[KS] South Korea's Rollback of Democratic Rights

[Eugene Y. Park]

Dear all,

Not surprising. For sure, South Korea has had (and probably always will
have) those who seem to equate democracy and market economy with,
respectively, law-and-order/anti-communism and pro-jaebeol policies.
Unfortunately in the last two years or so, folks with this mindset have
gained strength in South Korea.

In this regard, to me two incidents are revealing. In 2008 (or was it late
2007?), police investigators visited the professors who had participated
in a Seoul National University public forum criticizing the "great canal"
(dae unha) proposal. At the time, news media reported the police as
explaining that it wanted to investigate whether the professors had any
political motives or were working with the opposition party, I recall.

Then late last year, thousands of historians in South Korea as well as
hundreds of Koreanists abroad signed a statement expressing concern over
the less-than-democratic manner in which the government was changing high
school history text books. As far as I could tell, incredibly enough none
of the main stream (i.e. the most popular) print media--that is the
Joseon, the Jungang, and the Donga--reported this or any of the press
conferences associated with it. At least not in Korean-language versions.

The above and other recent developments of similar nature must be just
pale reflections of more outrageous violations during the 1970s and the
80s. Nonetheless they are sobering, especially to those of us who may take
democratic rights for granted.

Yours,
Gene


On Tue, May 5, 2009 13:17, george katsiaficas wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> I think the excerpt below of an article from today's Hankyoreh might be of
> interest. The full article can be found at
> http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/353268.html
>
> "S. Korean police round up citizens holding press conferences
>
> Seoul¹s Seodaemun Police Station, meanwhile, forcefully hauled in Monday
> six
> of about 20 civic and social group members who held a press conference in
> front of the National Police Agency (NPA) headquarters in Seodaemun-gu
> criticizing police for what they called an excessive crackdown on the
> Labor
> Day and one-year candlelight anniversary demonstrations. The arrested
> included a Ms. Myoung-sook of SARANGBANG group for human rights.
>
> After hearing that demonstrators chanted for the resignation of NPA
> commissioner Kang Hee-rak and an end to violent crackdowns during the
> press
> conference, the police charged participants with holding a demonstration
> without prior notification. Kim Sang-mun of Seodaemun Police Station said
> the demonstration protested the police¹s execution of its duties, and
> since
> the guideline for law enforcement has changed into a principle of no
> tolerance, the police responded out of principle.
>
> About this, Human Rights Network activist Rang-hee said this was almost
> the
> first time anyoneŒs been hauled in for a press conference, which are being
> held all of the time. It seems police are stopping even press conferences
> to
> block the spread of opinion.
>
> The Human Rights Network Korea, the Korea Progressive Alliance and Korean
> Confederation of Trade Unions issued a joint statement Monday claiming
> that
> even participants in a press conference condemning violent arrests by
> police
> have been violently hauled in. They call for police to stop their
> excessive
> crackdowns and guarantee the freedom to assemble and demonstrate.
>
> Meanwhile, Lawyers for a Democratic Society interviewed protest
> participants
> currently undergoing questioning at 11 police stations in downtown Seoul
> after they were arrested in candlelight-related demonstrations. Seol
> Chang-il, a lawyer with Lawyers for a Democratic Society, says it appears
> a
> fair number of high school students and even citizens who were watching
> the
> demonstrations were round up. He also said there were individuals who
> needed
> hospital treatment after they were severely assaulted during their
> arrest."
>
> George Katsiaficas
> Visiting Professor
> Department of Sociology
> Chonnam National University
> Buk-ku Yongbongdong 300
> 500-757 GWANGJU
> South Korea
>
>
>
>


Eugene (Gene) Y. Park
Associate Professor
Department of History
Krieger Hall 200
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, CA 92697
Tel. (949) 824-6521
Fax. (949) 824-2865
http://www.faculty.uci.edu/profile.cfm?faculty_id=4926