CINA

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Today's (bourgeois) Korea Times reported the following:

'Slut Walk' protest held in Seoul

A “Slut Walk” protest took place in downtown Seoul, Saturday, with some participants dressing provocatively, arguing women should not be blamed for sexual assaults simply because of the way they dress or behave.

“There is no one who deserves any kind of sexual assault anywhere in the world,” participants at the rally said in a statement. “We have the right not only to dress freely as we want to but also to live without fear of sex crimes.”

It was the first time that such a rally has been held in Korea. Similar protests have taken place in cities such as Chicago, Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, London and Sydney since the first Slut Walk protest on April 3 this year in Toronto, Canada.

The protests began after Michael Sanguinetti, a Toronto police officer, said, “Women should avoid dressing like sluts” to remain safe.

The Korean version of the Slut Walk protest was initiated by a woman who suggested the rally on her Twitter account after the alleged sexual assault by three male medical school students at Korea University on a female colleague during a school trip in May.

About 10 participants mostly dressed provocatively with some just wearing shorts and bras and others in skintight short skirts, first gathered at 2 p.m. in front of Korea University.

They marched on the campus, protesting the sexual assault case and calling for harsh punishment of the three students.

The protesters later moved to the Wonpyo Park in Sejong Road, downtown Seoul. They staged various performances as a protest against those who try to explain or excuse rape by referring to any aspect of a woman’s appearance.

The number of participants increased to about one hundred at around 4 p.m. despite occasional heavy downpours.

They then moved to the streets near Hongik University and held performances until they dispersed later that night.

The organizers said they plan to donate funds raised during the event to help the female student.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2011/07/117_91060.html

Yesterday's AFP had the following short 'report':

S. Korean 'SlutWalk' hits Seoul

Dozens of South Korean women in skimpy clothes and wearing sunglasses or masks rallied on Saturday as part of the "SlutWalk" global protest against sexual violence.

About 70 people, mostly women who met online to coordinate the action, danced together in the rain in central Seoul to make their point that "a dress does not mean yes."

"Don't touch my body," read a slogan written on yellow ribbons wrapped around the body of one woman.

"We have rights to wear whatever we like," the local movement, SlutWalk Korea, said in a statement. "We reject what they define as being sexy. There is no body in the world that can be touched without consent"...

Related reports (incl. some pics):
☞ 성범죄가 여성 때문? '야하게 입을 권리' 주장...한국판 슬럿워크 시위 (VoP)
☞ "내가 벗었다고 네가 만질 수 있는 건 아니야" (OMN)
☞ "성범죄가 여성탓?" 도심서 노출의상 시위 (연합)


 

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From today’s Kyunghyang Shinmun:

A Burned-Down Shantytown near Rich Gangnamgu Area

One resident looks for something among the ashes of a burned-down shanty town Gaepo 4 dong, Gangnamgu, Seoul, because of a fire started by a Kim, third-grader at a nearby elementary school.

 According to the police, Kim started a fire by a lighter on wooden chopsticks for fun, while riding on a bicycle. But the fire grew bigger when the chopsticks were placed on a styrofoam, which he could not extinguish.

 This shanty town is composed of 135 households of the urban poor. Out of these, 85 households were burned because of this boy's playful fire-setting. The 189 residents make their living by collecting recyclable things coming from a rich neighboring high-rise buildings.

 While urban redevelopment started in this area in February, the Gangnamgu Office imposed 50 million to 150 million won of compensatory fine per household for their illegal occupation of the land.

 The residents, who are urban poor, have lived here for 30 years since they were forcibly moved from other areas in December of 1981. With the compensatory fine imposed, they cannot move to any place. The wish of the residents is just to stay and live where they have been.

 The life of the urban poor in the vicinity of a rich Gangnamgu neighborhood is so vulnerable as to be totally demolished by a small boy's play with fire.

http://english.khan.co.kr/khan_art_view.html?artid=201106141409457&code=710100

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Last Thursday's Kyunghyang Shinmun had the following article:

Noodle Restaurant 'Duriban' Reopens

Agreement between tenant couple and construction

company ends 531-day struggle

"It's been hard for a long time but I'm glad it's been resolved. I think this day has come because of the help we've had from so many people."

