Thursday, October 02, 2008

Slow Posting

Been slow posting these days, because, well, work and life are too busy. However, with the global financial crisis and LMB's continuing show, I feel like there is a mountain of things to post on. Alas, hopefully, there shall be time for that later. For the moment, however, this photo, from the Hankyoreh, is very interesting and mimics that famous moment from the 1989 protests in Tienanmen square.

Disarming appearance



As tanks roll down Tehran Street in the Gangnam district during a parade commemorating Army Day on October 1, Kang Ui-seok, 22, a law student at Seoul National University, goes nude to urge the government to dissolve the army.

Kang appeared suddenly at 4:20 p.m and commenced with a short role play in which he brandished a fake gun he had made out of snack food, putting a stop to the parade for about 30 seconds. Kang was arrested immediately.

Police said that prior to the parade, Kang hid for 12 hours in a trench he had dug himself.


According to police, Kang said that If Korea were to dissolve its army, it could help underdeveloped countries by saving the lives of starving children. In explaining his demonstration, Kang said that he had appeared in the nude to symbolize the condition of being unarmed and was meant to evoke peace and nonviolence.

The police booked him on charges of obscenity later that day.

3 comments:

  1. you forgot to mention that he is a conscientious objector to the military. and that mandatory conscription service forces all able bodied korean males into 1.8 years of servitude. there is a small but growing conscientious objection movement. also, south korea has the most people in prison for conscientious objection to conscription military service than any other nation utilizing conscription service.
    See War Resister's International for more information on the CO movement in Korea and around the world.
    see http://www.wri-irg.org/node/7399
    International Conscientious Objector's Day Focus on Korea
    http://www.wri-irg.org/node/7553

    ReplyDelete