I just got home from work and had a chance to look at all the videos of the violence that took place on the streets of Seoul as the Olympic torch passed through the city. The first videos I watched were the ones linked to on the Marmot’s Hole that were on the Chosun Ilbo website that were quite shocking. I then went on to YouTube and searched for some more videos there. I posted the ones I found below:
Chinese demonstrators severely bash a Free Tibet protester in the lobby of the high end Plaza Hotel in downtown Seoul:
Here is an SBS report covering the Chinese violence in the streets of Seoul:
Here is another SBS report that shows a guy from the Chinese embassy talking about how they were the ones that handed out the Chinese flags as well as showing some of the weapons to include pliers and metal pipes used by the Chinese protesters to bash anti-China demonstrators:
Something else I noticed over at YouTube is that if you search for torch protest videos from Seoul the first videos that come up on the search are spam videos sent in by Chinese activists showing violent Korean protests from past years in Seoul. They use tags of Olympic torch protests in Seoul in order to get the videos to turn up in the YouTube search engine. You have to search through all the fake videos before you can find the legitimate ones. This is clearly an abuse of YouTube but I doubt anything will be done about it.
Also with most of these Chinese protesters being Chinese students in Korea I can’t help but wonder why they aren’t being arrested and deported for illegal political activity. Foreigners with student and working visas in Korea are not supposed to take part in political activity while in Korea and this looks highly political to me, especially with these protests apparently organized by the Chinese embassy:
Chinese students studying here seemed well organized in their efforts to guard the Olympic torch. Messages calling for concerted action began to appear in an online club of Chinese students in Korea two weeks ago. A 22-year-old Chinese student who said he studies at Korea University of Technology and Education said 30,000 Beijing Olympic T-shirts and 30,000 Chinese flags were sent to the demonstrators from China the day before the relay. Kim Seong-yong (71) from Seoul, who witnessed the event, said he had “never seen so many Chinese flags waving in central Seoul, not even during the Korean War.” [Chosun Ilbo]
I also can’t help but imagine what would happen if the US embassy organized a protest with a bunch of Americans in Seoul and handed out US flags for the American crowd to attack Koreans with. Could you imagine the headlines and backlash from something like that happening? However, when China does something like this the Korean government actually issues a statement of regret to the Chinese ambassador because of the violence that effected the relay even though it was Chinese protesters causing the violence.
Is Korea officially back into vassal state status with the Chinese now? Should the Chinese starting sending an emissary to Dongnimmun again to receive yearly tribute from the Koreans like during the Josun Dynasty? If so the people of Korea just got a taste this weekend of what they are in for in the near future.
Make sure to read One Free Korea’s coverage of the Chinese protesters to include a link to a photo album filled with many images of the violent acts committed by the Chinese protesters.
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6:52 pm on April 28th, 2008 1
The translation can get a bit tricky here. Actually, the Foreign Ministry issued a statement of ?? ?? to the Chinese ambassador, which means they found it deeply regrettable that the Chinese students did what they did. Diplomatically, this is just below demanding the Chinese apologize for the incident. I believe the Chinese ambassador was called in to the Foreign Ministry headquarters to hear it, too.
7:10 pm on April 28th, 2008 2
Thanks Robert for clarifying. Yonhap just butchered the translation on this. I would hope the Korean government would be outraged by what happened because it is ridiculous that a foreign embassy should be organizing such violent political activity in Seoul.
9:58 pm on April 28th, 2008 3
10:25 pm on April 28th, 2008 4
[...] ROK Drop et Free [...]
6:01 am on April 29th, 2008 5
6:07 am on April 29th, 2008 6
Long LIfe to China
6:44 am on April 29th, 2008 7
[...] see ROK Drop, One Free Korea, and [...]
1:39 pm on April 29th, 2008 8
Pretty sure we won’t have these kinds of problems after the US occupational forces are replaced by the Chinese occupational forces. We’ll have a whole new set of problems instead.
1:56 pm on April 29th, 2008 9
All US troops out of Korea and replace them with Chinese troops.
We all know Koreans would love to have the Chinese protect them.
2:05 pm on April 29th, 2008 10
Korea knows that China is her master, and will apologise.
“Chinese occupational forces.”
