Another incident, another reason to hit the streets to take down the elected government:
The candlelight vigils have returned to Seoul. As I have been saying for some time now, the progressive forces here will pull whatever excuse they can out of their ass in their continuing efforts to destabilize the conservative Lee Myung-bak government, since they have proven themselves unable to win significant power at the ballot box in recent elections. The latest issue they have seized on is the death of five squatters who had occupied a condemned building in Yongsan, and were forcibly removed by police on 20 January 2009. The progressive forces claim they died at the hands of the “murderous police,” but here’s a video that shows exactly what went down from the police point of view:
Let’s see, on the one hand we have a bunch of lunatics hurling Molotov cocktails everywhere and dousing the building they were in with highly flammable paint thinner, and on the other hand we have a water cannon or two operated by the police. It doesn’t seem too hard to figure out who and what started the inferno that resulted in these unfortunate deaths — including one young policeman, tragically. Well, it apparently is for those who are so blinded by obsolete ideology and hate that they wouldn’t recognize the truth if it pimp-slapped them in the face.
Be sure to read Scott’s descriptions of this weekend’s protests in the downtown area.
The sad thing is, I actually sympathize with the core issue — or at least what should be the core issue — regarding the destruction and redevelopment of neighborhoods. And it would be nice if someone actually dealt with that issue in a responsible manner rather than screaming “dictator.”
Coincidentally, despite attempts to destabilize the conservative government, a recent poll revealed that former GNP chairwoman and LMB’s conservative rival Park Geun-hye is the early favorite for next president by far, with UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon and Park’s fellow right-winger Lee Hoi-chang a distant second and third.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Getting harder and harder to take these protests seriously. They seem to be more the pressure valve of an incredibly repressed society than things of substance.
I mean, I also sympathize with the squatter’s issue, but it’s pretty damned obvious that it was a suicide mission for them.
Their fort makes my inner fort-building child giddy with glee… but there’s burning patches of fire on the roads that cars are trying to go down. It made Seoul look like a post-apocalyptic war zone. I can’t support this kind of unfocused tantrum of violence against police, bystanders, workers, surrounding buildings, nearby vehicles, and anyone within rock-throwing range. The police should have smacked them down harder and faster in my opinion.
I agree with you Robert the protesters had a legit gripe they have been getting screwed over fair value for their properties but to throw molotov cocktails at cops, dousing a house with paint thinner, burning down namdaemun last year is the wrong way to deal with the issue
well this must be this years cause for the left to destabilize things, last year its american beef, 2002 it was the USFK (yeah its the USFK most every year), going to be another fun (or funny) year i guess
“I mean, I also sympathize with the squatter’s issue, but it’s pretty damned obvious that it was a suicide mission for them.”
Well, that’s not clear…But someone did hang a banner outside the building in which it was claiming that they were willing to die. There’s also the obvious fact that people dying in such a way and for such a cause would cause trouble to a government led by a former construction company chairman.
Makes me wonder if North Korean agents were not behind this, actually.
Had to laugh at the image of the girl trying to pull off the copper’s hat and throwing a moody! I would imagine that a lot of this anger is, as was suggested, an outlet for repressed emotions and anger at the shitness of peoples’ lives in Korea.
That said, maybe a system which allows the land to be grabbed at unfair prices needs to be challenged, but not in a way where people are actively trying to murder policemen. Because, in my book, if you throw a rock at someone or kick them about the head then you’re trying to kill them.
And shouting dictatorship is nonsense and insulting to the previous generations, who were fighting a real dictatorship and ended up getting clipped for their efforts. Or they could look to the 1984 Miners’ Strike in the UK for some tips as to how a democratically elected government can behave in an undemocratic fashion.
“the protesters had a legit gripe they have been getting screwed over fair value for their propertie”
How do you know for sure they were screwed over fair value? The details are sketchy but from what I understand, they were renting the properties, and not the real owners. They were offered fair value for their clearing out but they wanted more money. Another reminder, the clown who burned down Korea’s treasure #1 last year did it because he wasn’t happy with $150,000 he got from the city for his property.
I think the left are waging a campaign of civil disobedience.
King Baeksu just loves hanging around violent Korean demo’s, don’t he? Like a moth to a flame. Someday he’s gonna go poking his busybody nose into some godforsaken business best kept out of and find him on the wrong business end of a water cannon followed by an unexpected date with a Molotov cocktail, in that order.
He’s a dedicated on-the-scene kinda journalist, and that’s just what that sort does. I have respect…
#7,
Why? Because you care about his safety or because you wish he would stick to stories about firemen rescuing kittens and boy scouts helping the elderly cross the street while he’s in Korea?
Keep up the good work, King Baeksu! I saw the riot police and was wondering what was up, so thanks. I looked in the newspapers and found nothing. I’m sure that riots in one of the main tourist areas of Seoul are something that the local media don’t want to publicise to the outside world.
‘There were also quite a few college kids who seemed to have forgotten that they were ostensibly there to mourn the deathsof the 5 squatters of Yongsan: Many were laughing and dancing with locked arms in front of the police line and having a grand old time. At least they could be better actors, but I guess the euphoria of them being “freedom fighters” standing
up against “Dictator Lee” and the “killer police” got the better of them.’
I cringe when I hear some of my peers talking about their participation in protests against Nixon. Oh, sure. You guys ended the Vietnam War.
You must log in to post a comment.