It will be interesting to see how far these anti-US groups are willing to go to protest President Trump during his visit to South Korea. I suspect the Moon administration will keep them in check in order to not embarrass themselves during President Trump’s visit, but I guess we will see:
Anti-Trump posters at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul, Sunday / Korea Times photo by Jung Min-ho
Saturday night was supposed to be a time to celebrate the first anniversary of the massive candlelit protests that eventually helped oust corruption-tainted former President Park Geun-hye.But some anti-U.S.groups used the gathering as an opportunity to promote their own propaganda.
“No Trump, no war,” was one of the key messages shouted at Seoul’s Gwanghwamun Square by some anti-U.S.groups.Led by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), the country’s second-largest umbrella trade union, they vowed to do all they can to mar U.S.President Donald Trump’s state visit to Korea next month.
They called Trump a threat to peace on the Korean peninsula, saying they will follow him and stage protests during his visit.
Trump is scheduled to meet with his Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in, Nov.7, and deliver a speech at the National Assembly the following day.
The groups said they plan to stage a protest in front of Cheong Wa Dae when the two are supposed to have dinner there and hold another rally when Trump speaks at the Assembly.
The KCTU has a history of anti-U.S.protests.On Oct.14, its members gathered near a Busan hotel, where the U.S.Navy held a party to celebrate its 242-year history, chanting messages like “U.S.troops go home!” [Korea Times]
The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) has been emboldened ever since the Korean left was able to impeach President Park. So them protesting the US Navy personnel in Busan is not surprising:
Pictures of an anti-U.S.protest rally in South Korea spread online, causing concern ahead of U.S.President Donald Trump’s state visit to the country next month.
The rally was led by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), the country’s second-largest umbrella trade union.Near a Busan hotel where the U.S.Navy held a party to celebrate its 242-year history Oct.14, protesters chanted messages like “U.S.troops go home!”
Since then, photos and a video of their protest have been shared by thousands of people on social media, including U.S.sailors and their families.
In their propaganda pamphlet to the sailors, they said, “Koreans despise dotard Trump.We also abhor you, his servants.It is because you are a war monster.”
A 35-second video, which is believed to have been filmed by a U.S.sailor on the same day, shows a Korean woman screaming and cursing at U.S.soldiers.
The KCTU, which has carried out anti-U.S.protests before, also criticized local police on its Facebook and Twitter accounts for protecting the sailors from protesters.
The pictures, video and the KCTU’s messages aroused anger among many Americans as well as Koreans. [Korea Times]
North Korea needs an enemy. The regime needs a villain for its people to hate. There is no indication that the regime will let go of that hatred anytime soon.
The museum in Sinchon is a prime example. Tucked down a street in south Hwanghae Province, the original museum was created to serve as a repository of alleged American atrocities. Plain and unassuming, the old building housing the relics was flanked by massive mosaics that hinted at the anger contained within: a grandmother in traditional dress, hair askew, shaking her fist at the “wily Americans” and calling on fellow North Koreans to seek “a thousandfold revenge.”
Inside, room after room catalogued the alleged war crimes committed by Americans, from the Presbyterian missionaries accused of seeking to brainwash Koreans with religion to the “Hitlerite” American soldiers they claim systematically tried to exterminate the townspeople in the early months of the Korean War.
Display cases offered what they called proof: some 3,000 artifacts dug up from the soil, including skulls, bones, ID cards, simple woven shoes. A 2009 book on the museum published by Pyongyang’s Foreign Languages Publishing House says that more than 35,000 people, a quarter of the county’s population, were killed during a 52-day rampage.
After a 2014 visit to Sinchon, Kim Jong Un called for an upgrade. The simple building on a grassy knoll was replaced by a palatial museum that is a veritable house of horrors, with room after room graphically bringing to life the gruesome atrocities attributed to the Americans.
The renovated museum opened in late July 2016, in time for the anniversary of the Korean War ceasefire (which the North Koreans call “Victory Day,” even though the fighting ended in a truce).
A visit there is like walking through the set of a horror movie; visitors can walk right up to the tableaus and can practically smell the blood and hear the screams.
In one tableau shown in photos published by Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency in July 2016, a life-sized American soldier yanks the hair of a young Korean woman tied to a tree as another American sinks a knife into her heart. In another room, suffused in red light as though drenched with blood, American soldiers drive nails into a Korean woman’s head. Rabid glee distorts their faces.
