A photojournalist’s revelation of irregularities in ‘Gangnam-2 constituency’

Disclaimer: The following is a totally unauthoritative personal translation of an article appeared in <The Newsface> on Apr. 14, 2012, reporting the irregularities of ballot boxes in Gangnam-2 constituency at the general election held in Apr. 11. The Gangnam-2 constituency, one of the most richest constituencies in whole Korea, has been dominated by conservative party candidates for a long time. However, this time, due to the fraud and corruption scandals by ruling conservative party government, public opinion has been known to be different from so far. Furthermore, the ruling and opposition party candidates of this election were steadfast advocate and critic of Korea-US FTA, which made the election result all the more interesting. Presently, the ruling party candidate is known to win the election. But the irregularities observed in ballot boxes were so widespread and the election management commission’s reaction to such irregularities is so bizarre, some even raise the suspicion of systematic election fraud and it is hard to fathom how the controversy will evolve in the end. All rights regarding this post stay with the author of the original article or with <The Newsface> and this post will be scrapped immediately at their request. In the post, I tried to match the English translation of names of people / institutions / positions to their authentic ones as much as I can but, inevitably, some of them may be different. Original article of this post (in Korean) can be found in the link at the bottom.

Correspondent Seung-kwan Yang discloses full photo records of irregularities in ‘Gangnam-2 constituency’

“circumstantial evidence for hurried work & unfinished coverup”… Netizens “unprotesting Saenuri party is the more suspicious”

Reporter Jong-hyeon Cho | newsface21@gmail.com

A blog post by a freelance correspondent Seung-kwan Yang who was at the site of vote-counting stadium of Gangnam-2 constituency that floats as the epicenter of vote rigging suspicion in Apr. 11 general election is making huge ripples among Korean netizens. Correspondent Yang, revealing pictures taken on the scene, remarked “if you want to use these pictures, please identify the source explicitly. I want to take the full responsibility of the blog post if Saenuri party seeks legal actions against it.” Correspondent Yang worked for <Newsis>; now, he works as a freelance correspondent for news agencies such as ‘Money Today’ and ’M1′.

Correspondent Yang described the circumstance at the vote-counting stadium in detail with his own pictures in a post on Apr. 12 titled <Full story of unsealed ballot boxes (with previously undisclosed materials)> of his blog. In it, he said “the full story of election-rigging controversy unfolds when an observer (Unified Progressive Party (UPP) official) of candidate Dong-young Chung who was overseeing the vote-counting got suspicious and raised an objection after having inspected ballot boxes closely. At that time, the vote-counting had already proceeded substantially.”

At the time of vote-counting, it was voting station 5 of Gaepo 1-dong that caused the alarm; it was the voting station of residents in Gooryong village, the archetypal shanty town of Gangnam. Although candidate Dong-young Chung’s side officially requested suspension of vote-counting, Election Management Commission (EMC), brushing the irregularities something trivial, pushed forward the counting still. The vote-counting finally suspended after the arrival of lawyer Cheol-woo Jang who had been summoned by an urgent call from candidate Chung’s side.

Correspondent Yang described “EMC announced that, aside from 1 ballot box that had been already opened, only 5 out of 17 had been problematic.” He then questioned “Then, were other 12 ballot boxes fine?” and pointed out “if any ballot sheets or ballot boxes turn out to be inappropriate, the vote itself is naturally illegitimate.”

Correspondent Yang then depicted the circumstance at that time “I, accompanying lawyer Cheol-woo Jang as the representative of candidate Dong-young Chung, managed to enter the vote-counting stadium. All other un-questioned ballot boxes were already opened and counted.”

Correspondent Yang explained “In fact, observers did not inspect all ballot boxes and it was possible that some of already counted ballot boxes could have been tampered. However, since they had been already counted, there was no way to check it.” and expressed his suspicion “The tally from already counted ballot boxes indicated that not a single resident in an apartment in Gaepo-dong had voted for opposition party’s candidate; how can’t I be suspicious in this circumstance?”

Correspondent Yang explained the circumstance at the time “On arrival, in a word, I was flabbergasted at the site of ballot boxes. There were 17 ballot boxes that were either unsealed or mismanagedly convoyed. Among 18 ballot boxes initially reported, the one from voting station 5 of Gaepo 1-dong had already been counted in the course of filing objection; 17 others were gathered in one side of the voting stadium.”

Correspondent Yang pointed out “The problematic ballot boxes made me think that someone must have hurriedly done something on them but could not wrap it up in time.”

Regarding the basic principle of ballot box handling, correspondent Yang said “The ballot hole in a ballot box should be sealed and officially stamped around the seal perimeter because someone can put in more votes into the hole if it is not sealed properly. So, ballot boxes should be sealed more tightly and completely to prevent fraudulent election.”

And correspondent Yang added “Though the ballot box is a paper box fragile to external impact, the ballot box should be taped perfectly and tapings should also be officially stamped around their perimeter. Then, the ballot box should be locked outside, be sealed using an official tape and be officially stamped.”

Then, correspondent yang revealed pictures he had taken of ballot boxes that caused suspicion.

Correspondent Yang explained “The lock is still open not closed. This is the ballot box that an official from EMC was caught by Yu-jeong Hwang, the secretary of candidate Dong-young Chung, while trying to lock up sneakily.”

He expressed his suspicion that “It seems highly likely that someone tried to do something on the ballot box but made a mistake not to lock it up properly due to lack of time.”

To another picture, correspondent Yang criticized EMC “This is a ballot box whose ballot hole is not sealed. There were two other ballot boxes like this, which makes me to suspect that more voting sheets could have been thrown in at will. Before discussing whether there was an election fraud or not, it is an unavoidable fact that vote holes were not sealed properly.”

Correspondent Yang pointed “At this point, we can notice the seriousness of the matter beyond a matter of simple glitch or happening. How can locks of ballot boxes be open? No one can understand it was a simple mistake by an EMC official.”

Showing a picture that seems like an EMC official, correspondent Yang indicated “though I got permission from lawyer Cheol-woo Jang, a legal representative, and the chairperson of commission, this person was very uncooperative; he even sabotaged me in taking pictures. Looked young, he was uncontrollable even with the permission from an official in charge and a legal representative.”

Besides, correspondent Yang expressed his suspicion “As many as 11 ballot boxes were not taped or official stamped around perimenter properly. It is likely that ballot boxes could have been replaced. Since voting sheets do not contain anything to identify their casters, we can suspect that as many voting sheets as they like could have been supplanted or replaced.”

Also, correspondent Yang showed a ballot box whose hole had been sealed but not stamped around the perimeter and blasted “Why did they forget to stamp the seal? Can this be an EMC official’s simple mistake? EMC said its official happened to make a mistake. How could he? He could have made as many mistakes as he wished on other things but how could he treat ballot boxes like this? Those boxes carry people’s precious opinions!”

