First, it should be said that the leaders are the same leaders from the 2002 "school girl" protests.
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Of the 52 organizations in the Pan-National Committee formed in the wake of a 2002 accident in which a U.S. tank killed two schoolgirls, 33 now form the Pan-National Committee to Deter the Expansion of U.S. Bases, the coalition opposing the relocation of U.S. Forces Korea headquarters to Pyeongtaek. The "ringleaders" now facing a summons are the same who led protests over the girls' deaths.
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Then you have their "accomplishments.
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The homepage of the former group lists with pride struggles to suspend regular Korea-U.S. joint military exercises dubbed the Ulchi Focus Lens and against training by the U.S. Stryker unit among its achievements. Yet another coalition calling itself People's Solidarity for the Abolition of the National Security Law, which was active in 2004, was also made up of a considerable number of organizations that form the other two coalitions. A dozen or so of these also joined efforts to topple the statue of U.S. general Douglas MacArthur last year. In short, the usual suspects take the lead whenever there are violent protests.
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And then their true motivation! Pro-North Korean puppets!
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In the minds of the Pan-National Committee, the Republic of Korea is a country that should never have been born or should be absorbed into the North Korean system as soon as possible. That became clear during the protests against the Pyeongtaek base. Protestors planted not the Taegukgi, the South Korean flag -- but pan-Korean flags in the rice fields. They attacked troops from the Republic of Korea with split bamboo sticks and cut barbed-wire fences to trespass on military facilities. The Pyeongtaek coalition says on its homepage it opposes the relocation of U.S. bases "because it is designed to launch a preemptive attack on North Korea." That betrays a mindset more concerned about the security of the Kim Jong-il regime than the Republic of Korea. They live here, but their true fatherland is elsewhere.
Amidst all this, the president after a long silence mumbles something about how some nights he can't sleep for worry about the Republic of Korea. The prime minister says everyone involved should take a step back and look at the situation calmly. How much further can troops step back if they are ordered not to retaliate when they are attacked with sharpened bamboo sticks? A ruling-party lawmaker, mingling with the protestors, said, "The U.S. is a land owner, the South Korean government a farm manager and the people are tenant farmers. It makes one weep to see the manager and the tenant farmers fight."
The 2002 candle vigils over the deaths of the two schoolgirls provided the impetus that propelled the Roh Moo-hyun administration to power, an administration that has asked, "What's wrong with being anti-American?" Is it because of this debt in their mind that those in government close their eyes to the attacks on our democracy? Or is it because they agree with the protestors, even if they cannot say so openly? Having entrusted their country to such a government, it is the people who should have sleepless night.
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This is one of the best articles I have read yet at the
Chosun Ilbo!
05-20-2006, 08:06 PM
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