Tag: protests

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)

For ROK Heads living or visiting Seoul you might want to avoid the City Hall area on December 5th as it will likely be the seen of yet more violent protests:

An association that speaks for farmers vowed on Saturday to go ahead with a massive rally planned for next weekend, setting the stage for another clash with police.

The move came after police informed the association composed of farmers earlier in the day that they will ban the group from holding a rally in central Seoul on Dec. 5.

Earlier this week, the association notified police that it planned to hold a rally that could draw some 10,000 participants near City Hall next Saturday.

Police warned that those who organize a rally are subject to punishment if they go ahead with the event despite being banned from holding it. Participants of a rally could also face punishment if they defy police orders to disperse.

Still, the farmers’ association said its members will go ahead with a rally on Dec. 5 as scheduled. It also said it plans to seek a court injunction to overturn the ban imposed by police.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

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.

If the New York Times wants to criticize President Park I have no issues with that, but at least provide all the facts so readers can at least make up their own minds instead of selectively publishing information to support the anti-President Park narrative:

South Koreans can be as proud of their country’s emergence from dictatorship into a vibrant democracy as they are of the rags-to-riches development that made their country a global industrial powerhouse. So it is alarming that President Park Geun-hye appears intent on backtracking on the democratic freedoms that have made South Korea as different from North Korea’s puppet regime as day is from night.

Last weekend, tens of thousands of South Koreans took to the streets to protest two repressive government initiatives. One would replace the independently selected history textbooks now available to South Korea’s educators with government-issued textbooks. The other would change labor laws to make it easier for South Korea’s family-controlled business conglomerates to fire workers.  [New York Times]

Normally I say read the rest at the link, but don’t bother because it is more of the copy paste Park Geun-hye is daughter of former dictator and trying to squash dissent like her father nonsense.  First of all the current textbooks were mostly written by leftists that are used by teachers who promote pro-North Korean ideology in the classroom.  That is the driving factor of why the government is changing the textbooks.  Secondly the textbooks have not even been written.  I would be more sympathetic to textbook protests if one of these books had even been written that showed slanted history.  Right now we don’t know what will be in them.  Maybe they will be as bad as predicted, but maybe they won’t.

As far as the changing of labor laws the Park administration is trying to make it easier for corporations to layoff older workers in order to open slots for younger workers.  South Korea has a large youth unemployment problem.  Will this work?  I have no idea, but the issue is not as simple as the New York Times makes it out to be.  The New York Times should at least provide both sides of the issue to inform readers.

The pro-Kim regime lackeys in the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions were able to mobilize a pretty impressive number of people to protest the decision to implement state approved history textbooks and passing regulations allowing companies to more easily lay off older workers to help younger workers find jobs.  The protest was the largest since the anti-US beef protests in 2008.  These history books have not even been written yet, but I would not be surprised if like the anti-US beef craziness of 2008 that these textbooks end up being much to do about nothing.  However, it gives the leftists in the KCTU reason to mobilize and bash the Park government:

 

Tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators marched in Seoul on Saturday in what police believed was the largest protest in the South Korean capital in nearly a decade.

About 80,000 people were expected to turn up for the downtown rallies that were to stretch into the evening, according to an official at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, who didn’t want to be named, citing office rules.

The marches, organized by an umbrella labor union and civic groups, brought together protesters with a diverse set of grievances against the government of conservative President Park Geun-hye, including her business-friendly labor policies and a decision to require middle and high schools to use only state-issued history textbooks in classes from 2017.

Members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions briefly clashed with police who unsuccessfully tried to detain KCTU President Han Sang-goon during a news conference, but there were no immediate reports of injuries. A Seoul court had issued an arrest warrant for Han over a failed court appearance, after he was indicted for his involvement in organizing a May protest that turned violent.

Demonstrators, many of them wearing masks and carrying banners, occupied a major downtown street and began marching between tight perimeters created by police buses, intended to block them from entering large roads leading to the presidential Blue House. A large number of police, many wearing helmets and body armor, move swiftly to flank the demonstrators.

This was probably the largest crowd seen in a demonstration in Seoul since 2008, when people poured onto the streets to protest the government’s decision to resume U.S. beef imports amid lingering mad cow fears, said the Seoul police official.  [Korea Times]

You can read the rest at the link.

Stalwarts of the Seoul protest scene: conservative older folks who hate left-wingers, NK leaders and sexual freedom. pic.twitter.com/FRIc8IXeVn

— Alastair Gale (@AlastairGale) October 27, 2015

Members of the Korean Animal Welfare Association, an animal rights group, hold a rally in central Seoul on July 23, 2015, protesting against eating dog meat. (Yonhap)

The day after the one year anniversary of the Sewol ferry sinking, 4,475 people gathered in Seoul Plaza in front of City Hall, Apr. 17, for an event titled “The Saddest Challenge in the World”. They managed to successfully set the Guinness World Record for largest assembly of people holding a candlelight vigil. (Hankyoreh)