[Editorial] Ulterior Protest Motives

Illegal protests and violence of the “Pan-National Committee against Expansion of USFK Base in Pyeongtaek” (PNC) have gone so extreme that they are now threatening the foundation of the nation. Members of the PNC, which consists of anti-American groups including the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and the Federation of Korean University Students’ Councils (FKUSC), cut the barbed wires and intruded into what will be the new USFK base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, destroying just any military quarters and checkpoints there. Hit by demonstrators, dozens of soldiers were injured. Whose citizens are the demonstrators, using reckless violence against soldiers with bare fists?

As if it were not enough, the PNC is calling for the release of those arrested and the resignation of the minister of defense and the commissioner-general, claiming the military and the police are responsible for the violence. This is a typical of how they shift the blame. They are also seeking to make things worse by relocating the demonstrators into the middle of downtown Seoul. Many citizens, however, are now aware of who they are and what their tactics are.

It has become clear that the PNC is a group of pro-North Korean radicals who only seek a “withdrawal of U.S. troops from Korea” while never caring about national interests in terms of national security, economy and diplomacy. Out of some 600 people arrested on May 4 and May 5 for special obstruction of justice and other charges, only about a dozen were local residents of Pyeongtaek, with the rest of them being members of anti-American groups from the outside. It also turned out that among primary subjects of custody, only one of them was a Pyeongtaek resident. The PNC advocated residents’ rights to survival, but that was nothing but a lame slogan for propaganda.

It was reported that the military authorities are now belatedly considering providing soldiers with minimal equipment for self-defense, such as shields, clubs and anti-gas masks. Penalizing anti-national crimes is something state agencies are definitely obliged to do. Experiences of advanced countries show that only when they are resolute and vigilant in such things can they safeguard their democracy.

The prosecution and police announced they would seek heavy punishment against PNC members who took the lead in committing violent acts. President Roh Moo-hyun also expressed the same willingness before his visit abroad yesterday. Defending military installation protection areas is the state’s responsibility that the law stipulates. The Law Relating to Assembly and Demonstration also states clearly that protests shall be prohibited near the protection areas. So far, however, the authorities have loosely enforced the law—though it might not be clear whose mind they have tried to read—and ended up worsening the situation. The prosecution, the police and the president should never use empty threats again and let this incident go.

The military, the prosecution and the police are on the touchstone of “defending the foundation of the nation.” Also being tested is the identity of the Roh Moo-hyun administration.