Korea Pt 19: Korean Protests

For a country of about 50 million people, there are a lot of protests in South Korea. With a national average of 11,000 public protests a year, the average South Korean riot policeman is mobilized to contain 85 demonstrations a year.

While the majority of such protests are probably pretty standard affairs involving marching, shouting, and possibly some violent clashes between protesters and police, there are also some far more interesting protests going on.
A lot of South Korean soccer fans were bitterly disappointed in when their national team lost to Switzerland in the 2006 World Cup. Most fans simply felt bad about it, others made threatening phone calls to the Swiss Embassy about it, and South Korean internet users bombarded the FIFA homepage with complaints, forcing a temporary blocking of Korean access to the site. However, none of them could compare to this brilliant man, who decided to protest Korea's loss by dropping his pants and standing around in the streets.
Apparently burning foreign flags is illegal in South Korea, so if one wants to legally express their displeasure with a foreign country, why not eat their flag instead? This man was so angry about Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine in 2005 that he tried to do just that.
In March 2007, a former South Korean army commando held a protest in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul to mark the anniversary of peaceful mass demonstrations against Japanese colonial rule that took place in 1919. Apparently he got the brilliant idea of bringing along 5 dog heads, which were taken from some of the dog meat markets in the city, and placing them on the pavement to symbolize Koreans who supported Japanese colonial rule.
In May 2007, a group who opposed the a government decision to move a military office to Incheon held a protest in which they ripped apart a live two-month-old piglet. South Korean animal rights groups were understandably outraged by the protest:
Some particularly lively Korean nationalist protesters have taken a page from feudal Japanese history by holding protests in which they attempt to commit hara-kiri. One example is this man, who stabbed himself in the stomach to protest Japanese plans to conduct a marine survey of the waters close to the disputed Liancourt Rocks
Police use their buses to block protesters in central Seoul as thousands of protesters march toward the presidential Blue House during a candle light vigil demanding the renegotiation of the U.S. beef import deal May 31, 2008.
A far less dangerous way of expressing anger against Japanese leaders can be found in these photos of protesters beheading a dummy Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi:
Ahn Sang-gyu, a South Korean bee farmer and patriot, held a protest in May of 2006 in which he covered himself with bees to express his disagreement with Japan's territorial claim to the Korean-occupied Liancourt Rocks. According to the BBC, he covered himself with 187,000 bees to represent the 187,000 square meter dimensions of the islets
These pictures and videos were not taken by myself.
For more info Google search: Korean Protests.

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[seabreezerr]

I read in a newspaper here once that if war were to come abt w/ North Korea, our Troops there are expendable, otherwise they could be considered sacrifices. As a former Military brat, now a Military spouse and mother of a Soldier that is unacceptable to me, but that is our Government's view! With all the protesting, why are we even there?

[deck2233]

We are in Korea to provide support for our Allies. Im glad Im here. Older Koreans really support us here because they know the hardships it took to get where they are today. The yoounger generation are the ones that are clueless about there struggle.

[BreezyBrisbane]

Dumb Violent animals

North korea threatens them with NUCLEAR

weapons, but i guess thats OK

[stabdaback]

Burning the flag is way more peaceful than killing millions of people and not being sorry for it.

[callofdodo]

@chica476

Well basically we, don't like US bases in Korea because one, it reminds us of the fact that We are dependent on the US(though prideful it may sound) and Koreans in general havent gotten along with the US bc their intervention divided us. I mean how would u feel if ur country was a puppet in a proxy war(am I sayingthat right?) and the ones who controlled ur country is still based in ur home soil.

Which brings me to my 2nd point, Korea is a really peaceful country and we don't really h

[Raymasaki]

@chica476 yeah its strange ive met some koreans who feel the same way But i guess they don't dare speak their mind in Korea. seems strange, & Stupid that

Every time NK does something Dumb younger student Never protest.

its usually Older people 50 & older who protest Against the North.

IF we leave sk, NK will have More confidence in defeating the south.

& cause more Trouble.

[samaz2u]

@Konform2zoidberg I hope china does not back N. Korea up

[puertoirish]

the music is sort of ridiculous

[TheKrimsonKore]

Who in their right mind would want us to leave when there is a country that wants to kill you right next door that has one of the largest armies in the world and nuclear weapons. when shit hits the fan they will be so nice to us and beg us to open more bases.

[Konform2zoidberg]

@deck2233 ...it seems unlikely that North Korea could truly threaten the south. On paper the numbers don't look so good, but S Korea has three times as many people and several million reservists it could summon up. Not to mention the most modern weaponry today. it would be bloody, but eventually the South would prevail at repelling an invasion. We just really are not essential to victory for the South.

[chica476]

What exactly are the attitudes of Koreans against the US military presence there? I often hear that they wish for the Americans to leave... yet I was surprised when I met a young korean college student who was grateful for, what her view was, "continued support for the true democratic and free Korea, against the oppressive North". Thoughts on the matter?

Cheers from London.

[PrometheanRunGood]

@koreathreekingdoms Way to break the korean stereotype of being angry fucktards

[PrometheanRunGood]

@Berserk74 Typical teabagger

[AntifaAustralia]

That is one very happy country!

The Right wing ones are the very small and crazy ones where they protest by stabbing with samurai swords in the stomach, use dead animals, show their underwear.