In the beginning...

(Note - I will get around to posting the sequel to this soon, and yes Joe, I do have something more humorous to post in the near future...)

In this article (linked to by a commenter in this Korea Beat post), the writer looks at the numbers and compares chances of death from BSE-contaminated beef with the CSAT:

In November 2007, 600,000 students took the CSAT. Of them, one student committed suicide right after taking the test on November 15 by jumping from his apartment building, and twin sisters in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province did the same in December after receiving their test scores, according to the JoongAng Daily (December 11).

Thus, at least three deaths out of 200,000 died as a direct result of the CSAT. Given Korea's population of 48 million, we can infer a comparative figure of 240 deaths from the CSAT compared to less than one from BSE-contaminated beef (assuming a link with Creutzfeldt-Jakob in the first place).

The figure may be far higher as 764 students committed suicide between 2000 to 2006, according to MoE statistics (Daily Surprise, Jan 5, 2008, Internet). Of course, these students unfortunately end their lives for a variety of reasons, from bullying to humiliation by teachers to economic distress.

Nonetheless, the CSAT remains a far greater killer of Korean children than mad cows. Where are their candlelight vigils?

Well, there have been candlelight vigils for them, actually. I looked at the story of the twins who comitted suicide in Changwon several months ago, where I posted the photo below of a protest against the suneung (CSAT) in Daehangno after a girl in Namwon killed herself on November 5, 2003.


Of course, parents have held candlelight vigils as well - praying for their children's success before the test.

Parents praying at Bongeun Temple on November 10, 2007.

There have been larger candlelight protests, however. Heemang 21 (21세기 청소년공동체 희망, or '21st century youth community hope') organized this candlelit rally, in May, 2005, which criticized the education system and the pressures which cause students to kill themselves. The vigil itself was for those students who had died.



A Hankyoreh article about the vigil before it took place is here (which, unsurprisingly, tries to tie it to protests against the US military). The Hankyoreh also has an English editorial here:

The "Remembrance Event for Students Sacrificed for School Education" was attended by hundreds of students and regular citizens over the weekend without any major mishap. The reason there were fewer participants than had been anticipated was likely because the authorities had threatened disciplinary action and because teachers were mobilized and sent to the protest site to pressure people from attending. The thousands of police who surrounded the area with an intense presence also contributed to the low turnout. It was a perfect demonstration of the authoritarian and oppressive atmosphere in our society, since the free expression of opinion was labeled "collective action" and blocked.

What's interesting is that, according to some sleuthing R.Elgin did over at the Marmot's Hole, the website michincow.net, which I looked at here, was registered on April 28 this year, and its Domain Name Server is heemang21.net. This is the same group mentioned above - '21st century youth community hope' - that organized the protests against the education system in 2005.

What's interesting is that if you look at this article (linked to by Sonagi in this Marmot's Hole post), you'll see photos of a December 6, 2006 protest against the importation of US beef. In 2006, Korea began importing (boneless) beef for the first time since 2003, but sent back shipment after shipment because bone fragments were found in them. As can be seen below, people are holding the same mad cow posters seen at michincow.net these days.

December 2006

May 2008

This would seem to suggest that these images predates michincow.net, but though the site may have been registered on April 28, 2008, looking at the message boards on the website reveals that messages were posted there between November 15, 2006 and March 5, 2007 before the dates jump to April 28 of this year. It may be possible that this website had something to do with the December 2006 protest we see above. To be sure, two days after the website started again, messages announcing the first two candlelight vigils (May 2 and May 3) were posted there.

Police officials declared the candlelight vigils to be illegal on May 5. Referring to the first vigil on May 2,

"The event was registered as a cultural event but it was in fact a political gathering overflowing with agitation and agitating slogans,” said a Seoul Police Agency official. “It also dispersed at 10 p.m. instead of the 9 p.m. time it was registered for. We are already working on how to prosecute the organizers, since that much looks unavoidable,” he said.

Approximately ten thousand people gathered at Cheonggyecheon Plaza on May 2 and 3 and shouted slogans protesting the decision to allow imports of American beef and calling for the impeachment of President Lee Myung-bak. Similar protests took place in Busan, Gwangju, Incheon, Daegu, and other provincial cities. They were largely organized online, and those involved say there are going to be another round of protests on May 6 and 9.

The article above says the "event was registered as a cultural event," but another article says it's not necessary to register such events:

Civic groups and online communities have held rallies in downtown Seoul and in major cities nationwide since May 2. They did not report the gatherings to the police, claiming they were cultural events, which can be held at any time without prior reporting or permission according to the law.

The obvious question then is: who organized the first rally(s)? I looked around on naver for more information and discovered this poster:

(Click to enlarge)

In the square at the top it says LMB Tanhaek Tujaeng Yeondae, or "Lee Myung Bak impeachment struggle solidarity", which is also known as (see the black text at the bottom), the "National headquarters for the movement to impeach Lee Myung-bak", whose website can be found here (the antimb daum cafe) or at www.antilmb.com. A look at the message board at this daum cafe shows that it began on December 19, 2007 - the day of the presidential election. The dot com site was registered the next day. While it should be pretty clear those running the cafe were rather opposed to Lee (or his policies), there may be other reasons for this timing.

The mainstream conservative media in Korea and in the U.S. originally applauded Lee's election claiming that he had won by an unprecedented margin. They left out the fact that a relatively small percentage of the population voted in the election. Also most media failed to mention that though netizens and the Internet had played a signficant role in the previous presidential election in South Korea in 2002, the online community had been excluded from the 2007 election. A new addition to the election law had been put in place for the 2007 Presidential campaign and election which led to the censorship of much of the netizen participation.

Over [extern] 65,000 online comments by netizens relating to the election were removed from the Internet and over 1000 netizens received summons to report to the police. According to the organization People in Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD), even some netizens in Japan and the U.S. were told to report to the police in South Korea because of their posts on Korean Internet sites.

The imposition of such censorship with its arbitrary enforcement and penalties, left many netizens unable to discuss the election. After the election, however, when it again became possible to discuss political issues, netizens in Korea took up to actively discuss the nature of democracy and the importance of having government officials who are the servants not the masters of the citizens.

I'd tend to think that a cafe dedicated to impeaching a man who had only just been elected would not fall under the discussion of "the nature of democracy".

An interview with one of the cafe's administrators, Han Byeong-sang (45), reveals him to be a former member of Uri Party and later the Changjo Hanguk Dang (Korea Renewal Party), the party formed in October last year under which Mun Guk-hyeon ran for president. I'm quite certain "member" means an organizer or 'card carrying member', not someone running for office. He quit the party after the election, he said, so that he would not be seen as running the website for political reasons. He also says that he is shocked that people would think he just started the site to take advantage of the mad cow scare, that it's been around for months, and that it has issues other than mad cow that it thinks are important. He also states that 14 of the administrators at the site are members of the Korea Renewal Party or other parties.

As the wikipedia entry on the National headquarters for the movement to impeach Lee Myung-bak notes, they've been organizing vigils or 'publicity protests' for months to draw attention to the negative side of Lee's policies and call for his impeachment. It should be noted that the well-known petition to impeach Lee Myung-bak was first posted on April 6, before Lee's trip overseas to Japan and the US. No mention of the petition turned up on the message board at the antimb cafe in the days after the petition was posted on Daum, suggesting the cafe members were unaware of it for several days, if not longer. They may not have had anything to do with the petition, but they were busy propagandizing in other ways: Here's a video on youtube put up in their name on March 30. On April 5 and 6, they held rallies in Myeongdong and by Tapgol Park.

On April 26 they held a rally at Cheonggyecheon Plaza. This site displays the poster seen below, as well as prophetically (as it turns out) surmising that each rally might bring out 10 times more people.


The poster complains of things like 'disgraceful diplomacy' and mad cow (the announcement that US beef would be imported came on April 18), though the picture depicts Lee in Japan. A post by one of the top administrators at the antimb cafe describes the rally's program as "Reject the second colony." It seems that 'mad cow' is just one of several complaints the group had. This article says that only 200 showed up for the April 26 protest at Cheonggyecheon. This site has many, many photos of the event:



More than 200 would show up at the next protest 6 days later, on May 2:

(from here)

Why the difference? The antimb cafe planned for its weekly rally (to be held on May 3) after their April 26 rally. Prior to the April 26 rally, farmer advocates had held rallies against US beef, such as one on April 21 near the Blue House. The national association of beef farmers had a protest in front of the Gwacheon government buildings on April 24 in which 7000 people participated, while a small protest near the Blue house regarding school lunches took place on April 29, where they announced that another rally would take place the next day in front of the Sejong Cultural Center. Most of the protests seemed to be fairly small (other than the one in Gwacheon). In other words, the public wasn't really so interested in the farmers, or at least, not interested enough to join their protests.

A look at the photos of the last two protests turns up none of the michincow.net images seen in December 2006 and at the protests on May 2. Michincow.net restarted on April 28, and its iconic image of the mad cow and the parodies seemed to catch on with a younger generation.

Things really took off when PD Diary's April 29 episode looked at the threat mad cow disease could pose to Koreans when US beef imports began again. On the antimb message board, the show was talked about with anticipation before it was broadcast. One member, "Keureijui (crazy)", wrote after seeing it, "Ahssa! MBC!! Mansei... now the news is showing it too." Another member wrote that after PD Diary ended MBC News had also reported on mad cow disease. A few posts later, likely in the early hours of April 30 after the PD Diary broadcast, it was announced that on May 2 from 7-10pm a candlelight vigil would take place at Cheonggye Plaza. I would imagine that other websites contributed to the vigil, but the antimb cafe members took it upon themselves to organize it and release posters with the cafe's name on them.


Of course, there was more than just PD Diary's broadcast that was influencing people and led so many to join the vigil on May 2. That day, the Chosun Ilbo described the aftermath of the broadcast in an article titled "Going Overboard with Mad Cow Scare":

After the program aired, photographs parodying the government's opening of Korea to American beef were posted on the Internet, with titles like "crazy cow" or "the government's policy of genocide has begun." Comments posted on the Internet by a television actress, saying it would be better to drink acid than eat American beef, were also widely viewed.

Another Chosun Ilbo article from that day continued:

The impending resumption of imports of U.S. beef has spawned a proliferation of rumors on the Internet about the perils of mad cow disease, amplifying confusion and fears among consumers.

The personal blog of President Lee Myung-bak, who promised that resuming import of U.S. beef will bring high-quality and low-priced beef to the table, has been virtually shut down by Internet users who bombarded it with messages protesting against the decision.

Even madly unscientific rumors like, “Jelly, cookies, a broiled dish of sliced rice pasta and pizza will cause mad cow disease,” or, “Cosmetic products, sanitary napkins, and diapers are also risky because parts of cattle are used in production,” exhorting consumers to hoard such items before the imports, are spreading on the Internet.

Some radical critics of the import of U.S. beef are taking this issue politically further still, organizing an online petition to impeach the president. As of 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, 418,000 people have signed the petition on Daum, one of the largest Internet portal sites in Korea.

That article is way off in its appraisal of the petition, which was started April 6, almost two weeks before the announcement that US beef would be allowed back into Korea. Still, its useful for dating the appearance of the internet rumors regarding mad cow disease, which seem to have come in the wake of the PD Diary episode.

One of my adult students in his early twenties told me about the appearance of these rumors on nate.com. On the message boards there, comments on posted messages can be rated. Those comments that are clicked several times with a good rating rise to the top, and can be seen right at the bottom of the original message. Comments with 5 or more negative ratings sink out of sight. It was by abusing this that commenters were able to leave these rumors (he gave the example of sanitary napkins being said to spread mad cow disease) on messages on many sites, making it clear that the messages were being spread deliberately. Even messages that had nothing to do with politics, messages dealing with personal problems, advice columns, sports boards, etc, were 'infected', so to speak by the virtual mad cow virus.

Or to use another metaphor, PD Diary set the fire, the rumors posted on popular sites all over the internet fanned the flames, and the candlelight vigils, also organized by online communities like the antimb cafe (and provided with a visual brand image by sites like michincow.net) provided a solution, an outlet for the mix of exaggerated fear and legitimate concern being stirred up - for the people, that is. For members of these sites, especially the antimb cafe - aka the National headquarters for the movement to impeach Lee Myung-bak - the rumors and fears provided them with the means to take to the streets and occupy public space in the time honored way. Occupying and closing down cyberspace like the president's website is not enough, at least not yet.

Speaking of "the mad cow brand," a group of students can be seen holding michincow.net signs at the May 2 rally.

As I've mentioned, Gord Sellar was also there for the first rallies on May 2 and 3 and took photos. As I've mentioned before, the Donga Ilbo wrote that

Among the protesters at Saturday [May 3]’s candlelight vigil against the resumption of U.S. beef imports, 70 to 80 percent were middle and high school students.

