Looks like Wednesday this week could be a make or break day for democracy and social movements in South Korea. The Lee Myung-bak government has continued its ‘frog boiling’ strategy of gradually ratcheting up repression since the semi-defeat of last year’s candlelight protest movement. There have also been so many reactionary and repressive moves by this government that I’ve pretty much lost track. There have been many protests against this creeping authoritarianism but none of them have brought the necessary numbers onto the streets to even begin to worry MB. Or at least that was true until the suicide of Roh Moo-hyun which seems to have re-energised people’s anger against this government of the elite for the elite (for all the former presidents faults, his death appears to have thrown the barbarism of the current government into sharp relief).

And now the denial of right of assembly in Seoul that even saw people blocked from gathering in order to mourn Roh seems to have become a new focus for protest. Hopefully this Wednesday’s protest will be a massive show of strength, although there is little chance that the riot police will allow it to pass without violence. But there is no reason that the Korean people can’t be victorious this time around, as they were in the movement that climaxed on 10 June 1987.

If you are in Seoul try to join the protest. I unfortunately am not, but I’ll try to report on this as things happen.

For more on this see the statement put out by the Alliance of Scholars Concerned about Korea below:

Statement from Scholars in North America Concerned about Korean Democracy

10 June 2009

The following represents the considered view of professors and researchers at colleges and universities throughout North America whose thoughts are always with Korea and Korea’s democracy. In light of recent developments in South Korea, we, the undersigned, cannot but express grave concern. Nurtured by the toils and sacrifice of many, Korea’s democracy is a proud asset of the Korean people. The world has watched as the Korean people have moved deliberately, with great determination and at great human cost, from dictatorship toward democracy, over the last six decades. Regrettably, since the inauguration of the President Lee Myung-bak administration, Korean democracy has lost its way.

A democracy must guarantee the freedoms of assembly and association, not only allowing the people to select their own representative through votes but also in order that they may express diverse political opinions. We have observed how the power of the state suppressed last year’s “candlelight vigils,” has issued subpoenas even to ordinary citizens who had participated in the protests, and is restricting the online exchange of ideas. The recent police blockade of Seoul Square is another egregious example of the government of President Lee Myung-bak denying the Korean people the most basic of democratic rights, the freedom to assemble.

A democracy acquires a capacity for self-regulation through the free press. We note with distress that the Public Prosecutor’s Office has questioned journalists critical of the government, and the replacement of major broadcasting networks’ executives with pro-government figures has infringed upon the professional autonomy of rank-and-file reporters. A foundation stone of a democracy, the free and independent press has suffered serious damage.

The Constitution of the Republic of Korea enshrines a system of checks-and-balances among the executive, the legislative, and the judicial branches of the government. We regretfully recognize and call attention to the fact that since its inauguration, the government has not upheld the principle of checks-and-balances. Moreover, the principle of justice through even and equal application of the law is under attack as can be evidenced through the arbitrary actions of such state organs as the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the police, and the National Tax Service.

Speaking for North American scholars interested in the health and strength of democracy in Korea, we express deep concern over the regression of democracy in Korea. Heart-wrenching incidents such as the death of forced evictees during the police’s suppression of their protest, the suicide of special contract workers, and the shocking decision by the former president to end his own life are all tragic consequences of a democracy that is taking backward steps in Korea; they highlight a democracy in crisis.

A democratically elected government cannot disparage its own people, because the mandate to govern derives from the people. We, the undersigned, urge the government of President Lee Myung-bak to recognize its responsibility for the democracy that has regressed and reorient itself as a government that respects the people’s sovereignty and democratic rights. The nation’s pride, the Korean democracy must again find its direction and return to the natural path of serving the people.

2009:

The one thing I would never have predicted is that former president Roh would throw himself off a mountain. Not only was this event highly unpredictable, it is also hard to predict how it will play out. This is particularly true in the current situation where South Korea’s economy is balanced on a knife edge between bubble and bust and the Lee Myung-bak government is ratcheting up the repression in order to pre-empt a repeat of last year’s mass demonstrations or even the possibility of a mass strike. Already the event has brought thousands onto the streets in a mixture of sorrow and anger and already it has brought them into conflict with the riot police who are blocking off public spaces in Seoul to prevent mourning crowds turning into demonstrations.

Since I won’t be writing anything substantial on this (lots of lovely work to do this bank holiday) here’s an excellent article by Erin Chun putting Roh’s suicide into perspective and placing it in the context of current political and social struggles in Korea.