The grisly scenes are meant to be lifelike. But are they accurate? Many in South Korea and the United States question the veracity of the claims that such killings were carried out by American troops. While the bones and personal artifacts appear genuine, on my own visits to the museum I did not see any items that directly proved or implicated American involvement. [Newsweek]
You can read more at the link, but this is something that anyone negotiating with North Korea needs to realize, they can’t have peace because the regime needs an enemy to justify its rule. However, just because the Kim regime cannot ever have peace does not mean they are not willing to have peace treaty negotiations in order to extract concessions.
A group of laborers holds a rally against the United States in Pyongyang on June 21, 2017, ahead of the Day of Struggles against U.S. Imperialists on June 25. (KCNA-Yonhap)
These protesters may have wanted to rethink their protest date considering the 67th anniversary for the start of the Korean War is this weekend:
Thousands of protesters marched near the U.S. embassy in Seoul on Saturday, accusing U.S. President Donald Trump of “forcing” South Korea to deploy the controversial American missile defense system China opposes.
The protest came as South Korea’s new president Moon Jae-In heads to Washington next week for his first summit with Trump amid soaring tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions.
Around 4,000 people participated in the first anti-U.S. rally under Moon’s presidency. It was also the largest protest since South Korea and the United States agreed to deploy the system, known as the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD).
Protesters marched with placards that read: “Trump, stop forcing (South Korea) to deploy THAAD” and “No THAAD, No Trump.”
The crowd included residents from the southeastern county of Seongju where the system is being deployed. [Korea Times]
What I am wondering is how many of these protesters are actually from the village bordered by the THAAD site outside of Seongju? How many were from the anti-US leftist groups that typically turn out to protests like this? You would think that would be basic information a reporter would try and find out.
Secondly their turn out for being a weekend in Seoul is actually quite weak which is an indication of the public support the South Korean leftists have on the THAAD issue. Recent polling data shows that 53% of Koreans support the deployment and 32% are against it. The only thing that I see that could change those numbers in favor of the leftists is if President Trump makes unreasonable compensation demands for the deployment on President Moon. Hitting the pocket books of South Koreans is something that could quickly get the South Korean public to side with the leftist protesters.
I saw this posted over at Reddit Korea. I highly recommend that anyone traveling to Seoul this weekend avoid this area because the leftists in Korea are quite emboldened now and who knows how they would react to Americans especially USFK servicemembers wandering around their protest:
I think the President of the KATUSA Veterans Association makes a good point that South Korea is lucky that the abrupt cancellation of a concert recognizing 2nd Infantry Division troops has not received media attention in the US:
Kim Jong-wook
The recently disrupted concert meant to celebrate a key U.S. military unit’s centennial could trigger a bout of anti-Korean sentiment in the United States, a keen observer told The Korea Times Wednesday.
“We should put ourselves in their shoes,” Kim Jong-wook, president of the KATUSA Veterans Association, said. “Naturally, they would feel unappreciated for their service. After all, they are here, being a half world away from home, to defend Korea.”
On Saturday, Uijeongbu, the city north of Seoul, which is home to the U.S. Army 2nd Infantry Division, hosted a farewell concert for its members ahead of its centennial in October. Most of the Korean performers canceled their participation after receiving a flood of protests triggered by NGOs.
The civic groups demanded the singers stay away, arguing that the concert was preempted by the 15th anniversary of two Korean girls who were crushed to death by a U.S. armored vehicle in 2002.
“If the American public find out about what happened, I would have little doubt that they would want their children home,” Kim said. [Korea Times]
You can read the rest at the link, but I don’t see this story getting any traction either in the US because all the American media cares about now is anything with the word Russia and Trump in it.
This is yet another example of how empowered the anti-American left currently is in South Korea:
Members of civic groups demonstrate in front of the Uijeongbu Sports Complex on June 10 in protest against the concert. / Yonhap
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:
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.
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.
Here is the latest update on the Yongsan Garrison oil contamination issue:
Land being used by the U.S. Army Garrison Yongsan will be returned to Korea by the end of the year and turned into a public park. Many cases of oil contamination on the base have been exposed since the early 2000s./Yonhap
The Seoul Metropolitan Government is organizing a forum on oil contamination in the soil of U.S. Army Garrison (USAG) Yongsan in central Seoul, Thursday, in an effort to pressure the U.S. to clean the site before its relocation is completed.
