Camp Humphreys Clashes Continue

I don’t claim to be a fortune teller, but when it comes to the anti-US hate groups their playbook is easy to decipher for those of us who have been in Korea a while and yet the Korean authorities still can’t seem to figure it out. After a successful operation that removed the anti-US protesters from the annexed land needed for the Camp Humphreys expansion project; I predicted the protesters would come right back and tear down the wire fence if it was not monitored by security guards.

What happens, the protesters come right back and tear down the fence and run wild within the perimeter and try to even break into the Camp Humphreys perimeter.

A day after the Defense Ministry forcefully evacuated protesters from an area in Pyeongtaek slated for the relocation of U.S. military installations, about 2,500 activists staged abrupt demonstrations by cutting through the fences built around the site of the future base.
About 2,000 protesters from around the nation broke through the police line to seal off the area from outsiders. They marched three hours to join about 500 other protesters who had been scouting in Daechu Village, where the base construction is slated.
The group held a rally, criticizing the Defense Ministry’s forcible eviction of residents from the site. They also cut the fences, built on Thursday after evicting the protesting activists, in 20 places.
The protesters also tried to enter Camp Humphreys, the U.S. military base in Pyeongtaek near by the site, and scuffled with police trying to block them.

If they will throw these people in jail with heavy fines for assaulting policemen and breaking the law then they would not have to worry about these repeated clashes with these hate groups. But of course as this Chosun Ilbo editorial noted, the political leadership in Korea is so weak and incompetent they in fact actually encourage the violence on one hand while saying the US-ROK alliance is important on the other.

The Pyeongtaek affair is complicated. In terms of moving a military base alone, it is a defense issue, but it is also a diplomatic issue involving our relationship with the U.S, a public security issue dealing with illegal protests and a financial issue involving an increasing tax burden. Anti-American activists are trying to turn it into an ideological struggle, calling it a “second Gwangju Democratic Uprising” after bloodily suppressed protests in 1980.

The administration and ruling party should therefore make every effort to persuade the people that relocating the bases is inevitable and to minimize problems and costs. But government and ruling-party officials, who like to take credit whenever possible, were in hiding, leaving the affair entirely to the defense minister as if he alone were responsible.

To start at the top, the president is fond of speaking to the public, with his ¿dialogue with the people,” “statement to the people” or “letter to the people.” Yet he hasn’t said a word of concern about the affair. On the eve of Thursday¿s clashes he said, “We’ve been greatly indebted to the U.S., but we cannot afford to be obliged to the U.S. forever.” That rather sounds like an invitation to the anti-American activists.

As I mentioned before as well, the human rights activists are already condemning the police force for excessive force, while ignoring the violence of the anti-US hate groups:

With the clash between police and protestors in Pyongtaek Thursday, resulting in more than 200 injured, critics are questioning whether the police used excessive force in suppressing the rally.

Law enforcement authorities detained more than 520 demonstrators after farmers and activists collided violently with riot police in a rally protesting the expansion of a U.S. military camp located in the area.

Police said 210 were injured in Thursday¿s incident _ 117 police officers and 93 protestors _ and the vernacular dailies Kyunghyang Sinmun and Hankyoreh also claimed injuries to some of their reporters covering the scene.

The violence in Pyeongtaek has actually gained some media coverage in the United States. I saw reports on both CNN and Fox News about the protests. Here is the Fox News report. However, this coverage is to little to really shape any public opinion in the United States against Korea. Every time the US media begins to pick up on the violence against the US in Korea, that is when you see the government shows some leadership and clamps down on the hate groups to keep them quiet. Don’t expect any clamp down from the heads of the government any time soon. The Defense Ministry is being totally stuck with handling the political ramifications of the current violence as the politicians hide or take turns making trips to Dokdo. How can a government not comment on the violence and an issue as significant to the national interest as the USFK reorganization?

I’ll provide more updates as things develop, but of course check out the Marmot’s Hole as well for more great coverage of events.