Training range break-in with different spin in media

This was not new.  It has been a tactic for years.  They broke into several bases at different places last year and earlier in 2003.  They also fire-bombed a small base in Seoul.  These university students are one of the primary components of the anti-US process.
    
You can see an edited video of the break in I took off one of the popular hate-American websites in South Korea.  It was shot by the activists.

The images on this video are mild.  Semi-violent protests are an art form in Korean society and not just against the US.  Check out the video link on the main page of this site to see what I mean.  And this confrontation with US soldiers could have been much worse.

A couple of the soldiers tried to yank the American flags away to prevent them from being burned, and soldiers had to be separated from the students as they performed various prepared protest functions.  

Besides the danger of moving unannounced into an area where military exercises are held, a more violent clash between young US soldiers and their dedicated South Korean enemy, full in the view of activist video cameras and the pre-informed Korean media, would have been disastrous for a Korean society trying to hide its hatred while the US government is making noises of possible troop withdrawals.  

     (side note -- Korean police have informed USFK a couple of times over the
      past 5 years or so of radical student activist plans to stage a violent
      confrontation with off-duty US soldiers or US MPs in order to video them and
      put them on websites to "expose" the inhumanity and disregard for the Korean
      people of the US military)

Whether they single out an American soldier on the street (or an unlucky Canadian teacher they mistake for one), or they cut a hole in the fence at a USFK base and then kick, slam, and hit with sticks the riot shields of US soldiers sent to plug the gap, or they block a US military convoy on the highway.....the military instructs the troops to avoid contact.

Even in a base break invasion, US soldiers stand watch until Korean riot police (often stationed continually near or in front of the bases) arrive.

This time, I believe the unit was one not regularly stationed in Korea and there on special training activities.  In any event, it was a close call for South Korea at a time many people in the US, even in the government, seem to be rethinking our commitment to such a hateful "ally".

There was another element of this base invasion that was somewhat unusual -- the reaction of the Korean media.

Even when 3 US soldiers were attacked by an anti-USFK mob on the subway and one soldier was held captive for hours, the Korean press still responded with a day or two of fury - against the soldiers - demanding they be held accountable under Korean law and put in jail for assault. It took the NY Times reporting the anger of the US military and potential major backlash in the US to make the Korean media changed their tune.  And in that case, they simply shut up.

Another example of how Korean society normally responds to the acts of the "radical minority"is the tragic fate of a "Korean traitor" on national tv --- After watching a clip of the fire-bombing in 2002 whose video I linked above, a Korean anchorwoman said something like "It's a shame to see that."

She was fired the next day.  Thousands of Koreans phoned in to complain and label her a "non-Korean" and demand her head on a platter.

But now that the US government has signaled it wants major changes in USFK --- in reality changes dating back to at least the early 1990s --- which might end up in some troops leaving ...the reaction of the guides in Korean society has been very different.

At the end of this review, I've added a list of articles and links that show how much Korea is trying to change reverse its normal "righteous anger" mode --- for now.

It is a positive sign, but we will need to see how long Korea can maintain this change in attitude.  In my experience, the "turtle" phase only lasts 3 to 6 months.

There are a few other tid bits in the news in this period that help put the complaints voiced against the training range invasion in proper perspective.


In another seemingly positive move, and to my utter amazement, the students were actually punished this time.  One was given a sentence of six months and another who had a prior record for such activity received ten while 4 others got the standard probation and six got away with
nothing.  

This might still seem like a slap on the wrist to some who have no experience in Korea.  They did break into a prohibited military installation.  In fact, the students who got jail time were punished for "burning the US flag" instead of other offenses.

Apparently, this is a crime in South Korea.  I really didn't know until earlier this year.  It has always seemed like 1 or 2 American flags go up in flames somewhere in South Korea every couple of weeks.  I have seen where the Korean police moved to stop a burning once or twice over the years when a foreign dignitary was coming or the foreign media was on the ground -
like during the World Cup quiet.

But if Korea arrests people for burning flags ---- their jails should be packed.

What seems to have made this time different was even Korea understood the utter lunacy of their hypocrisy when they fell all over themselves begging Pyongyang for forgiveness and
busting heads to prevent burning of the North Korean flat at the 2003 international games games for university students in Taegu.

There was much more highly ironic about South Korea's reaction to the actions of anti-Pyongyang activists and the North Koreans in the South for the games.  I have covered this in part on another page of this newsletter.  Here I will simply say that the students who broke into the US base had the misfortune of being sentenced after the arrest and violent confrontation between Koreans trying to burn the North Korean flag (which isn't illegal in Korean law, because the South does not recognize the North as a nation) and the South Korean police ordered to stop them at all costs.

Regardless of the connection to the NK flag burning hypocrisy, the Korean reaction to the base break in itself, real recognition that their government and their own usual habit of reacting to USFK and allowing US flags to fire up the night skies all the time, was a positive in the US-SK alliance love/hate fest - which is about 90% to one side.

(to the left are the NK reporters who attacked South Korean activists who were holding an anti-Kim Jong Il protest near the games.  Not only did Seoul prostrate itself at Kim's feet apologizing, South Korean society was split on whether the North's reporters were to blame or the activists shared it 50/50. Of course, only the small group of anti-NK protesters demanded the reporters be arrested and tried in a South Korean criminal court.  Funny how that works, isn't it?)

I guess we can't expect too much too fast, but I will continue to stress that the South Korean society's reaction to the training range break was a positive.

It might help to remember that the Feb. 2002 siege of the US Chamber of Commerce in Seoul - which did several thousand dollars damage to computer systems and furniture - resulted in nothing more than 2 years probation with their record cleansed at the end.    

Also, university student demonstrators who are arrested in illegal acts against the Korean government are normally expelled from school, but since some 60% of Koreans polled after the attack on the Chamber of Commerce said they "agreed in spirit" with the ideas of
the students if not their violent actions, these students were not only set free but allowed to continue their education too.

So maybe if the Korean government will consistently send out its riot police and secret detectives to rush Korean activists who throw stones over the walls of US bases and when they set fire to a US flag - and much more importantly, if Korean society continues to condemn these actions each and ever time they happen, Korea could reverse the tide of selfish hate of the US and the USFK soldiers committed to defending their right to hate them - potentially with their own blood - either drawn by a North Korean attack or an anti-American protester in the South.

It will take several years if not a few decades to make the alliance worth keeping, in my opinion, because Koreans and Korean institutions have enjoyed the process of keeping hate high against the US while refusing to officially request USFK pull out for a very long time.  

When you were teaching elementary school kids they were "Korean on the outside but American on the inside" if they did not score 80% or higher on an anti-US questionnaire as part of a lesson plan just a few months ago, you have founded a culture of hate fathoms deep.

Articles on the negative reaction to the base break in

Donga Ilbo  Hanchongnyon’s Demonstration Causes
Diplomatic Concerns
               
Korea Herald 8/9/2003 U.S. urges punishment of base
intruders
           
Korea Times commentary  Indiscreet Acts of Students
    
Korea Times    Base Break-in Upsets USFK, Raises AMCHAM's Concern
       
Korea Times     Arrest Warrants Sought for 12 Anti-US Protesters
      
Choson Ilbo    USFK Demands Students Be Punished