He then added “How pressed has he been to make this kind of mistake? Suspicions snowball as I see those boxes.”

To another picture, correspondent Yang scoffed “This picture is, in a word, a comedy. It is sealed and tightly stamped around perimeter. So it looked like well-done(?) but, when looked closely, it simply makes me laugh. The lock should have been hanged on the ring completely but, in fact, was hanged shoddily and then locked.”

“So, easily speaking, one can peek into the ballot box without unlocking the lock once the sealed tapes were undone. They must have been very pressed. But, even in such a condition, you cannot wear panty on top of your trousers” correspondent Yang criticized EMC’s absurd behavior.

Correspondent Yang converyed the public opinion of Gangnam-2 constituency as follows “The public opinion of Gangnam-2 constituency was ‘Let’s change it this time.’ The public opinion of backwardly Gangnam-2 was changed this time due to the fraud, corruption and indifference of Saenuri party who has ruled last 25 years here. There were many who made up their mind to vote for the first time. The prevailing opinion was that it was only the candidate Dong-young Chung who would be of help to them with the support of mayor in reconstructing and redeveloping the area.”

He then added “Some may say ‘He (the ruling party candidate) would be elected anyhow even without such fraud. Why would they take such a risk?’ However, the ruling party candidate could not have been ignorant of the previously mentioned circumstance. Also, Gangnam-2 constituency is very symbolic. Some media say it can match 10 opposition party representatives.”

Correspondent Yang criticized “This is just a suspicion but would they just watch the whole thing although the opinion flowed the other direction? To Saenuri party, it must have been a constituency that should have been  tightly secured. Although I can understand their feelings, this is not right. If he gets elected like this, will he feel clean and justified? Things are beautiful only when they were fair and square.”

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Blue House, it’s your turn to explain

Disclaimer: The following is a totally unauthoritative personal translation of an article appeared in <Hankyoreh21> on Mar. 12, 2012, reporting illegal civilian inspection by the Public Service Ethics Supporter Office of Prime Minister’s Office. The incident itself and the following coverup effort that is being leaked bit by bit now through testimonies or court records of those involved reveal how low a self-proclaimed ‘ethically perfect’ government can fall. The volatility of the issue is, in fact, hard to fathom. In a country where rule-by-law is firmly established, mere the fact that a government office performed an inspection against civilians (not public servants) without any justifiable suspicion and legitimate court order itself is something that can cause tantamount upheaval. In fact, many equate the incident with the well-known Watergate scandal which brought down President Nixon in US in 1974. It is all the more so since the issue is burning toward Blue House step by step by several recent revelations. In fact, just after the recent revitalization of illegal civilian inspection controversy, the former presidential secretary of employment and labor Young-ho Lee confessed that he had ordered the destruction of evidence in a press conference. But he claimed that he had been the sole ‘main body’ of the incident and there had been no ‘upper line’ though public do not seem to believe his claims. All rights regarding this post stay with the author of the original article or with <Hankyoreh21> and this post will be scrapped immediately at their request. In the post, I tried to match the English translation of names of people / institutions / positions to their authentic ones as much as I can but, inevitably, some of them may be different. Original article of this post (in Korean) can be found in the link at the bottom.

[Cover Story] Government official testified to <Hankyoreh21> “then Blue House administrative officer Jong-seok Choi ordered to destroy civilian inspection evidences” .. exclusively obtained supplementary affidavit for appeal by the managing officer of Prime Minister’s office indicated “prosecution’s seizure and search was to check if evidences were properly destroyed”

<Editor’s note> Illegal civilian inspection by Prime Minister’s office Public Service Ethics Supporting Officer Team (Support Team) which was revealed by former CEO of KB Hanmaeum Jong-ik Kim in 2010 was an incident that exposed the vileness of power sweepingly. Authority,  suspecting that he was ‘pro-Rho’, tried to confiscate his property and to socially ostracize him. When the inspection incident was exposed, the authority discarded all evidences during which they utilized mobile phones under fake name that only small fry crooks would use.

In-kyoo Lee (이인규), former support team officer, and Choong-gon Kim (김충곤), former manager of check team 1, were both sentenced 10 months of imprisonment for illegally inspecting civilian including Mr. Kim last Apr. Former investigator Choong-yeon Won (원충연) was sentenced 8 months and former investigator Hwa-ki Kim (김화기) was sentenced 6 months with 2 years of probation for the same crime. Except for former investigator Hwa-ki Kim, all arrested and indicted fulfilled their terms. Former chief of general support department Kyeong-lak Jin (진경락) who was suspected of destroying evidences was sentenced 10 months of imprisonment with 2 years of probation and Jin-soo Jang (장진수), former managing officer, and Joong-ki Kwon, former investigator, were sentenced 8 months of imprisonments with 2 years of probations each in second trial. They await Supreme Court rulings.

Despite almost two years of investigation and court trials, nothing related to Young-joon Park (박영준), former Prime Minister’s office deputy department head of state affairs, and Young-ho Lee (이영호), former Blue House secretary of employment and labor, both of whom have been suspected of the ‘main body’ or ‘upper line’ of all the incident was clarified yet. That’s because they have never been investigated regarding those things. If judicial organizations don’t show any intention to move forward, someone should step up and find the truth. <Hankyoreh 21> contacted numerous government officials who were akin to inner circumstances of then support team. We met one such official in last Feb. 29. Also, we examined investigation reports and court records amounting to nearly ten thousand pages. From depositions and evidences, we tried to find clues that would lead us closer to the truth. Clearly, there were links that could link those on trial to their ‘upper lines’. We also found out circumstances that revealed how shoddily public prosecutors had investigated those cases. We also discovered materials that made us infer how widely the support team unfolded the illegal inspection network. We wonder; Who would it have been that stopped them to put those pieces of puzzle together?

 

Hazy Blue House afar by Hankyoreh Jong-geun Lee 사진 한겨레 이종근.

 

As soon as the illegal civilian inspection by Public Office Ethics Supporter Office of Prime Minister’s Office (supporter office) was exposed to broad daylight, those involved in it tried to cover the sky with their bare hands; they destroyed all inspection-related materials. So far, prosecution indicated that the destruction of evidence was carried out by Jin-soo Jang, former managing officer, and Joong-ki Kwon, former investigator, under the order of Kyeong-lak Jin, former chief of general support department. So to speak, the pure act of support office. But, now there come claims that not only the supporter office but Blue House itself was also actively involved in the evidence destruction and possibly quarterbacked the prosecutors’ investigation.