Ahn Jong-nyeo, 53, owner of kalguksu (noodle) restaurant Duriban and symbol of resistance to indiscriminate urban development in Seoul's Hongdae(Hongik University) area, looked as if she was about to cry. Today, however, hers were tears not of anger but of deep emotion.

On June 8, at Mapo-gu Office, 531 days after the beginning of Duriban's struggle, a committee representing Duriban and construction contractor Namjeon DNC signed an "agreement on the resolution of the Duriban demolition problem."

At a gathering attended by officials fro Mapo-gu Office and Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, representatives of both sides stamped their seals onto the agreement, which stipulated that Duriban would be enabled to resume business in a location similar to its existing area. Duriban will thus now be able to reopen in the Hongdae area.

Duriban underwent forced demolition on Christmas Eve of 2009. In 2005, the contractor offered Ahn, who had been doing business there, 3 million won in compensation for relocation. This sum was woefully inadequate even for staying alive, let alone setting up a business anywhere else.

Duriban's site was not entitled to protection under the relevant law on urban and residential environment because it was not a public redevelopment zone but managed by a civilian operator. The next day, Ahn and her husband Yoo Che-lim, 51, who had been driven out onto the street, entered Duriban and began occupying it.

After that, people supporting Duriban began gathering one by one at the site of the occupation. It played host to all kinds of concerts and documentary screenings, as well as candlelit services.

Performances by artists resisting "rampant development" drew in local residents, while politicians also began to take interest. The electricity was cut off, but the number of people willing to protect Duriban increased. Duriban was christened "Little Yongsan."

The resolution of this incident has been accompanied by predictions that Duriban will become a milestone in the quest to secure rights for tenants in commercial properties.

"Until now, the custom has been to ignore the residency rights of business tenants and go ahead with forcible demolition," says Kim Nam-geun, a lawyer who represents evictees in demolition cases. "This will remain as a precedent that shows that development must take place in a way that guarantees residential and survival rights within communities."

"It has been impossible for individual tenants to resist huge construction companies and assert their rights," said Lee Ju-won, director of the group Nanumgwa Mirae ("Sharing and Future").

"In the future too, tenants will have to join forces with local residents and society. The scope of compensation will have to be increased to make business tenants, who are unable to receive proper compensation in case of redevelopment, legally eligible to be compensated."

http://english.khan.co.kr/khan_art_view.html?code=710100&artid=201106091617087&medid=enkh

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Yesterday the Duriban Sit-in Collective had their final meeting with the "development" company (Namjeon D&C, a subcontractor of the notorious GS/the former LG Construction Mafia) plus some representatives of Seoul's Mapo District Office... and their negotiation resulted in an "almost complete success", according to activists who were involved in the 531 days sit-in struggle(*) to resist the intially announced evection order.

 
The "conflicting parties", i.e. the Duriban Collective and the "development" company(Namjeon D&C) agreed that...
-> Namjeon D&C will pay for the complete compensation and all penalties which Duriban is supposed to pay
-> Namjeon D&C will cancel all "legal cases"
-> the compensation is including financial loss Duriban has lost while they couldn't work for long time
-> but finally Duriban must move out

According to some progressive, independent news reports (such as NewsCham, 6.08) this is the first case of successful negotiation related to a struggle against eviction...
 

* Related previous contributions you can check out here, here, here and here!

 

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Yesterday's Korea Herald published the following - in parts 'slightly'(^^) baised - report:

Stores biggest losers in Insa-dong War 
Confrontation between city, street vendors may escalate

Normally a street that contains a harmonious balance of both tranquility and bustling excitement, Insa-dong can leave you with a sense of what Korea might have been.

But with the recent crackdown on street vendors, many foreigners are left wondering why the streets look like a warzone and stores are without customers.

After deciding to create a street without cars, and to expand the space for pedestrians at Insa-dong, the Jongno District Office is attempting to relocate the street vendors, who are technically illegal, to designated sectors off the main road.

