CINA

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"SHUT DOWN ALL IMMIGRATION

DETENTION CENTERS!"

Under that motto yesterday afternoon in downtown Seoul a (really) small migrant workers' rally took place. It was organized by MTU and many - the issue of migrants in S.K. supporting - groups, organizations and political parties (although unfortunately only a minority of them finally joined actively the rally).

3월 18일 오후 3시 청계천 열린광장에서 '여수 외국인 '보호소' 화재참사 책임회피·진상왜곡 정부규탄대회'가 열렸다. 민주노총 서울/경기 본부, 민주노동당, 민주노동당 서울시당, 이주노동자노동조합, 사회진보연대, 다함께 등 여러 단체에서 이 집회에 참가했다.
발언자들은 정부가 여수화재 참사를 미등록 이주노동자의 방화로 규정짓고, 몇푼의 돈과 솜방망이 책임자 처벌로 사태를 무마하려는 것에 분노하며 강제추방중단과 이주노동자 합법화의 필요성을 주장했다.
집회가 끝난 뒤 참가자들은 청계광장을 지나는 시민들에게 리플릿 반포와 서명, 모금을 받는 캠페인을 진행했다.
여수 화재참사 대책위에서는 참사 49일 째가 되는 오는 4월 1일에 대규모 집회를 개최할 예정이다. (source: All Together/다함께) 

For more about the event (mainly pics) please check out following:

☞ 여수 보호소 화재참사 진상왜곡, 책임회피, 정부규탄대회

☞ 3.18 여수보호소 참사 규탄대회 및 선전전 진행

☞ 여수 외국인 '보호소' 화재참사 책임회피·진상왜곡 정부규탄대회

"In Seoul on March 18, foreign workers protest the results of a

police investigation into a February 11 fire at an immigration

detention center in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, which killed

nine foreigners. The protesters said that the police ruling, which

was that a foreign worker started the blaze, was based on

insufficient evidence, and that officials responsible for the

conditions at the Yeosu detention center should be punished

for their role in the tragedy." (Hankyoreh, 3.19)

***** 

A (not really) related article about the migrant workers' issue in S.K. you can read here:

☞ Illegal Immigrants to Get Help Returning Home (Korea Times, 3.19)

(BTW.. undocumented migrant workers don't want "returning home"! They just want to get a legal status in S.K. and the possibility to earn enough money to feed their families in their home countries! Simply they want/need - and struggle for - WORK VISA!!) 

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Yesterday's Peace Rally/Demo in Seoul

Well, actually, when I understood the Korean reports well, it was a little better than the last peace/anti-war demos in Seoul. According to Jinbonet/Chamsesang 1,500 people (according to VoP 1,000 people) joined the event.

The riot cops were prepared for CIVIL WAR^^! Thousands of them were ready to SMASH THE REVOLUTION^^! But unfortunately the revolution was not scheduled..(What a surprise!!)^^

Related articles and pictures:

☞ 3.17 국제공동반전행동...경찰의 집회 방해는 여전 (VoP report, incl. 2 videos)

☞ 국민행동, '3.17 이라크 침략 4년 규탄 국제공동반전행동' (Tongil News report)

☞ “이라크 점령 종식! 즉각 철군!” (Chamsesang report)

☞ 3.17 반전집회서 이주노동자단체들 이주인권 캠페인 진행 (Blog report)

☞ 20070317 - 국제공동반전행동 (Photo report)

☞ More photos about the event

이주노동자.. 反戰투쟁

제국주의 박살내자!

(毛主席..!!)

PS:

Of course N.K.'s KCNA mentioned the event (even it took four days for them to check the "news" from the South^^):

U.S. War of Aggression Denounced in S. Korea

    A meeting and a demonstration were reportedly held in Seoul on March 17 under the sponsorship of the south Korean People's Action against Troop Dispatch.
    The meeting titled the "international joint action against war to denounce the U.S. on the lapse of four years after its aggression of Iraq" took place in the plaza of Seoul Railway Station.
    Speakers at the meeting disclosed the wars of aggression committed by the U.S. in different parts of the world in recent years and denounced it for invading Iraq and killing Iraqi people in a brutal way.
    Noting that the south Korean "government" dispatched troops to the U.S. war of aggression but it resulted in death of innocent young people, they denounced the "government" for its persistent troop dispatch.
    The U.S. pays lip service to the improved relations with the DPRK externally but is planning to stage war drills against it internally, they pointed out, urging the U.S. not to mock at the world people with its double-dealing tricks any longer but opt for the road to peace.
    Solidarity letters from peace movement organizations in various countries were introduced at the meeting.
    A resolution, read out at the meeting, demanded that the U.S. stop the wars of aggression of Iraq and Afghanistan at once and the south Korean "government" withdraw the overseas-dispatched troops.
    At the end of the meeting the participants held a demonstration.
    Information activities and a signature campaign denouncing the U.S. war of aggression were conducted around the venue of the meeting.

