I thought someone would have covered this by now, but this news is a reminder that although the Uri Party currently runs the country, Roh Moo-hyun’s shoot-from-the-hip policies and the governing party’s overall ideology has turned a lot of Koreans off.
According to the Chosun Ilbo and Donga Ilbo—as reported by GI Korea and relayed by the Korea Liberator—somewhere between 50,000 and 200,000 conservatives turned out in front of Seoul City Hall on Saturday to rally against the odd combination of (a) the transfer of wartime operational control and (b) new laws relating to private schools. Depending on whose numbers you go by, this may be the largest conservative turnout ever, on par with the numbers from the other side of the fence that turned out in 2002 over the Uijeongbu incident.
Anyhow, the presence of so many people speaking out against Uri Party policies (or at least the Uri Party’s role in other countries’ decisions) suggests that the popular tide may be turning in South Korea’s brief experiment with “leftist nationalism,” as the ideology is often described.
Read more at the links above (especially GI Korea’s insightful commentary), and see photo below (from the Chosun Ilbo):
17 Comments
I think it would be a pretty big mistake to think these rallies are sign of a substantial change in thinking in Korea. Korean politics are overwhelmingly personal, and at the moment people really dislike the person who is president.
Any way you look at it, we are still talking about mass rallies… something I have never been a fan of, even when people are rallying on my “side.”
More than this, 720 intellectuals in Korea, mostly college professors, signed the declaration condemnig Rho’s quest for wartime operational control.
They all said the Rho’s move is pre-mature and deficient in logic.
Here’s a different opinion.
http://yisunshin.blogspot.com/
Interesting to see the reaction of average Korean citizens now that the United States has shown it is very interested in pulling all its troops in Korea.
Too bad it is too little, too late. The damage has been done, and then some more has been done again. Everybody who reads this blog and its comments section knows about the general feeling that Koreans have against the United States, American soldiers, and Americans in general. The image of Americans as lawbreaking, selfish, and evil has been carefully cultivated through the years by Koreans, the Korean education system, all the way up to every president of the country. We see images in Korean pop media such as the “Fucking USA” song and the current big box office draw “The Host.” A few other examples of Korean respect for the United States, or lack thereof are :
The subway fight in 1996, which resulted in the incarceration of an American soldier and his Korean wife, and no Korean being punished.
The economic crisis of 1997, which Koreans love to blame on United States, even though it was their own companies and corrupt CEOs who were to blame for it.
The year 2000 saw the infamous from fermaldahyde dumping case, which is nothing compared to the way Koreans polluted the environment, with no consequence. Yet manage to get hundreds of thousands of people riled up, affecting all Americans, and other foreigners, who were living in the ROK.
2002 was the absolute worst year that any of us who lived in Korea can remember. Interesting to see how the deaths of two young girls, unknown and unimportant to anybody but their families, became the pretext to lash out at anybody and anything American, including those wishing to have find somewhere to eat lunch.
Through it all, anti-Americanism was always just below the surface when it was not bubbling over. I remember the day after 9/11, I was in a taxi and I heard a Korean comedian on the radio making fun of the twin towers falling down, accompanied by a laugh track in the background. Classy real classy.
Koreans became so accustomed to heaping scorn on the United States, anything that happened in Korea was immediately blamed on United States. The Kwang Ju massacre, the failure of North and South Korea to reunite even after five decades of separation
was all the fault of the United States. Unfortunately, Koreans started believing their own bullshit. Apparently, allowing the security under which Korea could develop into modern country from its previous back-water status that it had enjoyed for thousands of years was not enough to earn the United States the respect of the Korean people.
I was able to tolerate the rudeness of Korean men, and the filthiness of the country, but after 10 years, despite my best efforts, the xenophobia and scapegoating became too much, and I left the country in disgust.
Truthfully, whether it’s best for the country of Korea and its people or not, I’m absolutely ecstatic that the United States has begun the process which will result in its withdrawal of troops from the Korean peninsula. Koreans don’t deserve their support or protection, and have demonstrated this time and time again. If Koreans were critical thinkers, and not just a self righteous sheep, this situation would never have developed. However, Koreans have allowed themselves to be led by the nose by those who had personal axes to grind, or political power to gain, Roh Moo Hyun, for example.
