum would be to make them put their money where their mouth is… will they live the hypocrisy or give it up in favor of common sense.
What’s so unusual about this story? No one would want a big military base around the corner. This sorta thing would happen in the US as well. It could regard a new military base, a new airport, a new expressway, a new subdivision tearing up farmland. I personally am not surprised that the people being displaced are pissed. It’s human nature. NIMBY.
This sorta thing would happen in the US as well.
Actually, no. Getting a military base really invigorates the local economy. Losing military bases is what really loses votes, which is why Congressmen go all out to retain them. Most of the places that face base closures encounter significant economic hardship - many locals end up having to leave town to find jobs.
Personally, I think that the Koreans have areason to complain about the USFK in their area. Apart from the damage caused by the U.S. military drills, women have been RAPED. This means that the U.S. forces are actually at fault.
Mr. Mckellen, rape is hardly a phenomenon limited to American soldiers based in Korea. I’ll assume that you read Korean, so it should come as no shock to you that the Korean papers are full of reports of rape and sexual assault. This is not to slam Korea in any way, of course — rape is a common enough crime in most societies, unfortunately. Anyway, take a look at the official crime statistics via the Ministry of Justice or the Statistics Bureau — the crime rate among USFK personnel is MUCH lower that that of Korean society as a whole, and if you’re a young Korean woman, you’re probably more likely to get raped drinking with your male college friends in Kangnam than you are hanging around a U.S. military installation. Personally, I don’t know anyone who has been raped by an American soldier, but I do know a few women who have been raped or sexually assaulted by male coworkers, classmates, friends, etc.. Moreover, to say that when sexual assaults by individual servicemen take place, U.S. forces are at fault is like saying that Korean society is at fault when a lunatic goes into a Japanese school in Seoul and starts attacking kindergarten kids with an axe. Anyway, I happened to agree that there are plenty of reasons why some residents of P’yongt’aek wouldn’t want a large military facility OF ANY KIND placed in their town, and yes, I can see how that sentiment would be particularly acute given that the installations in question belong to foreign militaries. But to argue that “women have been RAPED” is to suggest that rapes would not happen if the U.S. servicemen were to disappear (obviously not the case) or that rapes by U.S. servicemen are somehow worse than the rapes that take place (and much more frequently) in the society at large.
As per “Ohmynews”: ” . . .and because the American soldiers carelessly burn waste fuel, we couldn’t hang up our laundry,” this is such obvious nonsense and yes — yellow journalism — that it boggles the mind. I suppose they don’t count the people burning home-made oil can stoves throughout Seoul, on the sidewalks and the trash fires that have **repeately** been reported and complained about in my neighborhood as being a bad thing. Mind you, Seoul is on record as having the worst air pollution of any modern city in the world, even more so that Mexico City or Rome! That fact seems not to be on the agenda of “Ohmynews”.
Slim & Ari(w)rong,
The problem with a USFK referendum is that Korea already has elected officals that “should” step up to the plate and make a decision for the future of their country. I cringed when President Roh invoked the referendum card last year. He was elected to make these tough decisions and to implement the policy to ensure compliance.
Anyway, the USFK referendum idea is not new in the blogosphere. A Miami lawyer named Brant C. Hadaway over at Strange Women Lying in Ponds blogged about the very idea in late September of last year.
Although I agree with his analysis of what would happen *if* the referendum was introduced, it still should be up to the National Assembly to introduce legislastion to ask for the withdrawl of USFK.
Another point about the relocation talks: the South Korean side consisted of mainly mid-to-lower level MND officals, one and two star generals. Does anyone think they have any kind of authority to make this move happen? It still has to be reviewed and approved by the National Assembly–shades of 1991 all over again….
The problem with a USFK referendum is that Korea already has elected officals that “should” step up to the plate and make a decision for the future of their country.
The problem is that the Korean populace feels pretty darn alienated from its elected officials. At least that’s my understanding. I think most Koreans feel that elected politicians are too busy looking out for his/her own economic interests and that of his/her clique of cronies to do anything else… and from what little I’ve seen I can’t say I disagree with them.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with having a referendum for an issue like this …
Thanks for the link to the Hadaway site. I’ll take a read through it.
I guess you’re right, Mr. Marmot.
However, I have to point out that Seoul is working hard to improve its air pollution, and about 20% of the air pollution in Seoul is also due to the Chinese Yellow Storm that comes to Korea every spring. The storm brings the air pollution and sand from Chinese cities and deserts, and is often a great hindrance to people in the streets. However, some particles in the storm stay, and don’t disppear unitl later.
Having been stationed down in wonderful Pyongtaek (actually An-jong-ni if you want to be particular) I have to say I find they’re comments laughable. First off, very few Americans ever go down to Pyongtaek, except to catch the train to Seoul, so I find there claims of harassment and such ridiculous. Second, there are no fighter aircraft stationed at Camp Humphreys, just helicopters, so the noise level is low. Try going to Osan if you want to hear aircraft noise. Third, I don’t recall in my whole time there seeing any waste fuel burnt. However, I doubt I would have been able to smell it due to the overwhelming stench of burning garbage (particularly plastic) coming from the farms surrounding our base. Guys in my unit would literally start gagging and dry heaving during perimeter runs when we passed by some of those “eco-friendly” farms. So I call bullshit on all of their complaints. As for the women, let me just say there’s a reason they started bringing in women from Uzbekistan to be juicy girls, and it isn’t because the locals “couldn’t adorn themselves as they would like.”