But street vendors were unanimously favored by foreigners visiting Insa-dong, despite district officials insisting that foreigners do not want them there.

“I like it (street vendors) because they make the food right in front of you and its fun, and they are certainly cheap,” said Ben Whittaker who was visiting from Australia.

And according to the district office, foreigners are their main target demographic for Insa-dong.

“We absolutely enjoy the street stalls, and what they have here at the moment is a nice balance between street stalls and stores,” said Thomas Gervay from Australia.

According to Kim Keun-ki, leader of an association of the street vendors, this is the only thing he can do for a living, saying that street vendors do not have the luxury of choice.
 

“Elementary school education was the only education I got, so I can’t even submit a job application because no one wants to hire an elementary school grad,” said Kim who owns a Korean taffy, or yeot stall.

“On a good day, I probably only make about 20,000 won ($18).”

And what the vendors are most upset about is that they are being relocated from the busiest areas of Insa-dong to an area that the vendors call “the grave,” according to Kim.

The district’s recent crackdown on street stalls has only led to violence on the streets, broken stalls, injured vendors, district officials and foreigners passing by, and empty stores.

“Because of this (protest) Insa-dong is in disarray right now, we have less customers coming in because the surrounding area has become so rough, said a store owner who declined to give her name.

“For every day there is violence in our streets, we lose that many customers,” said a former street vendor turned store owner.

“The people who are truly affected by all of this are the store owners who simply lose customers because of the fights between the district office and the street vendors,” said another store owner in an alleyway at Insa-dong.

However, despite the popularity of street stalls among foreigners, to most store owners the recent string of violence is just another problem that street vendors bring to Insa-dong.

“It’s completely unreasonable that the street vendors are still protesting, despite the district’s attempt to look the other way and accommodate them,” said the former street vendor.

“We have to pay expensive key money deposits, rent and various taxes that really add up too, but vendors do not pay a single won to the government for the public land that they use,” said a calligraphy store owner.

And store owners feel further victimized by the vendors, often portrayed in the media as people struggling to make ends meet, when according to the former street vendor, most vendors easily make more than 100,000 won a day.

“Many of them have a small fortune,” said the store owner who declined to give his name.

“Some operate several stalls that have part-time hires working them in different locations,” he said, who still keeps close ties with many of the street vendors at Insa-dong.

According to multiple sources, the street vendor’s alliance at Insa-dong, is not just a means to band together to face the district, but it is also an organization that rules the cultural street with an iron fist.

“I’ve seen people set up a little street stall in Insa-dong, only to be harassed by street vendors in the alliance, eventually leading to violence,” said a store owner.

According to the store owner, the key money deposit for public spaces on the street can cost up to 50 million won, and those that do not pay, face the consequences.

“When I ran my own stall, I got permission from the store owner I was selling in front of, but the alliance still came and tried to stop me from doing business,” said the former stall owner.

“We even landed in the police stations a couple times because things got violent between us,” he said.

The district office has found itself in a dilemma, after declaring Insa-dong street a pedestrian zone, inevitably clashing officials with the vendors.

According to Choi Sung-min director at the district office’s Construction Management Division, the motion to relocate the vendors is to create a friendly walking environment, despite many foreigners agreeing that you can simply walk around them and that it does not cause much hassle.

However, Choi added that the district office is still undergoing talks with the street vendors’ alliance to create a peaceful solution.

http://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20110605000146

Related article:
☞ Street vendors heading downhill (K. Times, 6.02)

 

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This event will promote the idea of the planned "unity"/"unification" of the so-called "progressive" forces in S. Korea...

A comrade told me yesterday the following, explaing the background of the event: "Well, there are tons of different positions, suggestions and ideas in the wake of the general elections and presidential election next year as to what the progressive movement should do during that 'political period. This 'Progressive Harmony group' demands the unity of the Democratic Labor Party, New Progressive Party and the Socialist Party first and then form an alliance with the bourgeois opposition 'Democratic' Party...
And this May 24 meeting is the first gathering of the harmony group for general mass."

