Buan Riots Out of Control / Koreans attacked in Iraq / Michael Jackson
Buan Riots Out Of Control
Back in the day, Koreans knew how to demonstrate. In the late 80s and early 90s, Korea was at the tail-end of a string of military dictator presidents. Anti-government and pro-democracy demonstrations were weekly, if not daily events.
Travel by citizens was more restricted and regulated than it is now. Even into the early 90s intra and inter city buses would be stopped routinely and boarded by armed soldieirs who would check the identification of persons on board the bus to check for spies, military draft dodgers, and wanted student activists.
Labor problems were much more serious than they are now. The Hyundai car makers’ demonstrations of 1987 and 1988 are legendary in Korea. A joint labor-student activist demonstration in 1990 was an amazing spectacle to see first hand.
In short, people back then had much more to be unhappy about. They had much more to demonstrate about. And demonstrate they did. Huge quantities of firebombswere thrown, sidewalks were broken up and thrown, pvc pipes were swung, concentrated tear gas was absolutely everywhere and thrown in small round canisters, long cylindrical canisters, shot out of modified rifles, and blasted out of large vans that could fire hundreds of canisters per minute.
Despite the ubiquitous demonstrations, there were relativey very few injuries. Sure, there would be an occasional student with a cracked head or a riot policeman with a bloody face. But generally, despite all of the fire, noise, smells, and action, demonstrations were quite safe.
Demonstrations were carried out like a very well rehearsed ballet. Demonstrators would contact the local police and advise where and when the demonstration would be. The demonstrators would make a big production out of the preparations by having songs, dances, skits, effigy burnings, etc. The demonstrators would then walk to the demonstration site where the police were already waiting. The two sides would stand and stare at each other in silence. The chants would start and the leaders of Chondaehyop (the student activist group of the time) would move to the front, light their fire bombs and launch the first salvo. The police would chase them back and fire a few tear gas rounds. Students would regroup and drive the police back. The demonstration would continue in the back and forth manner for the predetermined length of time. The demonstrators and the police would then suddenly stop what they were doing, pack up, and leave.
Pictures from a 1991 Demonstration at Pusan National University
There were many unwritten rules of demonstrating that were developed to prevent physical and structural damage such as no riot cops on campuses, no throwing firebombs at buildings of vehicles, no headshots, etc. The student demonstrators would demonstrate for a year or so and then, to avoid serious military service, many would sign up to be riot police. After their service, they would go back to demonstrating. The police were the students and the students were the police. In essence, they were on the same team and just going through the required motions to get their views across and make their respective points.
The situation is different today. I believe it is because real demonstrations have been absent from the scene for so long that both sides have forgotten how to act. The art of the demonstration has been lost.
When I first arrived in Korea in 1988, it was clear that, except for the most serious of demonstrations, the police were not the target of the demonstrations, they simply stood symbolically in the place of the government while the students or laborers made a show of protesting against the symbolic government. no one really wanted to hurt anyone else.
Now, however, it is clear that the policemen themselves are the targets of the demonstrators. The symbolism is gone. Now the police are the government, not merely a symbol of the government. The laborers, farmers and students have forgotten that. The younger demonstrators have no memory of or frame of reference for the old style demonstrations.
Similary the riot policemen who were once trained by old hands at handling demonstrations are now being taught by people who have not experienced anything like this. The new experiences with demonstrations breed fear and anger in the young policemen, and fear and anger breed violence. The final result is that the police no longer seem interested in diffusing the violence, but rather are inclined to meet violence with equal or greater violence.
Compare the photographs above of a pro-democracy demonstration in 1991, with a riot of a couple of days ago over a nuclear waste site from Kevin’s site at IA. It is simply appaling what is happening now.
Perhaps I am oversimplifying the situation or being a bit naive, but back in 1991, only 10 years removed from the horrors of the Kwangju Massacre, when the country was still being run by a dictatorial military regime, demonstrations did not get out of hand like this. People knew what the government was capable of if they were pushed too far.
Now, in the day when bribery and corruption is the order of the day, when basic laws are not being enforced, when the government refuses to stand up to anyone or anything, when the government continuously shows the utter lack of resolve to stop talking about solutions and actually do something about the problems, the people have lost all respect and fear of Government, Law, and the things that they represent.
From the pampering of snot-nosed, bratty little children, refusing to set any limits or boundaries on kids, and the failure to demand respect for elders and authority all the way to the big corporate and goverment scandals, Korea has created an entire society that believes that they are entitled to do whatever they want whenever they want to do it.
