Protesters hold a candlelight rally at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul on Nov. 26, 2016, to call for President Park Geun-hye’s resignation. Park has been under pressure to step down over a nation-rocking political scandal involving her and her longtime confidante Choi Soon-sil. (Yonhap)
A road is blocked near a subway station in Seoul’s Songpa Ward on Nov. 22, 2016, after a water pipe ruptured in the area around 1:45 p.m. the same day where construction was underway. (Yonhap)
The Korean left has finally found a cause that they can rally masses of Koreans around after sniffing around for the past 8 years since the anti-US beef crisis for another anti-government cause to rally Koreans behind:
South Korea’s deputy prime minister on Friday pleaded for a peaceful demonstration as hundreds of thousands of people are expected to join an anti-government protest Saturday, amid rising public anger over President Park Geun-hye’s corruption scandal.
Lee Joon-sik, education minister and deputy prime minister for social affairs, released a statement ahead of the rally that may draw the largest number of participants this millennium.
Police expect 170,000 protesters to join the rally, involving 1,500 civic groups, while the organizers put the number between 500,000 and 1 million.
“The government is concerned that the rally might turn into a massive violent incident and hinder the opportunity (for people) to soundly voice their opinions,” Lee said in the statement.
“We are well aware that our people are disappointed about the latest scandal, and that they are worried about the operation of state affairs,” he said. “The government is putting utmost efforts to run the country and to lead our society in the right direction.” [Yonhap]
More video from last night's protest in Seoul against president Park Geun-hye. Even bigger protests expected next weekend, local media says. pic.twitter.com/SRzueNMeIt
Thousands now marching in Seoul, calling for president to resign. Biggest Korean demonstration since 2008 beef protests. About 43,000 here. pic.twitter.com/JCriIL02QV
Here is an interesting read from the LA Times about a soldier stationed at Yongsan Garrison that was being charged with the manslaughter of his best friend:
Raymond Royal, Chrissy Royal, Kathleen Stanfield and Karen Anderson sit in the Royals’ Seoul apartment after Raymond Royal’s two-day preliminary hearing.
The men were U.S. Army mechanics, and they had arranged to be deployed at the same time in South Korea. Pfc. Royal, 22, was based at the Yongsan Garrison, a major U.S. military base near Itaewon. Pfc. Anderson, 20, was stationed at Humphreys, a rural garrison 55 miles south, and he was visiting for the weekend.
They drank; they played pool; they wrestled like muscle-bound, army-trained puppies, grappling into chokeholds until one or the other cried uncle. They got matching tattoos — “friends forever” swirling down their forearms in blue Korean script.
Chrissy — an energetic young woman from Royal’s North Carolina hometown — went home early, and just after midnight, Royal and Anderson decided to go home too. A taxi dropped them off near Royal’s apartment. Royal and Anderson began roughhousing. Royal pushed Anderson with two hands — a shove to the chest — and Anderson fell backwards.
Thus began the first in a tragic series of unpredictable events that would leave one friend dead, the other on trial, and the military justice system forced to grapple with complex questions about responsibility and punishment in a case whose primary villain seemed to be fate.
It happened in a matter of seconds. Just as Anderson tumbled into the street, a car veered around a corner and blazed through a red blinking light, plowing suddenly over Anderson with both axles — bump, bump. The car stopped. The police arrived. And 12 days later, Anderson died in the hospital, hooked up to a mechanical ventilator.
The Army charged Royal with manslaughter.
The hearing that would determine whether Royal would have to face a full court-martial began on a crisp day in October. [LA Times]
You can read the rest at the link, but it seems to me that the person most culpable for the accident is the driver that ran the red light in the first place.
Another death caused by the security doors in Seoul’s subway system:
The victim, circled, collapses after coming through an emergency door on the platform. He died in hospital. / Yonhap
A man was killed after being caught between subway safety doors and a train at Gimpo International Airport Station in western Seoul, Wednesday.
The passenger, surnamed Kim, 36, was on a train heading for Banghwa Station of line No. 5. As the train arrived at Gimpo station, he was getting off but got caught in the 30-centimeter gap between the train and the platform safety screen door.
As the subway engineer closed the train doors and screen doors to depart, a passenger reported through the intercom on the train that a man was caught between the two sets of doors, according to Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit Corp.
The engineer re-opened the doors and closed them again 27 seconds later and started moving the train, apparently failing to check whether the man got out of the gap. [Korea Times]
Here is a really odd story of a gunfight in Seoul with a criminal using six homemade guns. This just goes to show that if a criminal really wants a gun they can get one:
A police officer was killed in a gunfight with a criminal suspect in northern Seoul and the suspect involved in the shooting has been apprehended, law enforcement authorities said Wednesday.
In the gunfight that began at around 6:30 p.m. in front of a tunnel near Beon-dong in northern Seoul, the 45-year-old suspect, identified only by his family name Seong, opened fire with a privately manufactured gun, according to the police.
The police responded to a report that the suspect had attacked his neighbor with a blunt object. He ran into the tunnel after he spotted the police and was carrying six guns, all made of wood, when he was apprehended, a police officer said.
The suspect is presumed to have made the wooden guns based on manufacturing methods available from the Internet.
The suspect cut off an electronic monitoring bracelet that he was wearing due to previous involvement in a sexual offense before he began to run towards the tunnel, the officer said.
A police officer, 54, was shot in the gunfight and was rushed to the hospital for treatment, but died during surgery. The neighbor who was attacked, who also turns out to be the suspect’s landlord, is undergoing treatment for his wounds.
The landlord and the tenant were engaged in an argument before he became violent. The police have begun an investigation into what caused the verbal fight. [Yonhap via a reader tip]
The North Koreans continue to send propaganda across the DMZ likely in response to the activists who continue to send propaganda leaflets north of the DMZ:
What appears to be a North Korean flyer was found in the front yard of the National Assembly on Tuesday morning. It contains messages criticizing the South Korean government and its policies on the North. / Yonhap
A large number of North Korean leaflets were found in southwestern Seoul on Tuesday morning.
Yeongdeungpo police station said police collected more than 1,300 flyers as of 7 a.m. after they were bombarded with reports that North Korean posters were scattered in the streets of Yeouido as early as Monday night.
The flyers contained messages criticizing South Korean President Park Geun-hye and her policies on the North. One flyer said: “Park Geun-hye is the maid of the U.S. and a war maniac.
“(What we want is) Conversation, not battle. (What we want is) Trust, not distrust. (What we want is) Holding talks between the military authorities of North and South Korea.” [Korea Times]
