Scott Burgeson has updated his commentary on the protests. Here’s just a sample:
Without the violence meme, the media here lack a compelling narrative to work with today as they did last Sunday. What they are left with is the reality of the actual issues, whether they or the protesters want to face them honestly or not. The fact of the matter is that Lee has made significant concessions and even apologized twice to the nation, despite the protesters’ claims that Lee “refuses to listen” to them or compromise. Thus, the only lasting message I can take away from all this is that the progressive forces here are simply sore losers, and have no one to blame but themselves for their recent loses in the December and April elections. Everything else is just distraction.
As always, read the rest on your own.
29 Comments
Well, he’s stating the obvious…but the comment still deserves a “Right on!”.
I’m pretty sure that if the National Security Law gets enforced, a lot of the instigators of the protests would be going to jail. These so-called candlelight protests are in fact lead by the Korean Progressive Coalition, a radical political group with strong connections to North Korea.
This may seem unrelated to this post, but you can be sure the article mentioned below will get a wide hearing in SK (and add more fuel to keep the demos going):
http://www.newsweek.com/id/144808
“US wavered over S. Korean executions; U.S. colonel wrote he sanctioned mass killings”
Nice timing.
Here’s the link in our beloved “One Race” newspaper:
http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/soc.....97327.html
Yeah, I was saying all day Friday, the protests on Saturday would determine the tone for the rest of the issue, as it finished running its course; the fact it was a poorly-attended, non-violent fizzle where not even the (paltry) counter-demo could stir up action, just shows that the whole thing’s on its way out. If things had gone another direction, who knows what July’d be like, but I think we heard the death-rattle on Saturday.
(Even the Candle Girl Dance was too little, too late.)
Frankly, I’ll be thrilled to talk about something else for a change.
#3 this is just freakin’ great!
Last thing we need right now.
What I f***ing hate, just like the Gwangju and Jeju Massacres, this was planned and perpetrated by Koreans, but since the US did not do anything to stop it, we share the blame.
Now, I do say that the US & USFK should have taken a different approach and sought to avoid these terrible things.
However, for the most part, it was out of our hands.
We should NOT receive the lion’s share of the blame.
It’s the catch 22 of Korea-US: they blame us for trying to control them and they blame us for these tragedies for not controlling them enough.
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t!
Per #3, the execution of Koreans was done by the Korean Government of that time period. Americans did not do such nor demand such be done. To quote Frank Winslow, an American military advisor who was actually there, in Daejon during that time:
Again, it is human nature to blame others for one’s own faults and attempting to blame America during that time is more of the same denial of responsibility by some. The US Army could have tried harder to stop Korean military police from doing such but then they were up to their necks in fighting a war and obviously would have had a difficulty time trying to police South Korean para-military at the same time they were fighting North Korean forces (doesn’t this all sound familiar, say like Iraq?).
I wonder about the timing of this article because it is very timely considering the “mad Korean” protests have run their course. I make the easy prediction that, as the Korean economy gets really worse, say around November, look for more blatant anti-America and anti-foreign business PR events or news.
The past is prologue. Read this article, but take a deep breath first.
http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/eng.....96269.html
I once knew someone (since passed away) who was a marine in WWII, and he used to tell me that he could easily distinguish the Koreans from the Japanese not only by their height (Koreans being taller, obviously). Many Koreans fought viciously and valiantly for the Japanese Imperial Cause, frequently outdoing the Japanese in “zealousness” (sound familiar? Vietnam, perhaps? Kwangju?). Many POWs (esp. Aussies) in Southeast Asia during WWII have testified that the Koreans were exceptionally, how can we put this without being labeled racist or anti-Korean, no-nonsense. Read the above article and see if you agree with the “victim’s” rationale for his less-than-admirable behavior.
#7 #8 The Koreans have the most amazing “selective memory” about the past, don’t they?!
The newbie to the RoK always gets the “bad Japan” and lately “bad USA” lectures from the local as part of his “initiation” into the Korean “history”. I always suggest the newbie take a look at the notable “accomplishments” of the late Chosun dynasty and ask himself whether their demise was such a bad thing. The locals never seem to want to talk much about THAT.
Maybe a matter of semantics, but why isn’t the UN being mentioned instead of the Americans? After all, foreign troops here fought under the UN banner.
Just bet that this won’t make MBC Newsdesk:
600 downer Hanwoo cows in Gyunggido.
http://news.chosun.com/site/da.....01122.html
Also bet there aren’t going to be any candle lights over this either.
President Lee’s interview with the BBC in Japan, Lee will have a US beef party with this family at the Blue House.
In another news, economic damages due to prolonged protests runs up to over $500 million and counting, at a time when country’s economy is tanking and foreign investors leaving by the boat.
