Tag: protesters

The situation on Okinawa reminds me so much of the post-2002 environment in South Korea during the Roh Moo-hyun administration years when anti-Americanism was very popular.  It was so bad that US soldiers were being kidnapped off the subway and forced to make false confession on national TV.  Fortunately Okinawa hasn’t gotten that bad yet, but it is pretty clear that the US military on Okinawa is in a no win situation:

Every time a U.S. servicemember commits a crime in Okinawa, it’s big news.

If it’s a serious offense — such as the recent alleged slaying of a 20-year-old Okinawa woman by a former Marine — it can spark large protests by those who want the American military footprint on the island prefecture to shrink, if not disappear completely.

Over the years, the U.S. military has imposed a number of measures, such as curfews, sensitivity training and limits to off-base drinking, that have significantly reduced the rate of crime among the 50,000 American servicemembers, their families and Defense Department civilian employees.

But no matter what efforts U.S. makes to tamp down the anti-base sentiment, it may be facing a no-win situation. For many Okinawans, every crime is an affront that symbolizes resentment over the disproportionately large U.S. military presence on Okinawa and the prefecture’s complicated relationship with the rest of the country.

Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga won election last year on an anti-base platform, and he subsequently launched a court battle that has stalled relocation of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from busy Ginowan to the less-populated north.

Onaga has used U.S. crimes committed on the island to further fuel the fire, expressing indignation that the military’s efforts haven’t wiped out misbehavior completely, although it’s unclear what more can be done short of banning all U.S. servicemembers and civilian workers from ever leaving their bases.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but the article goes on to explain how the crime rate for the US military is well below the civilian average on Okinawa despite having a high number of young males that statistics show commit the most crime and yet things appear to be getting worse.  That is because even if everyone was locked down on post the governor and the activists will never be happy because their ultimate goal is removal of US forces not better behavior.

I really do not see things improving on Okinawa until the planned relocation of 5,000 Marines from the island to Guam happens in the next few years.  If this is combined in a change in government in Okinawa this could lead to better civil-military relations on Okinawa much like we have seen now in South Korea.

Environmental activists wearing Pinocchio masks demonstrate in Seoul against Volkswagen AG on April 1, 2016, demanding the German automaker pay due compensation for its faked emissions test results. (Yonhap)

It seems to me that the ROK Navy does have a point here because if these protesters were conducting illegal actions that caused cost overruns why should the Korean taxpayer be on the hook for this?:

The South Korean Navy is demanding damages from local groups and residents in Jeju Island for “taxpayer losses” incurred by their opposition to the construction of a new naval base.The groups targeted include the village association of Gangjeong in the city of Seogwipo.“On Mar. 28, we filed a suit with Seoul Central District Court for the exercise of indemnity rights for the Jeju multi-purpose port complex,” the Navy announced in a press release on Mar. 29.“The purpose of this exercise of indemnity rights is to hold those responsible accountable for losses in taxpayer money from among the additional costs of 27.5 billion won (US$23.8 million) incurred due to the [14-month] delay in the port’s construction period owing to illegal obstruction of operations,” it added.

The total compensation claim amounted to 3.4 billion won (US$2.9 million) of the additional costs, with the Gangjeong village association listed among the defendants alongside five groups and 117 residents and activities who took action to oppose the naval base construction.Last year, Samsung C&T demanded 36 billion won (US$31.2 million) in compensation from the Navy for delays in the construction schedule; a figure of 27.5 billion won (US$23.8 million) was finally settled on after mediation by the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board. Mediation is currently under way for Daelim Construction’s claim for 23 billion won (US$19.9 million) in compensation.  [Hankyoreh]

You can read more at the link.

Members of South Korea’s conservative civic groups rally in Seoul on Feb. 11, 2016, to condemn North Korea for launching a long-range rocket, a move widely believed to be a de facto test-firing of a long-range ballistic missile. (Yonhap)

This photo, taken on Dec. 2, 2015, shows part of a makeshift tent on the premises of Seoul’s Dongguk University where a haggard Kim Kun-jung, vice chief of the General Student Association at the university, stages the 49th day of a hunger strike. He is demanding that Ven. Ilmyeon, head of the school’s board of directors, and Ven. Bogwang, the university’s president, step down over the alleged theft of a Buddhist painting and plagiarism of a paper, respectively. The school, founded by the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, has been embroiled in the scandal. (Yonhap)

So does anyone agree with the Korean court that the KCTU can be trusted to hold a peaceful rally this weekend in Seoul?:

A court has ruled against a police move to ban a rally planned for Saturday in central Seoul by civic, labor and farmers groups that held a massive anti-government demonstration on Nov. 14.

