The Gwanghwamun Plaza in central Seoul starts to fill with protesters on Feb. 4, 2017, who are calling for a swift decision by the Constitutional Court on whether to permanently unseat President Park Geun-hye, who was impeached by the National Assembly on Dec. 9, 2016. (Yonhap)
Members of the Labor Party hold a rally in front of President Park Geun-hye’s private house in southern Seoul on Jan. 16, 2017, to call on the special prosecutor team to raid it as part of an investigation into Park’s alleged involvement in a corruption scandal that led to her impeachment. (Yonhap)
I think we can agree the fertility map released by the Korean government was pretty stupid because I am not sure what they expected to accomplish by it? Did they expect males to rush to these so called more fertile cities to find women to make babies with?:
Top: The Ministry of the Interior’s controversial “Birth Map,” left, that was introduced Dec. 29. A few hours after introduction, the ministry closed the website saying it will repair to reflect corrections. Above: BWave, a coalition of feminist groups online, holds a one-woman protest while wearing a red “Baby Vending Machine” to “criticize how the government sees women as mere baby makers.” The demonstration has been going on at Gangnam Station and in front of the Ministry of the Interior in central Seoul. The protester hands out a flier reading: “I’m sorry I’m not a baby vending machine, but a human being.” [CAPTURE FROM THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR WEBSITE,BWAVE]On Dec. 30, a person dressed as a red “Baby Vending Machine” walked back and forth in front of the Ministry of the Interior’s building in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul. When a passerby pressed a button on the box, a paper was released which read: “I’m sorry. I’m not a baby-making machine. I’m a human being.”
The 20-something woman inside the box, a member of BWave, a coalition of feminist groups online, said that the group decided to create the box to criticize how this country sees women as mere baby-making machines.
What troubled them was the “Birth Map” created on Dec. 29 by the Ministry of the Interior. The website, using shades of pink, included information on starting a family, giving birth and raising children. It all seemed helpful for the public, but the problem was that amongst the information, it also ranked towns and cities across the country by the number of women who are of childbearing age – or more bluntly, fertile.
According to the ministry, the map was created to “show what kind of services and benefits are available in 243 different local government zones across the country, to induce competition between local governments, and to inform the public with statistics regarding marriage and pregnancy.” It was a part of the government’s plan to tackle Korea’s low fertility rate.
However, they went too far.
“The country that’s always been so discrete went overboard this time and disclosed too much information,” said Kang Seung-ji, 30, who said she was furious upon seeing the map that “just shows you how this male-dominant country sees women as merely baby-making machines.” [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but the real question the Korean people need to ask themselves is if they really do need a higher birthrate in a country already overpopulated?
For anyone thinking of ringing in the New Year in downtown Seoul just be warned that there will be a huge crowd of protesters to contend with. If you are in the US military I highly recommend keeping away from these protest activities:
The last anti-Park Geun-hye rally of the year will be held today, overlapping with New Year’s Eve celebrations, according to rally organizers.
“We expect to break through the 10 million people mark in the accumulated number of protesters in the 10th weekly rally on Saturday,” said a spokesman for rally organizers, which are comprised of some 1,500 civic groups. “The rally will seek to not only send the old year out, but send Park out as well, and let the new year in.”
According to rally organizers, some 8.9 million have gathered throughout the country in the weekly rallies from Oct. 29, the first.
A New Year’s Eve concert for protesters is planned from 8 p.m., with singers including Jeon In-kwon and Shin Dae-chul. Shin is the son of popular Korean singer Shin Joong-hyun, called the godfather of Korean rock ‘n’ roll. Shin took issue with the fact that his father’s song “Beautiful Rivers and Mountains” was often sung by Park’s supporters in rallies.
“These Park supporters have no right to sing [my father’s] song,” Shin posted on Facebook this month. “The anti-Park rally organizers had better recruit me. I will sing it right for them all.”
President Park, impeached by the National Assembly earlier this month, faces the judgment of the Constitutional Court over a corruption and abuse of power scandal.
The candlelight vigils are held to urge Park to quit even before the verdict by the court. Protesters have said they will rally until Park is completely removed from office.
After the performances, protesters will march toward the Blue House, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Constitutional Court. Marching toward a point some 100 meters (328 feet) from the Blue House will be permitted from 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., according to the Seoul Administrative Court.
Marching to some 100 meters from the Prime Minister’s Office, and some 200 meters from the Constitutional Court will be allowed until 10:30 p.m.
