A Look at Korea’s Protest Organizers
The International Herald Tribune has an interesting article about the characters that organize and execute the many violent protests in Korea. Here is one of them who I have seen on the news to many times:
In contrast, Hong, 55, is a man with glowing and bloodshot eyes who taunts police officers and says he constantly thinks about what to protest – usually getting ideas from the news.
“The evening news makes my blood boil,” Hong says. “People want a scary, fierce, passionate and spectacular performance.”
Hong is an almost daily nuisance for police – and one with an a keen eye for publicity. He recently mailed clothespins to cabinet ministers telling them to “keep their mouths shut.”
Last summer, he was in front of the Japanese Embassy here during protests against that country’s wartime past.
When he found himself a prime spot before TV cameramen and prepared to slash pictures of Japanese leaders with a knife, a young man jumped in with a kitchen knife and said he wanted to slash open his own belly in protest.
Hong pushed the intruder away and snarled, “You wait for your turn!”
I wonder if that guy ever cut his belly out?