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3.17 ANTI-WAR RALLY/DEMO

in Seoul

일시 : 3월 17일(토) 오후 3시
장소 : 서울역

Tomorrow (Sat.), 3 pm

Seoul Stn

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..protests in Latin America during the "devil's" (H. Chavez about G. W. Bush) visit there:

F.. off, you f.. mother f..!!

NO FURTHER COMMENT..

*****

"F.. USA.. - ..Miguk bandae.."

harrharr~ I'm really sorry!

But finally it's all the same sh..

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3.17 Anti-war rally/demo in Seoul (propaganda video):

Source: 파병반대국민행동

PS:

The background music - the German band Rammstein, some people are calling them the modern sound of Nazism (??) - is completely senselessly. "Amour (Love).. is a wild animal.. Please give me poison.".. It's like someone would use Jaurim as background music for a documentary about Auschwitz (aeh~ of course Jaurim have nothing to do with Nazism!! And the Iraq War is not to compare with Auschwitz..).

And about Yoon Jang-ho.. NO COMMENT anymore!!

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&

"(Our) party will head towards reconciliation with a progressive and enthusiastic attitude." (*)

(Kim Choong-whan, GNP/한나라당)

GNP to soften stance on N.K.  (K. Herald, 3.13)
 
The conservative Grand National Party has announced that it will make a fundamental change to its hard-line approach to North Korea in light of improving relations following the latest breakthrough in the nuclear talks.
"While we will maintain the principles of our North Korean policies, we will put efforts into fundamentally changing the direction of the policies," said Kim Choong-whan, vice floor leader of the largest parliamentary bloc.

The GNP has been the representing voice for conservative and right-leaning voters of the South. It has clashed with the incumbent government as well as the prior Kim Dae-jung administration for their engagement policies towards the North.

"We will, from now on, condone and encourage various activities related to North Korea such as visiting Pyongyang, Gaeseong and Mount Geumgang for the exchange of business," Kim said.

The GNP's announcement comes amidst rising speculation that the Roh Moo-hyun government is pushing for an inter-Korean summit this year. The GNP has been criticizing the move in the belief that a successful summit could steal the limelight from its currently popular presidential candidates.

Inter-Korean relations are also picking up, with discussions being prepared on changing the Korean War armistice into a peace treaty in line with the ongoing nuclear negotiations

"From next month, members and lawmakers of the party will actively push for contacts with North Korea and participate in cooperation projects," Kim said.

"The party will head towards reconciliation with a progressive and enthusiastic attitude."

GNP lawmaker Chung Hyung-keun, who was once an intelligence official, said that the party does not oppose the peace treaty and that it also encourages normalization of ties between North Korea and the United States if it would help the communist regime reform and open up.

"The GNP will not be standing alone while circumstances are changing (on the Korean Peninsula)," Chung said in a radio interview with MBC.

Floor leader Kim Hyung-o also supported the party's change.

"The two Koreas as well as the United States and China must work to change the cease-fire line into a peace line for the sake of a permanent peace settlement on the Korean Peninsula, and the GNP will cooperate fully," Kim said during a parliamentary meeting.

The four countries are planning to create a peace forum, separate from the nuclear talks, for permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula, which has been divided since the 1950-1953 Korean War.

The GNP, however, continued to criticize the government's push for a summit, opposing the planned visit by Uri Party Chairman Chung Se-kyun to the Gaeseong Industrial Complex this Thursday.

"For the party's leader to visit Gaeseong at a time of an extraordinary session means he is willing to ignore the public calls to deal with pending bills," Kim Choong-whan said.

Chung's trip follows last week's visit by former Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan to Pyongyang, where he met No. 2 leader Kim Yong-nam and reportedly discussed the possibility of holding a summit.

https://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2007/03/14/200703140009.asp

* Haha, I really wanna see it!!

BTW.. the N.K. propaganda usually is calling the GNP a gang of reactionaries, fascists..^^ 

Related articles:

☞ Opposition GNP Faces Backlash on North Korea Policy (K. Times, 3.13)

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At least since last year the bourgeois - particularly east Asian - media speculates about the presenlty and future, mainly economically (but of course on that way also politically) influence by the PR China in the DPRK. The S.K. semi-official news agency Yonhap already published following (strange) stuff last December:

China may decide to engineer coup in N.K. next year

Participants in an unpublicized White House meeting, called by U.S. President George W. Bush himself, two months ago discussed the possibility that China may arrange a coup in Pyongyang to bring down the regime sometime late next year, the Oriental Economist reported in its December edition.

China was still oscillating between options, but participants generally agreed that Beijing's mood is changing toward the North's Kim Jong-il regime, "with Beijing gradually, somewhat grudgingly, concluding that some kind of 'regime change' may be needed," the monthly said.

