Tag: protesters

Civil activists hold a news conference in downtown Seoul on April 4, 2018 to call for government measures to cut fine dust. (Yonhap)

This sounds like another ploy to smear people connected to the Park administration disliked by the South Korean left:

Top military officials seriously considered suppressing a nationwide candlelight vigil by force after former President Park Geun-hye was impeached by the National Assembly in late 2016, the Center for Military Human Rights Korea (CMHRK) claimed Thursday.

Citing sources in the military, the CMHRK said senior officials, including Major General Koo Hong-mo, discussed in detail scenarios of quelling millions of street protesters across the nation.

“It is very shocking that they considered using military forces to quell the peaceful protest,” the center said. “The military mapped out a plan to trample on citizens with guns and swords in order to suck up to those in power like they did 40 years ago in Gwangju. It is tantamount to a rebellion conspiracy.”

If the Constitutional Court had dismissed the Assembly’s impeachment motion, the officials would have put that plan into action, according to the center. But in March 2017, the court ruled unanimously to remove the former president from office.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but does anyone really think the ROK Army was going to attack candlelight protesters with swords?  Only a leftist living in a fantasy land would think that.  If anything there was probably plans being made to assist the riot police with crowd control not a Gwangju style military action that this is being made out to be.

A protester holds placards that read “Arrest Lee Myung-bak” in front of the residence of former President Lee Myung-bak in Seoul’s Gangnam Ward on March 6, 2018. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office subpoenaed Lee to come to the office for questioning as a suspect on March 14 over a string of suspicions of bribery and other irregularities. (Yonhap)

Via a reader tip come this article that explains how South Korean protesters tried to block the bridge taking the North Korean delegation back to North Korea:

Protesters attempted to block vehicles carrying a controversial North Korean delegation to the closing ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games as they crossed the Demilitarised Zone into South Korea on Sunday morning.

Around 100 conservative politicians and activists staged a sit-in demonstration at the Tongil Bridge, according to local broadcaster YTN, accusing the delegation’s leader of being behind a deadly 2010 attack on a South Korean warship.

South Korean authorities deployed more than 2.500 police officers to control the protests. To avoid a clash, the motorcade took an alternative route via Jeonjin bridge, which is a military crossing, according to the Chosun Ilbo.  [The Times]

You can read more at the link, but I hope General Brooks gets on the phone and asks President Moon that if he can open a road for the murderer of 46 ROK sailors, if he can also open the road to the THAAD site?

A group of people stages a rally in Donghae, Gangwon Province, on Feb. 6, 2018, as the North Korean ship Mangyongbong-92 carrying the North’s Samjiyon art troupe arrived at the eastern port city. They opposed North Korea’s participation in the PyeongChang Olympics. (Yonhap)

Via a reader tip comes this news that the Blue House would like everyone to show respect towards North Korea during the upcoming Winter Olympics:

South Korea’s presidential office Cheong Wa Dae called on the public Tuesday to show more respect to all countries that will participate in the upcoming Winter Olympic Games, including North Korea, one day after a group of conservative activists staged a violent protest against the communist state.

“North Korea too is a participating country and we ought to respect it as we would respect all the others,” a ranking Cheong Wa Dae official told Yonhap News Agency.

The official added that the presidential office was set to release an official commentary on the issue.

The move comes one day after the South Korean activist group staged a protest rally in front of Seoul train station as a visiting North Korean delegation arrived there following its overnight visit to Gangneung, 240 kilometers east of Seoul, to inspect possible venues for a musical performance before or during the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games.  [Korea Times]

I would like to know what is there to respect about the Kim regime?  Should Apartheid South Africa have been respected?  As bad as Apartheid was it was nothing compared to human rights violations and threats to world peace posed by the Kim regime and they were banned from the Olympics.

ROK citizens should have the right to show their displeasure with the Kim regime.  It will be interesting to see how the Moon administration tries to clamp down on protesters during the Winter Olympics.

I wonder if the North Korean delegation was even able to see this protest?  I am willing to bet the ROK authorities kept the North Koreans out of view of this protest:

Conservative protesters on Monday burned a picture of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and the North’s national flag, in a rally against its participation in next month’s PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

The activists, led by the far-right Korean Patriots Party, held a press conference in front of Seoul Station at around 11 a.m., when a group of North Korean officials arrived at the train station from the eastern city of Gangneung, on the second day of their two-day trip for inspection of performance venues.

“The PyeongChang Winter Olympics is turning into ‘Kim Jong-un’s Pyongyang Olympics’ that effectively recognizes its nuclear armaments and propagates the North Korean regime,” they said. [Korea Times]

Members of a Japanese organization that dislikes Korea stage a protest near the Korean Culture center in Tokyo on Dec. 19, 2017, when South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha was visiting it to inspect a Korea-Japan photo exhibition there. (Yonhap)

Members of a conservative civic group march toward Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul holding the Korean national flag, or Taegukgi, during a rally to demand the release of the ex-President Park Geun-hye on Nov. 25, 2017. (Yonhap)

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:

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]

You can read more at the link.