The Anti-Refugee Protests: The dark side of candlelight protests

The Anti-Refugee Protests

Part 1: Xenophobia, the media, and citizens groups
Part 2: The dark side of candlelight protests
Part 3: Ordinary citizens, petitions, and K-populism

Part 2: The dark side of candlelight protests

Upon looking at photos of the June 30 anti-refugee protests, I was struck by the sight of the protesters holding candles. (Few candles can be seen in photos of the July 14 protest, but there was more daylight in those photos so that's not surprising).

(From here.) 

 But it was not just the anti-refugee protesters holding candles - the pro-refugee demonstrators (below, left) also held them aloft.

(From here.)

The reason for this, I think, derives from two different conceptions of what candlelight protests stand for. One understanding of them is that they are concerned with remembering victims and/or seeking justice. The first candlelight protests, in 2002, were to remember the deaths of two girls killed in an accident involving a US military vehicle.



 In November 2003 a small candlelight vigil was held in Daehangno as a protest against the suneung (CSAT) in Daehangno after a girl in Namwon killed herself on November 5, 2003.

In December 2004, 150 people held a candlelight vigil to protest the police's failure to punish the scores of high school boys who repeatedly gang-raped two girls from Miryang.

"Cheaters are arrested, those who injure younger students, also arrested... Rape is dismissed with a caution???" (From here, where more photos can be found.)

In May 2005 a "Remembrance Event for Students Sacrificed for School Education" was held at Gwanghwamun, which criticized the education system and the pressures that cause students to kill themselves.

(From here.)

It is also popularly remembered that high school girls started the protests against American beef imports in 2008, fearing their lives would be cut short by mad cow disease. And the candlelight protests of late 2016 were described recently by Moon Jae-in as "an honorable civil revolution that inherited [the] spirit [of the 1919 March 1 movement]." With this justice-oriented pedigree involving support for the powerless, it's not surprising those demonstrating in support of refugees would be holding candles.

But there is another, less savory side to the candlelight protests that should not be forgotten, one that reaches back to the first such protests in 2002.

(From here.)

(A quick digression: If not for this Daum cafe post, down the memory hole would have gone the fact that the first candlelight vigil for the girls was held by American soldiers on June 18, 2002 - five days after the fatal accident, when the entire country was gearing up for the Korea-Italy World Cup soccer match that evening.)

What is remembered as the "first" candlelight protest related to the girls was suggested by a netizen named Angma. After watching an episode of MBC's current affairs program PD Diary about the acquittal of soldiers involved in the accident, he was so moved that he left messages on the internet urging people to "commemorate the lives of Mi-seon and Hyo-soon, who were forgotten in the joy of June" by gathering with candles near the US Embassy. These messages gained a great deal of exposure when they were covered by an Ohmynews reporter named Kim Ki-boh - who turned out to be Angma. The candlelight vigil, claiming to be a "cultural event" rather than a political protest (and thus not subject to registration with the police), became a new form of protest that moved beyond the clashes with riot police of previous protests, and so became more likely to draw in a wider variety of participants. Things soon turned ugly, however, as this photo of a December 14, 2002 candlelight protest in front of city hall shows.



At this protest they sang the song "Fucking USA" and "tore several huge U.S. flags to bits before unfurling a Korean flag to shouts of 'We will recover our national pride.'" In the meantime, a nearby restaurant posted this sign:



Worth keeping in mind is the fact that two weeks after the accident that June, North Korean naval vessels attacked a South Korean patrol boat, killing six South Koreans. Little concern was shown about their deaths at the hands of North Koreans, in stark comparison to the reaction to the traffic accident involving US soldiers, which spread widely throughout South Korean society at the time. As well, far from being merely "cultural" in nature, when a coalition of civic groups took over the candlelight protests "The Pan National Committee said it would continue its protests until Dec. 18, the day before the presidential election." Roh Moo-hyun, the progressive candidate these groups favored, was elected the next day.