LOL, now that would be funny. I would love to see Korea as another Tibet. Every shadey overseas gyopo would claim to be the voice of Korea. If you think Korea has a lot of insane religious nuts running around now.. just think what that would bring.
4:04 pm on April 29th, 2008 11
5:14 am on April 30th, 2008 12
Chinese protesters were paid $300/- per day per head and a lunch pack by Chinese Embassy and Chinese Consul.
They were even bussed to and from the protest venue sites.
5:14 am on April 30th, 2008 13
visit:
http://www.stoptibetcrisis.net/photos4.html
5:26 am on April 30th, 2008 14
See how Chinese PLA agents staged a violent protest
http://buddhism.kalachakranet.org/chinese-orchestrating-riots-tibet.htm
5:32 am on April 30th, 2008 15
http://studentsforafreetibet.org/article.php?id=1498
6:32 am on April 30th, 2008 16
ngawang,
The blood from the body of those tibetans remember me that red is the color that the chineses like the most.
I just regret that they like that color that much …..
6:34 am on April 30th, 2008 17
“Korea knows that China is her master, and will apologise.”
Shattered, the drink is your master. Stop drinking …
6:43 am on April 30th, 2008 18
[...] suspected the violent demonstration by Chinese students during the Olympic torch relay in Seoul was [...]
10:01 am on April 30th, 2008 19
Before you blame Chinese Protesters, please think about what did Koreans do in HongKong on the 6th Ministerial Conference of the WTO on December 13th 2005. If you did not remember, please see the link:
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/12/329895.html
After you read it, you will know what violence means, and hopefully you can be very happy to confirm that in this world only South Koreans have right to be violent in the other countries. However, at that time, the Chinese goverment did not ask your goverment to apologise and Chinese people did not ask all South Koreans who live in China to go back to their country.
1:34 pm on April 30th, 2008 20
China should kick out all the Koreans in China. It would be espcially good to send the North Koreans back. LOL.
2:31 pm on April 30th, 2008 21
Shattered, then who would work in the massage parlors and karaoke salons?
4:05 pm on April 30th, 2008 22
What a shameful show towards the Koreans. I’m embarassed about what happened. I hope Korean people don’t think Chinese people are violent and disruptive people.
8:07 pm on April 30th, 2008 23
2:10 am on May 1st, 2008 24
“Shattered, then who would work in the massage parlors and karaoke salons?”
I wouldn’t say ALL the Koreans in China are up to no good. But Koreans do bring their culture with them. In the case of the Korean penchant for prostitution, its like fleas and ticks attached to a rat. Where Koreans go, so do the merchants of flesh. Its as Korean… as.. well dog eating.
Eventually the good Chinese will have enouth of Korean nonsence and Korean heads will roll.
8:47 am on May 1st, 2008 25
9:40 am on May 1st, 2008 26
[...] is a tad bit ironic that this announcement has happened right after the violence from Chinese students on the streets of Seoul: The Defense Ministry on Monday announced it is working on the details of a [...]
11:09 am on May 1st, 2008 27
shattered:
Prostitution thriving in Tibet, China
Shigatse, Tibet - Amy Li could not know that her slightly rash decision to go to Tibet in search of work would lead her into prostitution.
But slowly the 19-year-old high school drop-out from central China realized there was very little other employment available for a young woman with no marketable skills.
“I regret skipping out of school, but there’s nothing I can do about that now,” said the fragile-looking native of Hunan province.
Mostly unacknowledged by Chinese authorities, prostitution has become a huge business employing thousands, if not tens of thousands, in Tibet.
The Himalayan territory is struggling to maintain its traditions in the face of massive migration from China.
Chinese troops invaded the Himalayan Buddhist country in 1950, a move which forced Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama into exile a few years later. Tibet is now administered as an “autonomous region” of China.
The majority of prostitutes are women arriving from other parts of China, but ethnic Tibetans also account for a growing proportion, observers of Tibet say.
The influx has changed Tibet’s urban environment beyond recognition.
In Shigatse, the region’s second-largest city with a population of more than 80,000, the downtown appears to be one sprawling brothel district.
It is a condition that becomes evident at night when pink lights are illuminated every few metres to mark a location where sex is for sale.