The city said the forum has enormous backing from citizens.
“We’re organizing this knowing there’s support coming from the public,” a city official said.
In May, the city conducted a survey of 3,040 Seoul residents, and 65 percent responded that the U.S. military should be held responsible for cleaning up any oil contamination and must do it before the land is returned ― the United States Forces Korea(USFK) headquarters and Eighth Army headquarters are currently relocating to Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, which is expected to be finished by the end of the year.
The city’s move comes after a court ordered the Ministry of Environment to reveal the results of two inspections of the U.S. military base ― it conducted three inspections but only released the results of the first one to the public.
The forum is also intended to pressure the central government ― the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ― to put pressure on the USFK to share data on past contamination records and to clean the site. “To solve this problem, action from the central government is critical,” the official said.
One motivation for the city is money. So far, the local government has paid 7 billion won for cleanup operations outside the base’s perimeter. After the U.S. military moves out, the city will turn the area into a public park. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation estimates the onsite cleanup would cost 103 billion won. Environmental groups’ estimates are more than 1 trillion won.
Green Korea, an NGO advocating for a cleanup paid for by the U.S., welcomed Seoul’s move.
“It’s time for Seoul to act when the central government isn’t doing anything,” said Yoon Sangg-hoon, an activist from Green Korea. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but Green Korea has been pushing this issue since former President Park’s ouster. Green Korea has long been an anti-US organization using the environment as justification for their activities. In regards to the Yongsan oil leaks it has never been proven that the oil is coming from Yongsan Garrison. Additionally of the 90+ leaks reported only 7 were major. It seems Green Korea is inflating the leak number just like in the past the USFK crime rate in Korea was inflated by activist groups by including parking tickets.
Using environmental groups to attack USFK is something that has long been used by the Korean left. The most outrageous example has to be the ridiculous 2000 Yongsan Water Dumping Incident. These environmental groups have primarily focused on stopping the relocation of US bases from the 2nd Infantry Division area and Seoul. Of interest is that the 2006 Il Shim Hue spy scandal uncovered that North Korean operatives were infiltrating the ROK environmental movement to inspire more anti-US sentiment.
The activist group Green Korea United has launched another attack on USFK:
At least 90 incidents of oil leaks have taken place inside U.S. military installations in Yongsan, civic groups said Monday, suspecting U.S. Forces Korea of concealing massive contaminations of bases located in central Seoul.
The Green Korea United, an environmental group, Minbyun, also known as Lawyers for a Democratic Society, and a group of Yongsan residents held a joint press conference on Monday and made public their analysis into reports of oil leaks inside the Yongsan military bases from 1990 to 2015. They obtained the reports in November last year by demanding disclosure by the U.S. Defense Department in July last year using the Freedom of Information Act.
They said a total of 84 oil leaks at the main post and transportation division of Yongsan Garrison and nearby Camp Kim and Camp Coiner were documented in the Pentagon records. The number is far larger than the 13 oil leaks so far made public by the National Assembly and media. The Korean official record says there were five oil leaks between 1990 and 2015.
The civic groups also said the Pentagon data was missing six oil leaks that were made public in Korea. Adding them up, at least 90 oil leaks took place, they said. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
So Green Korea has had this information since November and decided now to publish it? Were they waiting until after President Park was impeached to push this issue? Additionally how many of these leaks are just small scales leaks such as someone doing maintenance on a vehicle and having oil accidentally spill out? According to the article only 7 of the 90 leaks were major. It seems Green Korea is inflating the leak number just like in the past the USFK crime rate in Korea was inflated by activist groups by including parking tickets.
Using environmental groups to attack USFK is something that has long been used by the Korean left. The most outrageous example has to be the ridiculous 2000 Yongsan Water Dumping Incident. These environmental groups have primarily focused on stopping the relocation of US bases from the 2nd Infantry Division area and Seoul. Of interest is that the 2006 Il Shim Hue spy scandal uncovered that North Korean operatives were infiltrating the ROK environmental movement to inspire more anti-US sentiment. After the spy scandal was uncovered the environmental groups kept a lower profile with their anti-US activities especially with the election of President Lee. I guess we will see in the coming months if the anti-US activist groups will feel more emboldened to attack USFK over issues like this.
