I'm going to write about this longer in a new thread, but the government's actions and the play in the press have placed the anti-US leaders in a bad position though one that was not predictable.

Both the authorities and public opinion coming down on them will drive away a good chunk of the people who would feel like protesting for such a cause.

However, it is hard to predict how small or large the protests will be, because if labor and the student unions say, "Go!" their numbers will go, and they have significant membership.

It will at least, most likely, dramatically drop the frequency of larger protests.

But, The Priest can still be effective in moving toward his goals....

The news finally made it back home in the Washington Post.

__________________
Visit USFK Classifieds, the FREE classifieds in Korea!

I saw the ticker tape on CNN 2 (HLN) @ 0500 today. They mentioned 10 arrested and 2? released over anti-US protest.

__________________
BOOM, BOOM. Out goes the Lights

Once they cleared out the school house, the protesters lost their base of operations and momentum. It will be very difficult for them to get people to gather in significant numbers to conduct more large scale protests based strictly on the issue of USFK moving to Camp Humphreys.

A big incident will have to occur (for example: US soldier murders a Korean), and then the dissidents will be able to build on that and get the momentum and interest back.

Very few of the people who were protesting were land owners who were unwillingly losing their land. The vast majority were dissidents (and students) or locals with nothing else better to do. The people in that area know they stand to gain a lot from this in terms of property values going up and in thousands of new employment opportunities. And it's not like USFK is building a new base in a location where one never existed - it's been there for decades.

The Camp Humphreys Ville will be OFF LIMITS this weekend, also the roads will be RED on post.

__________________
CH-47 SI

They must find it difficult...

Those who have taken authority as the truth, rather than truth as the authority. --Gerald Massey

Which is just stupid, i don't know about anyone else but nothing is going to happen if you go out into the town, i've always been treated well here, i don't have any fear of going out and getting food or something in this town. I'm going to make sure i get something to eat durning the weekend just to try and help my favourite restrant in town because i'd hate to see them go

__________________

I would guess the brass is just playing it safe - because they have been warned before in times like this:

I can think of 2 times since 2000 where the Korean National Police have informed USFK about plots by the radical university students to stage an event.

One was about a plan to kidnap a US soldier.

The other was about a plan to start a fight with GIs in the town, preferably a US MP, to catch on video to upload to the anti-US sites and give to the media.

10,000 planned for the protest all weekend --- means there are going to be a lot of union and university radicals trucked in from outside the area, and they will be flowing around the town too.

The potential for an incident doesn't have to be planned either.

During the bigger spikes in anti-US activity, like in 2002 or 2000, there are often a string of attack stories in the Stars and Stripes that are related to the ill-will being generated by the protests.

If I were a USFK officer, I'd tell my men and women to either head out of the city for entertainment or stay on base this weekend.....

The Priest and friends believe they can achieve their goal of getting USFK out this time by convincing the US government and possibly people it is time to leave.

So, they will brave negative public opinion inside Korean society this time.

And they will not need significant numbers to be a headache or gain attention.

Also, if the leaders of the Labor Union are behind them, they can always stage large violent protests.

And Labor will probably stay behind them because of the issues that they see touching on Pyongtaek: Plight of the Rice Farmers and the FTA talks that will be on going until the middle or end of 2007.

Since the base expansion will also take time, it is my educated guess Pyongtaek will be the focal point for most US-SK related issues for the rest of this year.

looks like they get 4 more months! The Korean government look like idiots in my opinion. You get a poll that show that the vast majority of Koreans are against these protesters and what does the Korean government do? Give the protesters another 4 months to plan and hold weekly protests.

So, 300 greedy people with a political message hold out and the Korean government decides to waste millions of dollars delaying.

__________________
Visit USFK Classifieds, the FREE classifieds in Korea!

If this were construction for a superhighway or a high speed rail line - the people would have been moved long ago.......