There are a couple of tactics used by the anti-US civic groups I don't seem to remember seeing much in the late 1990s up to about 2001.

The use of banners like in this picture is fairly new. They always used them with slogans before, but it seems to me they started using tons of them in protests only starting a couple of years ago. My guess is this is meant to neutralize the negative effect media descriptions of the groups wielding metal pipes caused in the past.

In the past, and sometimes today, the groups were proud to display the strong arm of the protest movement. I can think of one 2001-2002 anti-Bush protest where younger adults stood four or five abreast blocking a downtown Seoul street near the US Embassy with 3 or 4 foot long metal pipes proudly displayed in unison like an army marching unit This used to be the norm in Korea along with fire bombs. It started to change in the late 1990s - especially after the Yonsei student center was burned down and after student leaders beat to death two men in different protests who they thought were police spies whom they "interrogated" a little too much.

Anyway, the violence began to be frowned upon and cause the groups to lose public support. Which is why I think they started using so many banners. They hand out the slender steel rods with the banners attached to every third or fourth person, and when or if violence starts, they have a ready made weapon which looks better on TV or in the news than showing them before the fight holding onto thick, shorter steel pipes or large bamboo poles. (for example, if you watch this Inchon 9/11 2005 protest footage from Ohmy(Gosh)news --- notice how they never show the anti-US forces using violence. You do see the students holding splintered bamboo clubs, you just never see how they got busted up on the riot police men's shield or helmet. The only people shown using violence are the radical conservatives and the riot police. Sweet propaganda. (Ohmynews' is the first footage followed by MBC and SBS)).



Another tactic I don't remember seeing much of in the late 1990s or early 2000s was the use of kids to promote pride in anti-US culture and to teach the kids. It is clear from plenty of videos from the 2001 period on, the anti-US civic groups think it helps their cause much by showing how even kids are learning to be active members of civic society. These groups have come under pressure from a backlash in the public about this, but not one strong enough or consistent enough to get them to stop, which tends to make me think the use of children does play somewhat well in Korean society.

(The kid's kite at the top reads "Anti-America")