By From the Stars & Stripes:
Two planned anti-U.S. demonstrations fizzled Wednesday, but the groups may not be done protesting.
Planners from the leftist Democratic Labor Party had planned a demonstration to protest U.S. Forces Korea and U.S. policy Wednesday morning, but none of the protesters showed up, Yangju police said.
So who is the Democratic Labor Party you may ask? Well they are just the political party that was linked to a North Korean spy ring. It seems they are quickly loosing any relevance they had if they cannot even get anyone to show up to a USFK protest any more.Â
3:10 pm on May 26th, 2007 1
[...] Drop: A Protest with No ProtestersPosted 5 hours agoFrom the Stars & Stripes : Two planned anti-U.S. demonstrations fizzled [...]
7:08 am on May 27th, 2007 2
Interesting…
Well, the article does say that about 10 showed up at at least one of them. Maybe this is simply the reporter not having been in Korea too long…
It isn’t unusual for a protest to have only a dozen or so older Koreans with maybe 1 or 2 university students mixed in. It is always the same faces, at least with the older ones. They are the heads of at least 1 of the plenthora of anti-US groups – which probably exist in little more than name only.
The article didn’t quote any pre-protest claims of expected participation…Just because only the core leadership showed up is not automatically a sign the protest was a flop. Having it on Wednesday could be a sign – during the work/school week.
If these guys want numbers, all they have to do is get with Hanchongryon and the military labor union. This did involve the Democratic Labor Party, and I haven’t heard that the DLP and the Labor Union have severed ties…….The Labor Union is probably the most disciplined protest group in the game……If the DLP wanted a show of force, union members would have showed up. Hanchongryon might not have as disciplined a membership, but they would have heeded the call in some number (say 50 to 100 at least) if they’d been asked….
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7:59 am on May 27th, 2007 3
I have actually been in charge of soldiers who respond to protests at the front gate of CRC and I remember when there was a protest scheduled about the armored vehicle incident. About 5 people showed up and then it started raining. They got on their cell phones and called off the protest because of the rain and went home. That is the level of committment from some of these protesters.
With this DLP protest they should have been able to get people to show up from the usual suspects which makes me wonder if the spy scandal has still stained their reputation?
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4:02 pm on May 30th, 2007 4
GI Korea, I don’t discount the protestors motivation at all, I seriously doubt some bad weather drove them off. I think it was more likely that the one hot protestor chick they were counting on had a date with her English teacher and didn’t show.
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10:25 am on May 31st, 2007 5
This is good news I believe. I am concerned. Does this mean the population is starting to mature? If that is the case, I won’t be able to bitch about Korea any longer. What shall I do?! Korea as a good friend to America? It’s been so long! Say it ain’t so. Na, I’m reading too much into it. I’m sure the hot chick just didn’t show. Yea, that’s what it is! I got up set for a second but it passed.
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5:33 pm on June 22nd, 2007 6
[...] [GI Korea] A Protest with No Protesters Published: Sat, 26 May 2007 00:34:17 +0000 From the Stars & Stripes: Two planned anti-U.S. demonstrations fizzled Wednesday, but the groups may not be done protesting. Planners from the leftist Democratic Labor Party had planned a demonstration to protest U.S. Forces Korea and U.S. policy Wednesday morning, but none of the protesters showed up, Yangju police said. So who is the Democratic Labor Party you [...] Read More… [...]