The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
  • Login
  • Register
  • Login
  • Register
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
  • 1

    Woman killed in stopped car struck by bus on highway

  • 3

    Koreans wish to work less than 40 hours per week: survey

  • 5

    Apple Pay's imminent launch in Korea draws mixed responses

  • 7

    Korea sets record of half million economically inactive youth

  • 9

    ANALYSISYoon-Kishida summit may 'raise ceiling' for trilateral cooperation with US: expert

  • 11

    Commuters still wear masks despite end of mask mandate on public transportation

  • 13

    INTERVIEWNorth Korean-born chef delights Southerners' taste buds, breaks down cultural barriers

  • 15

    North Korea fires ballistic missile as US bombers join drills

  • 17

    UBS eyeing swoop for Credit Suisse, sources say, amid fears of banking contagion

  • 19

    Could Doosan Robotics be valued at 1 trillion won in IPO?

  • 2

    Yoon faces strong political backlash after Tokyo summit

  • 4

    Mask mandate on public transportation to end Monday

  • 6

    Centre Pompidou's Korean branch to open in 63 Building

  • 8

    Video footage highlights details of stepmother's fatal abuse of 12-year-old

  • 10

    New EU trade policies unnerve Korean firms

  • 12

    Actor Yoo Ah-in to appear for questioning Friday over alleged drug use

  • 14

    KAIST student becomes first Korean recipient of Apple Scholars fellowship

  • 16

    Land minister fortifies city building cooperation with Indonesia

  • 18

    Trump expects to be arrested Tuesday as DA eyes charges

  • 20

    Whisky sales at E-Mart outlets exceed soju sales in Jan.-Feb. period

Close scrollclosebutton

Close for 24 hours

Open
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
Tue, March 21, 2023 | 13:30
When protest is a joke
Posted : 2011-12-01 17:32
Updated : 2011-12-01 17:32
Print PreviewPrint Preview
Font Size UpFont Size Up
Font Size DownFont Size Down
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • kakaolink
  • whatsapp
  • reddit
  • mailto
  • link
Here I thought the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement was a done deal, having been approved by the legislatures of both the U.S. and the Republic of Korea, and I get back to Seoul after a few weeks away and discover protesters are out there every night vowing to get it ``nullified.”

By Donald Kirk

Here I thought the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement was a done deal, having been approved by the legislatures of both the U.S. and the Republic of Korea, and I get back to Seoul after a few weeks away and discover protesters are out there every night vowing to get it ``nullified.”

The whole show is puzzling to this observer, who’s been watching such displays so often and so long as to have little or no idea which side is right and which is wrong.

The more I hear outfits like the American Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Korean Industries talking up the KORUS FTA as if it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread, however, the less confidence I have in their protestations.

I mean, who can place all that much credibility in organizations of extremely wealthy people telling everybody what’s good for them? Ok, I’m prepared to believe the KORUS FTA will enrich individuals and companies that belong to these august bodies, but I’m not at all sure of the degree to which all that extra money will trickle down.

There was a time when I did believe more or less in the adage, ``What’s good for General Motors is good for the country,” but those days have faded into the miasma of ancient history, and not just because GM would not have survived without a lot of help from the U.S. government. My confidence began to ebb as the U.S. economy lurched from crisis to crisis and the graphs showing the ups and downs of the New York Stock Exchange started to look like the fever chart of quite a sick person.

The U.S. federal government bailouts provided temporary relief, but who really believes the stock market will recover to its pre-crisis highs? The deepest fear is it may go quite the other way while U.S. unemployment stays high, more homes go into foreclosure and the global economy sinks ever deeper into trouble amid rising prices for everything.

Korea, of course, was supposed to be different. Other countries might wallow in a trough of little or no growth, but at least we could count on the Korean gross national product to keep rising by a few percent a year. The problem was and is, how much does that mean when it turns out chaebol, and chaebol families and chaebol chieftains, above rebuke by media beholden to them for ad revenues, are sopping up most of the gains while other people just stagger along.

If Korea seems to have escaped much of the uncertainty afflicting the eurozone and the U.S., the country still suffers from the rising price of education and a widening rich-poor gap, isn’t that what the anti-FTA is all about, and hasn’t President Lee Myung-bak sided with chaebol by removing rules and regulations on monopolies and investments in banks?

That realization, though, is just one side of the story. The fiercest foes of the FTA would oppose just about anything the government was doing no matter what. They latched on to the FTA as a hot issue for want of anything else to protest. Sure, they could raise the usual objections to the American military presence, and they will warm up such familiar complaints when convenient.

