Anti-American Group Forces K-Pop Singers to Cancel Concert Recognizing 2nd Infantry Division Soldiers in South Korea

This is yet another example of how empowered the anti-American left currently is in South Korea:

Korean singers on Saturday boycotted a government-backed concert for United States Forces Korea troops after workers and netizens revived a bitter episode involving the American military.

The municipal government of Uijeongbu in Gyeonggi Province organized the concert to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 2nd Infantry Division, which is stationed in the city.

USFK commander Vincent Brooks, the 8th U.S. Army commanding general Lt. Gen. Thomas Vandal, 50 officers and 400 soldiers as well as more than 3,000 civilians attended the free concert at the Uijeongbu Sports Complex.

But the musicians invited ― including soloist Insooni, K-pop bands EXID, Oh My Girl, Sweet Sorrow, punk band Crying Nut and rapper SanE ― neither showed up nor performed.

Insooni, 61, whose father was an African-American USFK soldier, told the audience at the start of the concert that she would not perform her three songs.

Shorty after this, the audience was told that all planned performances had been cancelled, causing many people to leave.

The concert, scheduled for three-and-a-half hours, was cut short by an hour, and went ahead with gigs by the 8th Army Band, the city orchestra and dancing troupe, a gukak (Korean traditional music) band and a taekwondo demonstration.

The boycott stems from a tragedy in 2002 when a 2nd Infantry unit tank accidentally ran over and killed two female middle school students on a street in Yangju, Gyeonggi Province.

Even though the unit commander apologized and compensation was paid, two soldiers were found not guilty of killing the students because a U.S. military court at Camp Casey in Dongducheon ruled their deaths were an accident.  [Korea Times]

You can read the rest at the link, but for those that have not, I highly recommend reading my entire prior posting on the 2002 Armored Vehicle Accident that provides the context of what happened:

https://www.rokdrop.net/2008/06/gi-flashback-2002-armored-vehicle-accident/

The threats against these groups must have been very serious considering that Insooni pulled out of the concert and her father was a USFK servicemember and grew up around US military bases in Korea.  So who was behind the threats?  None other than the anti-US Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU):

Hours before the event, 10 members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions’ northern Gyeonggi branch also demonstrated against the city government in front of the complex.

A confederation spokesperson said, “Forcing students to congratulate USFK’s establishment with celebrities goes against our educational ethics,” according to the Chosun Ilbo.

So what ethics does the KCTU preach then?  The KCTU was linked to a massive North Korea spy scandal a decade ago and were key members in the violent anti-US protests against the 2005 Camp Humphreys expansion.

The KCTU also played a key role in the violent 2008 anti-US beef protests.  Yes you heard that right these thugs from the KCTU launched violent protests against US hamburgers and steaks being sold in South Korea.

US beef protestors beat a Korean riot policeman in 2008.

10 years of conservative rule had forced the KCTU and other anti-US groups to lower their profile after the anti-US beef protests since the government took action against them and put their leaders in jail.  With the new Moon Jae-in administration in charge, it is clear that these leftist agitators feel they have free reign to once again conduct aggressive anti-US activities just like what we just saw happen in Uijongbu.  Expect more of this to happen in the coming months and years.