PS: Duriban band "Supsuphaesur Grunge" will play a gig at the meeting, to promote the struggle of the Duriban Sit-in Collective

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From last Friday's Korea Times:

Concerns increase over online racism

Concern is being raised over an increasing number of xenophobic Koreans supporting and organizing online and offline campaigns against migrant workers and immigrant wives.

They said they launched “anti-multiculturalism” movement as migrant workers take jobs away from Koreans and commit crimes, and many migrant women, mostly from China and Southeast Asia, come to Korea to earn money under marriage scams.

In the past, a few Internet users used to post messages critical of the growing number of foreign residents here on bulletin boards operated by web portals.

But recently, several websites and community cafes against migrant workers and foreign wives have been launched, recruiting thousands of members from netizens and organizing activities online to promote their agenda.

Furthermore, members of some anti-multicultural groups have begun engaging in offline activities, making protest calls to government agencies and lawmakers to force them to scrap the expansion of benefits for foreign residents.

They even protested outside embassies of Southeast Asian countries, demanding they do more to prevent their nationals from committing crimes here.

Among the groups that are leading the anti-foreign movement are the Pan-National Alliance against Foreign Workers (http://cafe.daum.net/pncsfw), the Alliance against Multiculturalism (http://cafe.daum.net/antifworker), the International Marriage Damage & Prevention Center (http://cafe.daum.net/mna5319?t——nil—cafemy=item) and the Citizens’ Alliance against Foreign Workers (www.njustice.org/).

The International Marriage Damage & Prevention Center plans to hold a rally in front of KBS headquarters in Yeouido in June to urge the TV broadcaster to stop airing a series of programs what they call “beautifying” multicultural families.

“We have filed a complaint with KBS not to air programs, which create illusions about interracial marriage and multicultural families. But our efforts came to no avail. So, we have decided to take bolder action,” Ahn Jae-sung, a representative, said.

Ahn said when he first launched the organization, many disapproved of him. But he said these days a growing number of people are joining his cause.

Hostility toward difference

However, government officials and supporters of migrant workers and multicultural families have expressed alarm at such movements, saying Korea should become a more diverse and tolerant society.

Park Sung-nam, team leader at the National Human Rights Commission said it was regrettable that an increasing number of Koreans have become hostile toward foreigners.

“Korea should become an integrated society in which all members should be treated equally, regardless of nationality and color of skin. Despite the growing anti-multicultural movement, still the majority of Koreans hold favorable views toward migrant workers and foreign wives, as well as appreciating their contribution to society,” he said.

On May 9, the commission demanded law enforcement authorities and Internet regulators to introduce steps to remove racially discriminating comments and articles in cyberspace. It called on the Ministry of Justice and the Korea Internet Self-governance Organization to come up with countermeasures against discriminative language, which it says could hamper social integration.

Kim Jung-youl, director of the Multicultural Family Division at the Ministry of Gender, Equality and Family, echoed Park’s views, saying the government will take a range of measures to promote multiculturalism.

“We offer a wide array of support to multicultural families. Foreign wives and their children are part of us. It is not right to tell them to leave the country,” Kim stressed.

He said in order to counter anti-multiculturalism organizations, the government will boost public relations activities to promote the benefits of multiculturalism and contributions that foreign residents have made to the development of Korean society.

Lee Ha-ryong, head of Korea Migrant’s Center, also expressed regrets over a pick-up in civic movements against foreign workers and their families.

“Members of such organizations should be ashamed of themselves. It is just absurd to argue that foreign workers take jobs away from Koreans. They work under poorer working conditions and receive smaller paychecks. Migrant workers take up what Koreans don’t want to do,” Lee stressed.

He said Korea should treat migrant workers well and pay more attention to improving their well-being so that they go home with a favorable opinion of Korea. “I cannot stress enough that the so-called anti-multiculturalism organizations should disband themselves.”

Campaign gets aggressive

In April, members of the Citizens’ Alliance against Foreign Workers and the Alliance against Multiculturalism came to the office of Rep. Kim Dong-sung of the governing Grand National Party to protest Kim’s bill seeking to expand educational and medical benefits for children of illegal aliens.