There was also "explicit discussion in the meeting of the possibility that, sometime next year, after China's President Hu Jintao has further consolidated his power, that China may try to engineer a military coup in Pyongyang against Kim Jong-il," it said.

National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley arranged the meeting with Michael Green, the former Asia director at the National Security Council, on Oct. 25 with Vice President Dick Cheney also attending, according to the monthly.

White House chief of staff Josh Bolton and chief political adviser Karl Rove, who has special interest in East Asia, were also at the one-hour meeting.

Green took with him Bonnie Glaser, China specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and Nicholas Eberstadt, a North Korea expert at the American Enterprise Institute.

Former Assistant Secretary of State Jim Kelly was invited but declined, the monthly said.

President Bush wanted to hear the assessments of what China was likely to do about North Korea, particularly how far Beijing is willing to pressure its neighbor and close ally to give up its nuclear weapons and programs.

The monthly said the participants emphasized the importance of keeping China engaged on North Korea issues.

Beijing's three options, as described by the participants, are that it can stay close to North Korea and help strengthen it; turn aggressive and intensify pressure; or maintain the status quo and accept North Korea as a nuclear arms state.

The notion of a China-engineered coup was discussed as a possibility, one participant was quoted as telling the monthly, "but it was very academic and hypothetical and speculative, and hardly the basis for a new policy at this point."
China is one of the key players in the six-party denuclearization negotiations that also involve South and North Korea, the U.S., Japan and Russia. It hosts the multilateral forum and mediates talks between Pyongyang and Washington.

http://english.yna.co.kr/Engnews/20061225/610000000020061225092456E6.html

Some of the recently published (and a little more serious) articles/reports about that issue:

☞ More and More North Koreans Fantasizing About China (DailyNK, 3.06)

☞ Chinese Merchants in North Korea .. (3.07)

☞ Investment Opportunities, Chinese Merchants.. (3.12)

BTW.. Kim Jong-il promised for this year a strengthening of DPRK's economy. But with its own "power" the DPRK isn't able to achieve this goal - not at all. So they must, at least economically, open NK's society. Especially for foreign trade, investments..

But if the DPRK is opening for this, much more of the Chinese capitalism (mainly as privat initiatives) will flood the DPRK (just see the example of the last 15 years in the east Siberian/Russian regions where the Chinese , mainly economically influence in extreme increasing..). And by this way it will also change the DPRK's society fundamentally!

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Updated (see below: related articles/videos)

Surprise, surprise:

Yesterday some thousands  demonstrators took the streets of Seoul to protest against the planned US-ROK FTA. And the S.K. gov't responded with.. POLICE TERROR!!

Even - for example - the Israeli media, such as Ynet/Yedioth Ahronoth 

wrote about it:

South Korean riot police break up protest against US free trade agreement

Published:  03.10.07, 14:37 / Israel News

Riot police used a water cannon Saturday to break up a noisy but peaceful street protest in downtown Seoul against a proposed free trade agreement between South Korea and the United States.

Police armed with shields and truncheons fired several bursts from a water cannon into the crowd of about 2,000 protesters, mostly farmers, workers and students, after they ignored a warning to disperse as temperatures dropped to freezing in early evening.

Sorces of the pics: OhmyNews, VoP

Reports in Korean and English:

☞ Chamsesang (Korean, incl. videos)

☞ Voice of People (Korean, incl. videos)

☞ Tongil News (Korean)

☞ OhmyNews (Korean)

☞ Pressian (Korean, incl. videos)

☞ OhmyTV (Korean, video)

☞ Korea Herald (English)

☞ The Hankyoreh (English)

☞ No-FTA Newsletter (English)

PS:

In my opinion.. what was happen y'day,  it might be just the pre-play what we (yeah, I know..) have to expect when the next gov't will be "ruling" - if we can't prevent this f.. sh..!! - S.K. 

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Mass rallies against S. Korea-U.S. FTA set for Saturday

Defying a ban (yeah, in advance announced POLICE TERROR!!) anti-globalization activists prepared to hold a mass rally here Saturday to oppose a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between Seoul and Washington, police said Friday.

About 6,000 people are expected to participate in the street rallies in downtown Seoul, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said. (Yonhap)

한미FTA저지 1차 범국민 총궐기대회 

- 일시 : 3월 10일(토) 오후2시
- 장소 : 서울시청 광장

The rally, demo (??) and ... (??!!!) will take place:

Sat., 2 p.m.

Seoul, City Hall Plaza

(according to KCTU)

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Brazil's so-called "progressive"

gov't - once again - is showing its

real (reactionary) face

☞ Bush arrives to Brazilian protest (al-Jazeera)

☞ Brazil Police Battle Bush Protesters (AP/Guardian)