News Updates from October   2008-11-04 19:17

All eyes are now on the economy, in Korea as well as everywhere else. Even without the recent Wall Street mayhem, the South Korean Won has already suffered a massive depreciation this year; since February, the Won has lost 40% of its value against most of the world's major currencies. The stock market has also taken a big hit; the KOSPI index is now almost exactly half of what it was last year. And of course, we have our own version of housing bubble that's bound to burst any time. So unless Lee Myung-Bak's government can do something about the situation, its already tarnished reputation is likely only to go further down the drain. Especially since Lee's single most important campaign promise was a 7% annual growth rate.

Okay, we're all fed up with bad news about the economy, so I won't say anymore about it. Just in case you're really really interested in how the economy is looking in Korea right now, here's a nice article from The New York Times. "Lehman Brothers screwed Americans; Lee-Man Brothers (Lee Myung-Bak + Kang Man-Soo) are screwing Koreans!"

Back to the real stuff. As I reported in "Amnesty International Reports on Korea" and "Human Rights NGO's Are Getting Angry", international human rights watchdogs have been scrutinizing our situation very closely. Amnesty International, which has been investigating police violence in Korea since June, finally published its comprehensive report on October 6. The full text of AI's 50-page report can be found here. If you are at all interested in what's been happening in Korea, I strongly recommend that you check out this detailed report. It confirms as fact many episodes of police violence which the Korean government has been all too willing to dismiss as unfounded rumour; it contains lots of photographs and interviews to back up its findings; and last but not least, it outlines AI's own suggestions for curbing police violence. (For example, riot police should be readily identifiable either by name or ID number, so that legal action can be taken against them in the case of a mishap.) If only the National Police Agency would listen to a fraction of these suggestions!

Cover page of Amnesty International's most recent report on Korea.

Not only Amnesty International but other international organizations, such as the Asian Human Rights Commission, have repeatedly warned against Korean government policies aimed at suppressing dissent. Well, you don't even need to look overseas in order to obtain authoritative reports about how badly the Korean government has been behaving. Our very own National Human Rights Commission, which has a legal mandate to investigate violations of human rights in Korea, has also taken issue with the government's use of violence against protesters. But of course, Lee Myung-Bak's government doesn't give a damn about these reports. According to the President's Office, the NHRC's report is "grossly biased", and so are similar reports by international NGO's. Even the U.N. Human Rights Council recently requested an official explanation for what has happened since last May, and the Korean government stubbornly insists that it is not at fault. The one and only wrong that the government admits to is the trampling of a young woman by policemen on May 31, which nobody can deny thanks to the existence of video footages such as this.

When it comes to government policies, not much has changed since summer when hundreds of thousands of us were out there protesting against all sorts of undemocratic measures. Demonstrations, however, have significantly subsided since late August. The last major clash between protesters and riot police took place in the evening of August 30. That night, one of Agora's most prominent activists, a 48-year-old essay-writing teacher known in cyberspace by his nickname "Weary Window" (권태로운 창 gweontaeroun chang), was arrested while trying to stop the police from going after innocent bystanders. Since then, most protests against the government has had to assume rather atypical forms in order to escape prosecution.

On September 26, a group of people went to the top of several skyscrapers in downtown Seoul, where they threw fliers containing messages critical of the government.

Fliers fall from downtown buildings. Whoever planned this "demonstration" had enough sense of humor to include the news corporation Chosun Ilbo -- one of President Lee's most devoted supporters -- in their list of buildings to tackle.

Pedestrians pick up the fliers. The police was not able to remove the message before thousands of evening commuters could grab and read them.

The fliers of September 26 said, "WAKE UP, KOREA! Lee Myung-Bak, Be Gone!" and listed ten policies to which many people are strongly opposed. The fliers bore the name of "The National Council of Representatives for Democratic Citizens", who professed their goal as "the flourishing of true democracy in, and the removal of Lee Myung-Bak from, our homeland". So far as I'm aware of, the government has yet to identify who these "representatives" really are.