Feel free to look through the photo gallery at the bottom of this Donga Ilbo article from May 3, and see if it's actually "70 to 80 percent" students. This Donga Ilbo article from May 5 is rather interesting:

The Korea Alliance for Progressive Movement posted a guideline for the “fight against mad cow disease” on its homepage Sunday. The guideline said, “Let us roll up our sleeves to help more people express their anger. Let us plan candlelight vigils in all regions of the nation.”

“Let us organize emergency meetings in every region and publicize unified public action guidelines.” The group said it will “declare war” after holding an emergency meeting in Seoul [tomorrow] afternoon and hold a vigil at Seoul Cheonggye Plaza at 7 p.m. every day.

The alliance is comprised of 37 groups including the Korea Farmers’ League; the progressive Democratic Labor Party; the Korea Federation of University Student Councils; Institute for Research in Collaborationist Activities; and the Pan-Korean Alliance for Unification.

An event to “nullify the import of mad cow disease” in downtown Seoul Saturday was organized by the Mad Cow Disease Public Supervisors under the Korea Alliance Against the Korea-U.S. FTA, led by the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy.

A television program was also aired on the danger of mad cow disease on the group’s homepage. Viewers were also encouraged to cut and paste video clips showing cows and people infected with the disease and Mp3 song files to other sites. Groups are also urging each person to relay text messages to 10 people to participate in the vigils and post ads on blogs and bulletin boards.

I like the phrase, "help more people express their anger." Who knew that civic groups were actually anger management organizations? Since the Donga Ilbo (and the Chosun and Joongang) were reporting on the internet rumors the same day, The sentence "Groups are also urging each person to relay text messages to 10 people to participate in the vigils and post ads on blogs and bulletin boards," seems to be rather convenient, especially since as time passed it has never been made clear where these messages came from. The Donga Ilbo may well be right, but I'm leery of trusting that remark without some evidence.

What really hit me when reading that article above was that it sounded like the civic groups were scrambling to organize after the May 3 rally: "Let us organize emergency meetings in every region" sounds rather improvisational, and saying that the "Mad Cow Disease Public Supervisors under the Korea Alliance Against the Korea-U.S. FTA" (and PSPD) organized the May 3 rally seems off, considering the rally had been planned on the antimb cafe a week before (though they didn't expect many to show up). It seems more likely that the May 2 rally was a bit of a surprise, and that these groups joined in and rushed to add more to the next rally on May 3 (like a stage and sound system). Note that in this May 5 article, 37 groups are a part of the alliance. On May 7, the Joongang Ilbo reported that

Meanwhile, several protests opposing the beef deal broke out across the country yesterday, while some 1,500 civic groups formed a joint council to organize additional candle-light vigils and demonstrations on May 9 and 16.

It would soon become 1700 groups as vigils were organized throughout the country. After the internet-organized May 2 candlelight vigil, mainly organized by an online community dedicated to impeaching Lee Myung-bak, was successful, other groups and political parties throughout the nation began to pile on, causing the protest numbers to swell. The mad cow ghost stories and text messaging by students brought lots of students into the streets, but their participation was exaggerated by right wing media wanting to discredit the rallies, and by left wing media wanting to believe the youth were rising like it was April 1960 again.

The process described above sounds somewhat similar to what happened in 2002. In a 2007 paper by Ronda Hauben entitled "Online Grassroots Journalism and Participatory Democracy in South Korea," she traced the 2002 candlelight protests back to a posting by an angered internet user who was known online as AngMA, and who posted on several web forums a call to go to Gwanghwamun carrying candles after the drivers of the military vehicle were acquitted. Of course, what led to that was months of organizing by anti-US military groups whose propaganda (spread on websites and in the media) convinced this user that a grave injustice had been done. Once thousands showed up to answer his call, these same groups piled on and tried to enlarge and direct the rallies, calling for the revision of SOFA.

I think its important to note that the organizers of the May 2 candlelight vigil were dedicated to impeaching Lee Myung-bak (or at least used that concept to denote their opposition to him), and used the fear of BSE tainted beef to draw people to their rallies before other groups joined. As Scott Burgeson has written,

in effect, US beef was used as a kind of stealth WMD by opponents of the newly installed Lee Myung-bak administration, in order to put a check on his various neoliberal policies (including privatization of numerous state companies and services).

The protesters have wrung numerous concessions from the president, such as canceling the canal, and canceling the privatization of many companies, as well as preventing the shipping of beef older than 30 months to Korea. The protests continue, with fewer attending, despite such concessions, and photos like this are likely not going to make the public very supportive of the remaining protesters.

Magok Station Opens

Magok Station opened last Friday. Known as the 'ghost station,' it is 2 stops before Gimpo airport and was open for a few months when Line 5 first opened in 1996, but soon closed because it's in the middle of farmland. These days it's still in the middle of farmland, but this new development led to the construction of a new road which connects to Gonghangno near Magok Station, so the station has been re-opened after 12 years. I've looked at the opening of Line 5 before, and photos of Magok Station's construction can be seen here. Here's what its single entrance looked like last summer:


Here it is yesterday:


This skylight has always been there, but I never noticed it because it used to be surrounded by buildings which suddenly disappeared and no trace of them can be found. Weird.


Here's what the entrance looked like a month ago. The roof structure had been removed.


Here it is today:


They spruced it up quite a bit. Before they started renovating it, you could go down the steps and peer through the shuttered entrance, like I did last summer:


What was interesting was that, as it hadn't been used since 1996, 4 years before the new Romanization system was put in place, the sign above uses the old Romanization and writes 'Panghwa' with a 'p'. That's been corrected:


If you notice all the columns in the older photo, you can tell that temporary walls have been put in place. I'd imagine new entrances will be built before too long.

A maintainance worker I used to teach said he had to come here every night to check on the station, and that two people had killed themselves there (presumably by walking through the tunnel to get there). He said it was a bit spooky at night.

I guess someone else had the same idea as I did.

PD Diary's tradition of ethical reporting

Update - Here is the Mad Cow Disease episode of PD Diary on Youtube (some screenshots have been added below):



Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6



PD Diary as been criticized lately for its US beef report which set off fears of mad cow disease here. First, there was its faulty use of genetics:

In a thesis published in a foreign scientific journal in 2004, Kim said 94.3 percent of Koreans carried a gene called MM (methionine-methionine). That’s a much higher ratio than the 37 to 38 percent of Americans or Britons who carry that gene. Until now, all 207 humans around the world who have contracted CJD are said to possess the MM gene. Based on this, the MBC news program “PD Diary” broadcast a segment saying Koreans were two to three times more likely to contract CJD than Americans or Britons.

"Cow with Mad Cow Disease"

Then there was its use of images of downer cows, which did not have mad cow disease, along with another claim that it was told to apologize for:

The MBC news program “PD Diary”, which broadcast the report on mad cow disease showing a staggering cow being dragged into a slaughterhouse and an American woman in her 20s said to have died from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease -- the human form of the bovine disease -- has been ordered by the Press Arbitration Commission to air a statement saying the two key points made by the program are untrue.

The claim about the woman who died from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease was also problematic:

"PD Diary" allotted 14 minutes of airtime reporting on the woman who died earlier this year, and carried an interview of her mother saying her daughter may have died from "CJD" (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease). The news program carried a translated subtitle of the mother's comments, which misquoted her as saying the probable cause of her daughter's death was "vCJD". VCJD is a disease caused by eating beef from cattle infected by mad cow disease, while CJD is a disease that has nothing to do with cows. "PD Diary" portrayed a person who died of an illness completely unrelated to eating beef as having perished for just that reason.

The woman talking said, "The results had come in from the MRI and it appeared that our daughter could possibly have CJD." As can be seen above, PD Diary subtitled it "vCJD (Human Mad Cow Disease)." The photos of the victim in the hospital (just one of several victims shown to viewers) likely made a strong impact.



It has also been confirmed that this woman did not die from vCJD.

There is actually a section of the program that interviews people in the US who are critical of the system there, which might have been a worthwhile program if the show had compared it to Korea's system. Oh, and not lied about some of the strongest images in the show. It was likely the clip of a CNN report from earlier this year about downer cows being slaughtered and their meat sold and used in school lunches that provided the seed that would germinate into a fear that this kind of meat would end up in Korean students' school lunches.


With such blatantly wrong subtitles and lies, its surprising the government didn't try to combat it more at the time. Having missed its opportunity then, the government has decided to take action now:

The Ministry for Agriculture, Food, Forestry and Fisheries on Tuesday said it will file civil and criminal charges against the MBC current affairs program “PD Diary.”

Is there precedent for charging a broadcaster in Korea? I don't know, but there's certainly precedent for PD Diary's behaviour. The program may now be remembered for being right about Hwang Woo-suk, but there were some problems:

On Nov. 22, [2005] “PD Diary” aired its expose, including revelations that the junior researchers donated egg cells and women were paid for occyte donations. The “PD Diary” producers have reportedly commissioned an independent authority to check Hwang’s documentation.

[Later,] MBC's “PD Diary” said a researcher on Hwang’s team who took part in the somatic cloning of stem cells claimed the results published by Science in 2004 were a collection of falsehoods. [...] The geneticist’s side says “PD Diary” turned members of the team against one another and used hidden cameras in their efforts to dig up dirt on Hwang.

MBC would take its criticism of Hwang further:

[On] Thursday [December 1] on its Newsdesk program, Munhwa Broadcasting Co. reported that the producers of the documentary program “PD Notebook” had conducted DNA analyses on five cloned stem cells that they received from Dr. Hwang and that two of those cells did not have DNA matches with the original somatic cells. The news program reported that the DNA in the three others was “unreadable.”

Criticism mounted against MBC for taking on a national hero, and PD Diary was pulled off the air. It was announced on December 6 that

Korea’s broadcasting watchdog could punish MBC’s investigative program “PD Diary” over alleged strong-arm tactics in digging the dirt on cloning pioneer Hwang Woo-suk and his team.

MBC quickly responded:

Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation will suspend the producers of PD Notebook for violating journalistic ethics in the process of making a documentary questioning the authenticity of stem cell celebrity Hwang Woo-suk’s results.

Nothing like violating journalistic ethics in order to report on the ethical lapses of others. The Joongang Ilbo editorialized on this (and reported on such investigative shows in Korea):

The MBC network’s program, PD Notebook, is under fire over ethics issues. The program had violated journalistic ethics by threatening sources with arrest. Even if it turns out that Dr. Hwang Woo-suk’s papers were faulty, as PD Notebook claimed, its illegal methods would still be a problem. The inappropriate investigation and coverage affect the credibility and accuracy of a report. Journalists pursue exclusive scoops, national interest, social justice and truth. However, they cannot ignore proper procedures and steps.

On January 10, another Joongang Ilbo editorial looked at PD Diary's triumph after it was put back on the air, calling it "victorious yet tarnished." As it produced more shows criticizing Hwang's work, readers were told that the "Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation will air a program tomorrow questioning the veracity of his cloned cow." It's nice to see that PD Diary's interest in cows isn't so new.

It was 10 years ago today that the Hankyoreh published an article criticizing PD Diary for its sensationalism, saying that it had no self respect and was interested only in ratings. On June 16, 1998, PD Diary aired an episode titled "Wonjo Gyoje – The teenager’s new part-time job." (interesting that 아르바이트 - arbeit, or "part-time job" was in use then - I thought it was coined more recently). Using hidden cameras, they talked to girls and even waited outside an inn and followed some of the customers, recording their conversations ("My wife would beat me to death if she knew"). A high school girl says that "Of the 50 girls in my class, 20 are doing wonjo gyoje." PD diary confirms this by... oh wait, it doesn't. Up until that point the Korean media had reported on wonjo gyoje taking place in Tokyo, and how the growing phenonmena of Phone Rooms might lead to it taking root in Korea, but, after searching through every 'wonjo gyoje' article between 1997 and 1999, it seems no one had reported on its existence in Korea until PD Diary did. Irresponsibly reported though it was, the shocking statistic of "40% of girls" did its job. On September 4 the Korea Times reported that

The Commission on Youth Protection under the Prime Minister's Office has intensified legal provisions aimed at cracking down on "casual sex" and prostitution involving minors, it was learned yesterday. Adults found to have given money to minors in return for sex will be put behind bars for up to a year.

The next day, as the Munhwa Ilbo reported on the 9th, two middle school girls 'imitated wonjo gyoje' when they approached a man in his 40s saying "Let's go for drinks together." When he pulled out his wallet to buy cigarettes they tried to steal it, but were caught. Funny how the media was looking for anything that might be akin to wonjo gyoje. It wasn't until October 12 that the first report came of a man arrested on suspicion of having had paid a 14 year old girl 100,000 won to go to a video room with him. This was four months after PD Diary's episode had been broadcast.

The new law was a good idea, but its likely it was influenced by the inflated numbers and sensationalist reporting. "Victorious yet tarnished" would seem to apply to the 1998 and 2005 programs, but this time it's not in possession of the facts, its arguments are full of holes, and the sharks are starting to circle.

