NEWS: 1000's of Korean's Protest U.S. Presence - Violent Clashes With Police Ensue

Thosands of South Korean students clashed with police in a protest against the U.S. military's presence in the country. 12 people were injured and more than 20 students were arrested when the students attempted to enter the American military base at Yongsan and were blocked by security forces. The U.S. currently has 32,500 soldiers stationed in South Korea.

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This is an interesting turn of events. I always thought that the U.S. presence in South Korea was at least tolerated because of the U.S. role in the war, and the South's tension with the North. It seems that perhaps the Bush administration's talk of pre-emptive nuclear strikes has not gone down well with the South Koreans.
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[edit on 2005/5/29 by wecomeinpeace]

There's a quick and easy response to this problem: Boycott Korean merchandise. I'm due for a new cell phone. This time it won't be an LG.

It is in fact the US presence in Korea that has held off the N. Koreans, maintaining the truce between the two nations. Furthermore, it is N. Korea who has been talking pre-emptive strikes:

edition.cnn.com...

Let them all starve.


[edit on 05/5/29 by GradyPhilpott]

SBS and MBC which are South Korean television stations have been airing a number of news articles of the past year or two that basically intimidate that the main reason that the 2 Koreas have not united (under SK rule) is due to the presence of the American Forces.
The American forces that are stationed in SK, are seen to be a deterent to peaceful unification and that the american forces are actually there to create even more tension between the Koreas.

As well, if the US decides to strike North Korea, who do you think will get the brunt of retalitory action?

When I was stationed in Korea, we had protests once a week. Albiet, never that large. The worst I saw it was when a US tank ran over a couple of little girls going to a birthday party. There were riots then. But as for the protesters, are you saying Grady that since we gave South Korea freedom, we should protest when they excercise that freedom? Did US soldiers die so the South Koreans could be free to say only what we want them to say?

Tsk tsk Grady, you know that was only in response to US threats of a pre-emptive strike. This is from your own link...

I think we the US should pull out of South Korea. South Korea has about a million man army that has been trained by the US for decades. The
South Korean army should be able to handle its own against North Korea. If they want to protest out presence then let them protect thier own country from North Korea.

I am unsure as to wether these protests actually reflect the majority or a smaller minority - regardless, I think that the US should remove its forces from South Korea (and every other country it occupies)... A friend of mine (from Socialist Alliance) is from South Korea, and we had a HUGE coversation about the relationship NK has with SK ... And she said that the over-all feeling in SK (with regards to NK) is that they talk big and never act... She also feels that the west has trumped North Korea up into something its not...

Wether this is true or not, I will tell you something that CANNOT be disputed:

Do you think NK would be 'dumb' enough to invade SK (wether the US is there or not) - OFCOURSE NOT, we all know that the US is SK's friend and ally, North Korea knows this, and even if SK has NO military of its own, they still wouldn't be dumb enough to invade...

The only reason the US is there, is to maintain its sphere of dominance, it has an airbase there (from which to launch spy planes into China) - It has more than 30,000 troops there, ready to be shipped around the world if 'needed'... etc etc...

If the US withdrew from SK it would be the Americans who would suffer from this (not SK)....

When I was in S Korea the people didnt really have a problem with us....I was only there for about a month at a time and the places I saw were accustomed to Americans, hell where ever we are that's where the money is. So yeah generally the communities around bases are gonna love US presence. But go out a bit, the farther from the bases the more they don't want us there. I say we pull out, pack up and go. They don't want us there, fine.

i seen this on t.v wow.once again another u.s policy creating angry people.u.s should lay off on getting involded in there lives.cant see the point getting people so mad like this.i feel for those who got there heads hit today.all young people too. shame..... shame i turn away.

Wow, I know somebody in Seoul, I hope he's ok.

Anyhow it's sad that this is happening really. From what I've heard from my friend in Seoul it's mostly a matter of the older Koreans who understand why the US is there is dying off. And now the younger generation who doesn't understand is becoming much more vocal. Such a shame. I don't want to launch a preemptive strike on the DPRK but if they cross the line then we'll have to do what we have to do.

You should pick up a history book somewhere and learn just what it is you are talking about.

www.infoplease.com...

en.wikipedia.org...



[edit on 05/5/30 by GradyPhilpott]

I personally think our troops should stay on American soil at all times unless we are @ war on foriegn soil. Why have troops in places where they are not needed when it's been said that we are in need of more troops here in our homeland?
Besides like someone else pointed out...once we've done our part in helping, we should then leave the job to those whom have been trained to do that job.
Just my two pennies.

