Week 8 - Demonstrations Demanding President Park Step Down

The main rally will start at 5 pm., but most people are expected to come around 8 pm.

The police keep overestimating pro-Park demonstrators and underestimating anti-Park demonstrators. They say that there were 10,000 anti-Park demonstrators and 30,000 anti-Park demonstrators.

I saw some pro-Park demonstrators and there were only a couple of thousand. If you look at the picture below, there are pro-Park protesters walking. The demonstrators in the far background are anti-Park, and there is a line of policemen on the right to protect them (wearing yellow sashes).

In this next picture, you can see there are a lot more than 30,000 anti-Park demonstrators.

According to YTN News, the pro-Park demonstrators finished at 5:10 pm and were headed to their buses. The news commentator also added that they were transported in 170 buses from around Korea by conservative organizations.

Gwanghwamun (that is how they are spelling it these days) at 6:00 pm. It looks like crowds will be like last week and peak at around 9 pm. It's really cold, but I should attend...

They write Gwanghwamun in 3 Chinese characters, Gwang, Hwa, and Mun. I think Gwang means bright or light, Wha means to make or become and Mun is door or gate (Gate of Enlightenment). They should separate the names into the characters they use, so foreigner can begin to understand that Mun means door or gate. San means mountain. Cheon means stream and so on. Stop confusing them. :)

Koreans, Japanese, Taiwanese, and Chinese use the same Chinese characters for the same meanings. They are pronounced a little differently in each country.

Gwang-hwa-mun at 6:30 pm.

For all the details and great pictures, please read the article in The Hankyoreh News: 
770,000 candles still burning 

What Do Park Keun-hye, Park Chung-hee and J. Edgar Hoover Have In Common?

Could it be they were alleged to spy on everyone to obtain dirt on them?

Always wondered how a lot of people who opposed the Park administration ended up in jail, were discredited, were fired, underwent tax investigations, and encountered other unfortunate incidents. I suspected illegal wiretaps and worse. 

During the independent parliamentary investigation into President Park's scandals, at least two people testified that they strongly believed that their phones were tapped.  

In addition, the courts have made decisions that were very suspicious. How could they disband an opposition political party? How could they lock up people on hearsay evidence? Yet, for the ruling party members, they get off on technicalities. Opposition members are tried promptly. Ruling party members are tried over several years in order for the publicity to die off, and then found not guilty. 

Now, there are allegations that almost all high level judges and prosecutors were spied on. I strongly believe these allegations and have waited for years for someone to prove them. 

A newspaper editor was fired in order to prevent him from publishing more articles on Chung Yoon-hae (ex-husband of Choi Soon-sil), who was accused of abuse of power and other things. The whistle blowers in this scandal were charged with crimes, and the accusations of power abuse were ruled to be false. Now, it appears that all the accusations were true and the prosecutors failed miserably at their jobs, even assisted in the cover up, willingly or unwillingly. 

Details are in these Korea Times articles: 'EIGHT SECRET FILES' could spell the end

Counsel may look into alleged spying on judges 

The Parliamentary investigations have gone on for days. Yesterday, two Presidential aides were scheduled to appear, but didn't show up. Supposedly, they both submitted leave applications that morning and wrote exactly the same reasons. They are always next to the President, so they know what President Park was doing on April 16, 2014 while the ferry was sinking, and her relationship with Choi Soon-sil. 

We already know that she was awake at 10:30 am, got mouthwash from the clinic, had lunch, did her hair and makeup, and went to the emergency crisis center at 5 pm. What does she have to hide? Why is she blocking people from testifying and blocking investigators from seeing the visitors log and CCTV footage stating national security reasons? If they reveal what happened, the nation will become insecure? They are protecting the nation by hiding the truth?

Must be guilty of something. Or else, why hide and cover up?

Another note. A company that wrote a negative evaluation of a company owned by a Presidential doctor underwent a tax investigation. That same day, the owner's father's company and grandfather's company were also raided by the tax office. The tax investigation went on for 6 months or so and nothing illegal was found.

President Park's administration seems to have operated through terror tactics and use of police and prosecutors for enforcement. I was too scared to write anything before, but now, everyone is writing.

The big business conglomerates say they had give money, because they feared the Park administration. That is true. But it is also true that the big conglomerates are also bullies and have done illegal things before, such as price fixing in bids for government projects, for which President Park issued pardons. The implicated corporations were barred from bidding on government projects. One chairman was found guilty of taking a gang of thugs and beating up a waiter who hit the chairman's son. I think he was also pardoned. Then there is the Samsung vice-chairman, famous in Korea for evading inheritance taxes and other illegalities. These conglomerates receive millions in benefits (tax relief, grants, aid, regulations, etc.) and corrupt government officials receive millions in return. A Samsung lawyer revealed years ago that Samsung gave gifts to almost prosecutors and judges, and that only a few refused the gifts. Samsung was found not guilty.