Justice for the Miryang victims?

A Joongang Ilbo article from Tuesday titled "Court orders state to pay for ID leak of rape victims" tells us that

The nation’s highest court ordered the state to compensate victims of a high profile 2004 gang rape case for violating their human rights and leaking their identities to the media. Upholding a lower court ruling, the Supreme Court yesterday ruled in favor of two sisters and their mother.

To understand what led to this, you'd have to go back to December, 2004. As a Joongang Ilbo article from December 12, 2004 titled "Outrage sparked by serial rape case" relates:

The case was revealed to the public last week after police raided an Internet cafe in Milyang, Gyeongsang province. They were leading an undercover investigation after a family from Ulsan, 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Milyang, reported that their daughters had been repeatedly raped and robbed for over a year by a group of high school boys.

After police rounded up 41 boys from three different high schools in the Milyang region, they found out that the boys had been molesting and threatening five teenage girls, including the two middle school-aged daughters of the parent who reported the case.

(From here)

Police said a 14-year-old girl had been raped as many as 10 times by three to 24 high school boys. The boys reportedly blackmailed her to keep quiet unless she wanted pictures of her rape to be spread around her school. Then she was ordered to bring her younger sister and older cousin, aged 13 and 16, to Milyang. The boys told police that there were two more victims, but police said they are still trying to find out who the remaining victims are.

A Korea Times article from the time explained how the boys met her and then blackmailed her:

The boys allegedly met one of the victims, identified as Choi, 14, through chatting on cell phones, and sexually assaulted her when she visited them in Miryang in January. They then threatened to upload the scene of the assault on the Internet, and lured Choi’s sister and a cousin then raped them as well.

To elaborate, this Kyunghyang Sinmun article from the time says that Choi called the wrong number one day in January 2004 and talked to a high school student in Miryang who eventually invited her to come visit. When she did, she was beaten unconscious and dragged to a yeoinsuk (inn) where 10 high school students raped her. They recorded the assault with a cell phone camera and told her they would upload it and share it and her life would be over. By September 2004 she had returned 9 times, with 4-5 boys raping her each time. She brought her 16 year old cousin with her in January, and her 13 year old sister in July.

A Donga Ilbo article, "Police Once Again Hurt Victimized Middle School Girls," looked at the reasons the state will have to compensate the girls.

In the criminal case office room of South Ulsan police station during the afternoon of December 7, 10 boys accused of sexual assault were standing side-by-side in a single line.

A few minutes later, the police detectives brought in victim A with them and told her to point out their assailants. “A” pointed out few of the assailants with hesitation. Even though the alleged assailants were face-back to her, “A” couldn’t lift her head because she was too scared and shocked that she was standing in front of them again.

During the investigation of most criminal cases, and undoubtedly sexual assault cases, it is a standard procedure to make sure that the faces of the victims or the witnesses are not exposed. However, ignoring such procedures, the police exposed the victims to the assailants in the office where the suspects were interrogated.

Prior to this, “A” was beseiged by “H” (22) and other family members of the assailants as she was heading to the police station, receiving threats such as, “Let’s see if you can sleep well after reporting to the police. Watch out.”

A police related official explained, “The room to winnow the assailants is too small for more than one assailant to go in, so we have asked beforehand for the victim to point out the assailants.”

Meanwhile, it has been found that on the same day, Kim (39), a police senior patrolman of South Ulsan police station, insulted “A” in his office, saying, “My hometown is Miryang, and you girls have brought disgrace on the city.’’ The South Ulsan police station is planning to submit Kim to grave disciplinary punishment.

A post at the Marmot's Hole at the time describes what the officer actually said:

“Weren’t you girls waving your asses around and [kept] going there because you liked it? My hometown is Miryang, and you’ve destroyed the reputation of the town.”

The Donga Ilbo article continues:

Also, even though “A” requested a female police officer, saying, “Let me be questioned by a female police officer,” after the first or second questioning, it has been revealed that the male police officers questioned her because “there are too many alleged suspects and there aren’t any professional investigators among the female police officers.”

Perhaps this is a professional investigator? (from here)

On the arrest report announced on December 7 and the materials handed out to reporters, the police have stated that “A” (14,•Middle School Three) and her little sister (13,•Middle School Two) were sexually assaulted twice in July and September in Changwon and Miryang. However, both the victims and the assailants conceded that the little sister was not sexually assaulted but only hit with a blunt weapon.[...]

In the beginning, the police said, “Among the 41 boys caught, we have arrested 17 boys who directly participated in the sexual assault and we are still tracking down the 75 people who have not yet been brought in for questioning.” However, the police only arrested a total of 12 people, three people on December 8 and nine people on December 11, booking 29 others without detention. On Sunday, six days after gathering the accused high school boys, the police closed the investigation, saying, “No additional criminal acts have been revealed.”

Furthermore, the police have posted a statement of apology on their homepage, stating that “ignoring the demand for a female police officer to question the victims and for a police officer to insult the victims was indeed a wrongful act.”

The apology was likely a response to the outrage by netizens. As the 2004 Joongang Ilbo article noted,

the case sparked a demonstration in Gwanghwamun Saturday by 150 persons who decried officials handling the case.

“Police should protect the victims, not abuse them,” yelled one furious protester.
Others were angry that the victims were left unprotected while they and their families were threatened by the boys’ families.

"Rape is dismissed with a caution???"
(From here, where more photos can be found.)

Not mentioned in the English language articles (but described by the Marmot) was the fact that quite a few netizens had found pictures and homepages of the rapists and posted their photos, email addresses and phone numbers and urged other netizens to harass them:


The problem was that quite a few of the photos and names were wrong. The Joongang Ilbo was quick to blame internet porn

This case is a stark example of how diseased our society has become. There is no denying that the disintegration of our home and school education has reached a dangerous level. Adult entertainment industries that have invaded districts and the porn sites on the Internet are drawing our adolescents into sexual crimes. Such an environment is afflicting the moral conscience of our youths.

The Hankyoreh criticized social attitudes:

Citizens are feeling rage at police handling of a major rape case in Miryang. Approximately 40 high school boys took turns raping five middle school girls over the course of a year, and that was shocking enough. The next shock came and turned into rage for the families of the victims and the general public when the police applied for arrest warrants on only three of the boys and "dismissed with caution" (hunbang) the rest.

The police have belatedly announced they will change the investigating team and engage in a rigorous investigation into the actions of the other boys. Most of the perpetrators may be students, but when you think of the unspeakable mental and physical pain inflicted on the girls there must be commensurate punishment.

The case is a demonstration of how twisted the culture of sex is in our society and of the current state of women's rights. The perpetrators held the victims captive in a continuous cycle of sexual violence by threatening them with physical violence and disclosure of videos of what happened. The girls were experiencing terrible suffering and yet did not report what was going on for fear of reprisals and what others would think. It is a tragedy that originated in our society's low level of human rights awareness and a culture of sex that allows tolerance for men while being strict towards women. It was apparent in the way the case was handled as well.

The two sisters who were victimized and their mother filed a claim against the government, which was ruled on in mid-August, 2007, as reported by the Korea Times and the Joongang Ilbo:

The Seoul High Court ruled yesterday that the government must pay 30 million won ($31,560) each to the two teenage sisters, and 10 million won to their mother. They had filed the complaint against the government asking for compensation for the police officers’ illegal investigation procedures and insults made by the officials about the girls.

“It is evident that the victims felt humiliated and insulted by the police officials’ remarks,” said the court ruling. “Making the victims point out a person who sexually assaulted them among 41 suspects lined up in front of them in an open police office also violated police regulations designed to protect the human rights of victims.”

In December 2004, the story of the sisters, now 16 and 18, who were sexually assaulted by 41 high school boys for about a year in Milyang, South Gyeongsang, shocked Korean society. A police official at Ulsan Nambu police precinct asked the victims, “Did you try to entice the guys? You ruined the reputation of Milyang. The boys who would lead the city were all arrested. What are you going to do?” according to the ruling. “I am afraid that my daughter will be like you,” the official also said.

Some police officials went to a karaoke and revealed the names of the victims to hostesses there. “When the victims are teenagers, it is even more necessary to protect them and if the victims directly confront the suspects, the victims can suffer greater damage, such as revenge and more,” said the ruling.

No suspect in the case was convicted of criminal charges and only five were sent to a juvenile correctional center.

No criminal charges? Well, we wouldn't want to ruin these gang rapists' futures by convicting them of anything, now would we? On top of tis, the ruling was obviously appealed, as it was only this week that the supreme court ruled on the case.

“By making the victims identify their attackers in an open area, the police failed to protect the rights of the victims and caused them to suffer humiliation,” the Supreme Court said yesterday in the ruling. “Such an act can never be justified even with the stated claim by the police that they did so to expedite the probe.”

Initially a district court ruled only that police improperly leaked the victims’ identities and set compensation at 15 million won in total. An appeals court said the state was responsible for broader rights violation by forcing the minors to identify their attackers face to face.

Upholding that ruling, the Supreme Court said the state must pay each sister 30 million won and their mother 10 million won. The court said another factor in its ruling were comments made by a police officer that the girls had hurt Milyang’s reputation.

It's not really a whole lot for their trouble, is it? Hopefully it brings the victims some sense of closure - the justice system certainly didn't provide it by punishing their attackers.

Targeting the webcasts?

An article or two of note:

Lee warns of the evils of the Internet

Lee stressed that he is convinced the Internet, if adequately utilized, can greatly contribute to resolving many problems facing mankind, including energy shortages, climate change and aging societies.

Don't forget changing lead into gold! I have a feeling "adequately utilized" should have been "properly utilized. " Another article:

Afreeca head accused of pirating

The arrest of Nowcom head Mun Yong-sik has stirred up the already angry masses who have been staging protests against President Lee Myung-bak for the past month. Prosecutors arrested Mun Monday night on charges of illegally distributing pirated films through online storage services that Nowcom operates. The storage services, PD Box and Club Box, have 9 million and 8 million registered members, respectively.

Nowcom also operates the self-broadcasting Web site Afreeca (www.afreeca.com), which has become one of the most popular Internet forums for protesters to get information on rallying points and riot police presence. Demonstrators also use the site to upload footage from the anti-U.S. beef rallies that they recorded with camera phones and camcorders.

This Korea Times article, which looked at the webcasting of the protests, gives some figures on the number of viewers:

According to Korean Click, an Internet media research firm, the number of visitors to Afreeca and OhMyNews has more than doubled over the last one month. They had an average of 600,000 visitors per week before, now almost 2 million.Another company Rankey's research showed that 720,000 people watched the rally through Afreeca over the night from May 31 to June 1 ― more than double the figure two weeks before on May 18.

The Joongang Ilbo article continues:

Some say [the webcasting] is what’s really behind Mun’s arrest. “The arrests naturally make us question whether the government authorities are conducting this probe with a politically motivated intention to prevent the expansion of candlelight vigils,” the company said in a statement posted on Afreeca.com.

I'd assume that if this was about piracy, the prosecution would be told to back off for the moment and not arrest the head of a popular webcasting company at this rather sensitive time. Which tends to make me think the arrest is entirely political. [Or I may be totally wrong about this].

The prosecution disagrees:

Prosecutors said Afreeca.com is not the target of the investigation. “The film industry has been filing lawsuits against online storage services since March,” said Koo Bon-jin, a senior prosecutor at the Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office. “Our investigation is focused on how these storage services are involved in circulating pirated films.”

He said that users are offered free storage services, but the services charge them by the number of bytes they download. This, he said, amounts to illegal distribution of pirated films. He also said the probe found that there were up to 9,000 pirated films stored in Mun’s service.

I'd suggest bittorrent as an alternative, but decentralization and Korea go together like ketchup and cupcakes.

Mmmmm. Cupcakes.

Lee Myung Bak's new design for Namdaemun

I found this here. Very clever. I also found these photos here:



Lets have the kids throw water balloons at the bulldozer bullrider! I'd love have a conversation with an anthropologist and a psychologist and have them analyze this: "A rite of passage." "The bull represents danger." "Oh, and the man in the suit represents finality and death." "The water balloon represents life." "Thus we see how life is crushed so easily by danger and death." "Yes, this ritual serves to warn the child of the dangers that lie ahead." "That, or kids just like to smash water balloons against anything."

Anyways, I thought I'd add to the fun. Forget 'candlelight girls' - it's time for 'arson girls!'

Coming to a Blue House near you!

Note that this post has a few new photos, and this post has an update.

Thoughts on the continuing protests

[Update: I added a few photos and links below]

Here are some of the more interesting articles on the protests these days:

At Global Voices Online, there is a somewhat humourous take on the current situation, as a netizen asks how to break up with a certain man. Less humourous is the story of a middle school teacher who supposedly spoke out in favour of allowing US beef into the country and had his phone number and information spread on the internet, forcing him to cancel his cell phone service.

