hankyoreh

Sixty-eight citizens were detained over the weekend after participating in street demonstrations against the South Korean government’s decision to resume imports of U.S. beef. Most of the 68 people, who were taken into custody following rallies held between the late evening of May 24 and the early morning of May 26, denied the police’s claims that they had participated in the demonstrations under the direction of a leader operating behind the scenes. Compared with the demonstrations of the past, when it was university students and members of civic groups who were detained en masse, the 68 people taken into custody recently are from different age groups and occupations.

A 45-year-old, self-employed man, who is only identified by the surname Jeon and was detained in the early morning of May 25 in front of the Gwanghwamun Post Office, said, “I returned home after the candlelight rally was over. There, I saw an Internet newspaper article that said that police had begun to suppress the participants, so I went to the demonstration site again. That’s when I was taken into custody.”

A 53-year-old businessman, who is only identified by the surname Oh and operates a factory in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, was detained in Sinchon on the night of May 25. “I sat down on the side of the road after stepping away from a march. Suddenly, some policemen sprang on me and caught me by twisting my arm.”

In one case, a daughter was detained for questioning after participating in one of the rallies with her mother. The 20-year-old daughter, Lee Hye-jin, spoke about the time when she was taken into custody in an interview. She said, “I joined a march after meeting my mother in Ahyeon-dong. At that time, people appeared to be ending the march because of fatigue. We were also on our way home, but policemen shoved us with their shields and I was caught by female officers.”

Lee’s 53-year-old mother, Hwang Gyeong-ok, said, “My daughter advised me to go public by showing pictures of the police violence from May 24. My heart is aching because the detention forced my daughter to miss her job interview on May 26.” She grew teary-eyed as she continued, “My daughter raised money to study visual design in Japan by working at a part-time job at a bookstore.”

The protesters all seemed to have had a variety of reasons for participating in the demonstrations. The 45-year-old self-employed man Jeon said bluntly, “Did I have any intentions? I just protested so that I could eat safe beef.”

The 53-year-old businessman Oh said, “I came out because I felt uneasy about a government that hasn’t responded to calls from citizens after it held such outrageous beef negotiations.”

Kim Seong-min, a 33-year-old freelance music critic who was detained for questioning at Seongbuk police station, said, “The reason why the demonstration extended past early morning was because there was no one leading the demonstrations. I tried to take an objective view because I’m a critic. But I can’t help but think that the government is the one working behind the scenes, given the fact that even people like me took the streets and joined the demonstrations.”

A 44-year-old person, who is only identified by the surname Chae and was detained after one of the rallies, said he came out to the demonstration site because he felt “ashamed,” while chatting with his neighbors.

Kim Byeong-tae, a 46-year-old who is one Chae’s neighbors and who was waiting to meet Chae at the police station, said, “We came out to a demonstration yesterday for the first time. We said to each other, ‘Let’s participate in the rally,’ because we were sorry that teenagers were protesting.”

Kim Joon-young, 40, another of Chae’s neighbors, said, “We are people who participated in a demonstration for the first time. We participated because we think things have gone too far. Mr. Chae was taken into custody while trying to pull away a riot policeman who was attempting to detain a woman with violence.”

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