This country and its citizens that fought so long and so hard for "democracy" have distorted and perverted democracy from a majority rule system to a system where some guy and a bunch of his friends with pipes and firebombs are the decision makers. Those people are trying to do exactly what they and their parents hated about the old dictators did; rule according to their desires, and laws and broad public opinion be damned.
Although Kevin at IA gave a great commentary on the Buan riots, I also have a few things to say about the points raised in the Joongang Ilbo article.
Authorities sent 8,000 riot police yesterday to this southwestern city
There are only about 60,000 people in the entire area. That is 1 bored, nervous, hair-trigger riot policekid for every 8 or so for every civilian. I cannot think of a bigger powder Keg than this in recent Korean history.
I have said that before there are two ways to foil a riot. One is for the copts not to show up. Who would the people fight with then? Simply don’t show up. The other is to shoot the first person that throws a rock, firebomb or whatever and then ask who wants to throw the next one. You keep taking people out until they get the message.
While the first way would be interest to see in practice, the second one has been know to be very effective. Just ask China.
Of course, the golden path lies somewhere in the middle and can be reached by rational discussion and proper democratic procedures. However, both sides of the Buan riots seem to have progressed beyond that point and have dug in their heels. People resist the government crackdown, so the police crack down harder, which causes the people to dig in their heels stronger. And a rediculous cycle is created. This is the same cycle we see in the supermarket where the mother is swatting her crying child and telling the child that she will keep spanking him hard until he stops crying.
Early yeaterday morning, a mob destroyed a community center, gutted government emergency vehicles and attacked ambulances carrying injured police from the scene of the violence. Police said yesterday they were bracing for more attacks.
Who the hell do these people think they are? What purpose did destroying a community center serve, other than to make sure that you will have no community center. Destroying emergency vehicles and attacking ambulances carrying injured police? That is simply unspeakable. Sometimes the English language can be so insufficient to describe something. This is one of those times. Evil, depraved, cruel, barbaric. These words don’t begin to describe this behavior.
protesters threw hundreds of Molotov cocktails, wielded steel bars, scythes and iron chains. The demonstrators set fire to gas containers, which then exploded.
Scythes??? Steel bars, iron chains, firebombs??? Scythes? SCYTHES???? Can you imagine what would happen in someone in the USA attacked a policeman with any one of those items?
"Hey, Copper, how do you like my scythe? Want a piece of this?"
Swing. Swing. Slash. Slash. *BANG*!
This kind of garbage should not happen in an allegedly first-world country where the last president won the nobel peace prize. This is obscene. To quote Charlton Heston in Planet of the Apes, "This is a mad house! A MAD HOUSE!!!"
According to police, Park Yong-sik, a 21-year old police officer, was hit in the eye with a firebomb and may have been permanently blinded.
What can I say to that? When is burning petroleum splashed in the eyes of an innocent young policeman ever acceptable. For the love of God, stop this! How do you look your kids in they eye and say, "Yup! We had a big riot about a waste dump back in ‘03. I threw a firebomb in a kids eye. Hey! Don’t blame me. It was the government’s fault. The little bastard deserved it."
He was sent to a nearby hospital but administrators there turned him away, fearing a possible attack by residents, police said.
That hospital should be shut down. The administrator should have his license revoked and should be jailed. Utterly shameful. Unfortunately, his fears appeard to be well-founded.
While Mr. Park was being sent to another hospital by ambulance, angry protesters stopped the vehicle, broke into it and repeatedly hit the four officers inside, including Mr. Park.
Is that what the people in Kwangju died for? Is that what decades of pro-democracy struggle was for? So you cretins can stop emergency vehicles and repeatedly punch a 21 year-old blind kid with a badly burned face?
Over the last two months, there was a lull when government officials and residents agreed to hold a referendum on building the facility. On Monday they failed to reach an agreement on a timetable.
You rioted because you couldn’t agree on a damned timetable? Well, at least is was something serious enough to warrant injuring 100 people.
The police yesterday announced that they would thoroughly punish the protesters who used violence.
Tell that to the blind, burned kid. I’m sure he will appreciate it.
What was the government response to this murderous lawlessness?
President Roh Demands Buan Citizens Calm Down
WHAT????? What the…???? What kind of response is THAT???
President Roh Moo-hyun repeated his warnings Friday to protesters who are against the construction of a nuclear waste dump in their county, saying they will have to calm down first before there is any dialogue, following a violent rally Wednesday.
News Flash: President Roh, IT DOESN’T LOOK LIKE THEY WANT DIALOG!!!!