I'd joked before about how candlemakers might be the real driving force behind these protests, but, as this article tells us, the candlemakers aren't profitting so much, though other businesses are:

A domestic candle makers’ association on Tuesday said that its members cannot meet demand. Rally organizers estimate that around 400,000 candles were used during just the June 6 to 10 period. Local discount retailer Lotte Mart said that its candle sales shot up around 28 percent from May 5 to 16, compared to last year. But all is not a bed of roses for candle makers.

Though sales went through the roof, suppliers complain that because of a small profit margin, they aren’t raking it in. Instead, due to the rise in energy costs, paraffin costs have gone up to 2,000 won ($2) per kilogram (2.2 pounds) compared to 1,000 won last year. Some say they are actually losing money.

“With these candlelight rallies, people think that we [candle makers] are making big bucks. In reality, we’re losing money supplying more candles,” said an owner of a candle manufacturing company in Gyeonggi Province.

Convenience stores near the protest sites are doing well, however, as are others:

On the other hand, Nowcom, a local online services company, should be smiling ear-to-ear. Its Afreeca Internet broadcasting service has featured live broadcasts of the rallies. The company said that it hit a record number of viewers. From May 25 through yesterday, it had 7.8 million viewers. On Tuesday, Afreeca showed 1,357 live broadcasts with 700,000 people tuned in

This Korea Times article took up the topic of the webcasting of the protests further:

A lot of Koreans have been staying up all night these days. They are... watching "matches'' between demonstrators and police during candlelit vigils on various Web sites. Afreeca and other Internet sites have Webcasted the rallies live, using video cameras and laptops and taking advantage of the world's best wireless Internet technology. Among popular Webcasters are Color TV of the New Progressive Party, OhMyNews, Voice of People, Seebox and Radio 21.

Kim Young-il, a 32-year-old office worker, watches the broadcasting through Afreeca, one of the Internet sites, until 2 or 3 a.m. whenever he cannot go and participate in the demonstrations. "When I cannot take part in the rally myself due to fatigue or late work, I watch the Webcasting instead. In that way, I support the demonstrators who chant slogans on the streets and sometimes clash with police,'' Kim said.

Protests as spectator sports? Or webcasting as interactive game?

Some people join in the rallies at night after watching the internet footage. "I was watching Color TV at night between May 31 and June 1 when the most violent clashes occurred and police fired water cannons. Seeing many protesters injured, I thought that I should do something for them and rushed to the demonstration site,'' an Internet user with the ID "kiyeoun obba'' said on a Daum community site.

According to Korean Click, an Internet media research firm, the number of visitors to Afreeca and OhMyNews has more than doubled over the last one month. They had an average of 600,000 visitors per week before, now almost 2 million.

The organizers of these vigils have announced the contours of future protests, saying they will continue until at least June 20:

The People's Association for Measures Against Mad Cow Disease, which has been organizing candlelight vigils against the import of U.S. beef, warned Wednesday it would launch an impeachment campaign against President Lee Myung-bak if the government fails to begin an all-out renegotiation of the beef deal with the U.S. by June 20. In a statement, the coalition of over 1,700 civic groups including the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, urged the government to nullify the existing agreement and negotiate the deal from scratch. “If the government decides to ignore the mandate from the people, who hold the sovereign power in this country, we will not hesitate to launch a campaign to drive President Lee Myung-bak out of office,” the statement read.

The Association added it will continue candlelight vigils until June 20. The protesters are organizing large-scale rallies on Friday, which marks the sixth anniversary of the death of two schoolgirls killed by a U.S. armored car, and also on Saturday, the funeral of the late Lee Byung-ryeol who burned himself to death to protest against the import in Jeonju. They will also hold a big event on Sunday, the eighth anniversary of the first inter-Korean summit. The candles will not be snuffed out for at least this month, as the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions is scheduled to lead summer strikes soon.

It's interesting to go back to the beginning of the protests and see how they started. Gord Sellar attended the first two nights of protests, and posted photos of them. This is how the Donga Ilbo characterized the second protest, on Saturday May 3, in an article titled "Brainwashed by the Internet":

Among the protesters at Saturday [May 3]’s candlelight vigil against the resumption of U.S. beef imports, 70 to 80 percent were middle and high school students. The majority of the students were also girls.

Gord, in this excellent post, where he describes the protests as a "the postmodern equivalent of a peasant uprising," comments on this:

[T]he Korean media has, finally, stopped pretending that everyone at these demonstrations are middle schoolers. It was a lie from the start — I know because I was at the first two demonstrations, and saw the vast majority of people were adults with my own two eyes; Lime saw the same the other day, with Catholic clergy and office workers and mommies with babies in tow all together — and the lie has outworn its usefulness. (Foreign commentators on Marmot’s persist in clinging to it, unsurprisingly.)

An example of how newspapers like the Joongang Ilbo tried to belittle the protests and cherry picked the most ridiculous comments made by young participants was translated by Korea Beat:

13-year old middle school student Go, who came to the vigil after finishing an exam at school, said, “on the fan site for Dongbangshingi I saw a message saying let’s gather in Yeouido. I’m here because of Dongbangshingi.”

Many came because of what they read on the internet. 21-year old Myongji University student Kim Seon-ah said, “I received a message that said let’s stop mad cow disease, there is a candlelight vigil. So I came.”

What I don't understand are people (I'm thinking of Marmot's Hole commenters) who claim that one of the reasons for these protests is the very unscrupulous reporting by the Korean media (such as PD Diary). They then go on to show how illogical the protesters are by using examples provided by the... Korean media. Is it just me, or does that seem just as illogical as they say the protesters are?

As I'll look at in the sequel to this post, the choice of locations for these protests is distantly related to anti-Americanism, and to be sure, many of the organizations taking part in organizing the vigils are opposed to the FTA or American policies, and no one is concerned about beef from other countries (or Korean beef), but as noted by Scott Burgeson, who has been attending the protests every night for weeks and talking to the participants (and who has posted some of his observations and experiences here), the tenor on the ground is one of opposition to Lee Myung-bak. As Gord Sellar noted, "beef was the catalyst, beef is a vehicle, and it’s certainly a “folk devil.”" Burgeson noted that "there was a kind of pivot early on where it switched from being anti-US beef to being a broad coalition against 2MB". He also noted on June 7 that "As soon as you try to define this thing it turns into something else." Clicking on any of the comments or posts on this page will display photos he's taken during the last month of protests.

I've seen posts in the English language Korean blogosphere pointing out that vigil organizers were going to commemorated the deaths of Shin Hyo-sun and Shim Mi-seon, the two middle school girls run over by a US military vehicle on June 13, 2002 (for more background on the incident, this post at ROK Drop is well worth reading, and the Metropolitician offers his analysis of those that used their deaths to create a protest movement against the US military). Some of the commentary I've read recently has been saying, "See? They're going to include these girls' deaths in the anti-beef protests! That means this movement is [overtly] anti-American!" No it doesn't. Candlelight vigils have been held in the same places as the current vigils are taking place every year since the girls died. The inclusion of a memorial for the girls should be of no surprise whatsoever to anyone who has been paying attention to how they've memorialized over the past few years.


Above is a photo of the memorial vigil held in 2003 at City Hall (before Seoul Plaza was built), which is the same place the vigil was held this year. In 2004 and 2005, the girls' deaths were commemorated with vigils at Gwanghwamun. In 2006 there was a problem: June 13, the anniversary of their deaths, was the date of Korea's first World Cup game:

(The "up" isn't necessary... (from here))

The Hankyoreh criticized those celebrating in the streets for forgetting the anniversary of the girls' deaths, though a small memorial was held near Gwanghwamun. In 2007 a vigil was held at Cheonggye Plaza.

I planned on posting this a few days ago, and was going to say, yes, there is a certain kneejerk dislike of America that lies behind these protests, at least for some of the participants, but the true measure of just how overtly anti-American these protests are will be seen if the incorporation of the memorialization of these girls continues and becomes a focal point in the demonstrations. If it turns out to be a one or two day memorial for the girls, then it should be clear that the ghosts of 2002 are not as prominent as some would like to think.

The Korea Herald article "Candlelight vigils mark deaths of schoolgirls" describes the vigil yesterday:

Thousands gathered in central Seoul yesterday to commemorate the deaths in 2002 of two schoolgirls who were crushed by a U.S. military vehicle. The solemn candlelight vigil at Seoul Plaza was dominated by protests against U.S. beef imports and calls for resignation of President Lee Myung-bak. The rally was joined by a coalition of civic groups leading daily rallies against U.S. beef import deal.

Last night's vigil came just three days after the massive candle light march on Tuesday, where up to 700,000 took to the streets, according to the civil alliance, "People's Action for Countermeasures Against Mad Cow Disease." Only hundreds gathered briefly on Wednesday and Thursday due to the rain and fatigue.

The photo above is from this page, which shows both those mourning the girls and those protesting against Lee Myung-bak. This blog also has photos of the vigil.


This says 30,000 took part, but I have to seriously question that number. Some of the protesters (this article says 10,000) at City Hall then marched via Seosomun and Maporo across the Mapo Bridge to Yeouido to join people who have since Wednesday been holding a sit-in in front of KBS (apparently the sit-in was to go all night).

Today the funeral of Lee Byung-ryeol, who burned himself to death during a protest in Jeonju on May 25, was held at City Hall.



If the portrait above seems familiar, it seems designed to look similar to this portrait of Lee Han-yeol, who was fatally injured on June 9, 1987. Here is the same portrait being used at that time:


I have my doubts that Lee Byeong-ryeol's portrait will replace the 'candle girls'.


Perhaps worth noting is that tonight's protest took place at Gwanghwamun and City Hall.


If you look at the photos from the protest tonight, you'll notice that Lee's photo turns up several times, but the most visible signs are anti-Lee Myung-bak (or anti-beef). I didn't see any photos of Shin Hyo-sun and Shim Mi-seon, or any slogans related to them. I'd say with the amount of Anti-Lee slogans being displayed, as well as the march to Yeouido, and the funeral of Lee Byeong-ryeol, and the anniversary (tomorrow) of the 2000 inter-Korean summit, those who would use the deaths of the girls to turn things in an overtly anti-American direction aren't going to have much luck, as there are too many other anniversaries to commemorate at the moment.

Oh, and a little historical anniversary I forgot from last week: On June 3, 1964, Korea University students marched against the upcoming normalization treaty between Korea and Japan. Many students were arrested, including the student president, who can be seen in the center of the photo during his trial (after which he would apparently serve six months in prison):


It's always interesting to see photos of Lee Myung-bak when he had more hair.

Child murder in Daegu

[Update at bottom]

A June 5 Joongang Ilbo article titled "Police ask public for help in case of kidnapped girl" gave details on a week-old kidnapping:

Police yesterday opened their investigation into the kidnapping of a 12-year-old elementary school girl in order to obtain public help. Daegu Dalseong Police Precinct announced that two men in their 20s broke into a house in Dalseong County, Daegu at around 4:10 a.m. on May 30 and started beating the girl’s 71-year-old grandfather, identified only by the last name Hur, in the main bedroom. The man’s eldest granddaughter, Hur Eun-jeong, tried to stop the attack and was kidnapped, police said. Eun-jeong’s younger sister, 10, was hiding in the next room and called the police.

The house she was kidnapped from.

“I was lying down when a man entered my room and started punching me in the face. After a while, the other one helped him and then they kidnapped her,” Hur said. “One of two said, ‘I came here to kill you.’”

Investigators presume that the two suspects have a grudge against Hur because they have made no ransom demands and did not steal anything from the house. The two schoolgirls live with their grandfather, away from their parents, due to financial problems in the family.

Police have discovered that the missing girl called a close friend three times between June 1 and 2. “According to her friend, the missing girl said, ‘I was released after being kidnapped,’ on the phone,” the officer said. “However, she did not call us. We are now trying to discover her whereabouts in order to gain some clues into the case.”

Police had been conducting a closed investigation, but opened the probe to the public yesterday after failing to make any progress in the case. They cited the lack of a ransom demand as a source of difficulty, compounded by inconsistent statements from the injured man.

