Korean Job Discussion Forums

[The Bobster]

At least not in realtime, and not on the major broadcast networks.

Lotta mayhem last night, lotta water cvannons used on protesters, lotta police police knocking people down, lotta proitesters colmmandeering the water cannons and turning 'em back on the police, lotta stuff being thrown at cops, lotta police getting trampled, lotta arrests made and injuries incurred (at least one foreign guy, by the way) and some people are in the hospital today.

Wasn't on tv, though. Was I there? No. So, how do I know? Live video feed on the intgernet, Hankyoreah I think. Thousands and thousands of people, and the violence went on from at least 10pm until the wee hours. If it were San Francisco, Detroit, London or Paris, I think the broadcast networks would be interrupting their usual Saturday night broadcasting of softcore erotica and goofyass gameshows.

There will no doubt be edited clips on the night news shows - but this was newsworthy enough to warrent a unit reporting it live and at the moment ... so why did our household have to look at a leftwing website to see if any of our neighbors and acquaintances were getting banged up and incarcerated?

As it turned out, some did. Hospital and possibly jail visitations of freinds and students are on my dance card for this afternoon.

(Irrelevant to the topic, but I'll state it clearly: I do NOT approve of the violent behavior of the protesters and this is why I did my best to dissuade anyone I know from going to these things. Still, they are friends, and if I were in the hospital, even for doing something stupid, I'd hope someone I know would drop by.)

Someone told me the govt is censoreing the broadcast media, "just like during the Gwangju Uprising." Might be, or it might be MBC and KBS suck as badly as American mainstream media does ...

[wanamin]

I was there and it was pretty scary. My girlfriend made us leave when they starting getting really violent, and we saw what looked like teargas.

The police here are amazingly tolerant.
All the violence I saw was from the 'protesters' (I prefer using the terms 'rioters' or 'mob' as those more accurately describe the situation), directed at the police.

The Police used water cannons because the mob tried to knock the police buses that were protecting the US embassy over.
Rioters who attack the police for no good reason deserve what they get. If a mob is attacking you, you do what you can to stop it.
These riots aren't to fight a suppressive dictatorship (as the Gwangju riots were) but because of a trade agreement that would allow for the importation of SAFER US beef. (Korean beef standards are LOW)

In the US these rioters would be called felons and shipped off to prison for a few years.

MBC is an anti-government station. They started a lot of this with their Yellow-Journalism show "PD Notebook"
I think they didn't cover it because it would make the "protesters demanding democracy" look more like crazy violent mob that they actually are.

[PeteJB]

Right now Gwangju is probably more civilized.

[Milwaukiedave]

Bob,

Interesting to hear the media isn't covering it since they are partly responsible for causing the chaos by repeating the lies about American beef. A week ago when Lee said he was going to crack down on protests I said I honest thought he wouldn't do it.

There are two major advantages people that have evolved since those protests in 1980. One is technology and the other is the internet. I'm sure someone had a cell phone or camcorder and got everything on tape and it will be posted on the internet.

While I disagree with the protests themselves, if the government allowed police to act in a manner that caused harm to people, then they it should be made public. I don't know whether they did or not. I don't know how violent the protesters got.

It would have been interesting being nearby with a video camera though.

[Ya-ta Boy]

Bob,

Your report makes it sound like the protests have moved to a new level of violence. Do you think that is true, or did I get a mistaken impression?

From very early on these protests have been aimed at the President. There was a report early in the month saying that June 20 was some kind of deadline and after that the movement would begin focusing on impeachment. Your report sounds definitely anti-government.

Lee has certainly been weakened. Do you think it is fatal? I suspect that it is. I don't see how he can recover. Are we in for 5 whole years of a crippled president unable to do anything, or will something happen to remove him?

[lorenchristopher]

I saw it on CNN this morning...the water cannons and all, maybe not being broadcast on TV here in Korea but I don't get Korean channels.

[aussieb]

It was the lead story on YTN news on SBS in Australia this morning.

[tefain]

I've seen some footage on the news here and most of it shows the police spraying/hitting the protestors. Some of the accounts I've read on the net tell how the protestors were trying to overturn police vehicles and break through barricades, which is a great way to get sprayed! I think things will get pretty ugly in the next week or so as the protestors get more and more desperate.

[IMF crisis]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080629/wl_afp/skoreaustradebeefprotest_080629075517
over 200 injured.

and many more inured.

[nicholas_chiasson]

I think they should draw a line...and walking over it gets you shot. Do anything you want on your side...cool. Cross the line...20mm NATO round to your communist sympathetic head.

[Justin Kimberlake]

Yawn.

[mehamrick]

anyone got a link for the video or what to look for it under??

[jkelly80]

It was all over the news this evening. Lots of footage of cops beating people with the edge of their shields and protesters throwing shit at the cops. Most of it rather graphic.

[tigerbluekitty]

Oh dear, the protests look more dangerous than Mad Cow itself.

[njp6]

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/ynews;_ylt=Ak3cnAOZQIA_kB6Ify4teveROrgF?ch=4226714&cl=8565005&lang=en[url][/url]