Liberty in South Korea
Every Auguest 15th, it is liberation day in Korea and you’d think it was the North that was doing most of the liberating
As ever, this year’s Liberation Day marking Korea’s independence from Japanese colonial rule threatens to become a festival of the kind of anti-American slogans North Korea specializes in. Instead of any significant reflection, South Koreans find themselves bombarded with familiar propaganda from pro-North Korean groups such as the Korean Federation of University Student Councils (KFUSC), the Korean Teachers and Education Workers’ Union and the Pan-Korean Young Students Alliance to Unify the Fatherland. The U.S. Forces Korea must pull out, South Korea must defend itself without the help of the U.S., and so forth. A new addition this year is the priority on protests against a planned Korea-U.S. free trade agreement, while opposition against a new USFK headquarters, in Pyeongtaek near Seoul will also remain on the agenda. The groups also make a point of putting a positive spin on North Korea’s July 5 missile tests.
Free from free trade? That’s funny. But what is not funny is how it seems people who support North Korea tend to dominate debate everyday. Well no more. If there is a place that needs to be liberated, it’s not the South. So from now til the 15th I will do my best to counter the rhetoric coming from the other side of aisle. It doesn’t matter if I am a non-Korean and amateur web designer, I can no longer get satisfaction by laughing at Juche and Songun. Some people may think I am stooping to their level. Hell no, I plan to blow them away.
