Tag: protests

This is the Korean version of a filibuster:

Following a violent protest by the main opposition party and its supporters on the premises of the legislature, National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang scrapped a vote Monday on fast-tracked bills. 

“I will not open a plenary session today because it won’t be possible to smoothly operate a session,” Moon said in a statement. “The ruling and opposition parties must reach an agreement on contentious bills, designated as fast-tracked items, as soon as possible.” 

The Liberty Korea Party (LKP) started a rally in front of the National Assembly’s main building around 11 a.m. to criticize the ruling Democratic Party (DP) and its legislative allies for attempting to railroad through bills revising the electoral system and weakening the prosecution’s powers. 

The National Assembly turned into mayhem after a violent scuffle took place between protesters and police at a rally hosted by the LKP. The party’s Chairman Hwang Kyo-ahn, floor leader Rep. Shim Jae-cheol, chief policymaker Rep. Kim Jae-won and other lawmakers attended the rally. Thousands of LKP members and supporters also participated. 

Before the rally started, LKP lawmakers complained that the National Assembly’s security team was restricting entry to the premises. LKP Secretary General Rep. Park Wan-su lodged a formal complaint to National Assembly Secretary General Yoo In-tae, and the legislature decided to open the main gate. 

Thousands of LKP supporters rushed in along with members of conservative groups and ultra-conservatives who support impeached President Park Geun-hye known as the “Taegeukgi Troops,” for the Taegeukgi, or the Korean national flag, they always wave. 

“Your rage will impact the National Assembly,” Hwang told the protesters in encouragement. “You’ve already won a victory.” 

The protesters waved Korean and American flags and shouted slogans such as “Let’s kill Speaker Moon Hee-sang” and “Let’s destroy the National Assembly.” Although the LKP repeatedly told the participants they must not enter the Assembly building, some rushed the doors. As the police tried to block them, violent scuffles took place. The main entrance doors were partially broken in the scuffles. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

I can understand why people would want to have days where the public can enjoy the Gwanghwamun area without protesters everywhere. However, it is interesting that this idea comes up when it is conservative groups busy rallying against the liberal Korean president. When the liberal groups were rallying against the former conservative President Park Geun-hye the city government did not consider doing this:

Squares and plazas in Seoul, open to all including protests and sit-ins, may get a “break” day.

Citizens have been calling for a “break” from rallies at Gwanghwamun Square, Cheonggye Plaza, Seoul Plaza and other public spaces in downtown Seoul, and the city government is seriously considering this.

Seoul Metropolitan Government said Tuesday it is considering designating a “no-rally day” regularly, a day without any protests, rallies, or other events at the locations so that the public can use them. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

There was more than seven people involved in this crime and why didn’t the police immediately hold them in jail after the crime instead of letting them go?:

 Prosecutors said Sunday they have requested a Seoul court to issue arrest warrants for seven progressive college students on charges of breaking into the U.S. ambassador’s residence.

Seventeen members of a progressive college student group used ladders to climb over the wall of the Habib House in Seoul on Friday afternoon.

The residence was vacant at that time, as Ambassador Harry Harris and his wife were away for a Cheong Wa Dae reception hosted by President Moon Jae-in.

The activists displayed banners reading “Harris leave this land,” with two others having attempted to break into the compound. They were protesting Washington’s call for Seoul to sharply increase its financial contribution to the presence of American troops in South Korea.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I doubt any real consequences will come from this.

As far protests go, only getting a supposed 20,000 people to show up in the middle of Seoul is pretty weak. Maybe the supposed anti-Japan sentiment in South Korea is not as great as the media and politicians lead people to believe:

The weekly protest rally demanding Japan’s apology to victims of its wartime sex slavery marked its 1,400th edition Wednesday amid an escalating diplomatic and trade row between Seoul and Tokyo.

Nearly 20,000 activists, students and other citizens assembled to participate in the 27-year-old protest in front of the former compound of the Japanese Embassy in central Seoul at noon.

Politicians, including Rep. Sim Sang-jung, head of the progressive Justice Party, and Rep. Nam In-soon for the ruling Democratic Party also attended the historic event.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I am still waiting for an anti-China protest in regards to their destruction of the Korean peninsula during the Korean War which was more recent than Japan’s World War II offenses against Korea.

The only thing I find surprising about this article is that the U.S. State Department did not anticipate China resorting to so called “thuggish” behavior:

After weeks of escalating warnings alleging a covert U.S. role behind the protests in Hong Kong, the tone in Communist Party-backed media outlets is turning darkly acrimonious, with publications attacking a U.S. diplomat in Hong Kong and releasing her personal information. 

The pro-Beijing newspaper Ta Kung Pao on Thursday published a photo of opposition activists meeting in a hotel with Julie Eadeh, a political section chief at the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong, along with details of Eadeh’s State Department career and the names of her husband and teenage children.

The report, which was recirculated by Chinese state media, emerged as Beijing doubled down on a familiar strategy of framing the nine-week-long protests as a U.S. intelligence plot to spark a “color revolution” to destabilize China.

The publication of information about the diplomat drew a furious response from the State Department, which accused China of “thuggish” behavior. U.S. diplomats around the world often meet with opposition figures and groups, occasionally drawing rebukes from governments.

The unusual pinpoint attack on the diplomat in Hong Kong underscores China’s growing frustration over the protests and their anti-Beijing message.

Washington Post

You can read more at the link, but it was utterly predictable that China would turn to nationalism and blame foreigners for the unrest in Hong Kong. The U.S. diplomat meeting with protesters was just the optics they needed to “prove” their invented narrative.