The Seoul Administrative Court said Thursday that it had accepted the request from the groups to annul the police ban on their second rally.

The decision comes five days after police announced a prohibition of the Dec. 5 rally requested by the groups, including the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), citing a possible repeat of the violence between police and protesters at the previous demonstration.

“It is unreasonable to presume that the second rally will be violent only because the organizers are the same to the first one,” the court said. “The organizers have repeatedly said they will hold the second one peacefully.” [Korea Times]

You can read the rest at the link.

https://twitter.com/pearswick/status/671301601085255680

Minor opposition Justice Party leader Shim Sang-jung speaks at a debate at the National Assembly on Dec. 1, 2015, while wearing a mask in a message against government moves to ban the covering of faces during protests. After a violent demonstration on Nov. 14, the ruling party has proposed a bill to prohibit protesters from wearing masks to hide their identities. Unionists and civic groups are planning another mass rally for Dec. 5, despite the government disallowing it. (Yonhap)

This sounds like an off the cuff remark that President Park should not have said because as bad as the KCTU is they are not ISIS.  With that said if the KCTU would not hold violent protests there would be no need for masks in the first place:

South Korean President Park Geun Hye on Tuesday (Nov 24) called for a ban on masks at demonstrations, less than two weeks after huge anti-government protests rocked Seoul, as she warned “terrorist elements” may infiltrate demonstrations.

The president also drew parallels between masked protesters and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) – prompting organisers of the recent rally to say her comments had left them “speechless”.

More than 60,000 people protested against the conservative government’s push for labour reform and state-issued history textbooks in Seoul on Nov 14, in the biggest protest in the country for nearly a decade.

Many scuffled with police, who responded with water cannon and liquid pepper spray, leaving dozens injured and one protester in a critical condition.

Police have come under fire for what critics describe as excessive use of force, while about 200 demonstrators are being investigated after dozens of police buses were damaged.

Park described the clashes on Nov 14 as an “unacceptable” incident and called for “strong measures” against the protesters, especially those in masks.

“At a time when acts of terrorism are taking many lives around the world, some terrorist elements may sneak into such protests and pose a threat to the lives of our people,” she said at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

“In particular, masks in protests should not be tolerated. Isn’t that what the ISIS is doing these days, with their faces hidden like that?” she added.  [New Straits Times]

You can read the rest at the link.

US and ROK military forces need live fire training to maintain readiness and there is no where in Korea to do this as well as Rodriguez Range.  I look at this as I would an airport.  People need airports just like the military needs a live fire range.  Should airports be closed as well because of noise and the remote chance of a crash?  How come I have the feeling this has a lot to do with money?

A united group of villagers set fire to bundles of straw near the U.S. military firing range in Pocheon on Wednesday in protest against stray bullets from the range.

The Rodriguez Live Fire Complex, about 24 kilometers south of the tensely-guarded demilitarized zone, has been a source of grievances to the residents of neighboring towns following a series of ricochets that have come out of the firing range and landed on residential areas.

Most recently in October, a 105-millimeter anti-tank shell flew from the shooting range before ricocheting off a house in a neighborhood and landed on a farm.

Earlier that month, a practice projectile was found in a pine field following three similar cases of ricochets in proceeding months.

“Day and night, the sounds of firing never cease in Pocheon, the home to dozens of military bases, camps, a military airfield, ammunition dumps and the Eighth U.S. Army’s Youngpyoung (Rodriguez) firing range as well as the South Korean Army’s ranges,” the villagers’ committee on the ricochet issue said in protest.

The residents near the range started to desert their hometown in fear of stray bullets, they claimed in the protest rally near the U.S. military range.  [Korea Herald]

You can read the rest at the link.