Blue House administrative officer “You can dump computers into the river”

A government official who is quite familiar with circumstances at that time said to <Hankyoreh 21> “In Jul. 7, 2010 morning, Jong-seok Choi, then administrative officer of Blue House Employment and Labor Office, ordered Jin-soo Jang, former managing officer, ‘Prosecutors are said to come and execute the seizure and search warrant tomorrow. So, take care of all computers in Check Team 1 (that actually carried out the civilian inspection) and the computer of chief Kyeong-lak Jin physically today.’” Former administrative officer Jong-seok Choi was the person who opened a fake-name mobile phone that was used by supporter office during the evidence destruction and handed it over to them. He was in the direct order line from Young-ho Lee, former Blue House secretary of Employment and Labor, who was deeply involved in the establishment and management of supporter office. With the revelation of fake-name mobile phone opened by former administrative officer Choi, strong suspicions that Blue House was also involved in the destruction of evidence were raised but the prosecution did not investigate this properly. Prosecution that had been to a hotel in downtown Seoul to interrogate former administrative officer Choi said later “There is no evidence that he lent the fake-name phone with the knowledge that it would be used for crimes” and exonerated him from the suspicion. Blue House, based on this prosecution’s conclusion, also defended him. Former administrative officer Choi, having been appointed to Korean Embassy in US last Aug., stays in Washington DC now.

The government officials comment indicates that former administrative officer Choi acted beyond the limit of helping the destruction of evidence but directly ordered it, which is in direct contradiction to prosecutions investigation result. Also, it indicates that Blue House and prosecution worked hand in hand to cover up the case. The official’s claim is as follows: “In Jul. 7, 2010 morning, former administrative officer Choi called former managing officer Jin-soo Jang to Blue House. At a bench in the alley from Blue House to Prime Minister’s Office, former administrative officer Choi ordered the destruction of evidence saying that “You can destroy hard disks with a hammer or dump them in the river. We’ve already talked to the Civil Affairs Office. It won’t be a problem at the prosecution.” Then he requested “This is a matter of extreme confidentiality; don’t talk to anyone about this.”

At that time, former managing officer Jang already cleared all computer hard disks of supporter office with a software ‘Eraser’ by former department chief Jin’s order. But former administrative officer Choi said “Prosecution can possibly recover the files by any means so they should be taken care of physically. Civil Affairs office demands us to destroy all materials and prosecution promised not to make fuss out of this.” Returning to office, former managing officer Jang looked for degaussing companies. Former department chief Jin pressed him “You’ve got the message from administrative officer Choi, right? Do it right away.” At 3 PM that day, former administrative officer Choi called former managing officer Jang again to Blue House. He handed him a mobile phone. “‘EB’ (acronym for former Blue House secretary of Employment and Labor Young-ho Lee) has used this until this morning. There must be a phone number in it. We talk to each other (about progress on evidence destruction job) only through that number.” That phone was one of the controversial fake-name mobile phones.

Actually, former managing officer Jang degaussed 4 hard disks at a company in Suwon, Gyeonggi-do that day afternoon. He made many calls to former administrative officer Choi using the fake-name phone on his way to the company and after finishing ‘the job’. Two days later in Jul. 9, prosecution seized and searched  the supporter office. People lambasted the delayed seizure and search at four days later than the formation of special investigation team for buying time for those involved in illegal inspection to destroy all evidences.

 

Schematic diagram of illegal civilian inspection and evidence destruction

 

There are other records that substantiate the official’s claims; former managing officer Jang’s supplementary affidavit to appeal reasons he submitted to the Supreme Court in Jun. last year. Former managing officer Jang wrote “Before former administrative officer Choi was investigated (due to the fake name phone issue) by the prosecution, he had paid a visit to the 2nd presidential secretary of civilian affairs Jin-mo Kim and had said ‘if I will be incarcerated for this issue, presidential secretary office of civilian affairs will not be spared either.’ Because of this, presidential secretary of civil affairs Kim called a top brass of (Seoul) Regional Prosecution and denounced ‘how can you cause this much trouble?’” Considering the circumstances that Blue House is fiercely denying the allegation that Blue House could be involved in the illegal civilian inspection and destruction of evidence (even some insiders of ruling party raise) and former administrative officer Choi was investigated outside of prosecution’s building (an obvious exceptional favor by the prosecution), these allegations are in line with the government official’s remark that Blue House and the prosecution worked together about the whole issue. But the former presidential secretary Jin-mo Kim retorted “It’s preposterous and unfounded. At the time when the issue broke out, presidential secretary office of civilian affairs was blamed for not being able to grip tight on the supporter office. How could we get involved in the matter that we even didn’t know what was going on.”

Former managing officer Jin-soo Jang claimed “former department chief Jin called me in his car and former administrative officer Jong-seok Choi was in the car with him” and added “a prosecutor explained that to me during investigation. Former administrative officer Choi himself told me that he heard former department chief Jin ordering me such a thing over the phone in the same car.”

“Former administrative officer Choi made a deposition to hear former department chief Jin’s order”

In the supplementary affidavit by former managing officer Jang is a remark that former administrative officer Choi was aware of the destruction of evidence beforehand. It happened on Jul. 4, three days before former administrative officer Choi directly ordered him ‘fail-prrof evidence destruction.’ That day, around 11:23 at night, former department chief Jin called former managing officer Jang twice. Former department chief Jang’s order was “to completely destroy all materials in Check Team 1 computers irrecoverably.” Former managing officer Jang claimed “former department chief Jin called me in a car and former administrative officer Jong-seok Choi was with him in the car.” Then he added “a prosecution explained that to me during investigation. Former administrative officer Choi himself told me that he heard former department chief Jin ordering me such a thing over the phone in the same car.”

Particularly eye-catching part in the supplementary affidavit besides the prosecution’s explanation and former administrative officer Choi’s support was that former department chief Jin, with former administrative officer Choi, was in the same car on their way from Bangee-dong to Ilwon-dong, Seoul when he was making the phone call that day. Bangee-dong was the place where former administrative officer Choi’s direct superior former employment and labor presidential secretary Young-ho Lee’s home sat and Ilwon-dong was a place where home of former manager of Check Team 1 Choong-gon Kim who was actually involved in the illegal inspection sat. Former managing officer Jang wrote “while I was working in the supporter office, they got together at former presidential secretary Young-ho Lee’s home or somewhere around it several times when they were talking about something secret. I know this since I who often worked as the driver of the supporter office drove former department chief Jin to former presidential secretary Lee’s home several times.” Former managing officer Jang’s inference is that the four got together that day either at former presidential secretary Lee’s home or somewhere near it to discuss ‘emergency measures’ and former department chief Jin called him on the way back to their homes to order him to destroy evidences.

