CINA

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Release peace activist Dr. Song Kang-ho (since 100 days in prison for his involvement in the resistance struggle against the Jeju Naval Base)!!
 

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Well, it seems that the S. Korean ministry of information(^^) has really taken leave of its senses...

Yesterday afternoon: Ro Su-hui was arrested, handcuffed and tied with a rope, upon crossing the inter-Korean border at the truce village of Panmunjom from North Korea after spending more than three months there..., according to Yonhap

 
For two consecutive nights at the end of June, (North)Korean Central TV showed footage of a news conference with Park In-sook(aka Park Jong Suk), an elderly N. Korean woman who successfully(^^) 're-defected’ to the DPRK in late May after six years living in Seoul(*)

* Yesterday's KCNA 'reported' the following under the titel "DPRK Woman Interviewed upon Her Return Home (6)":

Referring to her feelings after coming back to the DPRK, she said as follows:

A single misstep made me fall into a bottomless pitfall. But my motherland injected life-giving water to me who might have become a forlorn wandering spirit.

When I deplaned, quieting my thumping heart, I was stunned by the cordial reception given by officials concerned.

Had I been handcuffed, I would not have found any word to say.

That night I thought and thought, looking up at the starry sky over Pyongyang.

I felt at that time how affectionate and great the motherland is for me. I would have no more to desire in the world before I die.

Until that time I could not imagine what profound loving care awaited me.

The dear respected Kim Jong Un did not blame me who did so many wrongs in the past but brought me under his warm care.

Kim Jong Un made sure that I, little different from an offender, reside in Pyongyang with my son who is a teacher at Pyongyang Kim Won Gyun Conservatory and daughter-in-law.

I am an ingrate who had betrayed my motherland to seek better living while others devoted themselves to building a thriving nation, tightening their belts.

I visited the statues of Generalissimos Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il on Mansu Hill to express thanks to Kim Jong Un who helped me to be reborn.

I atoned for my wrong doings and renewed my pledge to uphold Kim Jong Un with my pure conscience by showing intense loyalty to the Generalissimos though I failed to do so in the past.

The world does not know such tender-hearted leader as the dear respected General Kim Jong Un.

I was reborn thanks to Kim Jong Un identical to the great Generalissimos. 

http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2012/201207/news05/20120705-10ee.html

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Impressions from yesterday's Joint Action Day to support the struggle of fired Jaenueng employees, now since more than 1,650 days in sit-in strike (detailed info about the strike you'll find here!):
  

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Everyone's made a joke they thought was funny only to see it fall flat, but Park Jung-geun's attempt at humor could see him jailed for up to seven years in South Korea.

Park, a photographer by profession, re-tweeted some messages from North Korea's official twitter feed, such as reports on the late leader Kim Jong Il's travels across the country and negative tweets about South Korea.

"I found the messages ludicrous because they are so harsh and the language is so out-dated. I found them funny, so I re-tweeted them," Park told CNN.

Park, 23, also took a photo of himself holding a whiskey bottle and edited in a North Korean flag as a background for a joke. His supporters then doctored a North Korean military poster, replacing a smiling soldier with a sad photo of Park and the image of the gun with another whiskey bottle.

But Park was imprisoned in January of this year, accused of "acts that benefit the enemy" and spreading North Korean propaganda. He was released on bail in February and has another court appearance in mid-July. He's still hoping the charges against him will be dropped.

"To be honest, if you did this in North Korea, you would be severely punished," Park said. "But this is South Korea and I thought there wouldn't be a problem as I did it for fun. It certainly wasn't for propaganda purposes."

Park is the latest person to fall foul of South Korea's controversial National Security Law (NSL). Used widely used during the years of military dictatorship in the 1970s and 80s, the law was designed to protect the state against North Korean propaganda and to prosecute spies.

But human rights groups say it was also used to persecute political dissidents and stifle freedom of speech.

Amnesty International says the law is still being abused, especially against those critical of the government's policies on North Korea.

"The NSL has a chilling effect on freedom of expression in South Korea," said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty's Asia-Pacific director.

"It is used, not to address threats to national security, but instead to intimidate people and limit their rights to free speech. It should be reformed in line with human rights law and if the government cannot do this, it must be abolished," he said.

The United Nations has also called on Seoul to change or repeal the law.

President Lee Myung-bak's office declined to comment on the issue but the law has certainly been more widely used since the conservative president came to power in 2008. That year, just five people were prosecuted on charges of pro-North Korean online postings. Two years later that number had jumped to 82.

Some within the South Korean media are also criticizing the Lee administration for interfering in press freedom.

Journalists from four major networks went on strike earlier this year. Employees from two of those stations have since gone back to work after promises from employers their concerns would be heard, but close to one thousand journalists remain on strike.