A staff at Kim’s office said they talked with the lawmaker for over an hour, adding it was the first time for the opponents of multiculturalism to come and protest in person.

Additionally, members of the Alliance against Multiculturalism paid a visit to the Bangladesh Embassy here in January, demanding the Bangladesh government introduce a crime-prevention program for its nationals staying here.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2011/05/117_86959.html

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From yesterday's (bourgeois) Korea Herald:

Cyberspace tainted with racist postings

Looking at Internet cafes with many messages disparaging migrant workers based on their appearances and nationalities, Soe Moe Thu feels Korea still has a long way to go to establish a “mature” online culture.

To maintain the country’s reputation for state-of-the-art Internet infrastructure, the Seoul government needs to make more efforts to ameliorate “online manners,” the 36-year-old Myanmarese said.

“When people write things online, they appear to become barbarians unaware of culture and ethics, taking advantage of anonymity and doing whatever they please. I rarely see such people offline, but encounter them quite often online,” he told The Korea Herald.

“The messages show how antagonistic they are toward migrant workers and how deeply such discriminatory thoughts are lodged in their minds.”

He came to Korea in 1995 to work here. He currently heads an Internet television station (ie MWTV) , which was established in 2005 and is dedicated to migrant people living in Korea.

According to research done last October by the state human rights watchdog, there were many online disparaging postings. Some baselessly associated those from the Middle East with terrorists while others claimed those from Southeastern Asian nations looked like drug dealers.

He stressed that such messages could tarnish the nation’s image and hinder efforts to become one of the world’s top-tier nations. Korea is becoming increasingly multicultural with the number of foreign residents having topped 1.3 million.

“Such messages remain as part of history, contributing to the establishment of the country’s image. Those who understand Korean may feel disheartened by the messages,” he said.

“To become an advanced country in the material sense, you only have to earn much money. However, to be an advanced state in terms of mental qualities, there needs to be education to help people refrain (from posting such messages).”

Recognizing the seriousness of the issue, the state human rights watchdog has advised Justice Minister Lee Kwi-nam to include measures to “improve” such discriminatory expressions online in government policies, officials said Monday.

The National Human Rights Commission has also conveyed its opinion to the Korea Internet Self-governance Organization that it should strive to block the online distribution of discriminatory expressions. The KISO is an entity launched in 2009 by seven major Internet portals to deal with slanderous postings.

The commission believes that the government should establish policies to enhance people’s understanding of racial and cultural diversities so as to minimize conflicts in the increasingly multicultural society.

“We carried out research on such messages last year and realized they were as serious as we thought they would be. As the ripple effect on the Internet is great and runs long, we thought we need to take policy measures to address this problem,” said Park Sung-nam, chief of the NHRC team handling human right issues for migrants...

http://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20110509000777

PS:

A very bad example for racism in the S. Korean internet you'll find here: http://www.njustice.org/

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Last Friday the "Duriban Sit-in Committee" celebrated the 500th day of their struggle with a nice concert, many supportes and a large audience...

 
The following text is from a solidarity leaflet, informing about the peaceful struggle against the GS (the former LG) construction mafia:

Evicted in Korea

Leave (South) Korea for a few months and come back, and Seoul is unrecogniseable. The urban renewal process in this city is swift, anti-nostalgic, and unstoppable. The struggle behind all this was brought to light on 20 January 2009, a police raid on rooftop where evictees were protesting resulted in a fire leading to five civilian deaths and one police death. Since then, urban renewal has become a national issue as people slowly take notice of the places being destroyed around them and the lives being destroyed along with them. One such place is right up the street from Hongdae Station, just a few meters out exit 4.

Originally a triangular-shaped collection of buildings, now only three remain: a police station, an old empty hanok, and a three-storey building, the front door of which is always wide open. That’s Dooriban, a small restaurant and the last remaining opponent to the renewal plan. The other floors were vacated, so Dooriban has taken over their spaces, converting the third floor into a live music venue. Ever since February, they’ve had weekly Friday shows, Monday street concerts, and Tuesday documentary screening.