Unaccompanied males are likely to be the object of attention from cheerful women sitting inside beauty salons and foot massage parlors that double as brothels. Other sex workers pass by on rickshaws.
Local officials, however, deny noticing any disturbances to public morality.
“There’s no prostitution in Shigatse,” said Penpa Tsering, local vice director of the people’s congress, a type of municipal council.
“The shops you see are part of the service industry, and they make money by washing people’s feet or hair,” he said.
But sex workers suggest prostitution is so widespread in Shigatse that a growing number of them have been forced out by toughening competition.
“I’ve been trying to run this business for two years, but it’s hard to make a living,” said Cheng Li, 26, the owner of what is ostensibly a beauty parlor.
“There are too many in the business,” she said, explaining her plans to leave Tibet. She arrived in the region as a teenager with her father, an officer in the People’s Liberation Army.
Hard data on the extent of prostitution in Tibet are not available, and observers have to rely on rough figures. The London-based pro-Tibet advocacy group, the Free Tibet Campaign, estimates there are 1,000 brothels in the Tibetan capital Lhasa.
The number is impossible to verify but sex workers are in evidence even in the streets around the Jokhong temple, an area of great religious significance.
According to overseas pro-Tibet campaigners, the explosion in prostitution has come about partly because of growing tourism. Thousands of people visit the capital Lhasa every year hoping to see surviving examples of the region’s ancient art.
But the single most important factor is probably the large inflow of soldiers charged with protecting a border region of immense strategic importance to China, overseas Tibet activists said.
“Of course, there are lots of brothels near military areas and camps, as everywhere in the world,” said Kate Saunders, the Washington-based spokeswoman for the International Campaign for Tibet.
The Tibetan government in exile says there are 300,000 Chinese soldiers stationed in the autonomous region. China’s government considers the number to be a state secret.
“We used to see a lot of military police patrolling the streets looking for soldiers who had left their base without permission,” said a beauty parlor manager in downtown Shigatse.
“Recently, it appears the rules have been relaxed, and we do see some military personnel frequenting establishment around here.”
As with prostitution, Chinese authorities have adopted a head-in-the-sand position on the associated issue of HIV/AIDS, claiming that the problem is so far negligible.
“We have already found some people who carry HIV/AIDS,” Wu Yingjie, vice chairman of Tibetan Autonomous Region, said recently.
“Although the figure is very small, we pay great attention. We inspect people when they enter Tibet, and take other measures.”
Most prostitutes in the region are ethnic Han Chinese. Pro-Tibet advocacy groups estimate that about 60 percent come from nearby Sichuan province, an exporter of labor to all parts of China.
However, a steadily increasing number of ethnic Tibetan women are now also reported to be entering the trade, said the Free Tibet Campaign and the Tibet Information Network, a London-based independent research service which specializes in Tibet.
“Observers unanimously link this change to the widening economic gap between urban and rural areas,” the Tibet Information Network reported.
In a society where modern media create a demand for consumer items, prostitution is “the only realistic quick route to a better standard of living,” according to the organization.
“Thus in Tibet, prostitution is not just a symptom of poverty, but is triggered also by the growing prosperity of the few,” the organization said in a statement.
Despite her lack of qualifications, Amy Li still hopes that after a few months working as a prostitute, she can make something more of her life.
“My parents still don’t know what I’m doing. I want to go back home and find a proper job.”
11:17 am on May 1st, 2008 28
To shattered:
PROSTITUTION IN LHASA, TIBET
“I think that between 2004 and 2006 there are lot more Chinese, Chinese taxi drivers mostly, big Chinese department stores, there is a huge difference and I think the way the brothels look is a lot more Chinese influenced…”
A photo exhibition by Sarah Schorr, an American Photographer at Gallery 9 in Kathmandu titled ‘Steel Butterflies’ depicts the lives of Tibetan. This pink neon lighted store doubles up as a beauty salon in the day and a brothel by the night. (Photo: Sarah Schorr)and Chinese prostitutes in Lhasa, capital of occupied Tibet. The sex workers depicted in the photographs are mostly in the age group of 15-35. In Schorr’s words, these places are ” salons and bars by the day” and “by night they are brothels for young prostitutes, with storefronts distinguished by glowing pink neon lights”.
