SEOUL — A recent rally in Seoul had the sound of a rock festival — speakers vibrating to the K-pop hit “Gangnam Style” — but without the appearance of one. The crowd, mostly older people, waved South Korean and American flags to the song’s altered chorus: “Anti-communist style!” As speakers energized the crowd with anti-communist and pro-American slogans, the crowd shouted, “Hooray for President Yoon Suk Yeol!”
Days later, when thousands of protesters, mostly young people, marched through the very center of the City, they waved signs in their hands and chanted: “Yoon Suk Yeol out!”
Park Yeol, a regular at this type of demonstration, appeared as an inflatable caricature of the South Korean leader. His fellow protesters took selfies while they put him in a headlock.
“Some people try to hit me,” said Park, 50. “But that’s the point: I want to show how angry people are with Yoon.”
For decades, protest rallies have been a constant in Seoul, the capital of Asia’s most vibrant democracy, born during South Korea’s difficult march toward democracy in the 1980s, when large crowds clashed with police and the army. Distrustful of their government, South Koreans have a penchant for taking all manner of grievances to the streets, to the point where demonstrations have become something of a national pastime.
As the pandemic has receded, protest demonstrations have returned in force to Seoul. Hardly a weekend goes by without the city center becoming a raucous bazaar with protest songs, slogans and streamed speeches that reveal an increasingly polarized country.
With churchgoers and other older citizens on the right, and mostly younger progressives on the left, there has become a public referendum on Yoon and his policies.
Left-wing protesters call Yoon a “national traitor” and demand his impeachment, holding him responsible for policies they consider anti-feminist and anti-journalists; for the human stampede last fall that killed 159 people; and for his attempt to improve ties with Tokyo, Korea’s historic enemy.
But Yoon has found a much-needed ally in right-wing South Koreans, mostly Christians and elderly, who are uniting to defend him and the country from “pro-North Korean communists.”. That Cold War-era label still has a big impact in a country that is still technically at war with North Korea. Most protests are not national news. But when they grow in size and intensity, they can portend a future political storm.
Mass protests led by progressives in 2017 triggered the ouster of Park Geun-hye, the country’s then-conservative President. The months-long protests led by evangelical Christians galvanized conservative backlash against Park’s progressive successor, Moon Jae-in, and helped Yoon win election as a conservative candidate in 2022.
“We cannot hand over our country to North Korea,” said the Rev. Jun Kwang-hoon, organizer of the largest conservative demonstrations. “We church people cannot sit still.”
Jeong Sook-hee, 54, a daycare worker who recently attended a conservative rally in Seoul, called the experience “like going to a baseball stadium,” referring to South Korea’s boisterous ball games.
“You sing, dance and scream as you please,” he said. “You relieve stress.”
By: CHOE SANG-HUN
BBC-NEWS-SRC: http://www.nytsyn.com/subscribed/stories/6965097, IMPORTING DATE: 2023-11-01 22:20:07
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