This post fits in a Protest section, because it is the elements that go into reminding Korean society each month why the US in Korea is a cancer on them, but a necessary evil, that produces not only the small scale semi-violent protests by the radical minority every month, it also keeps the ground fertile year in and year out for the larger spikes in demonstrated anti-Americanism in which thousands to tens of thousands of regular Koreans participate and/or the media and everyone else spends a lot of time for a couple of weeks talking with each other about how bad the US in Korea is and has been.

I am currently working on a more indepth video review of segments from KBS and MBC (2 of Korea's 3 state supported TV networks) that deal with the environment. It is something similar to the review of how Korean society works "Uncle Pollutor" I did with the English language press.

I'll cut this short for now by just mentioning how this article from today fits in.

Environmentalism like in other industrialized powers has been one of the more retarded developments in Korean society - way beyond labor rights.

Koreans have become more aware of the environment and the environmental damage their rapid industrial expansion created.

This article is a clear sign of it.

It is also highly typical of all those I've found before and what I'm finding in the Korean langauge TV news clips.

You will fairly frequently see news items telling the society about how polluted the air is or how bad this or that river is.

And you will find items that deal with specific industrial cities - like in today's article.

I got a clip from earlier this year that dealt with the stunted growth of trees in another highly industrial area.

But, eventually it becomes obvious ----- how you never seem to hear the names of Hyundai, Samsung, Daewoo, POSCO, and other major conglomerates/chaebol mentioned in these stories.....

???????

The video clip I got is from a town whose name I forget, but when checked, it was an area paricularly known as a Hyundai industrial city.

But, Hyundai's name was never mentioned as the source of pollution -- or mentioned at all in the piece.

The closest you got to the news reporting who had done the polluting was a long camera shot of the many factories clumped together from several miles away.

Today's news article does the same with Ulsan.

It was exactly the same with the articles I searched for over a 1 or 2 year period.

A fair amount articles on how Korea's enviornment was polluted - mentioning specific cities, moutains, air, and streams, but not mentioning pollutors unless they were small businesses. None of the big corporations who have done the bulk of the damage.

However.................

There were many more articles specifically targeting examples of pollution from US bases and the US Embassy - with clumps of saturated media covrage over individual specific cases - with one such concentrated coverage coming about once a year since 2000.

And even more irritating, for every news item about pollution in general in Korea (not naming a Korean chaebol who did it) -- there was an equal number of news items of a positive nature centered on the biggest conglomerates ----- about environmental protection measures a Hyundai was putting together or how this and that company was spending X millions of dollars to clean up pollution or how the nation's industrial leaders were announcing "strict" guidelines they were going to apply to their industry to combat polluion....and so on....

Meanwhile, in the individual cases of USFK pollution that were big events in Korean society, I've found examples where USFK has gone out of its way to take the press (and even anti-US group leaders) and local government officials onto base to examine the claims by the anti-US groups (and thus the media that reports what they have to say) and show all these people what environmental protection measures are used and what USFK does when it finds pollution and so on ----------- and these things never get into the Korean media.

That is why I have heard Koreans (usually under the age of 35) in person and on the internet say in a knee-jerk fashion how USFK has caused the majority of the pollution in Korea.

They don't really believe that.

It is simple a product of what they hear year in and year out.

They hear regularly how badly Korea's environment is polluted. And they can see it around them.

But, the only primary examples of pollutors they get to hear about are the US military again and again and again and again.

They do know instinctively Korea's rapid industrial growth came with a disregard for the environment much like with worker's rights.

They know the conglomerates that created the economic miracle were also the ones doing the polluting and ill-treatment of workers.

But, since they never hear about the industry leaders tied to pollution, it is natural for them to focus on who they do hear about -- Uncle Pollutor.

For example, it IS usual to hear about labor disputes at Hyundai in the Korean media when the labor unions protest each and ever year.

So, the society is reminded regularly about Korea's labor past --- and how they had to fight the chaebol for worker's rights.

But, they are not told again and again how Hyundai - as an industrial leader - was also a leading pollutor.

You can not say the same about keeping the memory fresh about what USFK has done to the environment.......

The above information from usinkorea is factual and informative. During 12+ years of my living in Korea, I have also heard of this.

Just two items usinkorea didn't mention.

1. USFK standards for cleaning returned land to the Korean Government exceeds the South Korean Government's standards.

2. The South Korean Government issues fines to the major Chaebol (and other) South Korean polluters of their own country which are nowhere in proportion to the damage the country receives from these conglomerates.