It was a nice fall day which in Korea means it is a perfect time to have a protest:
Tens of thousands of conservative and progressive activists staged large-scale rallies in downtown Seoul on Saturday, chanting opposing slogans about sensitive political issues. The demonstrations ended without clashes.
Right-wing activists, including members of the far-right Liberty Unification Party, held a rally in Gwanghwamun against what they call pro-North Korea sympathizers.
Police estimated about 32,000 activists participated in the event.
Progressive activists also held an anti-government protest on nearby streets, with police projecting about 16,000 people joined the rally.
The massive rallies caused severe traffic disruptions surrounding main roads spanning from Gwanghwamun to City Hall in central Seoul.
Both sides expressed contrasting voices about sensitive political issues throughout the rallies.
Conservative activists called for the formal arrest of opposition leader Lee Jae-myung over his alleged involvement in a corruption-laden urban development scandal.
Liberal activists, meanwhile, denounced the prosecution’s probe into Lee as “political revenge” and called on President Yoon Suk-yeol to step down.
Police initially stayed on alert to brace for possible clashes between the two sides near Samgakji, close to the presidential office in Yongsan, but there were no physical scuffles or violence.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
You would think all these people would have something better to do then make a fool of themselves over this issue:
Scuffles plagued the site of a statue of a girl symbolizing victims of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery Sunday night as members of a right-wing organization raided the site and clashed with anti-Japanese activists guarding the statue.
The four-hour melee happened as members of New Freedom Solidarity held a surprise rally near the statue in central Seoul around 10 p.m. Sunday, demanding the breakup of a civic organization established to help victims of the sexual enslavement of Korean women during Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule.
Clashes continued past midnight as the leader of the right-wing organization attempted to force his way near the statue and anti-Japanese activists tried to keep him away. One protester was taken to the hospital for exhaustion.
An anti-Japanese activist was also taken into custody for pushing a police officer at the scene.
Although police separated the two sides with police lines, they continued to clash with loudspeakers and caused inconvenience to people nearby before the conservative group finally left the area at around 2:10 a.m. Monday.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
The Yoon administration is demonstrating that all the delays of road access to the THAAD base during the Moon administration was political. This summer access to the site has greatly increased after President Yoon’s election as this recent delivery further demonstrates:
The military delivered equipment to a U.S. THAAD missile defense unit here in the wee hours of Sunday, a civic group said, as the government moves to normalize access to the base despite local residents’ opposition.
The equipment from the U.S. Forces Korea and the South Korean military were brought onto the base in Seongju, 220 kilometers south of Seoul, at around 1:30 a.m., according to the group opposed to the installation of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) unit.
It marked the first time for such items to be delivered on the weekend since May 2021, when the USFK and the defense ministry began sending equipment to remodel troops’ barracks. Around 10 vehicles were delivered on Sunday, including a bulldozer, a fueling vehicle and a van.
Local residents rushed to the site to protest after hearing the sound of the delivery vehicles.
The civic group said the police and the defense ministry had informed them there would be no deliveries during the weekend but used the cover of darkness to make a sudden delivery.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but according to the article ground movements to the THAAD base has increased up to five times a week.
It is amazing that after all these year the Lone Star issue is still coming up in Korea:
An international tribunal ordered South Korea to pay the U.S. private equity firm Lone Star Funds US$216.5 million plus interest, officials said Wednesday, bringing an end to a decadelong legal battle surrounding its sell-off of a local bank.
South Korea said it cannot accept the decision and will actively consider pursuing an appeal.
The Washington, D.C.-based International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) delivered the verdict in the investor-state dispute settlement suit that Lone Star filed in 2012 to demand US$4.68 billion in compensation from South Korea’s government, according to the justice ministry.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but basically Lone Star made a bunch of much money in Korea and then tried to take its profits outside the country. Their sale of the Korea Exchange Bank led to large protests which caused the government to try and stop the sale any way it can. This all happened back in 2007 and was just one of a handful of anti-U.S. issues activists were using to stoke anti-American sentiment in Korea at the time.
The KCTU might as well as just say they get their marching orders from Pyongyang:
Representatives of South Korea’s largest trade unions are warning that Ulchi Freedom Shield, the largest military exercise by the U.S. and South Korea in five years, runs counter to their members’ interests.
The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions together claim more than 2 million members working in government, schools, public transportation and the automotive and food industries.
Their street demonstrations against the large-scale drills have been frequent sights outside the presidential office in Seoul and U.S. bases like Camp Humphreys since the start of Ulchi Freedom Shield on Aug. 22.
“If a war breaks out, those who will suffer from the war are our people: workers and laborers,” Lee Jihyun, spokeswoman for the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, told Stars and Stripes by phone Thursday.
Stars & Stripes
You can read more at the link, but I find it interesting that not once has the KCTU held a major rally to protest North Korea’s various provocations, missile launches, or nuclear tests. However the ROK holds defensive drills with the U.S. after suspending them for five years for nothing in return and they have a problem with that.
President Yoon is probably thinking ahead to when he exits office and I am sure he does not want a bunch of leftist protesters outside his retirement home:
Rallies around the home of former President Moon Jae-in will be banned starting Monday as the Presidential Security Service expanded the guard zone for the former president amid persistent noisy and menacing protests.
The decision to ban rallies within 300 meters from Moon’s home in Yangsan, about 310 kilometers southeast of Seoul, came after President Yoon Suk-yeol ordered the secret service to consider strengthening security for his predecessor following a suggestion from National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo.
Since Moon left office in May after a five-year term, his home has been plagued day and night by raucous loudspeaker demonstrations by right-wing protesters and YouTubers opposed to the way he ran the country.
Last week, one protester was arrested after making threats with a box cutter in front of Moon’s home.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
I like how Yonhap complains about conservatives holding a rally during a high COVID time, but last month the KCTU held a large protest in Seoul and not a word was said. I guess Yonhap must think the virus only spreads among conservatives at rallies:
Conservative activists held a massive rally in downtown Seoul on Monday to celebrate Liberation Day, despite lingering concerns over COVID-19.
About 20,000 members, according to police, of the far-right Liberty Unification Party led by Rev. Jun Kwang-hoon gathered in Gwanghwamun Square, which reopened earlier this month after a major facelift.
Jun is a conservative pastor of Sarang Jeil Church in Seoul, known for his inflammatory speeches attacking liberal former President Moon Jae-in.
Protesters took to the streets and chanted anti-communist slogans through loudspeakers, prompting police to control traffic in the afternoon and causing inconvenience to people.
South Korea marks Liberation Day on Aug. 15 to commemorate the end of Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
