Korean anti-Americanism does have one consequence which, imo, will lead to others. Americans(who pay attention)across the political spectrum have lost faith in the viability of the alliance. In a voluntary alliance there must be a critical mass of public support for the relationship to be effective. Korean anti-Americanism has convinced many Americans that Korea no longer has a critical mass of support for continuation of the alliance. As a result America’s position in Korea has become untenable. “The center cannot hold.” From my perspective USFK must be withdrawn. Once American forces are withdrawn the alliance will become a hollow shell. Korea will be alone in facing the future challenges which are sure to come.

How come the beef protesters weren’t able to get the turn out then that they have now? It was because the anti-US groups hadn’t mobilized to support the beef protesters because Roh was there man.

I have some nuanced differences with you in this comment.

I don’t think the key is the effort the anti-US/pro-North groups put forward - at least not the most significant key.

I think the main key is the willingness of Korean society as a whole to join in —- the mood of Korean society today as compared to when Roh was in the Blue House.

Take for example the Pyongtaek riots of 2005 and then again when the government forced squatters off the land in 2006 (or was it 2007?)…

In both those cases, The Priest (numbers I and II) and other groups probably put forward as much effort to get the ball rolling then as they did with Cows Gone Wild!!

But the society was not ready to support them.

And it certainly wasn’t because of the issue at hand: The priest easily got Maehyang-ri Hysteria going back in 2000.

And that incident was as miniscule as the 2000 water dumping and Cows Gone Wild!! - but it was still taken up greatly by the society as a whole.

Why? —- because of the mood of the times. 2000 was NK-SK Summit euphoria…

2002 was World Cup Fever.

And 2008 is “Thank God that asshole Roh is out of office!!”

Now average Koreans and elements of the press can join hands with the anti-US civic group leaders again — without fearing it will rise above the street level —

—- or at least they know it will not infect the Blue House again….

If the US government banned Korean cell phones due to the remote possibility of causing brain damage the protests would stop very quickly just like when China did the same thing in response to the Great Garlic War a few years back.

That is why the average Korean does not protest China because there are consequences. Even when Chinese students sponsored by their embassy are running through the streets of Seoul beating Koreans they do not protest because of these consequences.

http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2008/06/13/2008061300286.html

Not only did they do it but they clearly linked the beef protests to the two girls as seen in the pictures here on the anti-US site Green Korea:

http://www.greenkorea.org/

In the background of the shrine they constructed you can clearly see the pictures of the two girls right next to propaganda images of crazy cows. These people are disgusting and should be ashamed of themselves.

The fact that many protesters are anti-Lee is because Lee is pro-US. Roh was the one who put all the effort into the FTA and he was protested for it with many of the same claims being made now about mad cow disease. How come the beef protesters weren’t able to get the turn out then that they have now? It was because the anti-US groups hadn’t mobilized to support the beef protesters because Roh was there man.

LMB gets elected and is obviously pro-US and did things such as limit the power of the unification ministry and axe a lot of leftists from the government and pushed hard for the FTA just like Roh did.

However the anti-US groups through their support behind the beef protesters because LMB was not there man. They spread the lies and disinformation which they excel at over the Internet and broadcast media, and worked the general public into a frenzy against LMB.

After 10 years of liberal rule many in the Korean public do not expect their president to appear to be a lap dog of the US which LMB is not but the Korean left has successfully portrayed him as with lies and a bit of bumbling from LMB as well.

Anti-Americanism is clearly what is driving these protests and to say that anti-LMB sentiment is driving the protests is just avoiding the fact that the protesters are anti-LMB to begin with because he projects a pro-US image.

If the anti-US forces behind the protests can successfully neuter LMB I fully expect them in the future to go after USFK over the Camp Pollution and USFK funding issues which are still hanging out there with no resolution if USFK begins to push the Korean government to resolve these issues.

In general, I’ve always disliked how much people (at least in the intelligensia) tend to view individuals as tools easily controlled. I believe more in free will and the power of choice — and in this context — the choice way too many people in Korea tend to make is listening and agreeing at least tacitly with what these numbnuts have to say.

How? Every year since their deaths there has been some sort of vigil organized on June 13 (except in 2006, as that was the date of Korea’s first World Cup game!). Those protests took place at Gwanghwamun or Cheonggyecheon, the same places (along with City Hall) that the current protests are taking place. Even if there were no protests right now, there would have been a candlelight vigil in memory of the girls, just like there has been every year.

I do think that a kneejerk dislike of the US is responsible for some of the protesters taking part in this, (and for the anti-beef feelings in general) and that some of the groups helping organize these vigils are anti-American (there are 1700 different groups - as if they all agree with each other!), so it would be of no surprise that some of these groups would try to swing things in a more overtly anti-American direction. The problem for them is, people aren’t buying it. After the protest yesterday (photos of which show loads of anti-Lee Myung-bak placards) they marched to Yeouido to have a vigil in front of KBS, and today they had a funeral for the man who set himself on fire. There are loads of photos from Saturday’s protest here, and still all I see are anti-LMB placards, and no sign of yesterday’s photos of the two girls who were killed.

It’s actually the other way around from how you’ve put it in this post. It’s not a surprise that there would be a vigil for the girls this year, as it’s taken place every other year in almost the same place. When the protesters don’t begin anti-USFK or overtly anti-US protests in the wake of this vigil for the girls, it will prove that these protests aren’t as anti-American as you think.

I honestly think that people think the girls deaths are so… yesterday. How ridiculous would it be if someone tried to get people to protest and call for Ohno to be stripped of his “stolen” medal from the 2002 Olympics? I think that’s likely what most people think of the tank accident… for now. There are lots of other fish to fry and things to keep the civic groups busy. They’ve got a president to impeach, after all.