Ironically, I believe that the US withdrawal from Korea, and the Korean government’s ability to recover the operational command in wartime will lead to a much more egalitarian relationship between US and Korean governments, as well as Korean and foreign peoples. With any luck, Koreans will develop real pride in themselves and in the country, not just reactionary nationalism. Hopefully, Koreans will no longer feel it necessary to confront English teachers and other foreign workers, who could be from anywhere, and are in the country working, paying taxes and contributing to society with the stupid uninformed points of view.
Haisan: Maybe too much shouldn’t be read into it, but there does seem to be a correlation between the huge rallies in 2002 and Roh’s election that winter. And if Korean politics are personal, dislike of Roh translated into a string of successes for the GNP in this spring’s regional elections. So the size of the conservative turnout may be indicative of something.
CM: I know the future of the USFK in Korea is a complicated issue, and the US itself might not want to maintain the status quo, even if a GNP government were to be elected tomorrow. It may be far too simplistic to hope for or expect the status quo to continue indefinitely.
I posted this to point out that not all Koreans are tripping over themselves to appease the North, cozy up to China, and kick out the US. I guess most regulars on the Marmot’s Hole already know that, but nevertheless, this event seemed like a newsworthy illustration of that.
Exseoulman: Keep in mind that we’re talking about two different groups of people here, on opposite ends of the spectrum. The issues and events you mentioned are disturbing, but they’re coming out of one segment of Korean society—albeit a segment whose voice has been coming through loud and clear and has been steering the national discourse over the last few years.
Exseoulman, I can understand your disgust at the over the top nationalism, especially as I was here during 2002, but I’ve found that I quite like being here these days. The lustre of the left has begun to fade for many average Koreans as Roh’s policies have failed time and again. That’s not to say there still isn’t plenty of nationalistic and leftist thinking going on, but I’ve found it best to avoid these subjects with my students and friends. I tend to avoid discussing any controversial subjects in class because I’m just not interested in hearing woefully misinformed opinions and stupid conspiracy theories.
One time, I pointed out that the idea that Japan changed Corea to Korea was just not true (Kushibo’s blog has an excellent refutation of the myth) and this killed the discussion then and there. And though the cartoonish nationalism continues, I was surprised to hear some of my students voice the opinion that reunification probably won’t happen for another 30-40 years and when it does, China will shortly thereafter step in and take over the North, reducing Korea to what was previously South Korea. So much for reunification, was their attitude-in other words, they didn’t think it was ever really goiong to happen. I was surprised to hear this from high school girls.
So if one can ignore the bs, which is in every society, I think they can enjoy being here, as I do.
exseoulman,
I feel sorry about all the events that you have gone through in Korea that made you bitter and angry. I know how some Koreans can be obtuse, backwarded and manipulative.
Yet, I do think you are forgetting some good experiences that you had in Korea and concentrating only on negative ones. In foreign countries, one faces both kinds of experience.
I hope someday you will look back at Korea and remember some good and interesting times. I hope you do because in reality there are equal number of good and bad Koreans. I hope you do not hate all Koreans.
Sewing, I don’t think Koreans nor the Americans wanted the status quo, so yeah I kinda agree with the notion that the US was going to draw down in Korea anyway, no matter what government was in power. Roh, (despite the fact that I don’t like the man) just sped up the time table.
South Korea now needs to get past this debate, accept the fact that the leaving of the USFK is a byfor gone conclusion, and ask the question, “where do we go from here, and what can we do to strenghthen our national defense”.
It just as might as well be.
South Korea needs to think about not just North Korea in the short term, but also China in the long term. Whether that be revamping the ROK military or actively researching and deploying counter nuclear missile capability, South Korea cannot anymore rely upon the United States to come to the aid when a political or military crisis engulfs the peninsula. It will be up to South Korea to take care of itself. To do that, ROK must start thinking out of the box, to ensure its survival and prosperity - ala neutral European models like Switzerland.
