By Michael Ha
Staff Reporter
Massive protests and candlelight rallies continued in Seoul over the weekend. But this time, not everyone was of the same opinion regarding President Lee Myung-bak's beef import agreement.
Thousands of people rallied in defense of President Lee and his beef import deal, with participants criticizing major media companies for their alleged unfair reporting Friday in front of the Seoul Metro Station.
On the other side of the political spectrum, various civic groups continued to criticize unrestricted U.S. beef imports. And in a new development, one influential civic association officially announced that it is also taking an opposing stance on a number of other policy initiatives by President Lee, including the privatization of government entities.
Some 8,000 people representing several conservative groups gathered at the Seoul Metro Station Friday afternoon and some participants later marched to major media broadcasters' headquarters to protest their news coverage, according to the Hankook Ilbo, a sister publication of The Korea Times.
Groups represented at the rally included Vietnam veterans associations, with hundreds of Korean veterans attending the event in uniform. There were also participants from a number of religious associations as well as members from the conservative-leaning ``Free Citizens' Alliance of Korea" and ``Committee Against Kim Jong-il and Nuclear Proliferation."
The protesters took issue with the country's television broadcast companies -- the publicly funded Korean Broadcast System (KBS) and the Munhwa Broadcasting Company (MBC) -- and the way they have been portraying the beef import issue and the danger of mad cow disease. The groups claimed that both KBS and MBC were involved in biased reporting and in inflating and exaggerating the issue associated with U.S. beef.
The representative from ``Free Citizens' Alliance of Korea" said that KBS and MBC have been unfairly targeting President Lee and his administration. The broadcasters needlessly incited young people with their exaggerated claims regarding mad cow disease, the representative said.
``The Lee administration is taking its first steps. It's only 100 days old. Broadcast companies shouldn't be involved in criticizing this fledgling administration. What they are doing is tantamount to interfering and undermining national affairs," the group said.
The protesters were particularly upset at MBC TV's popular news magazine program ``PD Notebook," which in April aired a segment on the safety of U.S. cattle. Critics of the program argue that the segment exaggerated dangers associated with U.S. cattle. Some protesters chanted slogans like ``Let's destroy MBC's PD Notebook" and "Stop unfair reporting."
Following the afternoon rally, some protesters marched to KBS and MBC headquarters in Yeoido. Some 1,500 veterans continued their rally in front of the KBS headquarters. Some protesters argued that KBS, a public entity, should not take part in undermining government affairs.
Also, some 400 protesters marched to MBC headquarters, chanting slogans against the broadcaster's coverage of the beef controversy. Protesters told media reporters that ``we want to find out why MBC news is exaggerating the dangers of mad cow disease."
``We want to ask the president of MBC why his company is making these unfair reports," protesters told reporters. The gathering threatened to turn violent when some participants brought a propane gas tank and tried to set fire to trees that line the MBC headquarters.
Rally participants at the KBS building also met with some anti-U.S. beef protesters. Some minor skirmishes took place between the two sides, according to media reports, but there were no injuries.
On the other side, candlelight protests and anti-U.S. beef protests continued over the weekend. Civic groups including the ``Citizens Against Unrestricted Beef Import Agreement" held a candlelight rally Friday night in front of City Hall in Seoul. In a new development, the group officially announced on its Web site that in addition to protesting against the beef import agreement, it is also taking issues with other controversial policies.
``The danger of mad cow disease and the U.S. beef import agreement have been, and will continue to be, our main point of contention. But we will also take issues with other policies by the current government. They include the government plan to privatize public medical centers and other public institutions, and also the plan to restructure the educational institutions," the group stated. ``We will take steps to examine these other issues."
Indeed, participants at past candlelight rallies have voiced opposition to these initiatives. In interviews with The Korea Times, a number of protesters have said that privatizing public medical facilities and other public institutions could end up hurting the working class and argued that President Lee may not be paying sufficient attention to the needs of the working class.