Korea

Seoul, August 6, 2008: According to an AFP report, South Korean police used water cannon and arrested 167 people to break up protests in the evening and overnight against the visit of US President George W. Bush on Wednesday August 6.
A total of 155 people were arrested overnight, a spokesman for the National Police Agency told AFP.
Twelve others were held earlier for staging an anti-war rally at a military airport near Seoul, where Air Force One landed Tuesday evening.

On July 24, the Lee Myung-bak (LMB) government issued arrest warrants against the leadership of the KCTU trade union center. This is only one of many attacks against the newly resurrected people’s power in South Korea, sparked by the uproar over the US beef import.
The urgent appeal for action we are reproducing below has been published by the Coalition Against Mad Cow Disease, a coalition of more than 1,700 organizations involved in the candle light movement. All responses and inquries should be sent to: defendantimadcow@gmail.com

Chris Kerr, Seoul: The newly elected neo-conservative regime of President Lee Myungbak has been humbled by the spontaneous emergence of a mass movement, which was sparked by female middle school and high school students, but which has seen the largest and longest sustained demonstrations since the fall of the military dictatorship. The mass protests are primarily against the imposed resumption of the importation of US beef but have, in the course of their development, tapped into latent anger of the Korean population against the implementation of the government’s neo-liberal agenda.
In April this year, Korean President Lee, before meeting George Bush in his Texas ranch, agreed to lift all existing bans on US beef which were imposed in 2003 after a case of mad cow was detected, especially beef over 30 months old which is considered to be more susceptible to mad cow disease.
The move was unpopular due to the perceived scientific risks that it posed to the Korean population and because the Korean market already had found a suitable alternative in consuming its own beef along with the importation of Australian beef.

Weeks of massive street protests in South Korea against the resumption of US beef imports have forced US President George W. Bush to cancel a trip to the country next month.

CJ Park, Socialist Worker (Britain)
Seoul, 14 June 2008 - Up to a million people gathered across South Korea on Tuesday of this week to commemorate the 21st anniversary of the 1987 June Struggle. The June Struggle was a milestone in the history of democracy in South Korea. It ended the military dictatorship and brought many democratic reforms.

Won Youngsu, Links: For the South Korean left, the April 9 general election was another fiasco following the presidential election last December, in which the election of Lee Myung-bak brought forth the return of the conservative government.