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Coordinator Trip Report -
South Korea June 15-20 2010 From: Bruce Gagnon |
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June 15 - HOPE IS FAR AWAY
![]() The wall along the base ![]() Yesterday's action outside the U.S. Embassy. The embassy faces the South Korean government building - a symbol of who is really in charge ![]() A photo from one of the monthly vigils outside the U.S. embassy in Seoul We spent the day inside Seoul yesterday attending a couple different events. First we went to a 10th anniversary remembrance ceremony of the June 15 Declaration that was signed between the governments of South and North Korea that began to open up contacts between the people and family members. But in the last two years the right-wing government in South Korea of President Lee has begun to destroy those steps toward progress and he has resumed hostility toward the North. Leading politicians from a couple different opposition political parties spoke at the event and after it was finished the former minister of unification came up to our delegation (which had been recognized during the ceremony) and introduced himself. Following that event our delegation that includes Michael Lujan Bevacqua (Guam) and Shinako Oyakawa (Okinawa) went to a protest in front of the U.S. embassy that is held each month by Global Network affiliate group called SPARK (Solidarity for Peace & Reunification in Korea). SPARK began holding these regular protests at the embassy in 1999 and for a few years were met with arrests and beatings by their government. But persistance paid off and they are now left alone although the police were noticeably present. At this protest, attended by about 100 people, they had reports on key issues including the recent sinking of the South Korea Naval vessel and reports from the U.N.'s recent NPT Review Conference. Peace groups and the public in South Korea remain convinced that North Korea had nothing to do with the sinking of the Navy ship which happened at the time of joint U.S.-South Korean war games aimed at North Korea.
After a wonderful lunch of grilled fish we were taken on a
driving tour of the vast U.S. Yongsan Army Post that sits in the
center of busy Seoul. The Army base is on both sides of hectic
downtown streets and its stone walls with circular razor wire at
the top is a visible reminder that this unwanted intrusion not
only takes precious land but also makes the city a military
target.
The South Korean Ministry of National Defense sits inside the Army base which well illustrates the fact that South Korea always has been a military colony of the United States. After WW II ended, and the Japanese colonizers were removed from power in South Korea, the U.S. put the Koreans who had been collaboraters with fascist Japan into positions of power.
The Korean War was essentially a civil war against those
Japanese imperial collaboraters and those who had fought against
the Japanese occupation and could not accept the U.S. as the new
colonizing government. Since the Korean War never resulted in a
peace treaty the war continues to this day with the U.S. still
remaining in control of the South Korean government.
We were taken to dinner last night by leaders of the Pan-Korean
Alliance for Reunification (PKAR). You might remember several
postings I did late last year about the three activits from PKAR
who had been jailed by the Lee government under the "National
Security Act". Their crime allegedly was calling for national
reunification and demanding that U.S. military bases in Korea be
closed. After several months in jail they were released after
the high court ruled that they had been illegally spied on by
the government.
Many members of this organization had been jailed for many years
due to their political work. One man at the dinner last night
was in prison for 36 years. During the Korean War, as a 16 year
old boy, he had fought against the U.S. and had refused to
renounce his belief that the U.S. had become another colonizing
power just like Japan had previously been.
One of the PKAR leaders told me that it would take the U.S.
1,000 years to make up for all the wrong they had done to North
Korea. From the carpet bombing of the north during the war (the
North Koreans had to live underground because virtually every
building in the north was destroyed), to the present situation
of perpetual preparations for war that has kept the north in a
state of seige, the U.S. has prevented North Korea from fully
developing much like Cuba has been prevented from doing the
same.
Earlier in the day while at the U.S. embassy protest, one
speaker from the political prisoners family organization told
the crowd that "Our hope is very far away." There is much
sadness in Korea as the nation remains divided and the U.S.
displays no intention of ending its aggressive military control
in the region. The U.S. likes having military bases in Korea
because of its strategic borders with China and Russia. Control
and domination of the region is most important and what happens
to the good people on the Korean peninsula is of no interest to
the U.S. war machine.
June 17 - IT'S ABOUT ENERGY WARS
I wrote the following on the bus (June 16) from Pyeongteak to the
Kimpo Airport in Seoul as we make our way there for a flight to
Jeju Island. June 18 - LISTENING TO THE ISLAND STORIES ![]() A photo display of soft coral reefs and other sea life along the coast in the Gangjeong village Mayor Kang of Gangjeong village sleeps four hours a night as he leads the fight against the Navy base plan I am back in Seoul now after two nights in the Gangjeong village on Jeju Island, South Korea. When we arrived in Gangjeong we were met by Corazon Fabros from the Philippines who is one of the key leaders of the International Network for the Abolition of Foreign Military Bases. Also joining us was a staff representative from the peace group called SPARK (Solidarity for Peace and Reunification of Korea). Upon arrival in Ganjeong we went straight to the office of Mayor Kang who has been leading the villagers in their struggle to save their farming community of about 2,000 residents from the Navy base. Gangjeong grows tangerines and other vegetables and of course is a fishing community as well. It's rocky coast reminds me much of Pemaquid Point near where I live in Maine. The Navy base plan calls for the pouring of tons of cement on top of the rocks in order to build a pier for the Aegis destroyers and aircraft carriers that would be ported there. The sea creatures and plant life that thrives within those rocks would be buried alive.