#11 is that 600 or 6000?
Jeffery Hodges
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But what I really want to know . . . were these Mad Cows?
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
#11, never mind, my wife just explained “600여” — which in the article looked to my untrained eye like four zeros (but I wasn’t sure, thus my question).
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
actually, #3, I don’t know if this one’s going to blow up in the news. It seems to me that when it comes to the horrors of the Korean war, many/most Koreans prefer to glance as briefly as possible at them, and move on, putting it behind them as fast as possible. Especially as it was Koreans pulling the trigger.
I can’t find box office statistics for “Crossing” but wouldn’t be surprised if it doesn’t rake in the dough — not when it’s competing with Angelina Jolie shooting bullets around a corner and showing her bum.
On a somewhat related note, I wonder if and how this will affect the Korean economy:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/.....refer=home
Old news. Of course, the anti-American left in Korea will seize on even old news, distort it, and use it to whip up xenophobia, but old news it is nonetheless.
Lots of commentators point out that the US is in a lose-lose situation with its responsibilities in Korea. I agree, but it’s not so cut and dry: usually, the U.S. seems to intervene when it shouldn’t and sit on the sidelines when it should intervene.
Furthermore, the Korean left can argue persuasively that it has no reason to balance its commentary on the killings, because everyone already knows the ROK Army was complicit in lots of civilian killings. The only thing that’s “new” is the American presence at the scene.
Don’t mistake me for a fan of the Korean left. My point is merely that they’re sure to bring that up in their defense.
Interesting - why am I suddenly French?
@18, I can this ongoing forever. The right can’t just shut down the left like during the Korean war.
What both sides need to do with co-ordinate themselves(US government & the right wing) to effectively isolate the left as a fringe & highlight the Chaebol, farmers and the chaebol union workers behind this. Of course if a majority of folks identify personally with them you’ll create a huge blacklash but from the looks of it the general population have no loyalty to either party.
You can’t really counter propaganda with a press release.
Just to clarify the left, the true left are women who want change, young folks who want this age structure economy to end.
The majority of the left wing party are essentially special interest groups who have latched on to the weak. This is sexist but they’ve latched onto impressionable women as well as young folks who have been systematically denied individual thought, forced with rote memorizations with a malfunctioning self-esteem. The two factors are important because it creates a dependency to authority. With repression comes an even greater acknowledgement of authoritarianism.
This is all under the guise of liberal values, which does not necessarily have anything to do with liberal values but values which are the opposite of the conservative party. Most of these folks will not critically think instead use their intuition since they are incapable of critical thought.
Sorry there’s a lot of grammar mistakes.
One sees more women than men because most men hold full-time jobs outside the home and thus have limited time to sit on a patch of grass waving a candle. Korean women are not more impressionable than men, but they do have more unstructured time.
same left as the US left.
I still don’t see how you folk see a difference between this left and that left.
they’re both cuckoos.
your hero, Obama, finally let it out in words, that he probably may have to stay in Iraq. Of course, you hypocrites let it lie low on the radar, because you’re desparate after 8 years.
in case he’s elected, I’m glad he has at least a bit of common sense.
but, the nerve of him. Tearing down his rivals with venomous words, and acts like he’s consistent and steady on all points, when I’m already counting him changing positions at least 3 times on 3 issues.
I don’t like him, because he’s more left than Clinton. He’ll be good for France.
The Director of KBS turns out to be a member of the operating committee of the Organization Against Mad Cows - the organization that is one of the leaders of the protests. Reports the Chosun Ilbo.
http://news.chosun.com/site/da.....00030.html
Is this a problem? I think so. It’s a big problem if the news organization which is supposed to be impartial has a director that is a member of a special interest group that’s causing a 60+ days of non stop protests involving millions of angry people.
KBS also thought this could be a problem. When the director held a press conference against mad cow, KBS reported in their 9′oclock news, that she was as a member of a woman’s rights organization.
not that anyone cares but the word “soju” just got added to the american dictionary.
cm, have you ever been a citizen of the Republic of Korea, ever?
KBS was never impartial.
The only difference today is, it’s not listening to the Chungwadae, and it has its own agenda. A mind of its own !
#11
600 downer cows in Korea…OMG! Why this new never made it to the average Korean citizens when the issue was heating up back in May? Sucks to know it now..does it?
Candle light protest (non-violent) is touted as part of the culture 촉불문화?…Is this a joke?
Namuamitaba
The beef protests have made Lee Myung Bak gun shy of offending the sensibilities of the leftist nationalists, as foreign investment executives are frustrated, reports Financial Times. Lee should step down if he can’t follow through with his earlier promises. He’s too eager not to upset the people who are standing in the way of bringing the country up to global standards.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c506.....fd2ac.html