A YTN video from June 4 can be seen here. The Korea Times also had an article from June 4 titled "13-Year-Old Schoolgirl Kidnapped for 7 Days". I find it interesting that Korean news articles report that she is in fact 11 years-old (using western reckoning), while an English language newspaper used Korean reckoning. Makes a lot of sense. At least it included a photo of her:


One other mystifying thing about the Korea Times article is that it didn't mention where the kidnapping took place! Maybe readers wouldn't mind knowing if such things are taking place in their backyards. For example, there was the rape of an elementary school girl that took place in Deungchon-dong, which is very close to my house. A quick search at Naver turns up... two more cases than I expected. On April 23, two girls (13 and 14) were raped by a (Korean) soldier on vacation and 16 year-old, who they met after chatting on the internet and drank with in a park in Deungchon-dong. On April 10, a 76 year-old man raped a 12 year-old after seeing her on a street in Gangseo-gu and inviting her to his house to eat 'something delicious'. Perhaps someone needs to streetproof their child better. I finally found the case I was thinking of, which YTN reported on, where a 12 year-old on her way home from a hagwon was raped in the underground parking lot of her apartment. The perpetrator was obviously prepared:


Back to the case in Daegu, as this June 6 article notes, something that the English language media hasn't mentioned was the fact that the "close friend" who talked to the victim "three times between June 1 and 2" had actually been lying about it. You'd think a 15 year old might know better than to tell lies during a kidnapping investigation. At any rate, here's a map of the area where this occurred:


The story doesn't have a happy ending, as the June 13 Joongang Ilbo article "Police find naked body of kidnapped young girl" relates:

A 12-year-old girl, kidnapped from her home two weeks ago, was found dead yesterday in her own neighborhood, Daegu Police said yesterday. Police officials found the body of Hur Eun-jeong at around 5 p.m. yesterday in a valley about two kilometers from her home, the Dalseong Police Precinct of Daegu said. The body was naked and severely decomposed.

Police at the site (source).

The last in a series of searches for the kidnapped girl began yesterday morning in a five-kilometer radius of her home, as 440 police troops, a helicopter and six search dogs joined the operation.

Here's a photo/map of the area (from here):


Her clothes (she was wearing shorts and a t-shirt when she was kidnapped) were found 300 meters from her body. Perhaps it's sometimes good not to have everything translated to English, as this article goes into more detail on how the decomposition of her body has rendered it very difficult to determine a time of death or whether or not she had been raped (which police strongly suspect). A little more information can be found here. This YTN video looks at the discovery of her body, while this MBC video does the requisite "Let's go to the victim's school and take photos of her crying classmates" report.


Flowers and letters from her friends sit on her desk. Below we can see her classroom and classmates, as well as her flower covered desk on the right.


The MBC article mentions that the school is Biseul Elementary School, whose website I found in seconds by googling it. It dawned on me that it was likely a small school, and it might be easy to find photos of her. The third photo I clicked on presented this image, taken May 17:


The girl in the green shirt on the left, I thought, looked like her. A quick look at the MBC video (the still above) revealed that the two boys in the middle of the above photo are in the MBC video, and the desk at which the green-shirted girl is sitting is the one with flowers on it. The girl covering her face at right is the one crying in the MBC video. As it turns out, there are dozens of photos with Hur Eun-jeong in them:


The above photo shows her at left during the opening ceremony for the school year in March. The school is so small there were only three children entering first grade. Though the school wasn't so small that they couldn't have native teachers teaching them English - in this case US soldiers (It may not have been a very regular thing; I'm not sure). An entry on a bulletin board for grade 6 students from May 31 is titled "Find Hur Eun-jeong, Please Find Her" and has comments from people saying they miss her.


It also seems that for some field trips the whole school would go. Hur is seen at left above and in the center below.


The eeriest photo? A month and a half before her kidnapping, her school went to the Daegu District Police Office for traffic safety training (Hur is at far right). This same office is now in charge of her murder investigation.


[Update]

Some people are criticizing the police investigation into her kidnapping:

Initially, only 80 police officers and volunteers searched for Hur Eun-jeong in a one-kilometer (0.62-mile) radius of her home. When they broadened the search area and enlisted more policemen Wednesday they made the gruesome discovery. Eun-jeong was found in a remote area 2.3 kilometers from her home. In the end, 510 team members along with two rescue dogs were used, according to police.

“We could not call out more policemen because they were dispatched to the candlelight demonstration sites in Seoul and Daegu,” said Ahn Jae-gyeong, an officer on the case. Police originally said that Eun-jeong was probably a runaway after they got a report from one of her friends saying that Hur escaped from her abductors on June 1 and was safe. The friend’s information turned out to be false.

In addition, it took seven days for police to ask the public for help and to offer a 5 million won ($4,794) reward for information leading to her discovery. Police are now investigating 60 sex offenders who live near Eun-jeong’s home. Kyungpook National University Hospital failed to find the cause of death in an autopsy yesterday. “Her body was badly decomposed,” Ahn said. “Also, we could not confirm whether someone raped her or not.”

The Herald on candlelight rallies in 2002 and 2008

The Korea Herald published a decent (and lengthy) article today comparing the candlelight vigils of 2002 with the current candlelight vigils. The writer repeats the tired refrain "that students... sparked the current uproar," but other than that it's worth reading. I'd simply link to it, but the Herald won't let you do that, and it'll disappear after a week, so it's reprinted below (mainly so I can link to it later in another post I'm working on):


Deja vu? Candlelight vigils in 2002 and present

It is often said that history has a way of repeating itself. The massive candlelight vigils against the re-importation of U.S. beef reveal a social earthquake rumbling through Korea.

For some, it must seem like deja vu.

June 13 marks the six-year anniversary of when two Korean schoolgirls were killed after being run over by a U.S. military vehicle. That event in 2002 triggered a tidal wave of national outrage. It is also when candlelight vigils first made their profound presence felt in Korea.

Today, as thousands pour into the streets to commemorate the anniversary of the schoolgirls' deaths, and to continue their vociferous protests against the government's U.S. beef policy, one can't help but consider the historical parallels.

There is certainly a causal effect between the protests. However, the two developments also have unique characteristics.

As Koreans light their candles once again for events past and present, a look back at the 2002 candlelight vigils may shed some light on the nationwide outcry today, as well as the deeper socio-political changes that are happening in this country.

Mi-seon and Hyo-soon

It was June 13, 2002. Korea was in the grip of "World Cup fever." However, as the "Taeguk Warriors" were making their legendary run to the semi-finals, a tragic event took place. Two young girls walking alongside a narrow village road north of Seoul were run over by a U.S. armored vehicle. Shim Mi-seon and Shin Hyo-soon, both 14, were on their way to a friend's birthday party when their lives were cut short.

At the time, the incident did not get an immense amount of mainstream media attention. The Red Devils were making history at the World Cup and it was perhaps the most exciting sporting accomplishment ever for this nation.

Gwanghwamun was often teeming with more than a million people that summer, but they were hardly somber protestors. They were Korea's soccer fans, caught up in street celebrations whenever the national team was in action. Not surprisingly, the World Cup overshadowed the deaths.

But "World Cup fever" soon died down and the country settled back into reality. Renewed attention was focused on the dead schoolgirls, especially during the two soldiers' military trial.

The U.S. military court acquitted the two defendants, Sgts. Fernando Nino and Mark Walker, on charges of negligent homicide in November 2002.

Many criticized this decision and demanded that Korea be given jurisdiction over the case - something that was impossible under the Status of Forces Agreement. Calls to revise SOFA became more pronounced.

However, the spark that led to the mass candlelight vigils at the time did not come from mainstream press criticism.

Grassroots uprising

Ronda Hauben examined those events in a 2007 paper published by Columbia University entitled "Online Grassroots Journalism and Participatory Democracy in South Korea." For Hauben, an expert on the "netizen phenomenon," the 2002 uproar had its roots online. In fact, she traced it back to a posting by an angered internet user who wasknown online as AngMA.

He wrote, "Let's walk in Gwanghwamun holding a lighted candle. Let's commemorate the lives of Mi-seon and Hyo-soon, who were forgotten in the joy of June. Will the police prevent us? Even if they forbid it, I will walk in Gwanghwamun, even if the police attack me."

He added, "Even if only one person comes, it's ok. I will be happy to say hello. I will talk about the future of Korea in which Mi-seon and Hyo-soon can take a comfortable rest. I'll go on this week, next week, the following week. Let's fill Gwanghwamun with our candlelight. Let's put out American violence with our peace."

According to Hauben, AngMA posted this message on several websites and it struck a nerve. The results: 15,000 people showed up at the first candlelight vigil on Nov. 30, 2002. This ballooned to more than 100,000 by Dec. 14 in front of Gwanghwamun, where, just months earlier, millions of Koreans were jumping up and down in celebration of the nation's World Cup success.

What ensued had an immense impact on Korean politics. 2002 was a presidential election year and the heavily favored Lee Hoi-chang of the Grand National Party was expected to beat the relatively unknown Roh Moo-hyun of the Millennium Democratic Party.

Mainstream media polling showed Lee ahead of Roh up to the day of voting. But groups like Nosamo, roughly translated to "People who love Roh," and the upstart news website Ohmynews, were instrumental in mobilizing people online.

There was indeed an overlap between the candle-bearing people angered over the schoolgirls' deaths and those who subsequently came out to vote. Many of those citizens ended up supporting Roh, who was seen as a sympathetic outsider and maverick, even within his own political party.

There are many theories as to what led to Roh's successful bid for the presidency. But many analysts, including Hauben, point to the candlelight vigils of 2002 as a seminal moment in the sprouting of netizen power, giving power to people who had not had a voice in the nation's political debate.

It is said that Roh Moo-hyun swept into the presidency on the coattails of a sweeping anti-American sentiment blowing across Korea. That certainly may have been the case, but according to Hauben, Roh was just the conduit of a wider megatrend occurring in Korean society: "the importance of the 2002 election was that it was not based on support for Roh personally, but was a manifestation of the desire of young netizens for political reform."

Candlelight vigils today

Fast forward six years, and it appears that a similar phenomenon is occurring today. On April 18, Korea and the United States agreed to renew shipments of U.S. beef, which had been banned since 2003 due to a case of mad cow disease. It was the eve of newly elected President Lee Myung-bak's summit with U.S. President George W. Bush and the deal was meant to facilitate passage of the KORUS FTA.

Again, the mainstream media did not foresee the magnitude of discontent, which was sparked by online reactions to a TV documentary alleging the dangers of tainted U.S. beef (in 2002, a TV documentary also highlighted the schoolgirls' deaths and the subsequent trial). And, once again, the internet became the medium for a swelling of mass public anger at the authorities for pushing an edict that went against majority opinion.

Thousands have reemerged with relit candles in central Seoul. The vigils today are symbolically encapsulated by the now ubiquitous image of "candlelight girl," a cartoon drawing of a young girl holding aloft a lit candle. It is a powerful and poignant image, especially considering the fact that the original 2002 vigils were for the two young girls, Mi-seon and Hyo-soon.

Also poignant is that students roughly the same age as Mi-seon and Hyo-soon sparked the current uproar. Those students, rightly or wrongly, fear that mad-cow tainted beef is being forced down their throats by an uncaring government. Akin to 2002, the students' outcries have snowballed into a nationwide phenomenon encompassing diverse groups banding together to collectively demand reparations for perceived injustices. The political establishment has again been shaken to its core.

2002 and 2008 contrasted

Although it may seem like "a Korean thing" based on the current media frenzy, candlelight vigils are not a Korean invention. They are a traditional form of assembly. Wikipedia offers this definition:

"A candlelight vigil is an outdoor assembly of people carrying candles, held after sunset. Such events are typically held either to protest at the suffering of some marginalized group of people, or in memory of lives lost to some disease, disaster, massacre or other tragedy."

Some notable candlelight vigils include people in various countries lighting candles for the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City, or those held by divided Cold War-era Germans prior to the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

If candlelight vigils themselves are nothing new, then Koreans have certainly added their own flavor to the events, both in 2002 and today. That being said, the candlelight vigils for the schoolgirls and today's beef uproar are not facsimiles of each other. Some subtle and not-so-subtle differences are apparent.

For example, in 2002, the deaths of Mi-seon and Hyo-soon triggered an outpouring of anger that many observers say was driven by anti-Americanism. There was a general sentiment in the country that the SOFA agreement was unfair and that America was doing more harm than good for Korea.

Today's candlelight vigils are not as overtly anti-American, but they are definitely anti-Lee Myung-bak.

Yes, the issue that sparked the outcry was U.S. beef. And yes, there are some radical protesters who harbor anti-American sentiments. Anti-American sentiment may grow, depending on how the situation unfolds, but it does not reflect of the vast majority of protesters so far.

An interesting irony in the beef outrage is apparent through recent polling that shows the majority of the protesters still support the KORUS FTA and the benefits it may bring. Koreans on the streets may arguably be confused or conflicted, but to say that everyone bearing a lit candle is anti-American would be inaccurate.

However, if one listens to the chants of the protesters and the signs posted all over Seoul, it is apparent that the overriding anger of the populace has been squarely pointed at Lee, not at the United States.

At the outset of his term, his cabinet and secretarial appointments were a disaster. Now derisively nicknamed collectively after famous actresses "Kang Bu-ja" (pun using "Gangnam" and "bu-ja", which means "wealthy" in Korean) or "Ko So-young" (pun referring to Lee cronies from Korea University, Somang Presbyterian Church or Yongnam Province), they presented an image of an elitist, "good old boy" network of people running the country.

