Massive candlelight protest calling for #윤석열퇴진 (Pres. Yoon to resign), underway right now. Crowd stretches from Seoul Station to Seoul Plaza (City Hall). A pretty amazing sight that I can’t imagine seeing in 🇨🇦. Must be a several hundred thousand out. Young & old. #촛불행동
Some more photos of the crowds with their signs before the sun set. It was only six years ago that similar protests were held on this day, calling for Park Geun-Hye’s impeachment.
Defenders of the Yellow Envelope Act (#노란봉투법) which is facing amendment and prevents employers from making indiscriminate damage claims against striking workers.
Garfield says “Resign *expletive!*
Posters from the People’s Democratic Party (#민중민주당) blaming Yoon for the 10.29참사. Subheadings say the government is an anti-national dictatorship, corrupt, and incompetent.
Video footage of an adapted folk song. I’m told the original was sung to fisherman going to sea.
A most political dog with some pretty strong opinions on Yoon. #caninepolitics
Here is a float that followed the crowd as it marched to Yongsan. It suggests the influence of shamans over the first couple. The bearded figure is Monk Geonjin, who worked on a subcommittee at the PPP’s election campaign HQ. The Chinese character ‘King’ is written on Yoon’s hand
Battery-powered candles were available for purchase from a slew of vendors.
A satirical cartoon projected onto the back of a newsstand. The President is shown wearing a Saemaul Movement cap and holding the flag of imperial Japan. The beard symbolizes the influence of the shamanistic Monk Geonjin
A protesting dinosaur!
Some additional photos of the crowd:
A trot singer performs on stage as the protest gets underway, and the crowd settles in.
I found the melody of this performance quite moving, especially with the candles starting to light up.
A farmer from Nonsan sings a protest anthem with gusto
The crowd moves towards Yongsan
As a guest in Korea, I refrain from engaging in politics. I observed as my partner, who is Korean, participated. It was her 1st time joining a public protest. Here’s a picture of the sticker she put on her mask. She got it from a @LibertyinNK event we stopped by earlier.
More context: As @KarlFriedhoff notes, the protests have yet to match the scale of those that toppled Park. Park served 4 years before she was forced out. Yoon only took office May 10th of this year. JoongAng Daily had his approval rating at 34.2 % on Nov 7. Disapproval at 62.4%
When opposition lawmakers were preparing to vote to impeach Park, her approval rating was between 3-4% while her disapproval rating climbed to roughly 93%. Given this, Yoon isn’t at the same risk of sinking yet. His administration is only six months old… he still has time.
And Moon’s approval fell to 29% w/ dissatisfaction with his govt’s real estate + COVID policies, but he didn’t resign. For me, the takeaway is Korea’s democratic protest culture is alive and well, and that 10.29 has spurred more than just the opposition supporters to turn out.
When I say I can't imagine this in Canada; I mean that I can't picture such a huge # of people mobilizing like this, especially in such a coordinated and orderly manner. I was impressed with how ppl sat single file in neat rows and listened to the organizers/police.
Canada did indeed see large protests this year against COVID measures, but I would say it was more a siege/blockade, which was not peaceful, promoted violence, harassed community members, disrupted supply chain infrastructure, & caused billions in economic loss.
Korea has a strong culture of civic activism, and protests have become a facet of public debate thxs to an engaged public. All democracies are imperfect, and Korea's has certainly faced obstacles but the ppl value it more than just a political system, and are keen to defend it.