Schorr spoke to Phayul Correspondent in Kathmandu Tenzin Choephel about the growing prostitution menace in Lhasa and about her project to record these in her camera.
Phayul: What prompted you to take up this project?
Sarah: I had photographed women in the sex industry in New York city in the US. So, I was generally interested in this subject matter; how women happen to get in the situation and what draws them to it or is it usually a financial problem that leads them to to the situation.
P: And what is the purpose of doing this exhibition?
Sarah: I guess when I was in Tibet, I became very curious about what was behind these pink storefronts and so it was curiosity initially that led me to the project but it was the individuals who I met, who really got my interest because they were such interesting, very sweet young women and they seem to be stuck in that situation.
P: When did you first go to Tibet?
Sarah: I first went to Tibet in 2004. That was the time when I noticed it and I started to get ready to do this project but I took most of the photographs in 2006 this year around Losar in the winter.
P: Initially, did you take photographs from outside or did you go in directly?
Sarah: Well, initially I planned to just photograph the outside precincts. But one day I walked in and I was very compelled to talk to the women, they were so nice and warm and friendly and they seem like they wanted to talk to someone and they wanted to be photographed.
P: How many brothels did you visit?
Sarah: I went to about 10 or 15 repeatedly but I saw more than that in my time, but I would generally go to the same 10 or 15 to really start a relationship with particular women.
P: Are there more Chinese or Tibetan prostitutes?
Sarah: These photographs in the room here are only a small part of the project. On the whole, it is about half and half, and in the places that I saw were about half and half as well, although Chinese women were often older in age and the Tibetans often younger but about the same amount of both.
P: What do you think is the reason for the rise in prostitution in Tibet nowadays?
Sarah: I think that the prostitution is more apparent now because of Chinese influence in Lhasa specifically, and the presence of the pink lights seemed to be more in the Chinese brothels in particular, and so it is much more upfront even from 2004 to 2006, I saw an increase.
P: I have heard some of these prostitutes on the streets pull the customers in; did you see anything like that?
Sarah: There were some worst areas where women were on streets but generally the places that I went to, most of them operated from inside. So, they would be sitting in the windows and you just walk in. The Chinese places are easier to see from the street. But usually the brothels are lined up in such a way that it is a Tibetan brothel first, then a Chinese brothel next, then again a Tibetan brothel, or two Tibetan brothels and two Chinese brothels and so on.
P: So, the Tibetans do it in a separate way and Chinese do separately?
Sarah. Generally, yes, there is some overlap; some mixed within places. Normally, it is a whole Tibetan place and a whole Chinese place.
P: So, in a nutshell, prostitution is their profession?
Sarah: They are so young, its hard to call it, you know, it is their profession. It is how they make money but I think that there is hope that maybe it’s their way to get to Lhasa, get to the city from villages and maybe they will go on to something else, I mean, it generally seems to be their means to a better life hopefully or they think that.
P: What was the youngest age among them?
Sarah: The youngest age that I recall is age 15, and some of them maybe younger but I am not sure.
P: Did you document story of any girl in particular?
Sarah: There was a lot of language barrier between me and the girls, so I would often go with an interpreter, but the stories that I got specifically,were visual because a lot of what I was doing was observing them, like how they acted, when they were sad, when they seemed remorseful and when they seemed really excited and sort of happy to be with their friends.
P: Did you know where these girls mostly come from, any particular part of country?
Sarah: It was a mix, I would say it is pretty mixed but lot of them were from very small villages. There was a bunch from Shigatse, again they were lot of different towns.
P: Are these places just brothels or something else?
Sarah: Sometimes they are bars, sometimes they are hair salons, my friend tried a haircut but it didn’t come out good, so I think mostly brothels.
P: I heard that there are lots of bars, places ironically called ‘Nangma’,which are restaurant and bars cum brothels, is it true?
Sarah: I think ‘Nangma’ is fabulous, I don’t think it’s a bad thing, but I don’t know so much about ‘Nangma’ and that is a separate thing from prostitution, but you do see a lot of revealing clothing in that sort of situation and a lot more rock music and that type of thing, but I think it is separate thing from brothels, I am not sure, I was looking more at low end brothels.
