American Leftists Protest Construction of Cheju Naval Base
The Korean authorities should have stopped these people at the gate of the airport and sent them home because it is illegal for foreigners to conduct political activity while visiting South Korea:
The Rev. Bill Bichsel, an 86-year-old Tacoma priest known for his acts of civil disobedience, has returned from a trip to South Korea to protest construction of a naval base there.
Just three months ago, Bichsel was seriously ill and in the hospital in Tacoma. But his health —while still frail due to a heart condition—improved to the point he was able to make the trip using a wheelchair.
He said his doctors didn’t try to stop him from traveling.
“They just shake their heads,” Bichsel said. “They know I’m going so they don’t make a big fuss.”
For nearly 40 years, the Jesuit priest known as “Bix” has protested against U.S. military programs and weapons. He’s been arrested dozens of times for trespassing during protests and jailed more than a half-dozen times.
He wasn’t arrested in South Korea, but he realized the 12-day trip could set his health back.
“I know I could go anytime,” Bichsel said.
He was weak upon returning Nov. 20, but has gotten stronger since then. And he was inspired by the trip.
Bichsel and nine other people —nearly all from the Puget Sound area—traveled to Jeju Island to commits acts of civil resistance against construction of a base by the South Korean Navy. The base has been under construction on the island off the southern tip of Korea for eight years. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but what gets me about the whole Cheju Naval Base issue is that the leftists complain about the base provoking China when the Chinese is busy making claims against Korean territory and the territory of other countries in the region and have constructed an aircraft carrier to help enforce those claims. If the Chinese were not making aggressive territorial claims this base would have never been built in the first place and the leftists have the nerve to condemn the ROK government for provoking China?
I was under the impression that this is going to be a ROK Naval Base. What business is it of these clowns if they want to build one on their own land? Btw, F China.
Smokes, this is a ROK Naval base but the leftists are using the excuse this is just a cover for the real intention of this being a US Navy base to contain China. As if the US Navy doesn’t already have plenty of other bases in the region it can use.
Well at least Father Bill is has interests outside diddling young boys.
So put a “Rev” or “Father” in front of his name and he suddenly has a mandate? I get it. The shaman and later the priests were the most learned people in the village. They could read and write (a secret they guarded). Those days are long over. A doctoral dissertation concerning the number of angels capable of dancing on the head of a pin can in no way approach the level of practical and useful knowledge one might obtain say with a medical degree. Send this clown packing.