[KS] South Korea's Rollback of Democratic Rights

[J.Scott Burgeson]

The problem with these kinds of incidents is that sometimes the groups involved are so thoroughly unscrupulous themselves that one has little if any sympathy for them, and must at least be very skeptical about the true nature of the incident being reported on.

Note that the Hani fails to mention that these same individuals attacking "violent crackdowns" by the police and calling for a "guarantee (of) the freedom to assemble and demonstrate" had physically hijacked the stage of the Hi Seoul Festival at City Hall on the previous Saturday night, forcing its sudden closure by the organizers. Later they were filmed hurling bricks at the police in Myong-dong and clubbing riot police (i.e., hapless young military conscripts) with metal poles. I'm not quite sure what's so "peaceful" about that. As for "ordinary bystanders" allegedly being hauled in by the police in Myong-dong, I'm pretty sure the police made repeated announcements to clear the area before moving in to stop what was clearly a violent assembly. Did they think the police were just having a laugh and did not mean what they said?

I'm all for free speech and the right to assembly, and am a progressive myself, but after watching these groups up close myself for the past year, I find it hard to take anything these folks say seriously, given their repeated willingness to lie and distort in the interest of promoting their own agenda. Indeed, the Hani itself interviewed me last year during the mad-cow protests, and then thoroughly made up a fake quote and attributed it to me in the interest of inflaming anti-American sentiment among its readers. It so happened that I had recorded the interview myself, and yet when confronted with this evidence, the Hani refused to make an apology or provide a requested retraction. As a somewhat well-known writer in Korea, I do not appreciate having false quotes attributed to me that damage my public reputation here, but the Hani simply did not care. 

In such cases, one's claims to moral righteousness ring rather hollow when one is so obviously unrighteous one's self. In any case, there are always at least two sides to any story, and Hani's version below is only one side (i.e., their standard m.o. of reportage). I suggest further research and investigation before drawing any final conclusions.

--J. Scott Burgeson 




--- On Tue, 5/5/09, george katsiaficas <katsiaficasg at wit.edu> wrote:

> From: george katsiaficas <katsiaficasg at wit.edu>
> Subject: [KS] South Korea's Rollback of Democratic Rights
> To: "Korean Studies Discussion List" <koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws>
> Date: Tuesday, May 5, 2009, 9:17 PM
> 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