The trouble is, anti-U.S., and anti-military, protests went out of style after the North Koreans shelled Yeonpyeong Island in the Yellow Sea more than a year ago. Anti-government zealots might go on blaming the sinking of the Cheonan, a navy vessel eight months earlier on a dastardly American plot, but that argument lost credibility after the ministry of national defense published an extremely detailed report that left no doubt the North Koreans did it. As the saying goes, you couldn't make that stuff up.

Leaders of the Democratic Party, and the extremist Democratic Labor Party, will get back to the military issue at an opportune moment. They will surely go on demanding the Americans give up their bases and will call for good riddance to the U.S.-Korea alliance.

Much though one might like to sympathize with the plight of the stagnating middle class and the young people out of work and the poor getting poorer, the fact is the anti-FTA protest has a lot to do with anti-Americanism, anti-bases bias. By no coincidence, those most against the FTA are also most against the U.S., period. It was, after all, a member of the Democratic Labor Party who tear-gassed the National Assembly as the Grand National Party was about to railroad FTA approval.

It’s hard, though, to be all that critical of the tear-gassing. It did provide a moment of relief from the tedium of the normal pushing and shoving, chair-throwing and punches that characterized the minority’s attempt to tyrannize the majority. Minority members apparently are unaware of the real problem with such mayhem. It’s not that they disgrace the ideal of democracy. Rather, they become an international prime-time joke.

It’s all very well to inspire criticism and condemnation, but they should avoid becoming targets of ridicule. That’s if they’re at all serious about anything.

Columnist Donald Kirk has been covering protest in South Korea for years. He can be reached at kirkdon@yahoo.com or visit www.donaldkirk.com.
 
LG Group
Top 10 Stories
1Woman killed in stopped car struck by bus on highway Woman killed in stopped car struck by bus on highway
2Korea sets record of half million economically inactive youth Korea sets record of half million economically inactive youth
3Commuters still wear masks despite end of mask mandate on public transportation Commuters still wear masks despite end of mask mandate on public transportation
4[INTERVIEW] North Korean-born chef delights Southerners' taste buds, breaks down cultural barriers INTERVIEWNorth Korean-born chef delights Southerners' taste buds, breaks down cultural barriers
5KAIST student becomes first Korean recipient of Apple Scholars fellowship KAIST student becomes first Korean recipient of Apple Scholars fellowship
6COVID-hit Myeong-dong bounces back as tourists return COVID-hit Myeong-dong bounces back as tourists return
7Public officials reluctant to dine with coworkers Public officials reluctant to dine with coworkers
8Brides in early 40s outnumber those in early 20s Brides in early 40s outnumber those in early 20s
9[Analysis] Yoon-Kishida meeting raises expectations of 3-way summit with China AnalysisYoon-Kishida meeting raises expectations of 3-way summit with China
10OTT service providers negatively impacted by illegal streaming website OTT service providers negatively impacted by illegal streaming website
Top 5 Entertainment News
1Centre Pompidou's Korean branch to open in 63 Building Centre Pompidou's Korean branch to open in 63 Building
2Celebrities head back abroad to film K-food reality shows Celebrities head back abroad to film K-food reality shows
3Park Sung-woong talks about filming 'Woong Nam' with comedian-turned-director Park Sung-woong talks about filming 'Woong Nam' with comedian-turned-director
4Kwon Sang-woo's new series to stream on Disney+ this year Kwon Sang-woo's new series to stream on Disney+ this year
5From sky to deserted islands, two artists' documentation of nature adds surreal touch to reality From sky to deserted islands, two artists' documentation of nature adds surreal touch to reality
DARKROOM
  • Turkey-Syria earthquake

    Turkey-Syria earthquake

  • Nepal plane crash

    Nepal plane crash

  • Brazil capital uprising

    Brazil capital uprising

  • Happy New Year 2023

    Happy New Year 2023

  • World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

    World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

CEO & Publisher : Oh Young-jin
Digital News Email : webmaster@koreatimes.co.kr
Tel : 02-724-2114
Online newspaper registration No : 서울,아52844
Date of registration : 2020.02.05
Masthead : The Korea Times
Copyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.
  • About Us
  • Introduction
  • History
  • Contact Us
  • Products & Services
  • Subscribe
  • E-paper
  • RSS Service
  • Content Sales
  • Site Map
  • Policy
  • Code of Ethics
  • Ombudsman
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service
  • Copyright Policy
  • Family Site
  • Hankook Ilbo
  • Dongwha Group