This kind of inference is possible since former presidential secretary Young-ho Lee, the right-arm man of former deputy department head of state affairs Young-joon Park, was deeply involved in the establishment and management of supporter office and all four were closely related with each other. According to the official organization chart, supporter office is supposed to report to Blue House secretary of civilian affairs. Former employment and labor presidential secretary Young-ho Lee who had nothing to do with the official report line actually interviewed and recruited those who would work in the office. Also he is known to have participated in the office picnics and gatherings. He is also suspected of being briefed of general reports and information reports by supporter office through an unofficial line. Former administrative officer Choi and former department chief Jin passed the Civil Service Examination at the same year and both worked at the Ministry of Labor. From the start of Myung-bak Lee’s government, they worked with former presidential secretary Lee at the Blue House Presidential Office of Employment and Labor. It is the general belief among political sphere and public official circles that former department chief Jin was appointed at the supporter office to make the job of former presidential secretary Lee easy. Former team leader Choong-gon Kim, as with former presidential secretary Lee and former administrative officer Choi, is from Pohang, Kyoungpook.

 

A claim surfaced that Blue House had taken the control in the destruction of evidences related to the illegal civilian inspection. The Central Government Complex annex in Changseong-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul. Prime Minister’s Public Service Ethics Supporter Office that carried out the illegal civilian inspection and evidence destruction is located in this building. Hankyoreh archive 한겨레 자료 사진

 

Young-ho Lee’s initials appeared from the cell phone of Prime Minister’s managing officer

Jul. 4 when former department chief Jin made a phone call was just one day before Prime Minister’s office would officially demand prosecution’s investigation on supporter office’s illegal inspection. Since Prime Minister’s office was in such a volatile situation, those directly involved in or were aware of the illegal inspection could have decided to take actions as soon as possible. Even if they did not have a contingency meeting that night, if former administrative officer Choi heard the phone call, considering the gravity of the issue, it is hard to imagine that he would not have notified the issue to his direct superior former presidential secretary Lee. It was already a prevalent suspicion that former presidential secretary Lee was practically running and managing the supporter office.

Having receiving the phone call from former department chief Jin, former managing officer Jang went to office at 6 AM the next day on Jul. 5. After locating a permanent file deletion program ‘Eraser’ on the internet, he downloaded the program and stored it in a portable USB memory card. Then, he put this memory card into 9 computers of check team 1 and deleted all materials in them. Subsequently, he degaussed them on Jul. 7.

According to some records, we can infer that former presidential secretary Young-ho Lee and supporter office were in superior-subordinate relationship through order and obedience. In the supplementary affidavit, there is a story former managing officer Jang heard from former department chief Jin one day prior to arrest warrant validity screen. “So far, I just did what they ordered me to. EB was not such an easy person and gave me really a tough time to work for; he called me day and night; I had to drink everyday until late at night against my will for EB. I really toiled for him so much and he puts me in this corner? Why?” Put them in a context, they are a kind of a complaint that he just destroyed evidences as former presidential secretary Lee had ’ordered him to’ but he, just a small fry, was about to be prosecuted.

Also, two phone numbers spelled as ‘Jong-seok Choi (eb)’ were found besides former administrative officer Choi’s active phone number in the contact list prosecution recovered from former managing officer Jang’s mobile phone. Prosecution, based on the fact that ‘eb’ designated former presidential secretary Young-ho Lee, questioned “they are named as Jong-seok Choi but in fact these are used by presidential secretary of employment and labor Young-ho Lee, right?” Former managing officer Jang declined answering the question. Except for ‘business association’, we cannot come up with any good reason for former managing officer Jang storing phone numbers of those two although he did not have any personal acquaintances.

But, prosecution did not investigate these facts properly. To former administrative officer Choi, they offered a favor by performing ‘on-site investigation’ at a hotel in downtown Seoul. For former presidential secretary Lee, they called him once to public prosecutor’s building, investigated for just 6 hours and then let him go. That was all. When they were charging former department chief Jin and former managing officer Jang, they did not include things that were related to fake name phones. Investigation report no. 5 that contains materials related to fake name phones were not submitted to the court either. Because of this, former managing officer Jang, in his supplementary affidavit, even raised the suspicion that “prosecution performed the seizure and search (of supporter office) not to investigate illegal civilian inspection but to confirm the (perfection of) destruction of evidence.” He claimed that they tried to make an excuse that they could not investigate the ’upper line’ since supporter office had already destroyed the evidence.

Fake name phone, the link to ‘upper line’, should be reinvestigated

Presently, it is really hard to tell how much of former managing officer Jang’s claims are true to facts. But, the fact that prosecution did not pay any attention on the fake name phones, the core link between those actually executed orders and their ‘upper line’ in the civilian inspection and evidence destruction case, is more than enough to raise such suspicions. <Hankyoreh21> tried to contact former Blue House administrative officer Jong-seok Choi and former department chief Kyeong-lak Jin to confirm recently exposed facts in the supplementary affidavit and others. But, former administrative officer Choi said “I am driving and cannot talk right now. I will call you back later.” on Mar. 1 but could not be reached any more. Former department chief Jin declined answering questions “I don’t know what they say but I don’t remember. Let’s talk again later.”

Two phone numbers spelled as ‘Jong-seok Choi (eb)’ were found besides former administrative officer Choi’s active phone number in the contact list prosecution recovered from former managing officer Jang’s mobile phone. Prosecution, based on the fact that ‘eb’ designated former presidential secretary Young-ho Lee, questioned “they are named as Jong-seok Choi but in fact these are used by Young-ho Lee presidential secretary of employment and labor, right?”

조혜정 기자zesty@hani.co.kr

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Summary of illegal civilian inspection by Prime Minister’s office

Disclaimer: The following is a totally unauthoritative personal translation of a box summary of an article appeared in <Hankyoreh21> on Mar. 12, 2012, reporting the illegal civilian inspection by the Public Service Ethics Supporter Office of Prime Minister’s Office. The incident itself and the following coverup effort that is being leaked bit by bit now through testimonies or court records of those involved reveal how low a self-proclaimed ‘ethically perfect’ government can fall. All rights regarding this post stay with the author of the original article or with <Hankyoreh21> and this post will be scrapped immediately at their request. In the post, I tried to match the English translation of names of people / institutions / positions to their authentic ones as much as I can but, inevitably, some of them may be different. Original article of this post (in Korean) can be found in the link at the bottom.

