“Who Would Want to Trust Public Servants?”

Mass memorial rallies took place nationwide for two days since the weekend of June 26 when the remains of Kim Sun-il, who was killed in Iraq, arrived in Korea.

Citizens are furious because it has become known that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade ignored a phone call asking about the missing Kim from the Associated Press at the beginning of this month.

--A Condolence Mass Rally

The “Emergency Anti-dispatch of troops to Iraq Group,” (co-leader: Hong Keun-soo) which is made up of 365 civic organizations, including the People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, held a mass rally in memorial of Kim Sun-il and in opposition to the further dispatch of troops to Iraq in which around 6,000 citizens participated at 6 p.m. on June 26 in front of Kyobo Building in Jongno-gu, Seoul,

Citizens wearing black ribbons on their chests presented flowers at a large memorial site set up next to the stage and urged, “Discipline those who neglected their responsibilities in this matter and withdraw the plan to dispatch troops to Iraq.”

Recited at the rally were statements of memorial received from 16 individuals and organizations abroad, including the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF).

--Anger of Citizens

The official memorial website for Kim (www.kimsunil.net) and the Foreign Ministry’s homepage were visited by numerous citizens remembering Kim’s death and blaming the Foreign Ministry.

Almost 4,000 posts, including one that read: “I feel really ashamed that the Korean government could not do anything to help him,” have been made on the website.

The website of the Foreign Ministry was also bombarded with countless angry messages saying things such as, “I can’t stand the fact that I should trust such public servants regarding the protection of Koreans residing overseas and foreign affairs.

The National Police Agency warned 40 mosques and 35 Islamic public institutions nationwide to “be aware of pig-blood terror attempts,” after a message intended to agitate people saying, “Let’s spread pig blood throughout mosques because glancing at it is believed to send Muslims to hell”, was posted on anti-Iraq websites.

“Spreading pig blood, which Muslims abhor, may cause larger problems than what blackmail calls or riots would have resulted in,” said the police, showing concern.

Soo-Jung Shin needjung@donga.com crystal@donga.com