"The deaths were not only the deaths of two
girls, but the death of the nation!" the Rev. Mun
Kyu-hyun said Monday as hundreds of police with
shields and helmets stood nearby.
(Washington Post 12/2/02)
"We didn't have much difficulty other than with
the cold night dew," said one protester, Rev. Rah
Seung-goo, wrapping his body in a blanket.
"For me, this is like a national independence
movement."
(Washington Post 12/3/03)
Buddhist Monks Join SOFA Revision Campaign
(Korea Times 12/4/03)
In a strongly-worded statement, the monks said
the protest will "show the arrogant country how
frustrated the Korean public are over the acquittals
and how determined they are to stand up against this
case."
"Two of our daughters were hit and killed by the U.S.
vehicle, but no one was punished. It is absolutely
wrong," the statement said.
This was a common tactic. The two girls became symbols of all Korea and each individual Korean family - "murdered" by the US and nobody was punished and even to the point of saying nobody "took responsibility" for what was an accident.
Compare this to South Korea's indifference to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of "their brothers" in the North which fell out of favor in the Korean media and academic circles and public mind in 1998 and the advent of President Kim Dae Jung's Sunshine policy.
Or compare it to the indifference to the death and wounding of over a dozen South Korean sailors whose gun boat was attacked by North Korean boats in South Korean waters. I guess the sailors were not the "brothers" of the nation?
Or maybe it was just more acceptable for South Koreans to die at the hands of other Koreans (from the North) by an act of planned military agrression, but not acceptable when a foreign soldier (defending South Korea) accidentally killed two girls...
(From the same last noted source)
"Buddhists don't give in to a force just because
it is strong. We urge our believers to join other
citizens and activists to demand a retrial of the
U.S. servicemen and the prosecution of the
supervisors of the soldiers."
An aspect of the hate in Korea those who haven't lived there will have a hard time understanding is the emotive nature of Korean society. Words like sincerity, national pride, honor, offense to dignity mean much more here than in America. Or, maybe more correctly, they often mean the same thing due to their tendency to produce the same version of publicly displayed anger.
Emotion is often justification in itself rather than being justified by events. That is why it is so difficult to counter the disinformation the Korean media, civic groups, internet, and even schools put out.
If you look carefully at the coverage of the post-verdict reaction, you can glimpse the righteous anger of the Korean people.
It is difficult to understand why Bush failed to
make an apology until Koreans demonstrated the
extent of their anger and why he did not do it
himself. (Korea Times 11/28/02)
From the viewpoint of Koreans, however, all these
gestures of contrition were perfunctory rather
than proper, leveling up only in proportion to the
public's mounting anger.
It sounded something like: "Sorry if you feel bad.
Very sorry if you are angry. And terribly sorry if
you are really mad."
The bilateral relationship should reflect the huge
change in times and circumstances since the two
countries signed their bilateral defense treaty 50
years ago.
(from the Korea Herald editor - of my favorite)
Remember Korea just finished holding the most famous sporting event in the world - The World Cup soccer championships - and the Korean team did very well. I know it is hard to believe if you don't know Korean society, but this is how easily national pride flows from one thing to the other.
The last paragraph is a second aspect of the righteous anger theme -- "We have grown since you first came here and dominated us. We have just finished hosting the World Cup. We are a modern, industrial nation. Hear us roar!"
Here is an editorial from the staff of the Donga Ilbo that echoes the fundamental principles from the Herald and Korean society.
Although belated, it is still fortunate that
President Bush understands the anger of the
Korean public, which has spiraled after two
US soldiers were found not guilty.
The US should figure out why it has failed to
calm down the anger of the Korean public when
the US ambassador to Korea, the (USFK) chief
of staff, the (USFK) commander in chief and
even State Secretary Colin Powell made apologies
to the Korean people for the deaths of two
teenagers.
The government should feel ashamed for the fact
that the power of the media, not the government,
pressed US President Bush to make an apology.
But it is the government, not the media to turn
the words from President Bush into deeds. The
public will watch the government closely to see
if it can do its share or not.
Note these next lines condemning (kind of) the violent acts against US soldiers that started taking place during protests. There were also individual acts against others too.
Their violent acts amid the reconciliatory mood
could make things worse. Thus required at this
time is not expressing their anger but closely
monitoring the US to see if they really make
efforts.
(Donga Ilbo 11/28/02)
This was a not so subtle warning found at the time in many editorials in the Korean press giving respect to the displays of public outrage (almost always semi-violent and occasionally much so)and what it accomplished.
Here is another from the above quoted Times editorial.
President Kim and his top deputies have not made
any effort to settle the issue, and have
aggravated the people by ordering police to get
tough with the protesters and by declaring there
is no reason for the revision of the agreement.
They should acknowledge that Bush's action came
in response to a strong wave of protest joined by
teenage schoolchildren, and the real U.S. apology
would be agreement to rewrite the controversial
SOFA.
The Donga editorial pointed out another crucial factor to understand for foreigners - who might only look at the single event of tragic death of the two girls - if they want to understand the long running process of hate.
The US should recognize the fact that the
accumulated pile of misdeeds by US soldiers
in Korea made the Korean people turn away
from them.
The death of the two girls, like all the other instances I have watched over the years, was a minor spark - a tool - used to ignite the decades long well of hatred.
If you go back and look at each of these individual spikes of hate-USFK/US rage in Korea, which is one of the tasks of this newsletter, you will find a series of events with the same kind of distortions, disinformation, and false facts used by civic groups, the media, and the Korean public itself to boost their righteous anger above the circumstances at hand.
It is a bigotry. It is that simple.
You can see the same type of disconnect from fact and unwillingness to know in bigotry in the United States and other countries.
South Korea as "David" fighting the
imperial America
Another common trend in late 2002
at shops and restaurants.
religious groups - both Christian and
Buddhist - were primary organizers of
the various anti-American protest causes
in 2002
A head shaving ceremony - very
common trend in 2002 but also
common in labor protests and
elsewhere in Korean society.