An ongoing case that touched only the terminal of suspicion

In Jul. 2008, Prime Minister’s office was reorganized and Public Service Ethics Supporter Office (supporter office below) was established. In the same month, a ‘tip’ that a ‘civilian’ Jong-ik Kim put a video clip blaming President Myung-bak Lee on one of his blogs was brought to the manager of supporter office check team 1 Choong-gon Kim. (However, it has not been cleared whether there was in fact a ‘tip’.) In Sep., supporter office started inspecting Mr. Kim; supporter office administrative deputy director Choong-yeon Won met an official of Kookmin Bank where Mr. Kim had worked and asked to take “appropriate measures” against him. Then, employees of supporter office stormed the company Mr. Kim was running after retiring Kookmin Bank and illegally confiscated company materials such as finance records. In Oct., they investigated if Mr. Kim had donated political funds to then Democratic Party representative Kwang-jae Lee (Rep. Lee was known as the right-arm person of former president Moo-hyun Roh), if he had supported money to candlelight rallies (in 2008, candlelight rallies were very rampant with the resumption of US beef import negotiation just before President Myung-bak Lee’s visit to US), and if he had been a member of ‘People who love Rho Moo-hyun.’ This can be considered the initial ‘purpose’ they started to investigate Mr. Kim.

Supporter office reported Mr. Kim to the police in Nov. but police  dismissed the case in Feb. 2009 after investigation. Later, however, after replacing the officer in charge, police recharged him for libel concerning the video clip criticizing president. In Oct. that year, prosecution concluded to suspend indictment but Mr. Kim, provoked by prosecution’s decision, appealed to the constitutional court.

As Mr. Kim’s constitutional court appeal was publicized in Jun. 2010, then Democratic Party raised a suspicion regarding illegal civilian inspection by supporter office. Belatedly, Prime Minister’s office reported 4 employees including public service ethics support officer In-kyoo Lee to prosecution. Prosecution procrastinated for four days to execute the seizure and search against Prime Minister’s office but supporter office already destroyed major evidences during that time. Although facts that supporter office illegally inspected the wife of Grand National Party (currently Saenuri Party) representative Kyoung-pil Nam, Blue House helped them to destroy evidences through fake name phones, and the circumstance that supporter office reported inspection results to Blue House were revealed one after another, prosecution’s investigation did not move forward one step. Prosecution who could not reveal the ‘upper line’ but indicted only some of supporter office employees rather investigated the victim of illegal inspection Mr. Kim thoroughly for 10 months and charged him for embezzlement in May 2011. Saying that “there’s no evidence of crime”, court declined almost all charges, confirming that the prosecution’s indictment was a kind of ‘political retribution.’

By the way, prosecution acquitted all representatives of Saenuri Party Jeon-hyuk Chos (조전혁), Moo-sung Kim (김무성), Heung-gil Ko (고흥길), Hae-jin Cho (조해진) who were reported for calling Mr. Kim as ‘secret money manager of participatory government’ in last Feb.

Reporter Nam-il Kim 김남일 기자

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They hammered ‘human fence’, kicked reporters out, and blocked lawyers … the zenith of institutionalized police violence in Jeju

Disclaimer: The following is a totally unauthoritative personal translation of an article appeared in <Jeju Sori> on Mar. 19, 2012, reporting a horrific police suppression of peace activists who were trying to stop the transportation of detonators to blow up the Kurumbi rock in Jeju naval base construction site. The brutality revealed by the police today (and in fact during the last five years in Gangjung) actually makes me ponder about on what ground they can wield such brutality toward people from which, according to the Constitution, the power they are endowed with originates and how a national policy project can be justified if it relies on such incomprehensible violence toward people it is supposed to serve in the end. Also, the ruthlessness of police action toward monitoring and checking functions of a civilized society exposed today clearly demonstrates the evil of institutionalized violence that a not-so-properly-regulated administrative power can end up with eventually. All rights regarding this post stay with the author of the original article or with <Jeju Sori> and this post will be scrapped immediately at their request. In the post, I tried to match the English translation of names of people / institutions / positions to their authentic ones as much as I can but, inevitably, some of them may be different. Original article of this post (in Korean) can be found in the link at the bottom.

Reporter Seung-rok Lee 이승록 기자 | leerevol@naver.com

Hammers, scissors and ruthless police violence against ‘human fence to stop detonator transport’ … took away 10 activists

 

▲ A peace activist injured while police hammering a PVC pipe is bleeding in her hand. 

 

 

▲ A peace activist’s hand badly injured by a hammer police smashed.

 

Police indiscriminately took away peace activists who were sitting in before the detonator storage facility locking themselves as a ‘human fence’ to stop Kurumbi rock detonation.

In particular, police didn’t care anything; they injured activists by smashing PVC pipes that joined activists together using hammers, kicked reporters out, and even blocked lawyer’s access.

 

▲ Seul-hwan Koo, Seogwipo Police Station Security & Traffic Section Chief, is wielding a hammer

 

Around 5:30 AM on 19th, about 30 activists of Gangjung village stopped detonator delivery trucks by forming a ‘human fence’ with vehicles in front of J GunPowder in Donggwang-ri, Andeok-myeon, Seogwipo where the detonators to blow up Kurumbi rock in naval base construction site was stored.

Police mobilized 3 riot squads around 7:30 AM and blocked all three exits to the company.

 

▲ Activists are stopping detonator delivery by forming a ‘human fence’ in front of the detonator storage facility.

 

Seul-hwan Koo, Seogwipo Police Station Security & Traffic Section Chief, warned around 9:25 AM that “You are blocking the detonator storage front gate with vehicles and obstructing the delivery of detonators. If you do not dismiss, we will arrest you for the obstruction of business charge” and warned once again at 9:25.

From 9:30AM, police started to take away activists but were temporarily hampered by activists’ resistance of binding themselves with climbing ropes on PVC pipes.

 

▲ Peace activists that are blocking detonator storage by forming a human fence.

 

 

▲ Peace activists that are blocking detonator storage by forming a human fence.

 

Chief Koo started to crack PVC pipes with a hammer to take away peace activists. It was an action that never cared for the safety of peace activists.

Activists cried out pains and screamed but police did not stop wielding hammers.

While cracking PVC pipes by hammering, an activist got hurt on her hand and bled. Police, not to reveal the hammering, tried to shield themselves by their bodies.

They even grabbed reporters by the collars or even kicked press arm-banded reporters out of the site.

 

▲ Police arrest.

 

 

▲ Police arrest.

 

Also, identifying herself, a member lawyer of Laywers of Democratic Society who was not on the scene requested to let her in to the site for human rights monitoring but police disregarded it.

Eventually, with hammers and scissors, police unlocked the human fence, arrested 10 peace activists as criminals in action, and took them away to Seogwipo police station.

 

▲ Seul-hwan Koo, Seogwipo Police Station Security & Traffic Section Chief, who is cracking a PVC pipe using a hammer.

