South Korea: ‘I am amazed at how things have changed’

Over the past 40 years I have witnessed many street protests in Seoul. In the 1970s and 1980s university students frequently took to the streets to protest against the dictatorial rule of presidents Park Chung-hee and Chun Doo-hwan. The protests drew robust and at times violent responses. Riot police armed with water cannons and tear gas made sure the students never got very far.

I still have vivid memories of how my eyes stung and watered each time that strong gas filled the air in the area around Sinchon where I lived.

Government affairs

The present scandal involves president Park Geun-hye, the daughter of president Park Chung-hee and her non-government confidante Choi Soon-sil. Two months ago evidence emerged that Ms Choi had meddled in a variety of government affairs. Cable channel JTBC reported that it had obtained a discarded tablet computer it believed was owned by Ms Choi.

As JTBC television and other media outlets dug up one piece of evidence after another, Ms Park was forced to admit she had sent drafts of her major addresses to Ms Choi to edit. But what she failed to mention was that a number of speech texts and documents that were found on computers abandoned by Ms Choi included those related to appointments of senior officials, real estate development plans and confidential national security issues such as military talks with North Korea.

Later it came to light that Ms Choi had masterminded the establishment of the Mir and K-Sports foundations, to which conglomerates such as Samsung, Hyundai and others "donated" about 80 billion won (€64 million). Ordinary citizens believe they made these large contributions having been assured of future favours. As more and more evidence is uncovered, the suspicion is that not only was the president aware of what was happening but that she was an active accomplice.

Ms Park has made three public statements in which she has been most economical with the truth. All she is willing to admit is that she trusted her friend Ms Choi too much and was remiss in supervising the people under her control.

With each new revelation, ordinary citizens have grown enraged and regard Ms Park as incompetent and unfit to be president. They have taken to the streets to express their anger and call for her resignation.

Protesting peacefully

Observing the candlelit rallies that have taken place each Saturday for the past six weeks, I am amazed at how things have changed. Instead of tens or sometimes hundreds of idealistic university students holding pitched battles with well-equipped riot police, I now see a million or more ordinary people from all walks of life protesting peacefully.

These days there is no violence and the young riot police who prevent people from getting too close to the president’s Blue House find that they are often greeted with smiles and flowers. In former years protesting students were beaten with batons and dragged away to be arrested and face trial. Last Saturday I saw about 1.7 million people holding candles and plastic signs that had slogans such as “Resign immediately”, “Impeach her”, “Arrest her”.

Another feature of these rallies is that stand-up comics and singers provide some light entertainment. During the fifth rally, which was held on November 26th, the well-known singer Yang Hee-eun performed. She sang three of her best-known protest songs that were banned by Ms Park's father and invited everyone to join in her final number entitled The Evergreen Tree.

The song talks about how this particular tree survives in poor soil while being battered by wind, rain and snowstorms. It exhorts us to ensure that the past days of despair and pain will never come again stating that, even though the road ahead may be long and arduous, in the end we shall overcome and be victorious.

I am 69 years old. I have lived in and worked with some of the poorest of Korean people on the mainland and a small island. I spent eight years living in a shantytown called “Moon Districts” in Korea. But I have never seen anything like this before.