The then-popular Lee vigorously set about with his agenda, pushing through policies that were not unanimously supported. Lee once told Bush that he was not the president, but the "CEO" of Korea. He was certain that disagreements over his plans could be overcome through his successful "bulldozing." After all, he had done so at Hyundai Engineering and Construction and as Seoul mayor, specifically with the Cheonggyecheon project.

Therefore, the anger has more to do with Lee's governing style than just simply the debate over whether American mad-cow was going to afflict the nation. The public resented the sense that Lee was the "CEO" and Koreans were merely employees expected to follow his orders. Somewhere along the way, his pledge to be a "servant to the people" got lost, and approval ratings below 20 percent reflect his extreme unpopularity.

Netizens' Comeback

The question then arises - if Lee is so disliked now, how was he elected so overwhelmingly in the first place, and where were all these "anti-Lee" people prior to last year's presidential election?

A possible answer has again been provided by Ronda Hauben. In a recent analysis published in Ohmynews entitled "Korean Government Mishandled Beef Deal," she says that the netizens so crucial to Roh Moo-hyun's victory in 2002 were largely muzzled due to stricter online campaigning laws in 2007.

"Over 65,000 online comments by netizens relating to the election were removed from the internet and over 1000 netizens received summons to report to the police," writes Hauben.

As a result, the same people who profoundly influenced the 2002 presidential elections in the aftermath of the schoolgirls' deaths were largely relegated to the sidelines. Voter turnout for the 2007 presidential election was drastically lower than in 2002. The lack of netizen mobilization, coupled with the public thirst for an economic savior, allowed Lee to take the 2007 election in a landslide.

For Hauben, these stifled online voices have now come out after the elections, in angered reaction to Lee's performance through his first 100 days.

She states, "After the election, however, when it again became possible to discuss political issues, netizens in Korea took up to actively discuss the nature of democracy and the importance of having government officials who are the servants, not the masters of the citizens."

And, as demonstrated by today's mass candlelight vigils, the response has been overwhelming.

Candlelight conclusion?

When examining the past events of the candlelight vigils circa 2002, another looming difference from today's uproar is apparent.

In 2002, there was a resolution to the protests. Roh Moo-hyun sweeping to the presidency could be considered a victorious accomplishment for those who felt aggrieved.

But, for the drama unfolding through the candlelight vigils of today, there is no apparent denouement.

Presidential and parliamentary elections are over and done with. For the next few years, people will be unable to punish their leaders at the ballot box, so they take to the streets.

President Lee has tried everything, to no avail. The en masse resignation of his secretariat and cabinet is unprecedented in Korean history, but it has been jeered by his opponents as a "political stunt." Measures to ensure that 30-month-old U.S. beef will not enter the country are not placating the citizenry. Unpopular plans like the cross-country canal project and privatization of state firms have been shelved indefinitely, but, still, the people protest.

The fear is that the current vigils, which have so far taken on a somewhat festive atmosphere, may evolve into a socially precarious situation.

Ideological clashes are brewing as the protesters, having a progressive leaning, witness counter-protests by conservative groups who are saying "enough is enough."

The rhetoric has grown heated. There are calls for Lee's resignation, his impeachment, or, in the most severe cases, a desire to forcibly remove him from office. The sporadic violence that has occurred took place when some of the protesters attempted to march all the way to Cheong Wa Dae.

Need for reflection

Ironically, a voice of reason has come from the central political figure of the 2002 vigils: former President Roh Moo-hyun.

Speaking to his Nosamo supporters last week, Roh said that the march to Cheong Wa Dae was a meaningless act and that, "Even if the beef deal was wrong, it is still wrong to push for the removal of the (Lee) administration. It's unconstitutional and undemocratic."

As someone who suffered through the Cheong Wa Dae hot seat for five years, Roh can surely empathize with Lee's dilemma, though he probably feels it was largely self-inflicted.

In fact, the former president could possibly take the lead in fostering calm as he, unlike the current president, still has some clout with the netizens who have sparked today's unrest.

The fact that candlelight vigils remained dormant for the duration of Roh's five-year presidency is a testament to that. There were misgivings over his "pragmatic" decisions such as sending troops to Iraq or signing the KORUS FTA, but his somewhat disgruntled internet supporters bit their tongues, for the most part, and kept their candle wicks unlit.

The current president has no such luxury. Barely more than 100 days into his presidency, he still must endure about 1,700 more days of this maelstrom. It will take a very dramatic turn of events to salvage the rest of his term.

"I'm determined to make a fresh start. Let's pursue aggressive challenges in these difficult times," Lee said recently, noting that he, too, took part in democracy protests as a youth. Heeding his peoples' demands, and pursuing a complete overhaul of his staff and style will be fundamental to improving his fortunes.

As the drama continues to unfold over candlelight vigils today, the nation can gain much perspective from the vigils of 2002. On the sixth anniversary of Shim Mi-seon and Shin Hyo-soon's tragic deaths, the two schoolgirls have ended up becoming an infinitely bigger influence on this country than anyone could have ever imagined.

By Henry Shinn

From Jeju to Paju...

Today (well, yesterday) marks the 21st anniversary of the June 10 uprising which led to democratization in 1987 (much more about it can be read here). June 9 was the anniversary of Lee Han-yeol being hit by a tear gas cannister, which caused injuries he died from almost a month later. His mother is seen here yesterday standing before his portrait.

The anniversary has been overshadowed, of course, by this:


Whether 1,000,000 people marched in the streets is uncertain, but there were certainly a lot of people. The police prepared for it by putting containers in place across Sejongno; the preparations, such as welding them together and covering them with grease, can be seen here.

The barricade near completion.

Kotaji has an interesting post on barricades in general, and I love some of the posters affixed to the containers (명박산성!). You can see how the protests grew between 7:00 (and 7:30) and 8:00, until they became rather large.

From a New York Times article on the protests

As the crowd ebbed and flowed, there were lots of different people protesting many different issues, for example the Grand Canal:


For those interested in 70's folk music, Yang Hui-eun sang "Morning Dew" for the crowds (the song was the unofficial anthem of the student movement - probably the best version I ever heard was of a bunch of guys, arm in arm, singing it loudly in a pojang macha near my house).

By 4:00 am protesters brought large pieces of styrofoam and built a pyramid which allowed them to climb to the top of the barricades (in what seems a symbolic, not tactical, act - look here to see the pyramid being built). Of course, not everyone needed a pyramid to get to the top.


It seems the tops of tall buildings in the area were occupied by dozens of reporters.


Though Seoul was the center of attention, protests took place in many other cities throughout Korea tonight, as this Seoul Sinmun article shows (it also has a graph showing the size of the protests over the last month according to both police and organizers).


According to the stats above, protests took place at 108 locations around the country.


In Jeonju there were 3,500 at 7 pm.


In Gwangju 20,000 gathered on Geumnamno. Those without candles used their phones.


There were even gatherings in Jeju City. Some 20,000 people took part in Busan, where protests have taken place in recent days:


Protests also took place in nearby Masan and Changwon, where this photo was taken.


The photo is of Lee Byeong-ryeol, who set himself on fire during a protest in Jeonju on May 25 and who died on June 9. More on him can be found in English here. Perhaps because his actions took place in Jeonju, they did not get much mention in the English Language press. This is a different person than Kim Gyeong-cheol, who set himself on fire on June 5 in Seoul, and whose actions were mentioned in this article,

“My husband has attended candlelight vigils for the past two weeks,” Kim’s wife said, adding that he lost his job at a cattle farm in Gyeonggi about a month ago when the farm shut down.

This article added,

Yonhap News Agency said he seemed to be disgruntled with the government's compensation policy for his evacuated residence in Seoul. Kim, a day laborer, had reportedly been joining daily candlelight vigils, which have recently turned into anti-government protests.

This article mentioned that in March of 2007 he was forced to leave his residence in Bon-dong, Dongjak-gu, which was being redeveloped, but didn't get 이주비, which I take to be some sort of compensation for moving (the assumption being that he was renting?) . The article also says he blamed the loss of his job at a farm on mad cow disease and began going to protests. Here's what his former neighbourhood, which lies just south of the Han river between the Han River Bridge and the Han River Rail Bridge, is planned to look like in the future:


Whatever the reason for his decision to immolate himself, Kim's injuries are not life-threatening. Ironically, both Kim and Lee were treated for their burns at Hangang Sacred Heart Hospital - the same place where Bill Kapoun was treated.

Protests, public space in Seoul, and cyberspace - Part 1

Part 1: From the Joseon Dynasty to the 5th Republic

As protests have been going on in downtown Seoul for over a month now, I thought I'd take a look at where they've been taking place, and how they relate to other large protest movements in the past. Here's a trusty map of where many of the larger protest movements of the past have taken place in downtown Seoul, from 110 years ago to the present.


In the first post I'm going to look at why the area around City Hall became important in the final days of the Daehan Empire, at how early protest movements came to be, at why the Japanese built the roads and buildings in the area that they did, and how these spaces were used in post-Korean War protest movements. Part two [Update - and three] will look at the use of these spaces in the new millenium and how the urban space and cyberspace have become entangled, among other things.


The above map should make clear that in 1776, there were only a few prominent streets in Seoul: Jongno, Namdaemunno (which make a sort of T shape), Sejongno (leading to Gyeongbok Palace), Euljiro, Cheonggyecheon, and the street leading from Jongno to Changdeok Palace.

During the latter half of the Joseon Dynasty, Changdeok Palace was the main palace, having been rebuilt in the early 1600s after its destruction (along with all of the other palaces in Seoul) during the Hideyoshi invasions of the 1590s. Worth noting (according to Samuel Hawley's The Imjin War) is that it was Seoul's citizens, angry that the king was fleeing and leaving them to their fate, who burned Seoul's palaces - not the invading Japanese armies. In the 1860s Gyeongbok Palace, having sat in ruins for over 250 years, was rebuilt, and it became the main palace under King Gojong's rule. The two most common types of protest at the time were peasant uprisings and (if I remember correctly) bowing before the palace's gate and submitting petitions to the King.

Street scene in Seoul, 1884 (by Percival Lowell)

Lillias Underwood's book "Fifteen years among the top-knots; or, Life in Korea" describes a scene she witnessed not long after her arrival in 1888:

We soon found that the stones and missiles were coming our way, and were forced to run for shelter to a Korean house. For a few moments the fight was hot around us, and then as it seemed to have passed on quite far down the street we ventured forth, only to find that the tide had again turned, and the whole mob were tearing in our direction. Mr. Bunker, for it was he, said there was nothing for it but to scale a half-broken wall into an adjacent compound, and run for it to the house of Mr. Gilmore, not far distant. So, reckless of my best gown, I scaled the wall with great alacrity, and we ran for it quite shamelessly. Missiles of considerable size were raining around us, and the possibility, or rather probability, that one would soon light on our heads, accelerated our speed to no small degree.

While it may sound as if she had encountered a modern-day protest, complete with stone throwing, she had actually encountered something different:

During my first year I had the exciting and doubtful privilege of being present at a native sectional or stone fight, an experience which few covet even once and which the wise and informed, at least of womankind, invariably forego. Once a year at a certain season, where two neighborhoods or sections have grievances against each other, they settle them by one of these fights. They choose captains, arrange the opposing parties, and begin firing stones and tiles at each other.

A stone fight

Also during her first year in Seoul, she experienced this:

Some person or persons, with malicious intent, started a rumor which spread like wild-fire, that foreigners were paying wicked Koreans to steal native children, in order to cut out their hearts and eyes, to be used for medicine. This crime was imputed chiefly to the Japanese, and it was supposed the story had been originated by Chinese or others especially inimical to the large numbers of Japanese residents in the capital. Mr. Underwood acquainted the Japanese minister with the rumors, in order that he might protect himself and his people ; which he promptly did by issuing, and causing to be issued by the government, proclamations entirely clearing his countrymen of all blame in the matter, which it was left to be understood was an acknowledged fact, and consequently the work of other "vile foreigners," namely, ourselves and the Europeans.

The excitement and fury grew hourly. Large crowds of angry people congregated, scowling, muttering, and threatening. Koreans carrying their own children were attacked, beaten, and even killed, on the supposition that they were kidnapping the children of others ; and a high Korean official, who tried to protect one of these men, was pulled from his chair, and narrowly escaped with his life, although he was surrounded by a crowd of retainers and servants. It was considered unsafe for foreigners to be seen in the street. Marines were called up from Chemulpo to guard the different legations, and some Americans even packed away their most necessary clothing and valuables, preparatory to fleeing to the port. The wildest stories were told. Babies, it was said, had been eaten at the German, English, and American legations, and the hospital, of course, was considered by all the headquarters of this bloodthirsty work, for there, where medicine was manufactured and diseases treated, the babies must certainly be butchered.

