Foreigners to Join Protest Against Anti-US Beef Rally
By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
Hundreds of foreign nationals will gather in central Seoul Saturday to protest against the recent candlelit demonstrations against American beef imports.
The Citizens Alliance Against Radical Illegal Candlelit Demonstrations, an Internet community (cafe.naver.com/nonodemo.cafe), said Thursday that about 1,000 foreigners including students at Korean universities, native English teachers, foreign laborers and Korean-Americans had expressed hopes of participating in the gathering.
The organizer said the rally would run from 5-8 p.m. at Cheonggye Plaza, central Seoul. Participants are expected to be from the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia and European countries, according to the alliance.
It will be the first time that foreign residents will take to the streets in a group to reveal their opinions on the super-sensitive national obsession.
``They have kept a low-key stance on the issue so far for fear of possible public backlash from angered protesters. But with the rally losing its initial steam due to the dwindling participation of ordinary people, they think now is the moment to speak out about what they think of U.S. beef and other surrounding issues,'' Lee Tae-hwan, 35, an operator of the online community, told The Korea Times.
The operator said they rally against the candlelit protests for two reasons.
``They believe information on American beef is too distorted so they want to rally as an opportunity to put it straight. Second, they will urge Korean people to pay more attention to North Korean human rights,'' Lee said.
Some hundred people from the online community Liberty in North Korea (LINK) plan to attend the rally. LINK is comprised of Korean students studying in the U.S. and has played a pivotal role in publicizing the rally to foreign nationals here.
Impromptu speeches will be made and simultaneous interpretation service will be offered for foreign speakers, he said.
Some 300 voluntary bodyguards from an association of ex-North Korean soldiers will serve as a human barricade to prevent a potential clash with anti-U.S. beef protesters.
Another large-scale anti-U.S. beef demonstration will take place at the same time in downtown Seoul.