By As expected some of the usual suspects resorted to violenc against the police force after the funeral of former Korean President Roh Moo-hyun:
Following the people’s funeral for the late South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun, protesters demonstrated late into the night clashing with riot police early on Saturday at the plaza in front of Seoul City Hall and nearby streets. Many protesters were hauled away to neighborhood police stations.
Some 2,600 demonstrators from progressive labor, civic and student groups skirmished with riot police after the funeral rites Friday.
Some damaged police buses with hoes, sticks, shovels and plastic pipes after police used force to disperse them. A few even threw rocks before attempting to flee.
Police captured 72 protesters. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
So far it appears the Lee Myung-bak government has handled the suicide of Roh Moo-hyun quite well considering that the left could only muster 2,600 people to this protest. Maybe Lee will have a quite summer after all?
It is the sad reality. No mistake...
3:59 am on June 1st, 2009 1
I don't keep up with the ins-and-outs of Korean politics – nothing remotely close to K-bloggers like Flying Yangban and Oranckay and Marmot.
But even from just catching the major headlines over the last year — it does seem like Pres. Lee's administration has settled down — compared to what it faced right out of the box.
All that fury over Mad Cows Disease and the "problems" with the administration he was setting up have evaporated — at least from what I can see — to the point it seems like it all occurred during a different era.
8:24 am on June 1st, 2009 2
What exactly were they protesting? Koreans take protesting way to far.. I know that protesting has been part of Korean culture since the colonial days but now, they're just loosing meaning. There's no significance of the protests if you do them ALL THE TIME for seemingly trivial issues. I understand that Koreans have a grudge against the police from years past but why are they making them the enemy? In the end they're all someone's kids and following orders. Especially when the protesters bring weapons.