P: I heard that the Chinese own most of these brothels and owners have good relation with leaders, did you know anything about that?
Sarah: I can’t comment on that, again I don’t know and there was some communication gap, I was less communicating with management of these places and more with girls who were sort of at the bottom level of the situation.
P: Any idea how much these girls earn per day?
Sarah: No, but I generally know they charge about 100 Yuan per customer, generally, of course it varies but that’s sort of average.
P: Are there lots of people going to such places?
Sarah: Yeah, a lot were going to them.
P: What about health and sanitation condition; do they have health check up or anything?
Sarah: This is something that I think is becoming more available but it is something that I would like to help with in the future. It is something that I hope these photographs would bring some awareness. There is a need for more counseling and education about sexually transmitted diseases.
P: There are lots of restrictions on things like photography in Tibet, how did you get permission, how did you do it?
Sarah: The reason that the prostitution is allowed to go on is because it goes in the same… I will explain in two things, one because these institutions are either hair salons or bars, so they have a license to be those institutions and they double their profits, and in terms of myself it was not hard, I experienced no difficulty in going into these places, no police presence at all.
P: Usually, when you try to tell something about Tibet, Chinese authorities would call you to try to stop you or intimidate you, did you get any such calls?
Sarah: So far I have not experienced this, my biggest fear is that I will have some trouble going back because I want to go back and continue.
P: What is your message to people through this exhibition?
Sarah: Less than telling people, I would want people to look at the photographs. Sometimes, subject matter like this is difficult to think about, we don’t like to think about the fact that some of the young women in our community are in these situations, but I want to, by looking at the photographs, I want you to consider these as individuals who need help and but also just, I think to look and think not all of them are same or in the same situation.
P: When do you plan to go back?
Sarah: As soon as I can, hopefully this year.
P: How is the situation in Tibet in general?
Sarah: I think that between 2004 and 2006 there are lot more Chinese, Chinese taxi drivers mostly, big Chinese department stores, there is a huge difference and I think the way the brothels look is a lot more Chinese influenced but again I personally don’t think this problem just started in the last few years and I think it’s a problem that every country experiences, so its not unique to Tibet.
12:44 am on May 2nd, 2008 29
1 May 2008
Chinese destroying the evidence of Tibetans killed:
Toelung Dechen (Ch: Duilongdeqing) County, Lhasa Municipality-Evidences being destroyed by the Chinese army
The Chinese armed forces in their attempt to wipe out any kind of evidence related to the recent protests in Tibet are burning all the dead bodies of people who have been killed since the March 14 protest in Tibet.
On 28th March, around 83 corpses were burnt altogether in an electrical crematorium, which was built by the Chinese government a few years back in the Dhongkar Yabdha shang town in Toelung Dechen county under Lhasa Municipality.
Moreover, some eyewitness accounts confirmed that at around10.30 pm (Lhasa local time) on March 17, dead bodies of several were seen in two army trucks near a petrol pump located towards the west of Lhasa [this petrol pump has been one of the most restricted sites since the protests began in Tibet]
Due to a heavy traffic jam around this petrol pump, a few Tibetans reported having seen blood discharges from the two trucks that were carrying dead bodies. In addition to this, there are more reports of dead bodies being transported to Toelung Dechen County in army trucks.
On the evening of March 15, an eyewitness source confirmed seeing dead bodies being carried in a truck towards Toelung County.
Many Tibetans who have been injured since the starts of the protests in Tibet continue to die in People?s Hospital with no immediate medical care.
Moreover, one monk who was arrested from Drepung Monastery on 12th April also died in prison. But there are no further details explaining his death. Two more women are also reported dead immediately after their release from a prison in Lhasa.
Following is the list of four new names* we can confirm for people who have been killed since the March protests in Tibet.
Lobsang Tenzin 24 years, Gongkar County
Gyaltsen Yarphel 43 years Gaden Monastery
Ngawang Sherab Migmar 24, Gaden Monastery
Both of them are brothers and died around the March 14 protest in Tibet. No further details are available.
* In addition to the already released 61 total names and details of Tibetans killed during the recent demonstrations, here we are releasing 3 more names (with details) from the current death toll list which stands well over 140.