I say TearGas all the Protesters if they get outta control! "CrowedControl" protesters seem like there getting Safisticated in Weaponry hm.....

i have read the history of korea.i must say they should become there own country again.it seems it was held by japan then ussr and u.s split the country up in two.playing out there cold war fears.it would be better for this country to join as one again in peace.it must be hard to live there and being pulled in 3 or 4 differents ways.by other countries policy.i must say the info you gave me really makes me see outside countries tearing korea apart north and south......

Ahhh, good ol' US of A.





That's even more barbaric than cutting off peoples heads but somehow, people still think of the US military as a force which maintains the moral highground.

GradyPhilpott, the pre-emptive rhetoric coming out of Pyongyang was in direct response to the United States claiming it might pre-emptively strike N.Korea. You've been proven mistaken, accept it.

The S.Korean President, Roh Moo Hyun, was elected back in December 2002 using an anti-US stance. The growing resentment of the United States presence is due to President Bush's stonewall tactics and brinkmanship that he plays on a daily basis with N.Korea. Bush cut off diplomatic contact with the N.Koreas in a quest for "moral clarity" almost at the stage of complete normailization of relations with Washington. He did this because he didnt trust anything Clinton had done, including disarming N.Korea and setting up normal relations.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, its good ol' Bush's fault once again.

The U.S Army shouldnt pull out of S.Korea, they are there for a good reason. Its Bush that should pull out of the Whitehouse!


OP/ED: The North Korean Nuclear Confrontation: A History Of Efforts

[edit on 30/5/05 by subz]

So I guess bringing China, Russia, Japan into the talks with North Korea was not a good idea from Bush. I guess everything Bush does is bad and no other president did anything bad with Korea. Not even Clinton moving more troops and equipment into south korea and starting plans for war. Did everyone forget about this, is it only me that sees this or are all of you blinded.

Did everyone forget the Korean war and what it was about! that it did not start out as a dissagreement between the US and North Korea!

We are not there just for a base! we have other bases in that part of the world we dont need one there to reach china or any other threat in that area.

People listen to yourselves, this confrontation between North Korea and the US has been going on for decades... probably longer than most of you have been alive.

do you think it is going to end with diplomacy?
I dont think so...
just look at kim jong il, do you think he is going to give up?
cmon thats a crazy thought....
He is still playing games with the world like his father did too

THINK ABOUT IT!

Targets Of Opportunity


Students don't spontaneously do anything. Someone organized this “demonstration” and targeted the U.S. embassy.

I think we can be reasonably assured that it wasn't the government of South Korea. One would do well to look a little farther north for suspects.

Just look at the “demands” the students were making. Dictated straight out of Pyongyang, verbatim.

Students in the United States protest the U.S. too. Does that mean Americans should boycott U.S. goods?

I understand what it feels like to be sick of being bashed all the time. Believe me, I really do.

I'm an American, myself.

But I urge you to consider the true targets of your ire, and not to play into the hands of our enemies.

North Korea wants to weaken South Korea in every way possible. This is part of their strategy. Should we bite and be their fools?

I assure you, the overwhelming majority of South Koreans are just as pissed about this as we are.

They know damn well what would happen if we abandoned them. We should never forget that.

Know thy true enemy.

Well, it appears this discussion has become distorted by partisanship. This is very interesting indeed but not unusual. Protests like this have been taking place since the 70’s and interestingly enough the article does not give a number of protesters but instead simply says “thousands.” “Thousands” can be 1,500 or it could be 999,000 so the actually number leaves much to the imagination. The most likely number is 2,000-5,000 or so, still a large number but not as large as the article may let the imagination think.

Secondly, I cannot find where Bush or the US for that matter has stated that they may use a preemptive strike against North Korea. That doesn’t mean that it hasn’t happened but I have been unable to find a reference to it being said. The closest I got to actually finding where this was said was within this article in which Bush states, when questioned about North Korea, that “all options are on the table, of course.” Within all options a preemptive strike is definitely included, however he did not say that was the US’s policy either. Mythatsabigprobe stated that the following proved it was said but this statement came from the mouth of the North Korean News agency, which is definitely just spewing propaganda.



However I have found an article that states Japan would take a preemptive action against North Korea if it was preparing a ballistic missile attack.