Final Showdown For Camp Humphreys

UPDATE #3: So much for the Gwangju comparisons, the battle is over and the frontlines have been secured. Here is a tally of the final casualties:

About 1,100 protesters and farmers were evicted yesterday morning from the site of a planned U.S. Army base. In a 10-hour operation, riot police with batons, shields and water cannon overran a school where the protesters made a stand. With the area cleared, military engineers moved in to build a concertina wire-topped fence around the area. About 210 people, 117 policemen and 93 protesters, were reportedly injured in the assault. Six policemen and seven protesters were said to have been seriously hurt.
Police made more than 500 arrests.
About 13,000 riot police and 2,800 soldiers were involved.

Of course the human rights commission is on their way:

Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung said in a statement, “The actions by some activists to use the people of the area as pawns in a political battle against a national project is detrimental both to the citizens living in the area and the national interest.” Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission dispatched 13 investigators to the scene to ascertain no human rights violations occurred in the day¿s conflict.

I’m sue we will be subjected to human rights complaints for the next few days from these guys complaining about the protesters getting the crap beaten out of them while completing ignoring the fact these protesters were beating the police with their pipes and bamboo poles not to mention the fact that more police were injured in the battle than protesters.

So far it looks like the anti-US hate groups have been dealt a crushing blow as they right now appear to not be garnering any public sympathy for their cause. It appears that their violent tactics and childish ranting has worn thin with an indifferent Korean public. However, I’m sure they will be back using some other tactics, possibly complaining of “environmental damage” on the annexed land by the Defense Ministry. I can assure you that this is not over yet.

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UPDATE #2: Here is an Oh My News report with lot’s of pictures from the front lines.

Here is a picture from the school in Daechu-ri, that is a lot of riot police:

Here is a picture of the wire that is being put up around the area being annexed for the Camp Humphreys expansion. For those not in the military this is military concertina wire that is actually very effective for securing perimeters but you have to leave patrols to ensure that no one will put boards over it or digs underneath it.

The Oh My News coverage basically centered around the police beating up the protesters with pictures like these:

Before you start feeling sorry for these union pro-North Korean / anti-US thugs, remember images like the one below. Peaceful protesters don’t weild pipes and bamboo poles at the police. The police after beating the crap out of these guys should have arrested them as well.

So far it looks like the Ministry of Defense is winning this climatic battle and will just need to continue to hold the perimeter from these thugs. I will provide updates as they come out.

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UPDATE #1: The rumble is on at Camp Humphreys:

Thousands of police Thursday scuffled with hundreds of farmers, civic activists and anti-U.S. students in an area designated for expanded U.S. military facilities. There have been no immediate reports of

casualties, according to police.
The Defense Ministry sent some 3,000 troops, including 600 military engineers, and about 700 civilian security personnel and heavy equipment to build a barbed wire fence around the area. Engineers started setting up the wire fence at around 7:30 a.m.

No reports of casualties? This sounds like front line war report. Than again the Daechu-ri Elementary School might as well be a war zone:

Police armed with batons and shields were engaged in fierce fighting with stone-throwing labor activists and some residents wielding long sticks near Daechuri Elementary School, a makeshift headquarters for the remaining occupants and civic activists.

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It looks like the final showdown between the anti-US hate groups and the Korean government is about to take place to decide the fate of the Camp Humphreys expansion and the future of the US-ROK alliance:

The Defense Ministry and the police have agreed to put up barbed wire fences around the site for a planned new U.S. Forces Korea headquarters to keep protestors from occupying an elementary school and working the fields there. The government plans to mobilize a huge force of some 14,000 troops to evict the resistance on Thursday, raising fears of violent clashes with residents, activists and members of the Korea Confederation of Trade Unions camped out at the Daechu-ri Elementary School in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province.

What the heck does the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions have to do with a base expansion other than their hatred for anything involving the US?:

On Tuesday, when it became clear that clashes would be inevitable, the secretary-general of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions announced, ¿Workers in South and North Korea came together and resolved to stage an anti-American campaign on Labor Day¿ at Daechu-ri Elementary School, the impromptu headquarters of activists there. ¿It is the U.S. that drives this peaceful land to war and squeezes the public of its blood and sweat,¿ he said. ¿Daechu-ri in Pyeongtaek has its place in our fight against the U.S.¿

It is going to be interesting to see if the Korean government has enough nerve to actually enforce law and order in Daechu-ri and arrest the outsiders like the KFTU thugs that are continually causing problems in Korea.