Beef, sweet beef
Robert Kohler's Talking Points, Korean Herald June 17, 2008
If you live or work in the Gwanghwamun area, your life more than likely has been dominated by the Great U.S. Beef Protests of 2008.
The largest demonstrations since the summer of 1987, when Koreans took to the streets to bring down Korea's military dictatorship, the candlelight demonstrations have brought Lee Myung-bak's presidency to its knees, with his entire cabinet offering to resign as a result. The government is now under intense pressure to renegotiate the deal struck with the United States in April restarting imports of U.S. beef to Korea.
This writer has no intention of trying to explain the motivations of the protesters. Enough ink has been spilled in this endeavor by both the local and foreign press; factors such as nationalism, frustration with President Lee, and Koreans' fondness for World Cup-style mass outdoor gatherings are all cited as factors.
The protests also make for great photos - the Washington Post ran a large front-page photo of the protesters, under the title, "The Fire of Anger Burns in Seoul." The New York Times also ran a front-page photo of the protests.
On Thursday morning, Korea's trade minister, Kim Jong-hoon, said he would head to the United States for additional negotiations to keep out beef from cows over 30 months old. The government has been careful, however, not to call this a "renegotiation" - something which the United States has been adamantly rejecting.
On a more practical note, the protests have made getting to and from the downtown area quite an experience. Things reached their peak on June 10, {edit} one month anniversary of Mike White's drowning {end edit} when police erected a massive barrier of shipping containers - dubbed "the Myung-bak Fortress" by local press - to keep protesters from marching toward the Blue House. Whether the announcement of additional talks will have an effect on the protests, we'll have to wait and see.
Night school
Expat students will finally be allowed to take evening classes at Korean graduate schools. The government had forbidden foreigners from taking classes exclusively at night because - with some justification - its worried that they'd use the daylight hours to seek illegal employment. Some 12 percent of foreign students enrolled at Korean undergraduate schools had, in fact, ditched school to become illegal laborers.
However, for the time being, expats will still be barred from enrolling in evening undergraduate classes.
Update on the Michael White case
Police in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang Province have determined that 14-year-old Michael White, who died at a sauna on May 10, drowned. Police, citing the autopsy report, cleared the sauna staff and emergency workers of wrongdoing.
According to the report, Michael had no signs of external injury, and his heart was apparently enlarged {edit}(by 10 grams){end edit}, leading police to suspect that he may have suffered cardiac arrhythmia while in a pool.
Michael's funeral will be held on June 28. {edit} detail on Michael's celebration of Life can be found here {end edit}
See his mother's Facebook group titled "A mother is looking for answers about her son" (facebook.com) for details as they are released.
Robert is the editor-in-chief of SEOUL magazine, and the administrator of The Marmott's Hole blog (www.rjkoehler.com). - Ed.
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