 

 

▲ As the reporter tries to take the picture of a hammer-weilding police, they are blocking it.

 

Three vehicles in front of the detonator storage were confiscated.

As police took all activists away, they loaded detonators to blow up the Kurumbi rock on trucks and headed for the Jeju naval base construction site around 10:40 AM.

 

▲ Police are driving away a reporter from Yonhap News (center with glasses).

 

 

▲ Police are blocking a reporter from Hankyoreh.

 

 

▲Lawyer Seon-young Seo, a member of Lawyers for Democratic Society, tries to enter the scene but police are blocking her.

 

 

▲ Police arrest.

 

 

▲ Police are lifting a peace activity away.

 

<Jeju Sori 제주의소리>

<Reporter Seung-rok Lee 이승록 / All rights reserved ⓒ Jeju Sori>

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Benjamin Monnet story

On Mar. 13, three activists (Seri Kim, Angie Zelter, Benjamin Monnet) were taken away by police at the naval base construction site in Gangjung, Jeju, South Korea. Police tried to press charges against them and deport two foreign activists (Angie Zelter and Benjamin Monnet) back to their own countries. However, to avoid international controversy, the authority released two foreign activists. They did nothing to Angie Zelter, a nobel peace prize candidate, who will be leaving soon anyway due to the visa issue. But, instead of freeing Benjamin Monnet, the authority charged the French peace activist for 5 crimes and kicked out of South Korea even without any formal judicial procedure. His last known whereabout was at Hongkong just before boarding a plane back to his home country France in Mar. 14 late at night.

Seri Kim, a Korean peace activist who was charged along with Bejamin the same day but was released from detention by court’s decline of issuing arrest warrant, was infuriated by the scheme Korean government flexed on Benjamin Monnet and retorted the whole story about Benjamin Monnet in her twits.

During an interview with my lawyer the day before yesterday, I heard crimes they put on me and Benjamin. But, crimes police put on Benjamin were really flabbergasting! They charged him for something he had not done. I know it all because I saw with my eyes on the site. Simply put, Benjamin is forcibly deported out of Korea under wrongful charges!

[1] Wrongful charges police put on Benjamin were 5. I will recount them one by one. (1) ‘Obstruction of Justice’ On Feb. 27, about 200 combat police from main land stormed Gangjung port, illegally occupying it, blocking people from kayaking to the sea and trying to rob private property. Police charged Benjamin for assaulting 3 policemen that day.

[2] Without raising any reasons, police acted violently to activists who tried to sail out kayaks to the sea and fierce scuffle broke out. Benjamin at the scene were trying to save a female activist who fell to the ground and fell to the ground himself during that course. But police kept pushing people and Benjamin on the ground was stepped and battered. He eventually passed away.

[3] People cried out desperately Benjamin was on the ground but police wouldn’t budge a bit. They seemed to care more about kayaks than people’s safety; they didn’t even call an emergency ambulance. That day, Benjamin was stepped on his face and bruised all over his body but police instead falsely charged him for assaulting combat police.

[4] (2) ‘Public Property Damage’ Police charged Benjamin for throwing away police radio to the sea. What a preposterous charge it is! On Feb. 27, a member of mainland combat police dropped a radio to the port sea during the scuffle against activists. Benjamin picked it up from the sea and handed it

[5] over to the head of Gangjung village. I saw it with my eyes. Benajmin never threw the radio to the sea. (Video footage can prove it!) (3) ‘Injuring a person’ Police charged Banjamin for assaulting Daelim workers on Mar. 12. OMG! That day, I tried to sneak into the construction site through iron fence

[6] to take pictures of damaged Kurumbi rock and, on the site of me, bulky Daelim workers tried to violently stop me and assaulted me. Benjamin, seeing the incident outside of the fence, came into the site to save me and pulled two workers out of me. During the scuffle, his small finger

[7] accidentally brushed an eye of a worker slightly but it was not intentional. Video footage will prove it. In that day, Benjamin was also fell by workers’ physical contact and got hurt requiring full 2 weeks for recovery but he did not press charges on them.

[8] (4) ‘Obstruction of business’ On Mar. 12, Benjamin did not obstruct business; rather, he just tried to save me from being assaulted by workers. Spooked by policemen and workers storming at us, we escaped to the top of an excavator, a safe zone. There, Benjamin

[9] just demanded police to bring those assaulting workers before us and, since the assault fact was obvious, to investigate the particulars of those workers assaulted us. But not showing any interest to catch those workers assaulted us, police just idled time and simply ordered Benjamin to come down.

[10] If we came down at that moment, it was obvious that we would be taken away immediately. As usual, in a situation where those assaulted would be gone and only those being battered would be investigated and charged, who would follow the order. One cannot claim our act of climbing up the excavator as an obstruction of business; rather it should be considered as an act of minimum self-help in an emergency situation.

[11] (5) ‘Trespassing’ This is also due to entering Kurumbi rock over iron fence on Mar. 12. But Kurumbi rock is still a public water surface where Jeju Governor who has the formal jurisdiction never designated as a restricted area. And because of the unlawful and error-stricken naval base construction, Jeju Governor

[12] already sent a preliminary notification for suspending public surface water reclamation work and official letter asking suspension of construction to Ministry of National Defense. Currently, over 100 people have been prosecuted for trespassing misdemeanor and we are planning to file a civil lawsuit against construction company and police about whether it is possible to prosecute someone for trespassing when (s)he enters a public water surface area. We think it deserves judicial consideration.

Besides these twits, Seri Kim also mentioned Korean government’s brutality in handling Benjamin Monnet.

1) Yesterday’s ‘forced deportation of Benjamin’ incident by MB administration is more serious than the forced deportation of emigrant workers’ union leader using a severe method violating human rights a few years ago. For the first time in history, Korean government forcibly deported a foreigner less than 24 hours from the ‘forced eviction order.’

2) For Benjamin’s forced deportation, Lawyers for Democratic Society immediately submitted a formal objection against forced deportation and was on its way to file a lawsuit. When a formal objection is submitted, 7 days are usually allowed for review. However, Korean immigration office kicked him out secretly as if they were doing some kind of military operation just several hours before the lawsuit filing procedure would be over.

3) When the emigrant workers union leader was deported last time, she was at least able to call her lawyers and her acquaintances at Incheon International Airport. But this time, it was different; for Benjamin, they never allowed any local phone calls. He was forced to get on an airplane to Hongkong empty handedly. Without any luggage or a change of clothes but with his pet left behind in Gangjung Jeju.

4) Although objection lawsuit against forced deportation of Benjamin was on its way and a lawyer in charge of the case was already designated, Korean immigration office did not notify the lawyer in charge after forcibly deporting Benjamin at 7PM; rather they notified the fact 10AM the next day after a long while.