Go to a red-shirt rally and you will hear the same mantra; “We are grass-roots people, fighting for democracy, against the ruling class”.

Go to a yellow-shirt rally and you will almost inevitably hear a different mantra; “We are educated people, fighting against corrupt politicians who abuse democracy”.

Whether or not there are actually ‘no winners’ as this piece suggests remains an open question as far as I’m concerned. Although I’m seeing it from afar this conflict seems to be a having a slow but profound radicalising effect on large swathes of poorer Thais. Whether that radicalisation can simply be absorbed back into the traditional clientilist, royalist and nationalist politics of Thailand (represented by Thaksin as much as by Abbhisit) remains to be seen.

Also, here’s Giles Ungpakorn speaking recently in the UK (where he is in exile) on Lese Majeste and democracy in Thailand:

Unprecedented Natural Phenomena on Jong Il Peak
Pyongyang, February 12 (KCNA) — The snow in the area of Jong Il Peak began to thaw with the auspicious February 16, the birthday of General Secretary Kim Jong Il just ahead, heralding the approach of spring.

According to the data tabulated in the Paektusan Secret Camp Meteorological Observatory, the temperature in the area from the beginning of February this year is 15 degrees higher than last year to make willow trees in Sobaeksu Valley open catkins on Feb. 11 three days earlier than the previous years.

Five centimeters of snow is thawing every day on an average in the area.

As there is no strong wind and mild climate continues there, it is foreseen that the depth of snow will go down by nearly 60 centimeters in the middle of this month.

An unprecedented phenomenon of moon halo was observed.

At around 18:25 on February 8 the surroundings of the peak became as bright as daytime to make the night view above Kim Jong Il’s birthplace in the Paektusan Secret Camp brilliant.

This was the first of its kind there this year.

Those who witnessed the opening of willow catkins earlier than the previous years and the unprecedented nocturnal view said excitedly that even the nature and the sky unfolded such mysterious ecstasy in celebration of the birthday of Kim Jong Il.

The latest victim of Thailand’s repressive lèse majesté law is Giles Ji Ungpakorn, who has recently fled Thailand only weeks after an Australian writer was jailed for three years for supposedly insulting the Thai royal family and that bastion of radicalism The Economist was banned from Thailand for the same.

Here’s the Telegraph on Prof Ungpakorn’s flight, and the Guardian, and something on his case in Korean too.

Of course, as far as I’m concerned even if these laws were restricted simply to punishing those who openly supported North Korea or openly defamed the Thai royal family they would still be wrong on the grounds that the right to criticise those in positions of power or authority or to support other political systems (even fundamentally unpleasant ones) is a crucial element of freedom of speech.

…
The U.S. already in September last year allowed Israel to purchase 1,000 GPS-guided missiles, called GBU-39, to be used in bombings on Gaza Strip. These missiles arrived in Israel in early December before the start of air strikes and they were the main means of strike in the air-raid, the first stage of the current military operation.

With this patronage of the U.S., Israel tightened the blockade of Gaza Strip last year and killed armed personnel of Hamas on November 4, which forced Hamas to resume its rocket and mortar attacks on the northern area of Israel.

This led to the total destruction of the truce which had been maintained, though perfunctorily, between Hamas and Israel from June 2008. Israel, as if it had been waiting for it, made it a pretext to carry its plan of massive military attacks on Gaza Strip into practice.

Israel and the U.S. are pursuing several political and military purposes through the operation.

A general election is slated in Israel on February 10. Yet the ruling Kadima Party appears disturbed over the scandal of the Prime Minister and the support rate to it is woefully low.

The Israeli authorities seek to stave off the crisis within the party and boost its “popularity” through the military adventures at the expense of the Palestinians.

From the military point of view, they regard the operation as an important chance of recovering from its miserable setback in the 2006 Lebanese War.

The current operation may be called the second war by proxy to be provoked by the present U.S. administration in the Mid-east through Israel during its eight-year office.

The Bush administration has tried by hook or by crook to turn the Mid-east peace process into an “anti-terrorism war” for establishing an order of its exclusive sway in the region, but to no avail.

The U.S. is trying to cover up its defeat in its Mid-east policy by means of focusing the world’s attention on the “terrorism” of Hamas and beating the drum of “anti-terrorism war” more loudly.
…

Full article here.

For the wit-challenged among my readers this will no doubt be more evidence of my Kim Jong Il-loving tendencies.