Dooriban originally opened in 2005. The next year, Mapo District Office authorised a redevelopment plan for the area, and building owners started selling to developers. In 2007 the new landowners began telling tenants they had to leave. According to Jo Yakgol, a frequent face at Dooriban, they told tenants to negotiate, and if they resist they will end up with less money.
According to a strange law (지구단위개발계획, probably misspelled [you get what you pay for]), the area being redeveloped is too small to be properly protected by law, so the developers do not have the responsibility to properly compensate the monthly rent payers. According to Jo, the developers claimed they were nice people, and they were willing to pay tenants when it wasn’t necessary. The owner of Dooriban, Ahn Jongnyeo was reportedly offered a 3-million won compensation deal, not even enough to relocate the business, Worse hit was the owner of a Latin dance academy, who eventually moved away without receiving a single penny.

The tenants of the area started a committee to oppose the deal they were getting. The lawsuit lasted two years, during which time most tenants gave up their claims, until only Dooriban was left.

The situation worsened on Christmas Eve 20009, when a team of 30 hired goons started destroying Dooriban. They dragged customers outside, along with Ahn’s husband Yoo Cherim, a part-time worker, and the cook. Then, as Jo describes it, “Stuff got broken.” Right after everyone was pulled out, the goons set up metal fences around the building, blocking them from getting back in.

According to Ahn, this was a “death sentence.” She had invested everything in this business.

She came back on Christmas Day at night and cut off the metal wires that support the metal fences and opened the main gate, and began a sit-in.

“It was a critical period when they cracked open the metal fences and started the sit-in,” says Jo.
Meanwhile, Jo, who related most of this story to me, was busy with his own problems. He had lived in Yongsan and become part of the protest there, during which time he heard about the struggle at Dooriban. When he left, he joined the Dooriban protest, including a one-week sit-in at Mapo District Office.

The demands of Dooriban’s owner are simple. Their livelihood was violated, and they need relocation money so they can contine to work.

But they’re not looking for a fight. “Peaceful negotiation is the only way,” says Jo. “We kinda succeeded in making this Dooriban struggle a big issue. They can’t solve this problem violently by sending thugs or beating the shit out of people.”

Banners hang on the outside of the Dooriban building, decrying GS Construction, with the idea that if anything happens people will point their fingers at GS Construction. “If you have victims, their commercial name gets tarnished.”

 
Although GS is behind the redevelopment plan, the current situation is being handled by Namjeon DNC, which Jo describes as a “phantom company,” created to take the bad publicity in place of GS. GS won’t step in until the land is cleared, and Namjeon DNC will disappear. They have no employees, no phone number, and no address.

“If you dig down deeper it gets really dirty,” says Jo. He says that Namjeon borrowed 86 billion won from Nonghyup Bank, due back this year, and if they don’t pay it back, GS will.
And Dooriban will live to see 2011. Following the disastrous Yongsan eviction in January, a law has been enacted to prevent forceful evictions during the winter season. As winter legally started on 4 December, it is hopeful Dooriban will be safe for the foreseeable future, despite the efforts of GS and Namjeon DNC.

“They tried many times this year, they made many threats,” says Jo. They cut off electricity and water, and the owner of Dooriban installed solar panels on the roof that provide power for the whole building (although a gas generator is for concerts).

“The Dooriban people were lucky,” Jo says. A variety of artists, musicians, novelists, and poets joined the struggle in solidarity. Every day and night, people visit Dooriban, bringing their own food and drink since the kitchen is no longer open.

Now that Dooriban has gotten so much attention, their situation is more stable. “If we see more people coming to this place, it’s going to make it hard for land owners to send thugs here,” explains Jo. “Participation is crucial. We know [the developers] know how many people come here every day.”

If you’re in a band, you can contact Dongmin or Daham of Murmur’s Loom about playing a show at Dooriban. If you’re an individual, they need a lot of supplies to last the winter due to the lack of heating, including blankets and food. “We need everything to survive here,” says Jo.

 
Namjeon DNC was unavailable for comment.

More info you can get here (unfortunatelly only in Korean).