A few days afterward, on October 4, another cloud of fliers were sprayed from a tall building in Myungdong Shopping District. Though less spectacular than last time, this incident also served to raise awareness among the general public that the Free and Sovereign People of Korea are still alive and ready to fight. Back in the 70's and 80's, when it was often very difficult to openly criticize the dictatorship, dissidents would rely on fliers like these to convey their messages. It is a sad thing that this method should become necessary once again after all these years; but still, it is reassuring that some people are keeping up.

Fliers snow down on Myungdong.

However, not all the flier-throwers were lucky enough to escape prosecution. On October 9, a man booked a room in Koreana Hotel, owned by and located in the same building as the aforementioned Chosun Ilbo. The man broke the window of his suite and unrolled a large banner from the opening, while at the same time throwing thousands of fliers toward the busy street below. However, due to high winds, he had much trouble keeping his banner in place. The message was supposed to be critical of Chosun Ilbo's unabashed support of the oppressive government, but not many people could read it on time.

Shortly afterward, police arrived at the scene. The "vandal" was promptly arrested, and the fliers he threw were collected and disposed of.

Fliers in the dustbin, watched over by police officers.

On a smaller scale, however, peaceful protests haven't ceased at all. Every weekend throughout September and October, and sometimes even on weekdays, small groups of citizens continued to gather in Cheonggyecheon Plaza with candles in their hands. That's the same place where high-school students held their very first candlelight vigil on May 2, before the oft-criticized NGO's took over and moved to the larger Seoul Plaza. It is truly refreshing to find ordinary citizens with little candles again in this cozy little square. Yes, we're back where we started. As somebody in Agora proclaimed, this is "Candlelight Season Two".

Not only in Seoul but also in almost every major city across the country, local groups staged surprise demonstrations, handing out fliers and informing their fellow citizens about the impacts that Lee Myung-Bak's policies would have on their all-too-ordinary lives.

Small demonstration in Cheonggyecheon Plaza, October 11.

Where demonstrations were not feasible, small groups -- sometimes on their own, but often in cooperation with like-minded groups found on the internet -- produced posters and displayed them on sidewalks. According to the organizers (who usually post on Daum Agora about their activities), this method is particularly effective in raising awareness among college students and senior citizens: two groups that, in Korea, often have an aversion to out-and-out demonstrations.

Posters on display in Gwangju, October 18.

But of course, the government knows this, too. Poster-displayers in the Gangbuk district of Seoul found several plain-clothed police officers lurking around in the corner:

Police officers gathered in a corner, October 8~9.

According to members of the local group that organized the presentation that day, officers would constantly nag at them, refusing to identify themselves but threatening to arrest the poster-displayers for obscure crimes. Fortunately, members of the local group had enough knowledge of law (thanks to Daum Agora!) to disregard these empty threats; but the problem, of course, is that those in power often bend the law whenever it is convenient for them to do so.

Still, we have some good news. Several citizens who were arrested during demonstrations, including "Weary Window" who had been dearly missed by many, were released in mid-October after a forthright judge found no reason to keep them imprisoned. Many others who were fined for participating in allegedly illegal assemblies were also cleared of all charges. Best of all, the Law on Assembly and Demonstration, which Lee's administration has been using as an excuse to suppress all anti-government demonstrations, is now under review by the Constitutional Court at the request of a conscientious district judge. If that law were to be declared unconstitutional, Lee Myung-Bak and his police forces are going to have a lot of problem! Unlike the legislature which is totally controlled by Lee's Hannara Party, the judiciary in Korea still seems to enjoy a fair amount of independence.

This trend had better continue, because the government is cooking up all sorts of ridiculous laws to discourage protesting. If President Lee has his way, it will soon be illegal to cover one's face during a demonstration. Why? Because the police wants to photograph everyone and arrest them at home afterwards! Also, the fine for participating in "illegal" demonstrations could soon become as high as 20 million won ($20,000); and in order to make the penalty even heavier, Hannara party is considering a bill that would allow local businesses to file a class-action lawsuit against citizens whose demonstrations have a negative impact on sales. Oh, and to top it off, the City of Seoul is going to designate a few parks away from downtown as "demonstration zones". Basically, if you demonstrate there, the police will leave you alone; but of course, nobody ever goes there except to demonstrate, so you voice will never be heard. A clever proposal! But too bad for them, we know better than to take that bait.

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