On the right side, a sex offender asks police officers, “What are you doing?”

The police officers, however, pay no attention to the sex offender and one officer says, “Go away, we’re busy.” The police officers are busy engaging in surveillance citizens who are critical of the Lee Myung-bak administration.

The Lee administration has received heated criticism for among other things, excessive surveillance of citizens through packet eavesdropping, heavy political retribution for members of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers’ Union (KTU, Jeon Gyo Jo) for releasing emergency statements about Lee administration policies and the violent crackdown on squatters during the Yongsan Tragedy that took the lives of five civilians and one police officer on Jan. 20 last year.

Meanwhile, in the aftermath of recent violent crimes that have occurred in South Korea, observers are voicing criticism that police are losing sight of their duties to protect citizens while becoming wrapped up in fighting the Lee administration’s political battles.

(Hankyoreh Geurimpan, Mar. 10, 2010)