While the mob's anger eventually dissipated, it revealed how even the most unlikely accusations aimed at foreigners could be believed by mobs in a crowded urban space where rumors traveled quickly. Not for nothing did Isabella Bird Bishop write that "Gusts of popular feeling which pass for public opinion in a land where no such thing exists can only be found in Seoul." In speaking of non-existent public opinion, she was referring to the lack of newspapers in Seoul. This would change in April, 1896, with the establishment of the Independent (more on that here). Writing in 1897, Isabella Bird Bishop relates that

The sight of newsboys passing through the streets with bundles of a newspaper in En-mun under their arms, and of men reading them in their shops, is among the novelties of 1897.[...] Only those who have formed some idea of the besotted ignorance of the Korean concerning current events in his own country, and of the creduility which makes him the victim of every rumor set afloat in the capital, can appreciate the significance of this step and its probable effect in enlightening the people, and in creating a public opinion which shall sit in judgement on regal and official misdeeds.

The Independent was born a few months before the Independence Club, which, after building Dongnimmun and an Independence Hall, held debates about the direction Korea should take in the future. The would eventually organize an "assembly of officials and the people" at Jongno intersection in October of 1898 as they called for more popular participation in the ruling of the country.

Prior to this, something that would change the future shape of Seoul had taken place. In February 1896, King Gojong fled from the Japanese controlled Gyeongbok Palace to the Russian legation, from which he ruled the country. Due to criticism (in part from the Independence Club) Gojong moved from the Russian legation to the nearby Gyeonggun Palace (present day Deoksu Palace) in February 1897. The center of power in Korea, and in Seoul, now lay there.

There's a certain irony to this, because it was precisely because that palace had been so unimportant that parts of it had been given to foreigners to be used for their legations during the 1880s. Once they settled there, however, the area became, with its legations protected by extraterritoriality, modern schools, and churches, a sort of globalized space, and a conduit to foreign power, influence, and even protection. Thus Gojong used the formerly unimportant palace site as his new power base - where he hoped he would be protected from the Japanese.

Gyeonggun Palace before 1904

Chong-Sik Lee's "Syngman Rhee: The Prison Years of a Young Radical" describes the actions of the Independence Club:

[T]he Independence Club had debated the need for a parliament since April [1898], and the the Dongnip Shinmun had expounded at length on it in its April 30 issue. And on July 31 the Club sent a memorial to the emperor "begging him to dismiss unworthy persons from the government and to give the popular voice a share in the management of the affairs of the nation." When the Emperor curtly replied that the Club should not interfere with the affairs of the state, the Club members sent off another strongly worded memorial. The fight was on.

As a number of cabinet officers sided with the reformists, the emperor made some concessions by appointing a number of Club members to the Chungchuwon, or Privy Council, as advisors, but it only whet the appetite of the club members. They wanted the corrupt old ministers dismissed and a parliament installed, and decided to resort to a sit-in in front of a palace gate. The four-day-and-night long sit-in, held between October 8 and 12 [1898], was clearly intimidating. On October 12, the emperor relented by appointing a new cabinet headed by Pak Jeong-yang, which began to negotiate with the club.

The photo above is almost certainly not of that sit-in, but gives an idea of what it may have been like. The emperor would renege on his agreement with the Independence Club and arrest its members on November 4. As Yun Chi-ho recorded in his diary the next day,

Yi Sungman [...] and Yang Hong-mook [...] called on my and we agreed that a crowd should be drummed up as soon as possible. They went out and by the help of others succeeded in getting up a crowd in front of the police station demanding to be arrested to share the punishment of the Club Men.

Yes, that is Yi Sungman, future first president of South Korea. The demonstrations would continue for three weeks until November 26. Convinced by the US and British ministers not to fire into the crowds, Gojong gave in to the demonstrators' demands - but not before hiring peddlers to attack the demonstrators, who defended themselves by hiring stone throwers.

On December 1, they decided to celebrate their victory and display their power by holding a funeral procession for a supporter, Kim Deok-gu, who had been killed the previous week in a skirmish against the peddlers. "Tens of thousands" of people joined in the procession and lined the streets to watch the funeral train move from the center of the city, Jongno, to the funeral site at the outskirts of the city wall and then to the burial site. Even though the victim was a mere cobbler, most likely one who weaved straw shoes commonly worn at this time, the funeral rivaled that of any royalty in grandeur and scale.

Gojong would go back on his word and eventually use royal guards and peddlers to disperse the demonstrators, putting the city under virtual martial law on December 24. Most of the people involved with the Independence Club - including Syngman Rhee - would be thrown in prison.

What has been described above is essentially Korea's first modern mass political movement, with citizens taking to the street to influence the decisions of those in power. 'Mass movement' might not quite be the right term, but it has many of the contours of future political movements in Korea.

Of course, this was pretty much the last gasp of the Joseon dynasty, and likely was Gojong's last chance at saving the situation. Seoul would be occupied by Japanese troops in February 1904, at the start of the Russo-Japanese War, and they wouldn't leave until 1945. Among the things done by the Japanese after annexation was a road widening campaign. To be sure, what is now Taepyeongno (which runs from the Gwanghwamun intersection, past City Hall and Deoksugung down to Namdaemun) did not exist before 1900, but whether work was done on it before the Japanese takeover I don't really know. It was certainly widened in 1912, and may have even been built then. An essay titled "Transformation of Seoul's Modern Urban Landscape" by Kyu-Mok Lee says that the building of this street "can be interpreted as [Japan's] intention to remove the base and tradition of the anti-Japanese demonstrations that were held frequently at the square in front of Daehanmun." One would imagine it would be useful for moving troops from Yongsan as well.


The above photo shows Taepyeongno as seen from Namdaemun before 1925, when the building a the visible end of the street was torn down and replaced with what is now Seoul City Hall. The next mass movement that would be seen in Seoul was the Samil Movement which began on March 1, 1919 (which I've written about here, here and here). Protesters would gather in many places, such as on Jongno...



...as well as in the area in front of Daehanmun (modern day Seoul Plaza).



While independence was not achieved by the protests, the cultural policy followed by Japan in the wake of the protests led to more openness. One of the mass movements during this era was the Korean Production Movement of 1923-24, where, in order to support Korean businesses, people bought Korean products when they could. In 1924 the landscape of Seoul changed when the building seen in the background of the photo above was torn down and what is now City Hall was built (between August 23, 1924 and November 30, 1926).


The above photo of City Hall under construction is from this blog, which has numerous photos of the building (as well as its predecessor, which was built in 1896 and stood where Sinsegye Department Store is now). This Joongang Ilbo article (may crash Firefox) tells us that

During colonial rule, the building was called Gyeongseong Bucheongsa. Much like today it was the administrative seat of the government of the nation’s capital. Sohn Jung-mok, a professor at the University of Seoul, said the Japanese colonists intentionally constructed the building right across from Deoksu Palace to break the Korean spirit.

“Deoksu Palace was where King Gojeong resided for 22 years until his death in 1919,” Sohn said. The professor said that because Korea had to sign a number of unfair treaties with Japan, students gathered in front of the palace gates to plead to the king. Tension heightened after the March 1 independence movement that brought about a massive nationwide uprising. “The Japanese believed they had to break the spirit of the area that was the origin of the independence drive, as well as the worship of the Joseon King,” Sohn said.

Considering how the Government General building was built to hide Gyeongbok Palace (and it was built in the shape of the first character that makes up 'Japan'), the idea that the Japanese wanted a stern administrative building next to the formerly important palace isn't a stretch. (The article also notes that as of last week, the City Hall building is no longer used by the city for that purpose, as a new city hall is being built). The article also mentions another building - one of the few from that era that still stands, the Bumingwan, currently the Seoul Metropolitan Council building.

Ground was first broken for the building in July 1934 and it was completed in December 1935. Construction was aided by a 1 million won ($977) donation from Gyeongseong Electric. When first built, various cultural performances, including ballet, plays and music concerts, were held at the venue. Later the building was used mostly for political propaganda of the colonial Japanese government.

Bumingwan, left; City Hall, right

As the article notes, the building was the site of a bomb attack by independence activists on July 24, 1945. No one was hurt. After liberation the streets of Seoul would be filled with people celebrating, and as the atmosphere leading up to the Korean War grew darker, there were many street rallies. Many were held in what was Dongdaemun Stadium.

After the war the Bumingwan was used for another purpose. Between 1953 and 1975, it served as the location of the national assembly. Thus it was in front of this building that students, protesting Syngman Rhee's illegitimate election results and brutal treatment of demonstrators in Masan, held a demonstration on April 18, 1960 - the eve of the April students uprising.


Protests on April 19 took place throughout downtown Seoul, near Gwanghwamun and City Hall, at Dongdaemun and on Jongno.


The protesters advanced on the presidents house, where police fired on protesters, killing more than 100 students.


The army refused to side with Rhee and he was forced to step down.


A year later, on May 16, 1961, a different spectacle would be seen in front of City Hall: Park Chung-hee and his soldiers as they took over the government.


Park would rule the country until his assassination in October 1979. As Chun Doo-hwan took over the military in December 1979, and then the Korean CIA in April 1980, students began to protest on Campus and call for the end of martial law, in effect since Park's death. On May 15, the eve of the anniversary of Park Chung-hee's 1961 coup, a massive protest was held in downtown Seoul - the first time in many years students had protested off-campus.



The protesters would make their way to City Hall, as described here. The students then called off further protests and waited for the government's next move. Two days later martial law was extended, politicians arrested, and the national assembly and universities closed. The military's brutal actions in Kwangju on May 18 set off the Kwangju Uprising. With the uprising's suppression, Chun was free to take over the country.

Worth noting is that during this time Myeongdong Cathedral provided sanctuary to dissidents. With the ruling party's poor showing in the 1985 national assembly elections, more student protests began to occur on campuses. In January of 1987, Park Jong-cheol, a SNU student, was killed while police were inflicting water torture, as related here (and here is an article about how a lawyer named Roh Moo-hyeon got involved in the case). This led to more criticism of the government, and more protests on campuses. On April 13, 1987 Chun banned all further discussion of constitutional reform until after the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, essentially guaranteeing that his successor in the Democratic Justice Party would become president. This led to more protests, which began to peak after details of Park Jong-cheol's death were released on May 18.


The caption for this photo (which I might have titled "modern day stone throwers") at the Hankyoreh: "Protesting the torture of student activist Park Jong-cheol at the hands of police, students at Seoul's Ewha Womans University [sic] wear masks to protect themselves from tear gas at a May 26, 1987 rally, as they hurl rocks at riot police from the university's gate."

On June 10, Roh Tae-woo was picked as Chun's successor, which led to almost a month of protests where citizens joined students in the streets. More can be read about the protests here.

Protests at present day Seoul Plaza

Note that Daehanmun can be seen in both photos above.

On June 29 Roh accepted the public's call for direct elections. On July 5, Lee Han-yeol, who had been in a coma since he was injured by a tear gas grenade on June 9, died. "On July 9, more than a million people marched from Yonsei University to Seoul’s City Hall grieving his death," according to an article about his death and his family that can be found here (may crash firefox).


This essentially marked the end of the June uprising of 1987. Perhaps this mass funeral might remind you of the funeral of Kim Deok-gu, on December 1, 1898?

So there we have a (not so brief) history of the use of these public spaces by mass political movements I laid out at the beginning of this post - at least the history of these spaces prior to the World Cup rallies in 2002.

Legalize it

A May 21 Korea Times article titled "9,000 Illegal Foreign Workers Face Deportation" tells us that two of the Migrant Trade Union's leaders - Toran Limbu of Nepal and Abdus Sabur of Bangladesh - were deported on May 15. These were the two leaders who were arrested in a "regular search", as I described here. There's more:

About 9,000 illegal foreign workers, about 4.4 percent of the total, are expected to face deportation this year as the government is waging a campaign to arrest "unregistered aliens.'' The campaign against these workers has been stepped up since the Lee Myung-bak administration was launched in February.

President Lee told the labor minister in March that he does not want "illegal foreign workers to stay in the country'' and that the government should come up with countermeasures.[...]

While some lamented this, I couldn't help but think that the government seemed to be cutting back this year, because as this February 2008 Joongang Ilbo article relates,

About 22,000 illegal migrants were caught and deported last year [2007], down from 23,000 in 2006.

In comparison, 9000 seemed quite small. But we need only read on:

Officials of the immigration offices nationwide have been given a quota for the number of illegal residents they should arrest _ for Seoul 600 and Busan, 250. The total quota is made up of 3,000 per month from May to the end of July _ no quota has been set beyond that.

Ignoring the fact that the numbers don't make sense, it seems to be saying that 9000 are to be deported (or at least arrested) by the end of July. So it seems to be business as usual after all. Of course, in my previous post, I showed statistics which looked at how the number of undocumented workers here increased to over 300,000 in 2003 before 180,000 workers were legalized under the Employment Permit System, and noted that legalization had made more undocumented workers 'disappear' than crackdowns had.

Obviously, after talking about the 'soaring' number of illegal workers here, the authorities have come to the same conclusion, as a June 4 Korea Times article titled "Working Period for Foreigners to Be Extended to 5 Years" reveals.