Lhakpa Tsering (his name already reported on the death toll list) was killed after a gun shot to his forehead by the Chinese Armed Forces on March 14 at Lugug Street. He was a resident within the premises of gate number 11 (external boundary) ; gate no 1 (internal boundary) in Lugug Street. He is survived by his 2 year old child. He worked as a tourist taxi driver in Lhasa. Although his family did receive his dead body, but the local security forces took the body with them claiming that they needed to investigate the body at the People?s Procuratorate. His body was later burnt in Toelung County. His family was just given a bag containing some ashes with his name written on it.
10:34 am on May 2nd, 2008 30
11:01 am on May 2nd, 2008 31
I was attacked in Seoul… It was horrible… I am scarred for life.
12:43 pm on May 2nd, 2008 32
China has 30 million prostitutes. So Korea is blamed for this too?
12:45 pm on May 2nd, 2008 33
I wouldn’t call it blame, per se.
7:43 pm on May 2nd, 2008 34
I say kick all the chinese out of korea they are guests and should act like guests …
oh and thanks chinese guys for taking the heat off us white folk in korea
7:48 pm on May 2nd, 2008 35
Korea doesn’t have the backbone to stand up to China. China will squish lil Korea and lil Korea knows it.
7:53 pm on May 2nd, 2008 36
Like France, Italy, and Romania during WWII. Pick a side until they start to lose and then switch sides.
8:16 pm on May 2nd, 2008 37
historically, whoever joins with Korea loses.
Mongol invasions of Japan - Mongols and Koreans lose.
Hideyoshi invasion of Korea - Chinese and Koreans lose
Korea war-US and Korea loses
The lesson is simple. Join on the Korean side and lose.
4:24 am on May 3rd, 2008 38
4:57 am on May 8th, 2008 39
Immersion in sewage, ripping out fingernails, sleep deprivation, cigarette burns and beatings with electric prods - these are some of the torture methods used by China’s police and prison officers to extract confessions and maintain discipline, a United Nations investigation has found.
Manfred Nowak, the UN special rapporteur on torture, said yesterday that abuse of suspects and prisoners remained widespread in China. Treatment was far worse than international norms, despite recent signs of improvement.
Mr Nowak’s investigation was the first ever permitted by china and, as such, represents a breakthrough in human rights. Despite this, he said he had been obstructed by security officials, who intimidated some victims and their relatives or prevented them from seeing him.
However, he was able to visit prisons, detention centres and “re-education” labour camps in beijing and the troubled regions of Xinjiang and Tibet, as well as interviewing academics, justice officials and detainees. Among the prisoners, Mr Nowak said he observed a “palpable level of fear and self-censorship”, which he had not seen in missions to other countries.
Human rights groups say brutality and degradation are common in chinese prisons, where many of the victims are from the Tibetan and Uighur ethnic minorities, political dissidents, followers of the banned Falun Gong sect and members of underground churches.
Although china outlawed torture in 1996, its definition of illegal acts those leaving physical marks is so narrow that interrogators can employ a wide range of methods contravening UN standards. Suspects are manacled in contorted positions, deprived of sleep and subjected to psychological torture. Some techniques have been given names, such as “reversing an aeroplane”, where a victim must remain standing, bent double, with arms splayed upwards and backwards.
But one big problem, he said, was that officers remained under heavy pressure to obtain confessions. Even after imprisonment, those who refuse to admit guilt are subjected to “re-education”, aimed at breaking their will. Mr Nowak called this “inhumane and degrading punishment”.
A growing range of officials are being cited as perpetrators of torture, including administrative police, judges, court clerks and court police; village and party leaders, members of Mutual Defense Teams , and many types of security official outside the regular police force but seconded, contracted or working part time for them. These have included Factory Administrative Management Forces, and Municipal Supervision Brigades
5:41 am on June 4th, 2008 40
10:55 am on July 15th, 2008 41
[...] students sponsored and armed by the Chinese embassy ran rampant through the streets of Seoul beating and assaulting Korean civilians was not enough of hint maybe this is: Chinese people like South Korea the least of all of their [...]
4:25 pm on July 17th, 2008 42