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While the S.K. poet Kim Seon-woo (in her column in y'day's Hankyoreh) described the new hard-line tactic by the state and/or its police to oppress anti-gov't street protests as a "declaration of war against the public", the reactionary (and of course pro-LMB) Chosun Ilbo today  - surprisingly (^^) - in fact praised/hailed the new development:

Police Get Serious in Cracking Down on Protests
 

Police have become more active in their response to illegal street protests after being accused of passivity in the last couple of months. On Tuesday night, police issued verbal warnings to some 2,700 anti-Bush demonstrators every time they tried to occupy the streets and did not hesitate to arrest anybody who violated the law.

 
Protesters, apparently used to rather lax treatment, seemed taken aback by the prompt action taken by the police. Thanks to strict law enforcement, traffic in downtown Seoul was back to normal before midnight. Demonstrators seemed to have learned the lesson from the night before, and after only three warnings from the police, those who rallied in front of KBS in Yeouido on Wednesday night dispersed without much resistance.

Police took unprecedentedly swift action on Tuesday night, having earlier warned they would deploy water cannon and arrest violators. They tracked down especially violent protesters and arrested them when they fled, a task made easier by spray cans they turned on them. Protesters scattered into smaller groups of 100 to 300, and the crowds dispersed to Euljiro, Toegyero and the Myeongdong Cathedral. Traffic downtown was normalized by 11:30 p.m.

Up until a few days ago, police reacted with forbearance and did not prevent demonstrators from occupying the roads, and even after issuing warnings they waited for hours overnight until the protesters dispersed voluntarily. Water cannon were used only to protect barricades set up by police buses. Accustomed to lax reaction from the police, the demonstrators did not flinch when the police issued warnings, and did not give into water cannons. On July 26, some 1,500 demonstrators freely walked along the streets downtown for 12 hours, and kidnapped, stripped and beat two police officers.

Police promised rewards to officers to encourage them to act against illegal protesters. Seoul Metropolitan Police Commissioner Kim Seok-gi said, "Actions disturbing law and order have continued throughout the demonstrations in recent months. We decided to introduce the reward system to boost the morale of police officers since there were officers who avoided arresting protesters because of the danger at the rally scenes."

 
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200808/200808070022.html

*****

Citizen Quota: “We’ve afforded you a very warm welcome, although there are some opposed to your visit out back,” says President Lee Myung-bak to President George W. Bush.
“Out in back,” the police are busy “citizen hunting,” for which, it has been proposed, they might receive financial reward for making arrests. (Hankyoreh, 8.7)