The Yoon administration is demonstrating that all the delays of road access to the THAAD base during the Moon administration was political. This summer access to the site has greatly increased after President Yoon’s election as this recent delivery further demonstrates:
This photo, provided by a civic group opposing the installation of THAAD, shows the delivery of equipment to a THAAD base in Seongju, 220 kilometers south of Seoul, on Sept. 4, 2022.
The military delivered equipment to a U.S. THAAD missile defense unit here in the wee hours of Sunday, a civic group said, as the government moves to normalize access to the base despite local residents’ opposition.
The equipment from the U.S. Forces Korea and the South Korean military were brought onto the base in Seongju, 220 kilometers south of Seoul, at around 1:30 a.m., according to the group opposed to the installation of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) unit.
It marked the first time for such items to be delivered on the weekend since May 2021, when the USFK and the defense ministry began sending equipment to remodel troops’ barracks. Around 10 vehicles were delivered on Sunday, including a bulldozer, a fueling vehicle and a van.
Local residents rushed to the site to protest after hearing the sound of the delivery vehicles.
The civic group said the police and the defense ministry had informed them there would be no deliveries during the weekend but used the cover of darkness to make a sudden delivery.
The KCTU might as well as just say they get their marching orders from Pyongyang:
South Korean marines take part in an amphibious raid during a multinational Rim of the Pacific drill at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, July 30, 2022. (Devin Langer/U.S. Navy)
The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions together claim more than 2 million members working in government, schools, public transportation and the automotive and food industries.
Their street demonstrations against the large-scale drills have been frequent sights outside the presidential office in Seoul and U.S. bases like Camp Humphreys since the start of Ulchi Freedom Shield on Aug. 22.
“If a war breaks out, those who will suffer from the war are our people: workers and laborers,” Lee Jihyun, spokeswoman for the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, told Stars and Stripes by phone Thursday.
You can read more at the link, but I find it interesting that not once has the KCTU held a major rally to protest North Korea’s various provocations, missile launches, or nuclear tests. However the ROK holds defensive drills with the U.S. after suspending them for five years for nothing in return and they have a problem with that.
Rally against S. Korea-U.S. combined military exercise Members of the Solidarity for Peace and Reunification of Korea, a Seoul-based progressive civic group, stage a rally near the presidential office in Seoul on Aug. 22, 2022, to voice their objection to the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise that South Korea and the United States kicked off the same day against North Korean nuclear and missile threats. The annual combined military exercise is set to run through Sept. 1, involving an array of contingency drills, like concurrent field maneuvers that were not held over the past years under the preceding Moon Jae-in administration’s drive for peace with Pyongyang. (Yonhap)
In my opinion this is not a good look by these people protesting outside Moon Jae-in’s house and making a nuisance of themselves to people in the neighborhood. Whatever validity they have in their complaints I think is lost by how much of a nuisance they are making of themselves:
Cars brought by those protesting against ex-President Moon Jae-in are parked outside of Moon’s home in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province, Sunday. (Yoon Min-sik/The Korea Herald)
On early Sunday, the otherwise quiet village of Pyeongsan in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province was disrupted by sounds blaring from a minivan covered with insults about former President Moon Jae-in.
“My protest is for Moon to receive legal punishment for the crimes he committed, and be expelled from Yangsan,” said Choi Young-il, a Seoul resident and member of the group calling itself the Freedom-Justice-Truth-Revolution Party.
A month had passed after Moon had stepped down as president of South Korea, but the series of protests at his Yangsan home had persisted throughout. The narrow road near the Pyeongsan town hall has become ground zero for conflicts surrounding the former president.
Rally against COVID-19 vaccine pass system for youths A parent holds her child as protestors stage a rally at the government complex in Sejong, central South Korea, on Dec. 9, 2021, to demand the government withdraw its plan to expand the COVID-19 vaccine pass system to teenagers. The system requires them to present COVID-19 vaccination or negative test certificates at multiuse facilities, including public study rooms and cram schools, a measure that critics say amounts to forcing people to get vaccinated. (Yonhap)
The easiest way to get less riot police at the THAAD site is for the protesters to assemble and protest in an area that is not blocking a public road that leads to the THAAD site:
Police officers attempt to disperse protesters blocking the delivery of equipment onto a U.S. THAAD base in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province, April 28. Yonhap
A human rights committee under the National Police Agency (NPA) has recommended the law enforcement authorities to reduce the number of riot police deployed to a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile base in the southeastern county of Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province.
“As the current number of riot police there can lead to a violation of the protesters’ freedom of assembly and demonstration, the authorities should actively take necessary measures,” the committee said during a regular meeting held late September.
The NPA committee consists of 13 members ― 12 external members and one police officer from the audit and inspection division.
The committee further asked the authorities to submit additional data, based on which it can judge whether the police are guaranteeing the protesters’ freedom of assembly and demonstration.
Mobility rights for all Civil activists protest against subway operators in Seoul on Feb. 10, 2021, calling for equal mobility rights for disabled passengers. (Yonhap)
Sewol families protest probe result Bereaved family members and activists stage a rally near the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Jan. 23, 2021, in protest of the recently announced result of a prosecutorial probe into the 2014 sinking of the Sewol ferry, which dismissed most of the key allegations raised by them and their supporters. (Yonhap)
Drive-thru protest Police block activists’ drive-thru protest in southern Seoul on Dec. 26, 2020. They rallied to highlight their demand for legislation toughening punishment for companies in case of serious industrial accidents and other pro-labor measures. Police banned their demonstration due to concern over the new coronavirus. (Yonhap)