The mayor recapped their latest efforts to physically resist the
Navy base construction. More than fifty of the villagers have
been arrested for putting their bodies in the way of the
bulldozers that have been brought to clear land. The recent
election of a new governor on Jeju Island gives the villagers
some hope as he has called for more dialogue between the Navy
and the villagers.
In a village-wide referendum on the Navy base 95% of the people
voted against it. Mayor Kang though sadly confirmed that about
25% of the actual residents in the village do support the base
construction. The Navy has offered bribes to some of the old sea
diving women in their attempts to divide a village that
previously had been united like a family.
Mayor Kang spoke eloquently about the need to "coexist with
nature". He said that "Jeju is at the crossroads to becoming
either an eco-friendly island or militarized." He told us that
the village had decided to build a peace museum using
traditional Korean style architecture for the building.
In July (during the slow farming time) the villagers will hold
their third pilgrimage around the island to bring the issue to
the public's attention. The walk will last one week during the
hot season. Many of the villagers are elderly but they will make
the pilgrimage through all the other villages on the island
because they feel they must continue to do everything possible
to try to block the building of the base.
The Samsung Corporation (a big development company in addition
to building electronics) is one of the forces pushing the
construction of the base. Another of the corporations that would
be involved in the base construction is the same company that is
building the Korean aerospace center. So when the Navy says the
base in Gangjeong will be "high-tech" many villagers suspect the
base will be also connected to space technology.
On our second day in Gangjeong a community forum was held (at
about the same time the South Korean soccer team was playing for
the World Cup) and 70 people turned out. Each of the people in
our delegation spoke and here are a few key points that were
made:
The South Korean government has announced that they intend to begin actual construction of the Navy base in September and expect to be finished in 2014. The South Korean Defense Minister has called the Gangjeong villagers "African natives" in an obvious racist slap at the fact that they are unwilling to be controlled. The people in Gangjeong are a rare inspiration. They intimately feel their sacred connection to the land, the sea, the rocks, the fish, and the coral. As a village young and old alike are taking collective responsibility to protect it all. It is not a common sight in today's world to see virtually an entire village moving together with such common purpose. It indeed is a pure honor to be able to witness and find even small ways to support such a principled struggle. My primary lesson from listening to the villagers of Gangjeong, and the other activists from Okinawa, Guam, and the Philippines is that the American people have no clue about the suffering that our military bases around the world are causing the people who have to deal with these outposts of empire. Many U.S. citizens seem to avoid opening their hearts to the enormous harm that is being done in our name with our tax dollars. The environmental degradation that results from these U.S. bases is beyond imagination. The voices of those opposing U.S. bases must be heard. Each of us should hear their crys for support and we must do more in our own communities to bring these appeals to the public attention. The American people must learn that there is a consequence somewhere in the world when our planes, ships, tanks, and troops are deployed in a particular country. There is an impact on the environment and the human population who live there and who have a right to self determination. June 20 - TRIP LOOSE ENDS
* On our last day in South Korea our thinned out delegation took a trip north to within an hours drive of the DMZ to a village called Mugeonri. Since 1979 the U.S. military has been scooping up large holdings of rice farm land and complete villages in the area in order to create a huge military training area for tanks and armored vehicles. The people in this area have lived here for 400 years and have relatives just over the border in North Korea. The process of having their lands stolen from them is doubly sad because not only do they lose their sacred farms and communities but the military maneuvers that are carried out there are aimed toward North Korea and any attack is sure to kill their relatives. Each time there is a U.S. military war game in the tree-lined mountains surrounding their declining village populations, 30-60 tanks and armored vehicles trundle through their streets in the early morning or late at night. In 2002 two local school girls were ran over by U.S. Army tanks as they walked to a birthday party. Those responsible for running them down were never punished and the killings became a huge controversy all across South Korea. Led by the chairman of the local village committee, and a leader from SPARK, we were driven around to see the growing area that makes up the training fields. When we came to a padlocked iron gate blocking our entry onto a road through the mountains, the local chairman discovered that the gate was not actually locked. So he threw open the gate and we piled back into his van and into the mountainous war rehearsal zone we drove. Soon we came to several military camps, set up with tents and South Korean Army soldiers in full battle gear. We got out saying we wanted to see their sacred tree that has bark that turns water blue. The soldiers kept shouting at us to move on and one of them had his machine gun pointed at us the entire time we were outside the van pointing to the tree on a hill just beyond their war camp. We also stopped by the large tombstone honoring the two teenage girls and heard the story that it had been purchased by the soldiers from the U.S. Army 2nd Infantry Division whose personnel had run them over. Local Korean activists have requested the Army remove the tombstone so that the community can replace it with one of their own but so far the Army has ignored their request.
South Korean President Lee is furious with PSPD for "unilaterally" approaching the UN Security Council and has helped stoke up the anger of right-wingers who have been daily attacking the offices of PSPD in Seoul. You can read an interesting article in a South Korean newspaper (in English) here You can also read a letter from SPARK to the UN Security Council here
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