In March 2004, when Roh was impeached for violating the election law regarding the upcoming National Assembly election, candlelight vigils were again held by citizens opposed to his impeachment, which was ultimately overturned by the constitutional court. Though the protests that time were free of the xenophobia that attended the 2002 protests, media coverage of the impeachment was not entirely free of racist attitudes, as this cartoon, published by the Hankyoreh reveals:

(White or Chinese bloggers stated that it was a right wing coup d'état, impeachment with no reason, that only the citizens would be hurt, and called conservatives 'idiots' while an African savage looked on in confusion.)

As for the 2008 candlelight protests, they were not started by high school students at all, as a poster for the first candlelight protest on May 2 of that year reveals. As I looked at here, the first protest was organized by the Solidarity Struggle for the Impeachment of Lee Myung-bak, based at cafe.daum.net/antimb (which is still active). The group, formed on the day Lee was elected, had been trying to find anything that might anger the public and turn it against Lee. A poster for a protest (which drew only around 200 people) on April 26, a week before the first candlelight protest, shows the different items they were throwing at the wall to see what might stick:

The terms in red above include "disgraceful diplomacy" (for bowing to the Japanese emperor, as pictured), "obliterating the national soul," and "mad cow" (the announcement that US beef would be imported came on April 18). The rally's program was elsewhere described as "Reject the second colony." Though the April 26 rally drew only a small number of people, and farmers' rallies against US beef imports were only lightly attended, the issue exploded when PD Diary broadcast a show which shocked viewers and sowed fear of mad cow disease-tainted US beef. It soon became clear the program had mistranslated and mislabeled certain footage in order to achieve this effect. It also presented research in a misleading way to suggest Koreans were genetically more susceptible to mad cow disease, playing on a victim consciousness (of the "we've been invaded so many times" sort that Park Chung-hee encouraged during his Yushin dictatorship to inculcate support for a strong army) that finds expression in historical narratives and films.

Symbols and memes played an important role in the 2008 protests, and some of the images highlighted the threat posed by American beef, or the US in general. The day before PD Diary aired, michincow.net restarted its website and dusted off a catchy image it had used at anti-US beef protests a year or two earlier (also examined here):

Similar images proliferated on the internet, such as this image of a malevolent American cow threatening the lives of Korean children:

Evil American bull: "Eat lots." (From here)

(I'm pretty certain the US stopped bombing Korean children in the 1950s.)

My favorite was likely this one of Uncle Sam cramming American beef down a boy's throat:

(Edited from an image here)

The candlelight protests that the group aiming to impeach Lee Myung-bak organized grew in size and continued for three months. For a critical take on them, Scott Burgeson's essay "Stranger in Chongno" is worth reading; he attended almost every rally during that period. He described the protests as an attempted coup e'tat and an "assault on Korean democracy by the forces of ideological totalitarianism and reactionary nationalism." Though the target of these protests was the Lee Myung-bak government, fear of outsiders - the US, once again - who would do harm to Koreans was used to rally the public to the side of those organizing the rallies.

It should be clear enough from these examples that, from the beginning, candlelight protests have promoted, at best, a "we must protect the nation" brand of nationalism, and at worst, outright xenophobia of the sort that perceived outsiders - particularly Americans in 2002 and 2008 - as wanting to harm Koreans. And so it should be no surprise that those taking part in an anti-refugee protest would be holding candles, since the partisan, political candlelight protests of 2002 and 2008 promoted sentiments that were rather similar to those of anti-refugee protests.

Signs at May 2008 anti-beef protests read "Protect citizens' sovereignty," "Stop importation." (From here.)

2018: "I am an ROK citizen. Citizens first. Citizens want safety."

In many ways, candlelight protests, at least when the cameras are rolling (as they were not during the after-hours violence in 2008 that left hundreds injured), are an improvement over the violent confrontations of the past. But considering the way they have been used to express nationalism and fear of outsiders such as US soldiers or American beef exporters in the past, we should not be surprised that citizens who believe they are defending the nation from outsiders who would do them harm (or who would use resources that should be set aside for citizens alone) would feel comfortable adopting this form of protest in the same symbolic space (Gwanghwamun, in this case) as previous candlelight protests.

But the message on the signs above - "I am an ROK citizen. Citizens first. Citizens want safety" - points to a larger question surrounding the anti-refugee protests and past candlelight rallies - the role of the citizen in relation to the state. This question, revolving in part around possible changes to the constitution, will be the focus of the next post.

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.

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.

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