5) South Korea MB government, a regime that does not allow time for objection lawsuit, the minimum safety net for human rights protection, against a wrongful forced deportation order on a foreigner. A shameful regime that does not have guts to figure out rights and wrongs democratically and just tries to physically kick out a foreigner anyhow.

Right now, Lawyers for Democratic Society is preparing a petition asking for the intervention of ‘Special Rapporteur of Human Rights Defender’, one of the organizations of UN Board of Directors for the anti-human rights nature of the ’forced deportation of Benjamin’ incident.

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Mahindra, roll up your sleeves and get ready to get dirty.

World’s top 3 asset management firm APG sent a letter to Mahindra Group, the major stakeholder of Ssangyong Motors, urging it to resolve on-going incident … Political sphere and civil groups also add pressure

Reporter Jeong-hoon Lee 이정훈

 

To resolve Ssangyong Motors incident, international institutional investors such as APG Asset Management are making their voices heard. In last Feb. 15, a Korea Confederation of Trade Unions’ resolution assembly to undo Ssangyong Motors layoffs and to obtain full reinstatement was held to commemorate 1,000th day of Ssangyong Motors layoff. <Hankyoreh 21> Seung-hwa Park 박승화

 

Last Feb. 15 marked 1,000th day of protest by workers discharged from Ssangyong Motors. During those 1,000 days, 9 died including Mr. Min (49, a voluntary retiree) in last Feb. 13 and 12 committed suicides. It is hard to fathom when this ‘death parade’ would end. Remaining ones suffer extreme symptoms of PTSD. Company does not flinch a bit, and the struggle of Ssangyong Motors laid-off workers still lingers on.

APG Asset Management, “We are concerned about damages on Mahindra’s public image”

As the situation gets grimmer, international institutional investors such as APG Asset Management start to move. It was they who demanded Samsung to clarify controversies regarding leukemia industrial disaster cases of Samsung Electronics in 2010. At that time, eight institutional investors including APG Asset Management sent a joint inquiry letter to Ji-sung Choi, then CEO of Samsung Electronics (currently vice chairman), urging Samsung to perform transparent investigation of leukemia deaths and to clarify related facts.

This time, it was APG Asset Management of Netherlands, one of the world’s top 3 asset management firms, who moved first. Last Feb. 20, it sent an inquiry letter that contained worries about Ssangyong Motors incident and asked the intention of India’s Mahindra Group, the major stakeholder of Ssangyong Motors, to resolve it.

As an investor, APG Asset Management did not conceal its concerns about lengthening Ssangyong Motors incident. The contents are like this. “If the issue of Ssangyong Motors laid-off workers gets worse and lengthens, the responsibility of Mahindra Group as the major stakeholder will afloat, which concerns us as an investor to Mahindra Group due to the possible impact on Group’s image and business. It is all the more worrisome since, as a stakeholder, we highly appreciate the trust Mahindra Group accrued from the society and consumers so far.” They also asked two questions. They inquired “if managing staffs of Mahindra Group, as the major stakeholder, recognize the character, the development, and the complexity of the Ssangyong Motors labor dispute issue sufficiently” and “what role Mahindra Group will do, to preemptively prevent damages on its own image as the major stakeholder, to let Ssangyong Motors managing staffs to resolve the issue for themselves.”

Before long other institutional investors look like to join APG Asset Management’s move. An official from APG Asset Management said “We know other institutional investors have laid close eyes on Ssangyong Motors incident all the while. We asked Mahindra Group first about their opinion on Ssangyong Motors incident.” This official continued “We know other institutional investors will continue to discuss about Ssangyong Motors incident and send similar inquiry letters to them.”

This kind of move can be an enormous pressure to Mahindra Group who emphasizes corporate social responsibility (CSR). Mahindra Group took over Ssangyong Motors with 522.5 billion KRW (468 million USD) in Oct. 2010. Following China’s Shanghai Motors who was engulfed by the ‘eat-and-run’ controversy in the end, it became new owner holding 70.4% of stakes. Mahindra Group is also deeply involved in the management of Ssangyong Motors by sitting Dr. Pawan Kumar Goenka, the president of Mahindra’s Automotive and Farm Equipment Sectors, as the chairperson of board of directors.

Mahindra Group, also active on CSR

Besides producing farm equipments, SUVs, and trucks, Mahindra Group is expanding to finance, IT, and real estates sectors. It hires about 144,000 employees in about 100 countries and recorded 14.4 billion USD sales last year. It acts proactively on CSR too. In the third sustainable management report released last year, it wrote that it also focused on human rights management. In the report, Mahindra Group revealed that “In May 2009, we announced a policy to consider human rights issue in deciding economic policy. When we draft investment contracts, we also include human rights items.” Through this effort, Mahindra Group is considered highly among institutional investors. One official from an institutional investor said “Along with Tata Group of India, Mahindra Group is considered to spend a lot of efforts for socially responsible management.”

But, Ssangyong Motors incident can taint the whole image of Mahindra Group all at once. In particular, since Ssangyong Motors is highly dependent upon European markets by providing items to many European car makers like Volvo, Land Rover, Daimler AG, Renault, pressure from institutional investors is a sensitive matter.

To this development, Ssangyong Motors does not show any response yet. A Ssangyong Motors official said “We haven’t had a chance to confirm the letter institutional investor had sent to Mahindra Group yet” and added “We have no official announcement yet” but Ssangyong Motors union expressed expectations. Former Ssangyong Motors union planning team manager Chang-geun Lee said “For the case of Tata Daewoo Motors in Kunsan, Jeonbuk that was taken up by Tata Group of India, company’s image has improved drastically by beefing up CSR efforts like changing irregular workers to regular workers. Mahindra Group that is respected as much as Tata Group in India should be involved in solving the Ssangyong Motors incident more proactively.” Former manager Lee pointed out that “As time goes by, the issue will nothing but grow. It is natural that institutional investors are engaged at a time when the image of Mahindra Group itself can be tarnished.”

How can we understand that world’s top institutional investors show interest on Korean companies again in less than two years since Samsung Electronics. The head of Hankyoreh Economy Institute Won-jae Lee said “Korean companies grow to be global companies and global capitals take over Korean companies now. It is becoming a crucial factor for companies to be more socially responsible” and continued “This kind of movement is expected to expand more, centered around Europe-based pension fund investors.”

On top of this, many organizations including politicians and civil activist organizations also start to press Mahindra Group as well. 49 organizations such as Korean House for International Solidarity, Catholic Human Rights Commission, Cultural Action, Dasan Human Rights Center sent a joint letter titled ‘Letter from Korean Labor, Human Rights, Civil and Social Organizations’ to managing directors of Mahindra Group in Feb. 24.