If the US ever left (depending on how much influence the US retained in SK), I think this region would turn completely nuke in very short order.
I just wanted to point out exseoulman is not me under a different persona…contrary to any indication of near complete agreement we might have.
I’ve been saying for years counting heads at demonstrations is a piss poor way to judge the overall nature of South Korean society’s view of the US-SK relationship.
Nothing going on today is different from what I’ve been describing as the anti-US process in Korea for a few years now too. There is a segment of the society that truly values the alliance and puts things into perspective, but it is a small segment made up mostly of the older generations.
The bulk of the people coming out in favor of dropping war time control, however, are the same ones who enjoyed disliking the “unequal” relationship for years and periodically joining hands with the more radical activists when the environment seemed good for a venting.
Korea has always had a habit of pulling its punches when it either believed the allaince was in real danger - or - the foreign media started paying any significant attention to anti-US thought in the society.
A necessary evil is necessary but deemed evil nonetheless….
Oh, I forgot - the difference between myself and exseoulman is that I didn’t leave Korea in disgust with the nation overall. I spent a lot of myself for a couple of years after learning about its history, and I enjoy going back when I can, and I still enjoy studying the history. I also found enough to make staying there worthwhile even though I worked in hakwons - and that took a lot of doing….
South Korea has to pay more for their defense.Unrelated to the fact if the USFK leaves or stays. Get rid of the missile range restrictions and some handy nukes.Don’t pay attention to Japan’s, DPRK’s and China’s outcry: Screw them all together. There’ll be no safe strategic future for the ROK without nuclear strike capability, be it and-based or submarine-based. The neutral Swiss model doesn’t match the tensed strategic situation in NE Asia. I’d say, go for the Israeli model. High tech weaponry with offensive options. If the US leaves Korea, all options are there to buy military stuff from various suppliers. Not bound to technical inter-operability with the US military or consideration of economic interests of the US. Buy European, buy Russian or whatever:
- missiles with nuclear payloads reaching important parts of China, Japan and all of North Korea
- SSK or SSN with nuclear missiles
- re-fuelling planes for F-16s and F-15s
- AWACS-planes
- KDX III Aegis-destroyers
- Attack helicopters
- PAC3-missiles
No matter how much it’ll cost. Korea has to pay a huge amount of money to secure its future. So, they should spend it wisely. If Iran and North Korea can fuck around with the US and get their nuclear stuff, why should a democratic country and economic power like South Korea restrict itsself? Korea should climb up to the same level like European powers (e.g. France, UK) or Israel.
You just don’t give your kids matches, even if other, irresponsible neighbor kids have them.
This is just anecdotal, but over the years in Korea I’ve noticed that the older people I talk to usually have a very level assessment of Korea’s relationship with the U.S., don’t exagerrate it one way or the other, and grasp its complexities, while the younger people (with some exceptions of course) expressed as Snow said “woefully misinformed opinions and stupid conspiracy theories.” So maybe it was Koreans “believing their own bullshit” that got Roh elected, since mostly younger people voted for him, and I just hope his utter incompetence in almost every area has soured enough younger Koreans that they consider other options in the next election.
I must agree with “SS” in that the only thing that will make China back up off of South Korea are nukes. There is no other option other than the capitulation of Korea to China and that is a very real possibility.
“No Mu Han” has only done one thing I consider good and that is he has just paved the way for direct flights from Inchon to Athens, Greece. No more Frankfurt and their bad air!
Sugar Shin, if I were Korean, I would first of all be thinking about how stupid it is to kick out the gift horse aka the US military keeping everything stable in the region. But if it were looking like the US was actually going to leave, then I would go for nukes, as I would expect Japan to do the same. If I were Japanese, I’d be pushing for rebuilding a strong military, as I would be if I were Korean. Unfortunately, Roh and other leftists seem to lean the other way-throw out the US, reducing the military deterrent and still push to reduce the size of the ROK. I’m hoping that the reductions in manpower are being replaced with serious investment in firepower. From a security standpoint, it just seems stupid to want the US military out.