Peace Continues   2008-07-04 00:56

For four evenings now, we have been demonstrating peacefully. And everyone is enjoying the newfound air of nonviolence. The government still doesn't allow us anywhere within a kilometer of the Blue House; but the Catholic, Protestant, and Buddhist leaders who have been guiding this week's protests have convinced many of us that peace should be at the top of our priorities. Accordingly, most People have been rallying along routes away from the police barricade. Of course, not everybody is convinced that we should stop trying to get to the Blue House for the time being. But the predominant sentiment is that there will be a better time to risk harm in trying to get there.

Below are some photographs from last night's rally, led by hundreds of Protestant pastors and elders from churches all over Seoul and elsewhere:

And more pictures from the night before, when over 10,000 gathered despite heavy rain to attend the Catholic service and demonstration:

If you expected anything like the religious fervor found in conservative American rallies, you were wrong. Christianity in South Korea owes a lot to the U.S., so there are times when Korean Christians display a similar form of intolerance. But this week is not one of those times; humility would be the best word to describe the attitude of religious leaders who arrived in Seoul Plaza. Protestant pastors, in particular, began by apologizing to the People and repenting before God for condoning the injustices of Lee Myung-Bak's government for too long. As we reported on June 15, many Protestants in South Korea have been indiscriminately supporting President Lee because Lee calls himself a Protestant; and it's been rather difficult for the majority of younger clerics -- not to mention the average churchgoer -- to disagree with the elders. But Protestants are finally waking up to the political reality, and the more concerned among them are actively trying to cleanse their tarnished reputation. We welcome this move wholeheartedly, though there are also a fair number of People who would not give their trust so quickly.

The government's attempts to mislead the People, on the other hand, continue as usual. Yesterday, several major newspapers and TV stations reported that U.S. beef was selling like crazy. This news, of course, was meant to convince the agnostic that there are lots of Koreans who just aren't concerned about the food safety issues we're protesting about. However, just a little bit of investigation by our trusty folks in Daum Agora revealed that the news was completely false. The only store currently selling the beef in question is the one owned and operated by the chairman of an association of meat importers. 85 tons of beef passed quarantine yesterday, but only 200 kilograms (less than 0.3%) was sold. The news report identified Samlip Church in Shinchon, which allegedly purchased 35 kilograms of beef in preparation for some event, as the largest buyer. But there is no such church in Shinchon, nor anywhere else in Seoul. (Actually, Samlip is the name of a food processing company.) Finally, the reporters interviewed the owner of a meat shop who said that there was a lot of demand for her products, but it was quickly discovered that she didn't own a meat shop at all; in fact, she was the CEO of a major meat importer. Now, the government has recently sued (or threatened to sue) a number of anti-government media for "propagating falsity". Is there anyone who is brave enough to prosecute pro-government newspapers and TV stations for this lame lie? Honestly, who would like to buy U.S. beef now, when hundreds of tons of beef is being recalled in the U.S. for bacterial infection and other problems?

Online censorship is also at its all-time highest. As you would probably know if you have been following this blog, Daum Agora, an Internet discussion channel, has been playing a tremendous role in raising awareness and tracking down the government's lies. Tens of thousands of "serious web surfers" get together in Agora to discuss all sorts of things. Even now when trolls employed by pro-government groups are trying to paralize the normal operation of the forums, Daum Agora remains the mecca of online protests and consumer activism. Because of this prominence, "Are you a member of Daum Agora?" is one of the standard questions asked of anyone arrested for protesting lately; and as early as June 6, there were signs of government pressure on Daum Communications, Inc., a major web portal that maintains Agora, to censor the posts.

A couple of days ago, Seok Jong-Hoon, CEO of Daum, was invited to the Blue House. The picture above shows Mr. Seok (left) shaking hands with President Lee (right). The official reason for his invitation was that he helped the economy of rural Jeju by setting up business there. To be sure, several other businessmen were invited at the same time, all of whom have "contributed to the balanced development of the country" by building successful enterprises outside of Seoul and surrounding areas. Now, we don't question the official explanation; the invitation had been planned since April. What many of us are concerned about is, however: what else was discussed in Seok's meeting with the President? On the day the meeting took place, Daum Communications, Inc. was ordered to delete certain posts related to the recent boycott of pro-government newspapers. On the same day, the "Most Popular" section of Daum Agora stopped getting updated; and instead was filled with politically neutral, largely off-the-topic issues. There is only one word to describe what's going on: censorship.

But the Korean People are no longer stupid enough to be tricked into believing whatever they see on the news. Many of us now know censorship when we see one. "Netizens" (Internet-savvy citizens) are quickly moving onto other discussion channels with less censorship. Agorian.kr is operated by a private citizen and supported by donations. Anyone can post on its forums or join its IRC channel without revealing his/her identity. (By contrast, one has to provide proper identification in order to join Daum Agora -- which has the potential to be used as a means of government control and prosecution.) In addition, a number of citizens are concerned about the (very real) possibility of a raid on Agorian.kr's servers, so a move to a foreign website is also being discussed. No government can control the free flow of opinion and other information on the Internet, if Lee Myung-Bak's anachronistic government didn't know it. Even something as hideous as China's Great Firewall can be breached with the clever use of proxies such as Tor; who knows what Koreans can do with all their high-speed connections?

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