Tag: protests

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.

Well hopefully she is not to seriously injured from this incident, but she was conducting an illegal protest prior to Nancy Pelosi arriving at the National Assembly:

Lee Yong-soo, a victim of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery in her 90s, was reportedly pulled out of her wheelchair by security guards while she was waiting to meet with U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the National Assembly grounds on Thursday.  
   
A video released after the incident by media outlets including JTBC and YTN shows Lee on the ground by her wheelchair, while several security personnel attempt to lift her.    
   
One security guard can be heard repeating, “Lift up her leg,” while Lee, in apparent protest, says, “Let go of me, you’re going to kill someone here.” 

Lee was hospitalized afterward at the Catholic University of Korea Yeouido St. Mary’s Hospital in western Seoul.    
   
A committee that she heads, which has been calling for the Korean and Japanese governments to settle the “comfort women” issue at the International Court of Justice, told the press that the security guards tried to move her despite her protest and that Lee fell out of her wheelchair in the process.    
   
“They pulled on her by her legs,” the committee said. “It was a traumatic experience for her.”  
   
The National Assembly Secretariat in a statement on Friday said that it “wishes well” for Lee’s health, adding however that “any attempt to meet up with an international guest at the Assembly without prior appointment is a disregard for diplomatic protocols. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

This is another example of how workers got used to something and don’t want to go back to the way things were before the pandemic:

Unionized workers of Seoul Metro are strongly protesting against the city government’s plan to resume late-night subway operations, a measure proposed to tackle the worsening nighttime taxi shortage in the capital.

The union that represents workers of a part of Seoul’s subway system which runs lines 1 to 8, held a rally in front of the Seoul Metropolitan Government office, Tuesday, demanding the local government withdraw its plan to extend operating hours.

“Late-night operations were suspended not only because of the coronavirus pandemic but also due to worsening operating losses, which nearly pushed the operator into bankruptcy. It is difficult to understand why the government has abruptly announced resumption of late-night operations, without any measures to resolve these issues,” the union said in a statement.

Earlier this month, the metropolitan government said it will extend subway operating hours on weekdays until 1 a.m., thereby increasing operations by one hour from the current midnight closing time, starting at some point in June.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.