The government will extend the working period of foreigners in Korea by two years to five years beginning this year as part of efforts to improve their job security and provide better working environment for foreigners.

Under the Employment Permit System for Foreigners, they are only allowed to work in the five industries ― manufacturing, construction, farming, fishing and service ― for up to three years. To work here any longer, they must leave the country and spend at least one month in their home countries before getting permission to return.

"Beginning this year, foreigners who want to work for more than three years in Korea don't have to leave. They can stay for five years,'' said an official of the Office of the Prime Minister Wednesday. "The measure is also helpful for Korean firms as they can hire skilled foreign workers for a longer period.''

Make no mistake - though the terms 'illegal workers' or 'migrant workers' are not brought up, this two year extension essentially will legalize a large number of workers currently under the EPS and cause the number of undocumented workers in Korea to drop - at least in the short term.

The Jeong In-suk mystery

While looking up information on the Bando Hotel for my last post, I found this article about Korea written in 1971 by Darrell Houston (whose other articles, mostly about Japan (including Yukio Mishima's death), can be found here). There are some things I didn't know about Korean exports in the early 1970s:

And last year something like half a million chipmunks, at 600 hwan apiece, were shipped to Japan. Despite the suggestion by some wags that the critters occasionally end up in the sukiyaki pot, the chipmunks are much favored by the Japanese as household pets.

No wonder chipmunks are such a rare sight on the peninsula! I also became interested in this passage:

Right now, Park's government Is facing a crisis involving the murder of a popular, and wealthy kiesang girl, the Korean equivalent of a Japanese geisha. Former premier Chung Il-kwon has been dismissed in a cabinet reshuffle as rumors persist that he fathered the murdered courtesan's three-year old son, Song-il. Park, an austere – and careful – politician, has thus far stayed above public reproach.

I was curious to find out more about this, and found this article, which named the kisaeng as Jeong In-suk. I found two photos here (with her son) and here as well. This article is available only through cache, so I'll post it all here.

Jeong In-suk, 26, was an alluring gisaeng, a courtesan at a prestigious salon that dealt only with top-ranking officials. Around 11:20 p.m. on March 17, 1970, Ms. Jeong was found dead in the backseat of her Jeep ― murdered by a bullet to the head and one through the left side of her chest.

She left behind a 3-year-old son by an unknown father, a notebook with the contact information of 26 dignitaries and a special passport, which was then available only for high-ranking officials. Thus was born the Jeong In-suk mystery.

The night she was killed, her elder brother, Jeong Jong-wuk, had been driving the Jeep, and had also been shot. But he was only injured, shot in his right thigh. He stopped the car on the Gangbyeon Expressway and asked for help from taxi drivers as they passed by. The police eventually made Mr. Jeong the No. 1 suspect, but he denied any part.

For five years, Ms. Jeong had been a top-ranking gisaeng, and rumor had it that her clients included then-President Park Chung Hee. People speculated about who the baby’s father might be ― maybe the president, or Jeong Il-gwon, the then-prime minister, or any number of who’s-whos.

Jeong Il-gwon

Ms. Jeong, when she was alive, had become the talk-of-the-town; not something that her important benefactors appreciated. So she was sent to Japan, and then to the United States.
On this date, however, she was back in Seoul, packing to move to the United States forever, never to return.

According to the police, Mr. Jeong was not at all happy with his sister’s “untidy” relationships with men, and shot her. Then, to make the murder look like an accident, he shot himself in the thigh and threw the pistol out the window. After his initial denials, Mr. Jeong eventually confessed his guilt and served 19 years in prison.

But that was not the end of the story. After getting out of prison on parole in 1989, Mr. Jeong insisted that he had been forced to confess, and that a big-time politician had promised leniency as a reward. He said two strangers had shot him and his sister, but not before saying “We are running an errand for the National Intelligence Agency.”

He also said Prime Minister Jeong Il-gwon was the baby’s father. The son, now grown and living in the United States, flew to Seoul for DNA testing, but the former prime minister refused. The Jeong In-suk mystery remains unsolved.

If the story wasn't interesting enough already, it would take a turn for the wierd almost 37 years to the day after her death, on March 16, 2007.

The police Friday arrested a 38-year-old man on suspicion of orchestrating last month's kidnapping of a golf course owner. The suspect, Chong Song-il, is the son of Chong In-suk, a woman who was believed to be the mistress of a high-ranking official in the 1960s and who died mysteriously.

Incheon International Airport Police arrested Chong near his house in southern Seoul early yesterday morning, 18 days after the kidnapping. On Feb. 26, the owner of a golf course in Kyonggi Province, identified by his surname Kang, his 24-year-old son and his driver were taken abducted by a group of men at the airport.

They escaped two days later from a villa in PyeongChang, Kangwon Province, where they had been held. Kang claimed two of his relatives had ordered gangsters to kidnap him in a plot to take over management of the golf course. Earlier this month the police arrested the 66-year-old uncle of Kang, identified as Yoon, and a former senior prosecutor, Kim, on suspicion of planning the abduction. Chong is suspected of leading a team of six who kidnapped Kang and the two others.

According to the police, Chong suggested the kidnapping to Yoon and Kim at a restaurant in Seoul on Feb. 20. He asked Yoon to give him 150 billion won in exchange for Yoon usurping the management from Kang. When Yoon accepted, Chong organized the team and kidnapped Kang. Chong reportedly admitted his involvement but claims Yoon and Kim led the abduction.

His mother, Chong In-suk, was found dead after being shot on a road near the Han River in 1970. The culprit was never found. As she was the mistress of a high-profile political figure, speculation has mounted over the identity of her then-three-year-old son's father.

The son, Chong, left for the United States in 1985. In 1991, he filed a suit against former Prime Minister Chong Il-kwon to confirm he was the politician's son, but withdrew the suit one month later.

Orchestrating the takeover of a golf course? There may be something to this talk of his being fathered by a politician after all...

Old photos

A few years ago I had an adult student appear once in a class. He and the other students introduced themselves, and another student asked him if he was married. He then asked me if I knew of Flight 007. I didn't, and he told me that it was a Korean Air flight that had been shot down by Russia (in 1983) and that his wife and son had been on board. I never saw him after that class, but I went home and searched about for information on the incident (such as here). Years later, Flight 007 came up in conversation with another student, who was training to be a commercial air pilot. He then mentioned another flight which had been shot down by the Soviets a few years before 007. That was Korean Air Flight 902, which on April 21, 1978 managed to accidentally almost do a 180 degree turn over the north pole and fly into Soviet airspace before being fired on and forced to land on a lake. The wikipedia entry shows just how badly it went off course.


On Thursday night I noticed this entry at naver which had several photos of the crashed plane; I also found this Russian page which had the same photos. As noted at the Marmot's Hole, "The photos have been put up on a blog of a Russian car magazine called “Autoreview” apparently to advertise that a Land Rover pickup was used to haul equipment at that time. "

Another Marmot's Hole post led me to this collection of photos by Don O'Brien taken in 1945 and 1946 when he was a Signal Corps photographer with the US Army in Korea. Interested in cityscapes as I am, I found the photos he took from the top of the Bando Hotel (or Hanto Hotel, in Japanese) to be fascinating. Here's a photo of the Bando Hotel in the 1940s:


It's taken from this blog, which has many photos of the interior as well. I also found photos of a fashion show there in 1964, as well as an English menu (fried chicken for 850 won, anyone?). To see where the hotel was, this aerial photo taken in 1945 might help:


Look at the inverted triangle in front of City Hall and then follow the top to the far right of the photo (present day Euljiro). The edge of the hotel (and its fire escape) is visible. To the left of City Hall the current city council building is visible. It appears at left in O'Brien's photo below (all three of his hotel-top photos are reversed over at flickr). If the camera panned over to the left just a little, City Hall would be visible.


The photo below looks east down Euljiro. The Oriental Development Company building is visible at far right. If you follow the city's horizon, Dongdaemun is visible at center. The intersection in the foreground is of Euljiro and Namdaemun-ro. The whole section on the right from the hotel to Namdaemun-ro is now the Lotte Hotel.


This photo looks southeast; Myeongdong Cathedral is clearly visible.


Here's a shot (again from this post) of the US military landing in Incheon in September, 1945.



O'Brien provides us with a photo of the landing from his point of view:


He also has colour photos of the convoy en route from Okinawa to Incheon, and of the flags of the allies hanging on the Government-general building. (I posted a first-hand account of the era of the US military government here). Here's a colour photo of refugees from Japan landing in Busan, one of many refugee photos he took.


There are shots taken all over Korea showing landscapes, crowds in cities, political events, and portraits of ordinary Koreans. It seems photos are uploaded regularly, so checking back periodically would be a good idea. How can you not love this photo?


It seems that such haircuts for young girls were very much the style of the time.

Combat police and sickness

I had an interesting conversation with an adult student the other night. He's in university, and brought up the protests, mentioning something that I'd forgotten about him. He said he understood both sides in the demonstrations, because he did his military service in the combat police in Busan. He also mentioned that he'd been hit full on with a water cannon before and that it pushed him five meters in a matter of seconds.

I'd seen footage years ago of Daewoo strikers holding a sit-in being brutally beaten by riot police, specifically the 1001 unit. I didn't quite understand his distinction, but he told me there are combat police and auxiliary police, and that the auxiliary police are moved around a lot. They choose the biggest and toughest guys for these units, starting with 1000 in Seoul and 7000 in Busan.

He told me he'd called up his old unit (he finished in early 2008) in Busan to see how things were. They told him they hadn't showered in a week and a half, and rarely got much of a chance to eat or sleep. I'm not sure how big the protests are in Busan, but apparently they're big enough. Combat police on duty are on 24-hour call, he told me. I almost wonder if the system is designed to bring out as much irritability or aggressiveness as possible (he mentioned that police guarding the Blue house are on 4 day call). It reminds me of the guards at the Yeosu Immigration center, where a fire occurred last year which killed several migrant workers. The guards there worked 24 hour shifts as well. How you're supposed to be in peak condition after a 24 hour shift I'm not sure. It seems like the law of diminishing returns so well described over at roboseyo really does need to be understood, instead of just piling as much of a workload onto a person or structure as possible. Nothing bad happens when you do that, right?

Yup, using this again.

I probably would have asked him several more questions about the combat police if I hadn't been feeling rather floaty after loading up on one of my packets of pills from the pharmacy (hello pseudoephedrine!) I was taking to treat my acute tonsillitis, something I hadn't really had since I was a kid. A week after getting it, I'm only just beginning to feel better. "But wait! Why were you teaching with tonsillitis?" you may ask. For the same reason combat police are on 24-hour call and fifth floors are added to structures only designed to support four floors! Now, would I have gotten better faster if I could have had more than half a day off? Would I be a domineering, arrogant westerner if I was to say that letting people rest, get well at home, and return to work feeling better is better than making people work even though they are unable to perform the tasks that define their job? Well, I'm not going to say that. I'll let ACNielson do the talking. They tell us that South Korean people are the world’s most vulnerable (52%) to cold.

People in South Korea seemed to be the sickest, suffering from most ailments and topping the global rankings for suffering from colds, indigestion, heartburn and toothaches.

Oddly enough, Japan, with a culture that is often quite similar to Korea's, is noted as being one of the healthiest countries. Something else to consider, beyond working employees to the bone, is the fact that the workplace, schools, or public transit are places where many might come into contact with others and catch a cold, much as in any city in the west (though there is much more public transit use here). Something Korea has that the west doesn't, however, is a plethora of hagwons. I'd imagine the average middle class child goes to at least one or two hagwons a day, which gives viruses even more chances to move about. For example here are the schools in Banghwa-dong:


You can be guaranteed that the kids at these schools don't only have contact with kids from their school and immediate neighbourhood, but also attend hagwons (as far away as Mok-dong), which may have kids from several different schools in one class (Okay, the kids attending the schools at the bottom of the map probably don't go as much to hagwons, because the area is poorer - there are no apartment buildings there, right? Not to fear though, the whole area will soon be redeveloped). At any rate, hagwons are a 'social vector' for the common cold, if you want to call it that, that western countries don't have. Then the kids come home to their parents who never get sick days and make them sick. That's my theory anyways.

Back in February, Brendon Carr mentioned how unconcerned authorities are here about certain health threats. Given how he ends the post, it's well worth reading considering the nightly protests downtown that seem to see no end in sight.

Scott Burgeson has been attending the protests for several weeks now and talking with the protesters, as well as getting misquoted (to say the least) by the Hankyoreh. He relates some of his experiences and observations here, as well. Gord Sellar also has an excellent look at some of the tensions involved in these protests and looks at what has led to a dancing cat appearing on the GNP's website. Robert over at the Marmot's Hole also takes a look at Lee Myung-bak's first 100 days in office. Brian looks at the case of a comedian forced to resign for being ever-so-slightly critical of the protesters.

Hopefully I'll post more as I get back up to speed this weekend...