By Kim Heung-sook
``Seollal' used to be a day of bittersweet feelings, when annoyance stemming from aging ― one year for a bowl of Tteokguk! ― was mitigated by the happy laughter of a family reunion. This year, however, one couldn't laugh out loud, as there was too much bad news from home and abroad.
In Seoul, six people died in a fire that broke out during a scuffle between police and citizens protesting the redevelopment of Yongsan, a ward in central Seoul. The clash, the worst government-citizen conflict over redevelopment in recent years, took place less than a week before the lunar New Year's Day. Police stormed a building 25 hours after the protesters had begun to stage a sit-in on its rooftop.
Redevelopment may mean beautification to some, but it often means the end of comfortable, sustainable lives for others, which is why the forced removal of shabby buildings usually faces opposition from residents and persuasion should precede and continue long enough before any force is used to conclude the situation. It's therefore a shame that six people had to die in the early morning fire during a hasty police intervention.
On the day Koreans were paying homage to their ancestors with less tribute and more chagrin than usual, Caterpillar, Philips, Pfizer, ING and other famous corporations in America and Europe issued death notes to over 70,000 employees.
No doubt, conversations over bowls of Tteokguk in Korean homes were overwhelmed by the disservice of their government and worries of the worldwide economic crisis. Though no one declared it, many people agreed that the local tragedy might have been mitigated had the government just acknowledged it had committed a blunder and made profound apologies and compensatory efforts.
During his regular radio broadcasts, President Lee Myung-bak said his heart ached because of what ``happened in Yongsan," but he didn't apologize. Prime Minister Han Seung-soo almost angered the bereaved families and sympathizers by giving more emphasis on warning against ``illegal actions" than expressing remorse in his statement after the incident.
I'm sorry to say it but the lack of repentance is likely to justify the tragedy's dominance of socio-political debate in the nation for some time. Government blaming candlelight vigils are in session. The Lawyers for a Democratic Society and other civil groups have filed legal complaints against the police with the Seoul District Prosecutor's Office. Several organizations for the urban poor have defined the case as a serious infringement of human rights and have reportedly brought it to a United Nations office.
On the global front, world leaders and citizens have gathered to discuss how to solve the current economic crisis at annual meetings of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and the World Social Forum in the Brazilian city of Belem. Before adjourning the meetings tomorrow, Davos participants will seek ways of ``Shaping the Post-Crisis World," while those at WSF strive to find an alternative for a neo-liberal economy under the catchphrase ``Another world is possible."
Davos has over 2,500 participants from 96 countries, including 41 heads of state or government, and over 1,000 business leaders. WSF is attended by most South American presidents and 120,000 people from some 4,000 NGO and civil societies from over 150 countries. It's noteworthy that the WSF opened without the chanting of anti-American slogans or the burning of the Stars and Stripes, probably for the first time since its first meeting in 2001. Such a change is said to reflect WSF supporters' expectations of U.S. President Barack Obama.
For all their differences in purpose and membership, I hope the two forums will come to similar conclusions on what caused current difficulties and how to overcome them. I hope they will agree to place top priority on sharing food, wealth, and information among rich and poor countries. Sharing with neighbors is the best you can do when your town is in distress. As I look forward to hearing good news from the two cities, I am curious to know if Davos has shown Prime Minister Han what he has lost at home: respect.