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:
A conservative activist sets fire to a picture of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and the North’s flag in front of Seoul Station Monday in protest against the North’s participation in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
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:
A conservative activist sets fire to a picture of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and the North’s flag in front of Seoul Station Monday in protest against the North’s participation in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
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:
Anti-Trump posters at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul, Sunday / Korea Times photo by Jung Min-ho
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]
A group of Biafrans calls for the Nigerian government to stop the suppression of ethnic Biafrans in the eastern states of the African nation during a news conference in downtown Seoul on Oct. 26, 2017. Biafra declared independence in 1967, which led to two and a half years of civil war, and was reintegrated into Nigeria after the war. (Yonhap)
South Korean peace activists hold a rally in downtown Seoul on Oct. 18, 2017, to call for a halt to South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises and North Korea’s suspension of its nuclear tests. (Yonhap)
A group of part-time teachers stages a rally in front of a government building in downtown Seoul on Sept. 9, 2017, to demand the government employ all irregular part-time teachers as regular full-time ones. (Yonhap)
This photo, taken on Sept. 6, 2017, shows farming machines that residents placed to block a road to a village near a U.S. base in Seongju, 296 km southeast of Seoul, where two launchers for an advanced U.S. missile defense system, known as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), are deployed. The residents’ move came amid reports that the U.S. military will deploy four additional THAAD missile interceptor launchers to the base at 2:00 a.m. the next day. (Yonhap)
After all the months of drama in regards to this issue, the THAAD launchers are finally in:
U.S. military vehicle moves as South Korean police officers try to block residents and protesters who oppose to deploy an advanced U.S. missile defense system called Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, in Seongju, South Korea, Thursday, Sept. 7, 2017.
I guess the next concern from USFK will be whether the road to the THAAD site will remain open or is this a one time police presence to open the road? If so the helicopter resupplies to the site will have to continue:
Thousands of South Korean police were deployed near the THAAD site, which is in a remote southeastern area of the country, to clear the way for the U.S. convoy carrying the four additional launchers and other equipment on Thursday.
Scuffles broke out when hundreds of protesters tried to block the path to the former golf course that now houses THAAD. Local health and fire officials said dozens of people suffered mostly minor injuries.
The defense ministry said that, despite the protests, the THAAD deployment was completed.
Officials stressed it was a “tentative” measure resulting from the urgent threat posed by North Korea and a decision on maintaining THAAD will be made after a full environmental impact assessment is completed. [Stars & Stripes]