Emotion + Knowledge = Intuition?

Experience + Logic = Knowledge?
Knowledge + Emotion = Intuition?
Information + Change = Time?

This might take a while...

Korea Demonstrations - 7th Week

Crowds were thinner than last week and I could actually make it to the main stage. Still, there were over 800,000 people in the freezing cold demanding that President Park step down immediately. Many feel that it will take several months for the courts to make a final ruling on the impeachment. They want her out now.

Although news media report the protests as festive, the mood is actually very serious and there is an undercurrent of serious discontent, even though there is some music and other entertainment. 

In the intervals, people go on stage and talk about injustices committed under President Park. From jailing union leaders to killing a farmer by blasting him with full force using a water cannon. No warning., Just blasted him. He ended up in the hospital for a year and died. The doctor wrote heart attack on the death certificate. Many suspect that this was to absolve the police of responsibility in the death. The hospital is also suspected of receiving favors from the Park administration and other funny business. 

Yoon Min-seok's song "This is no f***ing nation" performed in front of over 800,000 at around 9 pm on December 10, 2016 in freezing weather. 

Roughly translated - 

Steo down. Step down.
This is no country. It's a robbers' den for Keun-hye, Soon-sil, and Myung-bak. 
It's heaven for criminals and hell for common citizens.
We can't take any more. 
Steo down. Step down.
Make Park Keun-hye step down, right now. 
Imprison her. Imprison her. 
Lock Park Keun-hye up.
On April 14, 2014, what were you doing for 7 hours, Park Keun hye? 
For the children who died so tragically, we will get revenge. 
(and so on..)

Practicing chants at 8:30 pm just before the main show.



Another video of Yoon Min-seok's song "This is no f***ing nation" performed at a previous protest on November 13, 2016.

Ex-Chef Spills The Beans On President Park

An ex-Presidential chef is probably going to get into trouble with the law for speaking about his experiences in the Presidential compound.  However, after listening to all the lies being told by the Presidential Office and others involved in President Park's scandals, the chef decided to speak to Channel A News.

Ex-Chief Secretary Kim Ki-chun, Presidential Secret Security officers, and other government officials have denied knowing Choi Soon-sil. The ex-chef says that everyone in the Presidential compound knew about Choi Soon-sil. She came in accompanied by a Presidential aide through a separate entrance and treated like VIP. She came in on Sundays, often headed meetings with three Presidential aides (now under arrest), and ate meals there.

He also confirmed a longstanding rumor that President Park hated to be woken up. He said that no one was allowed to report to the President until after a certain time in the morning. No matter what.

The ex-chef said that when the President did not have any official engagements, President Park spent most of her time watching TV in her residence. Even on weekdays, during work hours.

Now that the ex-chef has spoken and seems willing to testify, I am sure there are other lower level working class in the Presidential compound who would be willing to testify, if granted immunity from prosecution for exposing classified information about the President.

The National Assembly is expected to pass the motion to impeach President Park this afternoon.

The ex-chef's revelations just proved the President Park's primary interest was not in working for the nation. I strongly feel that her interests were avoiding work, watching TV, eating, wearing tailored clothes, having her hair and makeup done, commie bashing, and pretending her family contributed to Korea's development.

She left the work of of setting policy and finding capable appointees to Choi Soon-sil.

Is Knowledge Life?

Knowledge is gained through experience, so knowledge coexists with life. Is knowledge life?

If so, then we live forever. If not, then do we exist forever, after we die?

President Park Was Doing Her Hair While The Ferry Sank

After trying for over two and a half years to find out what President Park was doing on the day the Sewol Ferry sank, the media discovered what she was doing for a couple of hours, at least.

She was having her hair and makeup done just before the meeting in the late afternoon with the emergency committee overseeing the rescue efforts.

The Hankyreh: As the Sewol ferry sank, Pres. Park was having her hair done 

Korea Times: Toni&Guy hairdresser may know about '7 missing hours'  

According to reports, the hairdresser and makeup artist go to the Presidential residences at 9:00 am on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. My guess is that President Park only works formally on those days and rests mostly on Wednesdays and weekends.

During the day of the sinking, which was a Wednesday, she was probably sleeping. Could she have been sleeping late and woke up around noon? Then decided to have her hair done before going to the emergency center. Her hair was deliberately slightly messed up according to the hairdresser, in order to make her look not so made up.  

Nothing earth shattering, but it does show a President seriously out of touch with reality. 

Choi Soon-sil helped her find cabinet appointees and run the country. What was the President doing? My guess is watching TV and movies. The Presidential Office had always been very sensitive to negative news, media, movies and other material about the President.