continue to Expand and Evolve - 815 County Residents scheduled to have their Heads Shaved
Seongju [County designated for THAAD deployment] Candles Against THAAD continue to Expand and Evolve - 815 County Residents scheduled to have their Heads Shaved
Arranged by Yoon Park (MinPlus International Affairs division)
August 2, 2016
A lady in her 70’s residing in Seongju said, during her speech at an Against-THAAD candle gathering (July 26, Seongju), “My grandson said, ‘Grandma, all my school friends say they are going to leave if the THAAD get here,’ and he cried hard, saying, ‘What am I going to do if they are all gone?’ So I said, ‘Not to worry, Sweet heart. Grandma is going to stop it,” wrote MinPlus reporter Jeon Gi-hoon at his article “Seongju [county designated for THAAD deployment] Candles Against THAAD continue to Expand and Evolve.” (July 31, 2016)
Accorging to Jeon, the anger of the Seongju residents against the media-press is swiftly growing, and the placards blaming the media-press are getting put on more and more due to the ‘manipulated’ reports and broadcasting. Jeon heard from the Seongju residents, “Why should I have an interview with you when I have no clue what you are going to write about us?” right away, most of the time, when he requested interviews to the residents. The gist of their anger is about the manipulated reports and broadcasting saying that there are people from outside Seongju who stimulate their protests against the THAAD and that the Seongju residents are ‘making noises’ only for their own provisional sake. Most residents suspect, Jeon wrote, that there may be the government behind all the manipulated reports and broadcast.
Jeon continued about the night on the 29th. Around 8 in the evening, the front yard of the County Hall was again filled with the residents holding candles in their hands.
At the gathering the night, they decided that what representatives (including the representatives of the whole commerce people in the County) were going to take charge what, such as the pamphlets for the Against-THAAD candle gatherings, which were to be continued. “The struggles of the Seongju residents do never cool down nor die. Rather, they are evolving every day. Contrary to the hope of the government, more and more residents are participating in the gatherings,” wrote Jeon.
At the candle gathering on the 30th night, they announced that the refreshment for one-month gatherings had been arranged and that 815 residents had decided to have their heads shaved to show their strongest will against the THAAD deployment. Countless placards with slogans (such as “Never THAAD, Nowhere in South Korea” and “Hey, Chosun Ilbo [the most conservative right-winged news media in South Korea], you are going to get grounded if we see you”) are hanging almost everywhere (including in front of most shops) in Seongju. Seonju residents started to issue their own weekly news-report brochure (also showing the nationwide Against-THAAD candle gathering weekly schedules) last week.
Meanwhile, a South Korean news outlet Views&News reported on July 29 (by Choi Byung-seong) that a former ambassador to the United States (the Lee Myung-bak government) Choi Yung-jin Yonsei University Professor revealed his viewpoint of not supporting the THAAD deployment. Professor Choi, after his lecture at the 2016 Federation of Korean Industries Summer CEO Forum answering to some questions regarding the matter, said, “It is simple if we think about what to gain and what to lose… The THAAD is obviously far limited as the defense system against the North Korean missile attacks. But… if China starts economic retaliation, we have no countermeasure.” Reporter Choi wrote, “The remark of the former ambassador to the United States as such is being interpreted as his actual opposition to the THAAD deployment. And especially, that he remarked as such, as the invited lecture, at a forum held by the Federation of Korean Industries is deriving an observation that those in the financial circles are also revealing their complaints about the government’s THAAD deployment decision.” [The Federation of Korean Industries was initially established by the founder of Samsung Group in 1961 gathering then most large conglomerates of South Korea and has swiftly grown as a leading organization of those in the field, along with various special favors from the Park Chung-hee regime and the Chun Doo-hwan government: Namu Wiki. www.namu.wiki...]
Prior to this, in the morning on July 27, the distinguished societal elders and leaders from various fields gathered at the National Assembly of South Korea and declared, “We are Seongju, and Seongju is the Republic of Korea. Choose Peace.”
According to reporter Kang Hoseok at MinPlus (“We are Seongju, and Seongju is the Republic of Korea,” July 27, 2016), the gathering and press conference with the declaration was originally planned to involve 1,000 societal elders and leaders, but around 2,600 elders eventually participated in the declaration under the slogan, “The THAAD is Co-Destruction. Choose Peace.”
Priest Ham Se-woong declared at his opening speech, “We are Seongju, and Seongju is the Republic of Korea,” calling upon the nationwide opposition activism against the THAAD deployment. Lee Jae-dong the Seongju Farmers Association chairman conveyed the fact that the ruling party leaders had promised to hold a hearing in regard to the THAAD deployment matter when they had visited Seongju on the 26th.
And a congressman of the leading opposition party said that all 132 Assembly members of the party oppose the THAAD deployment and promised that they would lead the activism to lift the THAAD deployment decision. Other than the representative of the leading opposition party, the congressmen form two other major opposition parties also made speeches clarifying their opposition against the deployment decision. Especially one congressman revealed the fact that the government had said it had not been considering the deployment at the National Assembly hearing on July 5 and then abruptly announced its deployment on the 7th, only two days after the hearing.
One congressman, independent yet representing the workers in South Korea, said, “The Politics is not talking but acting. Let us open a provisional session of the National Assembly in August and have a hearing to handle the deployment decision.” And then the chairperson of the gathering and press conference explained the reason the elders had chosen the National Assembly as the place of their gathering, saying, “The opposition parties should take their proper roles in our society following the precious teaching of the societal elders.”
Finally, Chung Dong-ik the April Revolution [raised in 1960 that led to the then-dictator Lee Seung-man’s resignation] Association chairman read the 2,600 elders’ autograph public letter, which presses that the Democratic-along leading opposition party adopt the opposition to the THAAD deployment decision as its official party platform upon the demand of the Korean people.
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