49 organizations “engage in conversations to resolve the incident”

The organizations wrote in the letter that “Pains of Ssangyong Motors workers have claimed lives of more than twenty. Korean labor, human rights, civil and social organizations feel very sorry for Mahindra Group for not exerting any efforts to issues they had to show faithful responsibility after taking over Ssangyong Motors.” Then, they urged Mahindra to actively engage in conversations to resolve the issues and to reinstate unpaid workers, laid-off workers, irregular workers, and voluntary retirees.

Unified Democratic Party representative Dong-young Chung also plans to sidekick the move on his part as well. An aide of Rep. Chung’s office said “Rep. Chung is planning to send a letter to top managing officials of Mahindra Group of India to urge resolution of the incident at the end of Feb. or early Mar.”

Reporter 이정훈 기자 ljh9242@hani.co.kr

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Jeju International Peace Conference story

Disclaimer: The following is a totally unauthoritative personal translation of an article appeared in <The OhmyNews> on Feb. 26, 2012, reporting the ‘Jeju International Peace Conference’ held in Gangjung village, Jeju, the site of international interest due to unilateral construction of naval base. Although South Korean military is building the base, many suspect it will be a strategic foreign base for US navy instead as a part of containment strategy against China. All rights regarding this post stay with the author of the original article or with <The OhmyNews> and this post will be scrapped immediately at their request. In the post, I tried to match the English translation of names of people / institutions / positions to their authentic ones as much as I can but, inevitably, some of them may be different. Original article of this post (in Korean) can be found in the link at the bottom.

“If I die here but can stop it” … “Please don’t give up; I will be with you”

The day Gangjung villagers met international peace activists

Reporter Ju-bin Lee 이주빈 (clubnip)

Participants of ‘Jeju International Peace Conference’ are shouting “NO NAVY BASE” after the opening ceremony in Feb. 24. ⓒ Ju-bin Lee 이주빈

 

In Feb. 25 at village ceremony hall, international peace activists promised international solidarity at a meeting with Gangjung villagers. ⓒ Ju-bin Lee 이주빈

 

Languages were different but it not a problem. They were serious but never stopped joking. Consolation and determination drew them ever closer together. They, in that way, became one in the name of ‘peace’.

In Feb. 25, international peace activists who had come to Jeju to participate in ‘Jeju International Peace Conference’ met Gangjung villagers who had been plagued by the Jeju naval base problem.

About 70 as a whole were at the ‘Meeting with Gangjung villagers’ event that took place from 10AM in Gangjung village ceremony hall. Those were Dave Webb, the Convener of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space (Global Network), with other about 28 international peace activists and Dong-kyoon Kang, the head of  Gangjung village, with about 40 villagers.

Ms. Mi-kyoung Kang who introduced herself as ‘Jeju native’ said “I heard of an initiative to create new ‘Asia Alliance’ that will substitute NATO. But, rather than this kind of alliance, I hope all would share harmonism as a new spiritual movement.”

She explained “Harmonism is uniting man and nature together as one. And, here in Gangjung, all villagers are actually live like that as a part of the nature.”

Grandfather Seong-won Kang who is 81 this year revealed his psychological sufferings during the anti-naval base construction struggle in a placid voice “I would rather call for your help.”

Peace activists from Sweden are making a peace march in front of Jeju naval base construction site with a banner they made themselves. ⓒ Ju-bin Lee 이주빈

 

British peace activist Angie Zelter who decided to stay in Gangjung village for one month and fight with fellow villagers. She is paying a peace prayer in front of naval base construction site front gate. ⓒ Ju-bin Lee 이주빈

 

“We Gangjung villagers are fighting this anti-naval base fight for five years now and I guess about 70, 80% are patients. I, like others, cannot sleep at night. When I lie myself in bed, I keep thinking ‘if I kill myself and can stop this naval base, I will rather do that.’ Even when I do my farming job in the field everyday, my mind is still absorbed by the naval base issue…

Neighbors who were so close to each other are now shunning with each other though they live in the same place. They do not even share foods served to ancestors… This is not a human life. I hope you can give us some advice.”

Mary Beth Sullivan, a social welfare worker and an American peace activist, replied to grandfather Kang’s outcry.

“Regrettably, the solution should eventually come from within Gangjung village. Of course outsiders like social welfare workers of the community should think about the issue together but, at first, villagers should gather together and start to talk about what could be done to recover broken community.

Right now might not be an apposite time but villagers who are split into pros or cons on naval base issue should start seeing each other to heal at some time. Individual efforts to reconnect severed relationships and to lay bridge of relationship are necessary and community neighbors should help them.”

British peace activist Angie Zelter who is famous for her nuclear disarmament activity consoled villagers “I will stay in Gangjung village for a month with you. If you are suppressed, I will also be suppressed and, if you are put into jail, I will be put into jail too.”

International peace activists are doing ‘peace bows’ with Fr. Jeong-hyun Moon in front of naval base construction site front gate in Feb. 25. ⓒ Ju-bin Lee 이주빈

 

Bruce Gagnon, the coordinator of Global Network said “Victory comes from pains. My experience tells me that you are close to victory.” He said when government’s suppression intensified and the construction companies’ behavior roughened, that meant victory was just around the corner. He promised “We will support your struggle until the moment you win.”

J Narayana Rao, former Secretary of All India Peace and Solidarity Organization (AIPSO), suggested two things on the spot to strengthen the international solidarity for anti-naval base struggle at Gangjung village and got unanimous approval from participants.

First, international peace activists at ‘Jeju International Peace Conference’ decided to list up things they could do to support Gangjung fight from outside. And, they determined to designate ‘international movement day for resistance against naval base at Gangjung village’ frequently and unfold simultaneous protests all over the world.

At the consolation and determination by international peace activists, the head of Gangjung village Dong-kyoon Kang responded wholeheartedly “it is really grateful that you came from countries far far away to this small Gangjung village in Jeju. But it is even more grateful that you determined to fight together. Peace is the most beautiful when protected by peace itself.”

After meeting with Gangjung villagers, international peace activists marched toward the naval base construction site front gate and did ‘peace bow’ with Fr. Jeong-hyun Moon.

A peace activist from Japan, seeing a peace activist in Gangjung village Deulkkot (wild flower in Korean) protesting with a puppet banner she made herself, joined it by waving his cartoon character towel. ⓒ Ju-bin Lee 이주빈

 

Meanwhile, ‘Jeju International Peace Conference’ with a theme ‘Gangjung, the life and peace village; Jeju, the world peace island’ holds ‘international solidarity strategy convention for blocking Jeju naval base construction’ and ‘Global Network annual general assembly’ in Feb. 26 and ends.

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