"President Lee Myung-bak has appointed pro-government people as presidents of the media companies, what we call 'parachutes,'' said Kim Jong-wook, head of the YTN labor union which is still on strike.

"They are now trying to censor our voice and stop criticism of the government," he added.

The government denies interference but picketing journalists say they are worried they are seeing increased censorship reminiscent of the dark days of dictatorship.

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/07/03/world/asia/south-korea-north-joke/index.html

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[7.01] The 2nd "Weekly Solidarity Street Concert"(*), nearby Daehanmun in downtown Seoul, to support the struggle of the victims of mass dismissals at SsangYong Motors and elsewhere in S. Korea... was performed by the comrades of "Kkotdaji"(꽃다지):

* The "Weekly Solidarity Street Concert" will be held every Sunday evening at least until the beginning of August...

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Last week Slavoj Žižek, the Slovenian philosopher and cultural critic visted S. Korea for a lecture tour. But his last stop led him to the SsangYong Memorial Site in downtown Seoul, to pay his respect to the fatal victims of the SsangYong mass dismissal. Yesterday's Hankyoreh reported about it:
 

Slavoj Zizek shows solidarity with dismissed Ssangyong Motors workers

Prominent philosopher Slavoj Zizek locked hands with Ssangyong Motors laid off workers during a June 29 visit to the site of a collective memorial in front of Daehan Gate at Deoksu Palace, across from Seoul City Hall.

Zizek greets Kim Jeong-woo, head of the Ssangyong chapter of the Korea Metal Workers’ Union

The site was set up to honor 22 workers and family members who have died in the wake of massive layoffs by the automaker. A solemn Zizek expressed his solidarity and sympathies to the workers there. The infamous cultural critic is wrapping up a weeklong visit to South Korea.

After arriving at 11:30 am, Zizek talked for about a half hour with Kim Jeong-woo, head of the Ssangyong chapter of the Korea Metal Workers’ Union. Afterwards, he joined Kim in lighting incense for the victims before their portraits. In the visitors’ log, he left a message saying, “You are a hope to us all. I hope you keep fighting.”

 
In his conversation with Kim, Zizek said the layoffs and their devastating effects on ordinary lives were a matter of concern not just for them but for everyone living under a capitalist system. “Your case shows us that the lives we are living are not at all happy,” Zizek said.

The philosopher said that it was a falsehood for businesses to claim that layoffs are economically necessary measures rather than the company’s own decision. The Ssangyong Motors struggle, he said, raises fundamental questions about the importance of democracy.

Kim asked for Zizek’s continued support, saying, “We need to alert the world to the contradictions of layoffs that are taking place through the exploitations of capital, and the reality here in South Korea as an example of neoliberalism.”

Zizek responded that a good friend was someone you are able to put to use without any reservations. “Put me to use,” he said. “I’ll gladly be used.”

 
The philosopher also emphasized the importance of the memorial, which he said alerts people to what they really need to be aware of. Through it, the people who pass by are able to understand the nature of the current situation in South Korean society, he said.

Zizek also said that as a symbol of suffering, the memorial would eventually have a snowball effect even if it doesn’t result in any resolution in the short term.
 

Kim related an episode in May when police demolished a previous memorial. “The government isn’t even showing a willingness to have dialogue or to placate us,” he explained. Zizek expressed his astonishment, calling this “very foolish.”

After the incense lighting, Zizek talked for an hour with artist Lim Min-ouk, 44, who installed a work of interactive video art beside the memorial...

http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_international/540344.html

Related article:
☞ 슬라보예 지젝, 쌍용차 분향소 방문 (NewsCham, 6.29)
 

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The following interesting piece has been published in last Monday's(6.25) Hankyoreh newspaper:

Film depicting Yongsan Disaster finds large, nationwide audience

Unusual success of independence film demonstrates continued interest in the mysterious tragedy (*)

On Saturday at Indiespace, a privately-run independent film theater in Seoul’s Jongno district, all 110 seats in the auditorium were full. Even after the film finished and the director’s talk began, the audience members remained glued to their seats. People waiting for the next screening, which was also sold out, squeezed in behind the back row to listen. Other Seoul theaters screening the film at the same time, including Indieplus, Megabox, Coex and the Daehangno branch of CGV, were all sold out. Joint director Kim Il-ran told the audience, “Every day since the film opened has seemed like a miracle.”

Independent documentary “2 Doors” (Dir. Kim Il-ran, Hong Ji-yu), which depicts the Yongsan Disaster of January 20, 2009, is proving a hit, selling out in its first week.
The Yongsan Disaster occurred when residents of a Seoul neighborhood that had been bought up for redevelopment clashed with police and private security forces. The residents demanded additional compensation before vacating their properties and staged a sit-in protest when developers refused. Five evictees and one member of a police SWAT team lost their lives in a late-night clash during which a large fire broke out. The full details of the case have never been found out. 8 residents were sentenced to terms in prison.