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More from @jackwgreenberg

Mar 20, 2023
#Trams were once the backbone of #Seoul's #publictransit system. The 1st launched on #Buddha's Bday in 1899 by Gojung, & the last ran Nov 30, 1968. The network was greatly expanded in the colonial era, & recently track laid in 1927 was uncovered in front of #Gyeongbukgung Palace ImageImageImageImage
This track was in use till ‘66 & buried during the construction of a pedestrian underpass at Sejongro. Seoul’s bulldozer’ Mayor Kim Hyon-ok was responsible for the trams’ demise. The cars were outdated, replacement + track repair was too costly, & the system disrupted traffic. ImageImageImageImage
Track was laid in the middle of the road, which made boarding a nuisance and forced all traffic to a standstill. In its final year, #tram ridership also dropped significantly even as the gov’t barred operators from increasing fares to maintain affordable service 4 passengers ImageImageImageImage
Read 6 tweets
Nov 18, 2022
On Monday, I went to Tongmunkwan in Insadong, Korea’s oldest antique bookstore. The owner’s grandfather, Lee Gyeom-ro, took it over from a Japanese proprietor in 1934. As you step inside, you are instantly overwhelmed by the smell of old paper. I found two fantastic photo books! ImageImageImageImage
Choi Min-Sik was born in 1928 to a poor Catholic peasant family in what is today South Hwanghae-do, North Korea. He moved to Seoul upon liberation, and after the war he smuggled himself to Japan where he had dreamed of studying art
While working in a 2nd-hand bookstore, he found a catalogue for “The Family of Man,” a monumental photography exhibit curated by the influential Edward Steichen, Director of #MoMA. This aroused his interest in photography, and led him back to KR where he took it up professionally
Read 34 tweets
Nov 17, 2022
2022년 코라시아포럼에서 #이재명 @TheMinjoo_Kr 대표과 #김진표 국회의장은 축하를 연설했어요
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I am at the @hankookilbo’s 2022 #KorAsia Forum this morning. opposition Democratic Party leader @Jaemyung_Lee & Nat’l Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo just delivered congratulatory speeches ImageImageImage
Fmr. US SoS @mikepompeo joins virtually for a talk with ex-US Amb. An Hoyeong. On 🇨🇳 influence, he says it is already entrenched, & states worldwide must push the CCP back from inside their gates. Also, “🇨🇳 wants every nation to be a vassal state that pays it tribute & homage” Image
On North Korea, says that Trump failed to achieve denuclearization in the #DPRK, but the admin. delivered more certainty, which Biden has failed to continue.
Read 8 tweets
Nov 1, 2022
Many of the victims from this weekend’s tragedy in #Itaewon/#이태원 were in their 20s, which means they would have been in their tween/teenage years when the MV #Sewol disaster (#세월호 침몰 사고) happened on April 16, 2014.
I’ve been thinking about Sewol a lot over these days. I have memories of seeing it on the news and discussing it in my high school law class, but it was only after coming to Korea that I really understood the scope of what happened, the gov't's complicity, & social impact it had.
On August 17th, I travelled down to Ansan in Gyeonggi-do for a visit to Danwon High School and the Danwon High School 4.16 Memory Classroom. The memory classroom was designated on December 27, 2021 as National Archives of Korea No. 14 by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.
Read 17 tweets
Oct 30, 2022
I just passed the scene of the tragedy that occurred last night in #Itaewon/#이태원 and I really have no words to express the sadness I feel. As of now, 151 people have lost their lives - many of them in their 20s just like me. #이태원사고 Image
Floral tributes for the victims have started to be left at the top of #Itaewon/#이태원 Station Exit 1 and posted on storefronts, such as Foot Locker’s, beside the alleyway where the stampede occurred. ImageImageImageImage
The authorities don’t know the cause of the stampede yet, and I won’t make assumptions. All I will say is that one of the alleyways in question appears to be no more than 5 meters in width, and that reports suggest the police presence was insufficient for the crowds present ImageImageImageImage
Read 7 tweets
Jul 6, 2022
Back in May, I joined the Architecture Archive Project for a short discussion and walk around the former HQ of the Chosŏn Land Trust Company (aka Hanil Building), a 3-story brick structure that was designed and built in 1929 by Japanese companies & boasted a lot of local history
The land on which the building sat until recently is now being redeveloped by Buyoung Housing with a 27-story hotel, which when complete will have 850 rooms. Initially the company was given a construction permit on the condition that the façade of the Hanil Building be preserved
However, when construction took off, a vehicle was damaged after building materials fell from an exterior wall that was being worked on. An assessment of the building's structural integrity was then conducted; this resulted in an "E" grade being given.
Read 8 tweets

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