National Victory March scheduled for Saturday

Following the Catholic priests and nuns who held a protest Mass at Seoul Plaza on Monday, Protestant pastors held a protest prayer meeting at the same place on Thursday.

And it was the Buddha’s turn on Friday: a thousand of Buddhist monks held a protest Buddhist service again at the same place in the presence of 30,000 citizens holding candlelights.

The monks ingeniously recreated the famous “Candlelight Girl” character in the form of a Buddhist light—a sacred lamp Buddhists use for various religious purposes:

On the heels of all these religious protest ceremonies comes a National Victory March on Saturday, which is expected to draw the biggest crowd since June 10 to central Seoul. Buoyed by support from various religious groups and organizations, many Koreans are increasingly confident that they will win this fight for health and human rights.

All 14 members of a human rights committee resign in protest against police violence.

Thursday, June 26, the second day of the National Action Week, was again filled with police violence, including use of water canons against peacefully protesting citizens:

Among a countless number of physical abuses by police stood out this case:

He is Ahn Min-seok, a member of the national assembly. According to the United Democratic Party—the leading opposition party Ahn is affiliated with—and news reporters present at the scene, Ahn was surrounded and attacked by police while trying to keep police from arresting citizens around 1 a.m. of June 27.

All 14 members of the human rights committee of the Korean Police Agency resigned in protest against police violence of the 26th. The fact that the committee comprises both conservative and liberal people indicates that concern is widespread over police’s treatment of protesters.

KCTU (Korean Confederation of Trade Unions) announces a plan for a total strike.

Wednesday, June 25, the first day of the National Action Week, was marked by police’s violence against the protesters.

More than a hundred protesters including one grade schooler and two young moms carrying baby carts were forcibly arrested. Many more were attacked by the police who seemed quite willing to use sharp-edged shields against peacefully protesting citizens. Also, a rather surreal thing happened: a man in his fifties (shown below) had one of his fingers bitten off by a policeman:

Lee Myung-bak may have calculated that if the police aggressively respond to protesters on Wednesday, not too many people will take to the streets on this weekend.

That’s a mistake.

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), the most powerful labor organization in Korea, has issued a notice of a set of guidelines for a total strike against the government’s decision to put into effect the April 18th beef import deal with the U.S.

National Action Week set for this week.

The South Korean government has announced today its decision to put into effect the controversial Korea-U.S. agreement on beef imports from Thursday, June 26.

Candlelight vigils and street rallies have been held daily against the agreement since May 2, but Lee Myung-bak, nicknamed “bulldozer”, has no fear of a collision with the people, despite the fact that his approval rating has plummeted to an all-time low.

The Korean people are responding to the announcement by declaring this week a National Action Week against Lee Myung-bak. It’s expected to draw the biggest candlelight crowd ever to central Seoul.

[UPDATE] Re: Container box barricades

Here’s a video report of container box barricades.

And here’s another picture showing the container boxes blocking the main road leading to the presidential Blue House:

As you can see, currently 5 out of a total of 14 lanes on the street are open for traffic. However, it is reported that all lanes will be blocked with container boxes as the protesters begin to show up late afternoon.

Agora is back to life, for the moment anyway.

As of 9:49AM (local time), Agora’s Free Discussion Room is running smoothly again after more than five hours of highly suspicious malfunction.

Hello world!

Lee Myung-bak, the South Korean president, took office on February 25, 2008. Barely 90 days into his presidency, he has already fallen out of favor among the Korean public. Indeed, he might earn the ignominy of being the first democratically elected president in the world who had to face massive anti-government rallies on the streets before the 100th day of his presidency.

We at anti2mb.org aim to support the efforts of the Korean people to hold Lee Myung-bak accountable for his insanely pro-conglomerate, pro-American policies by promoting awareness of such efforts among westerners and non-westerners alike.

Thanks for stopping by.