Protesters will likely join the crowd in front of the Bosingak Belfry in Jongno District to celebrate the bell-ringing ceremony at midnight. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
I agree with this article that for the younger generation of Koreans the influence peddling scandal is to be expected, but the cheating to get Choi Soon-sil’s daughter into Ewha Women’s University is what really infuriates them:
A rigorously meritocratic education system lies at the heart of South Korea’s stellar rise from the ashes of the 1950-53 Korean War to Asia’s fourth-largest economy.
The system is highly competitive and can take a distressing toll on young students who devote their teenage years to studying for the national college entrance exam.
Admission to one of a handful of elite universities — such as Ewha — is seen as vital to a student’s future prosperity, social standing and even marriage prospects.
But however cut-throat it might be, there is steadfast public faith and trust in the exam’s fairness, with every applicant sitting the same paper on the same day, and a formalised marking system.
That faith is summed up in a term popular for decades, “a dragon from a ditch” — a person of modest means who rose to success through education and hard work. (………..)
“But Chung and Choi shattered this faith and hope spectacularly,” it said.
Park’s presidency has coincided with growing disquiet over a widening disparity in incomes and opportunities — an inequality now embodied in the public mind by Choi and her daughter.
In a now-infamous Facebook posting in 2014, Chung flaunted her privilege, saying: “Money is part of your talent. If you don’t have talent, blame your parents.”
The depth of anger over Chung’s admission to Ewha has been illustrated by the large number of high-school students who have taken part in weekly mass demonstrations that have seen millions march through the streets of Seoul and other cities.
“I was so angry about Chung and couldn’t even sleep when I first heard about her scandal,” said Jenny Park, a 16-year-old high school student.
“What’s the point of studying night and day when the rich and powerful can rig the whole system so easily?” she said, waving a banner reading “We didn’t study hard for this.” [AFP]
You can read more at the link, but like I said before I seriously doubt Choi Soon-sil is the only rich and connected person to get their kids into major universities in Korea through improper means.
Many foreigners do not seem to realize this, but attending protest rallies is actually illegal in Korea:
Foreigners participating in the protests against President Park Geun-hye may carry legal complications ― theoretically.
“As legal counsel I would say not to go to the rallies, as there are some articles in law that in principle prohibit foreigners from attending rallies,” said Nam Won-chul, a lawyer with Hwang Mok Park law firm.
According to the Immigration Control Act, “No foreigner sojourning in the Republic of Korea shall engage in any political activity with the exception of cases provided by this Act or other statutes.” The act empowers the Ministry of Justice to order a violator “in writing to suspend such activity” or “take other necessary measures.”
This may include deportation or a ban on visa renewal, according to one source familiar with the matter.
The law applies to all foreigners regardless of visa type, Nam says. “According to the text of the article, I think all foreigners are uniformly prohibited from political activities.” [Korea Times]
Not a single protester jailed or officer harmed in weeks of mass rally. Lawmaker @bdmin1958 says Koreans deserve Nobel peace prize candidacy pic.twitter.com/oAyOQ4LBFm
This really shows how fed up the Korean people are with President Park that the Korean left was able to get far more people to this weekend’s rally than what they were able to get to attend the anti-US beef protests in 2008:
Protesters stage a candlelight rally on a thoroughfare in downtown Seoul on Nov. 12, 2016, as they take part in an anti-government rally to demand President Park Geun-hye resign over an influence-peddling scandal implicating her longtime close friend Choi Soon-sil. In the background is Mount Bukak, at the foot of which the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae is located. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in Seoul on Saturday and into the early hours of Sunday, in numbers not seen in decades, for the latest massive rally to demand President Park Geun-hye’s resignation over the growing scandal involving her confidante.
Over 1 million people joined the candlelight rally at Gwanghwamun Plaza in downtown Seoul as of 7:30 p.m., according to organizers. Police said 260,000 people gathered, which surpasses the 170,000 they had originally expected.
It is the largest rally to be held in South Korea this century to date, comparable to one that took place in 1987. Over 1 million Koreans took the streets at that time, leading the then Chun Doo-hwan military regime to accept their calls to adopt a direct presidential election system.
The previous record was set in June 2008 when 80,000 people, based on police calculations, turned out for a rally in Seoul against the government decision to resume U.S. beef imports. Organizers then put the number at 700,000.
Police said they deployed some 25,000 officers in riot gear on Saturday to prevent potential violence.
Major streets near Gwanghwamun were packed with citizens — men and women, young and old — holding banners that said “Step down Park Geun-hye!” and chanting slogans against the current administration.
Three opposition parties joined the rally, along with some potential presidential hopefuls, including Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon of the Democratic Party. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but it appears that Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon is the one on the Korean left trying to best position himself as their standard bearer if Park does in fact resign.