After opening at only 16 theaters nationwide last June 21, the film had been watched by around 5,600 people by June 24. Seoul theaters screening it were sold out from the first day onward, placing 2 Doors at the top of the ranking for highest audience figures on the opening day in the independent and art film category.
 

“To be screened [25 times daily] at 16 theaters, and sell out and attract 5,000 viewers from the first week onwards, is extremely rare for an independent film,” said Kim Il-gwon, CEO of Sinemadal, the film‘s distributor. “This week, it seems it will set the record for the shortest time to pass the 10,000 audience mark for a film released on this scale.”

It is hard for independent films, which are screened at small numbers of theaters, to pass the 5,000 audience mark. Last year’s documentary “Miracle on Jongno Street” only passed the 5,000 audience mark in the fifth week of its release. “Bleak Night,” popular from the day of its release, drew 3,977 viewers in its first week. “Old Partner,” which was watched in theaters in 2009 by a total of 2.96 million people, drew only 7,020 viewers in its first week while being screened at around 30 theaters.

“2 Doors” has risen to sixth position in the Naver and Yes 24 box office rankings, which include both Korean and foreign commercial films. According to Indiespace, “A lot of people have turned up thinking they don’t need to book in advance because it’s an independent film, and had to leave.”

Many believe the reason the film has become so successful lies in the strength of its directing, which takes a calm and composed look back at the Yongsan Disaster. Using images taken at the time, legal statements from the police and opinions from lawyers representing evictees, 2 Doors reconstructs the terrible events of the day of the disaster.

Jeong Ji-yeong, a well-known Korean film director said, “Its unique production method approaches the truth of the matter in the manner of a fictional film, tracing the progress of the incident through testimonies made in court rather than interviews with the families of the deceased.”

Just as “Silenced” and “Unbowed,” two other films with strong social messages, proved popular, 2 Doors is bringing audiences into theaters due to a desire for justice and reflection upon what would otherwise have been forgotten. “It seems this film has touched upon people’s desire to change desperate [political and social] situations into energy of hope, and ignited something,” said 2 Doors co-director Kim Il-ran. 29-year-old Hwang Ji-hun, watching the film at Indiespace, said, “I felt sorry that the Yongsan Disaster was gradually being forgotten, then I heard that this film had come out so I came to see it with nine of my friends.” Many Twitter users and netizens are saying that the film has given the strength and courage to face the truth.

The 834 members of the film’s distribution committee, including director Byeon Yeong-ju, who provided the entire sum of approximately 30 million won (about US$25,800) for the film‘s theatrical release, are taking their friends and acquaintances to theaters to watch it or taking part in the active Twitter publicity campaign that is accompanying it, adding to the film’s strength. Securing a stable schedule of two or three screenings per day at dedicated independent film theater Indiespace, which opened on May 29, has also aided its success.

A further source of support has been applications for group viewings via the film’s website (http://blog.naver.com/2_doors). Groups from Homeless Action, the National Human Rights Commission and the parliamentary offices of opposition parties have watched the film, while the New Progressive Party has hired an entire screen at Yongsan CGV to watch the film on June 30. Fans of idol group JYJ are due to hold a group viewing at Indieplus on the same day.

From this week, the film will be screened at 21 theaters nationwide, a slight increase, but the internet is inundated with demands for it to be screened at multiplexes too. As of 2011, there were 1,974 theater screens in Korea. “Ultimately, multiplexes like CGV, Lotte Cinema and Megabox must open more of their doors [to give screening opportunities to independent films],” said Kim Il-gwon. (**)

The producers of 2 Doors wanted the film to prompt the release of the eight evictees currently behind bars as a result of the incident and the revelation of the truth about the suppression that took place. “I hope the film will bring public attention to the petition to have [the imprisoned evictees] pardoned on Liberation Day this August and to ensuring that a parliamentary investigation to determine the truth about the Yongsan Disaster takes place in September [when the next session of the National Assembly opens],” said director Hong Ji-yu.

http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_entertainment/539431.html

* "Mysterious tragedy"?? We just called it "The Yongsan Massacre"... more detailed reports about it you'll find here (Indymedia, Feb./March 2009)!!
And my first contribution about the Yongsan Massacre can find here (2009.1.20).
 

** For more info please check out:
☞ "두 개의 문" 상영관 및 시간표 안내

 

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Candle light vigil campaign throughout major cities for Peace in Gangjeong and on the Korean Peninsula from June 28(in Gangjeong) until July 27(in Seoul):

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