"The goal right now is to restore order, and then begin persuading the people," Roh said.
Well, what else can you do, Mr. President? You’ve already told them to calm down.
"We can’t hold a vote in an atmosphere as it is now," said Roh.
Who let the atmosphere get like this? This one is on you Mr. President. If this was any other country, I would say that it looks like a government that is on the brink of collapse and lawlessness sweeps across the country. I don’t know what will happen here but it doesn’t look good right now.
BREAKING NEWS - TOP STORY
ATTACK ON KOREAN DELEGATION HOTEL IN IRAQ!
(URGENT) South Koreans-Iraq attack
A hotel in Iraq where South Korean fact-finding mission is staying is attacked.
IN OTHER NEWS…
KOREA CONDEMNS TERRORIST ATTACKS IN TURKEY
South Korea has officially condemned the terror attacks in Turkey:
"The Government of the Republic of Korea strongly condemns the recent terrorist attacks, a crime against humanity," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Shin Bong-kil in a statement.
Gee. Thanks for condemning the attacks. However, it appears that Korea is not yet willing to send any troops or assistance to the area to actually do anything about terror in the region.
I wonder if Pres. Roh will issue a statement telling the terrorist to first calm down before Korea sends troops. After all, he is getting tough with the violent types.
Anti-US Crusader Suicides
A 34-year-old man run over by a subway train died Thursday night, apparently after intentionally laying himself on the tracks near a station in Uijeongbu, north of Seoul, police said Friday.
The man, identified as Je Jong-chol, was a chief member of an activist group demanding justice for the accidental deaths of two teenage girls run over by a U.S. military vehicle last year.
KIM JONG-IL - "Guardian of the Planet"
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Yonhap reports that we have a new protector:
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This seemed inevitable, given that he is fully equipped for the job. From January 2003 issue of The Onion not available online (unfortunately, the picture is no longer available):
PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA
Responding to mounting pressure and increasingly confrontational rhetoric from
the outside world, North Korean president Kim Jong Il unfolded into a 70-foot-
tall, 62-ton giant robot Monday.‘If we add Kim Jong Il’s transformation into a giant robot to his already defiant isolationist stance and his country’s known nuclear capability, the diplomatic terrain definitely becomes more rocky,’ U.S. envoy James Kelly said. ‘Kim has made it clear that, if sufficiently threatened, he will not hesitate to use nuclear weapons or his arm-mounted HyperBazooka.’
‘We are also forced to consider the possibility that Kim may attempt to robo-meld with other members of the Axis of Evil, forming a MegaMecha-Optima-Robosoldier. Kim would make a powerful right arm — or even a torso — for such a mechanism.’
What ya gonna do when they come for you? Bad Boys…
Weight: 120 lbs ???? A 5 foot 11 inch, 45 year-old, 120 lb. male? THAT is not good.
New stories posted in inverse order. Newest articles are on top. Oldest articles are on bottom.
Developing…
Donkey Stunned by Events
CNN reports that rockets were fired from a laucher being carried on a donkey cart. As for the condition of the donkey:
Shortly after the attacks, a multiple-rocket launcher, attached to a donkey cart, was found near the hotels with several unfired rockets spilled on the ground next to it. A shell-shocked and singed donkey shivered by the overturned cart.
Will PETA now join in and take up arms against the Iraqi insurgents?
"They Were Not Targeting Us"- Ministry of Foreign Affairs Official
In this update, an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that the Korean investigators were not the target of the attack. The official opined that the the attack was target on the floors where US military and Western businessmen are staying.
Hotel Identified as the Palestine Hotel
Yonhap reports that the hotel was the Palestine Hotel and that the three rockets struck the 8th,15th and 16th floor. The Korean delegation was on the 12th floor. An American businessman on the 16th floor was injured in the attack.
Business as Ususal for Investigators
In this update, Yonhap reports that the Korean investigators in Iraq will continue with their work as planned.
Missiles Were Old RPG-7 Rockets
Yonhap now reports that 3 RPG-7 rockets (earlier report said 5) were fired. The number of Koreans at the hotel was raised to 17. There were 10 delegation members, 2 assistants, and 5 embassy employees. The delegation is apparently moving to a more secure location. No word on whether they will remain in Iraq.
Korean Delegation Evacuating
Latest from Yonhap reports that the Korean investigators sent to assess the security situation is evacuating.
5 Missiles Fired at Hotel
According to an update, a total of 5 missiles were fired at a hotel where the 10 Koreans were staying along with a large number of reporters. All 10 members of the Korean investigation team are reported to be safe.