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| Street artists put on costumes and use props to pretend as President Park Geun-hye (left) and her longtime friend and influence-peddler Choi Soon-sil. / Courtesy of Twitter |
By Ko Dong-hwan
The ever-increasing public engagement over scandal-plagued President Park Geun-hye has ushered in a new era of civilian protests.
Violence has been rampant as recently as during the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions' massive protest against the government at Seoul Station late last year, when police fired water cannon at people trying to overturn police buses.
The clash, and those in earlier times when citizens protested against the government, had often required tough initiatives and survival instincts from protesters as well as law enforcers.
But such scenes have disappeared in these latest ongoing national protests demanding that the President resign or be kicked out.
At Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul, which drew a record 1.5 million protesters on Nov. 26, there has been no violence since the candlelit congregation started to show up in late October.
Instead, the people brought something else: their ideas.
The ideas are various. There were satirical flags that protesters designed using names and logos of fake civic groups parodying the keywords of the scandal.
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| Anti-president protesters brought to demonstration sites satirical flags they designed using names and logos of fake civic groups parodying the keywords of the scandal. (From top) Flags held by members purportedly from Beetle Research Lab, Hamnesty International and Joint Association for Cat-lovers / Courtesy of online communities |
There was also a fake newspaper, the Daily Prophet, that reported "The President finally resigns" or "Controversial naval base in Gangjeong Village on Jeju Island to be scuttled" or "K-pop idol stars to form their first union."
Some protesters placed stickers of flowers on police buses site to express their affection for the public workers.
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| A police bus studded with flower stickers put on by protesters as part of their "peaceful rally" is parked on the streets near Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul. / Yonhap |
Others brought cows, tractors or cultivators from farms to the capital's core to make it clear that farmers have had enough, too.
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| Protesters brought cows to Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul, where a massive anti-president rally by some 1.5 million protesters took place, on Nov. 26. / Courtesy of Facebook |
Protests were not held just at the square where giant bronze statues of the King Sejong and General Yi Soon-shin gaze down on passers-by.
The rage is expressed in people's daily lives from T-shirts with "Resignation" printed in Chinese or yellow ribbon accessories ― the symbol commemorating victims of state-level disasters, particularly the Sewol ferry in 2014.
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| A bar owner in the city of Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province, wears a T-shirt with Chinese letters that read "resignation." Clothing items including hoodies and masks with the prints, also dubbed "resignation fashion items," have hit the shelves. / Courtesy of Hankook Ilbo |
"I produced the newspaper in the hope that the type of demonstration in Korea can be changed," said Daily Prophet editor-in-chief Lee Ji-min, according to Hankyoreh online.
"The President's resignation should not be the end, but we must keep thinking about further democracy coming our way.
"Demonstrations should be fun, so that people are more willing to come out and oversome the 'Soon-sil-phobia'."
