Shine Your Candles on North Korea

Anti-demonstration protesters. The woman's sign reads "Shine
Your Candles on North Korea", the man's says "No no demo."

South Koreans continue to turn out in the thousands to protest imports of American beef while 40 kilometers to the north, North Koreans struggle to eat.

On Saturday, about 300 protesters opposed to the on-going anti-Lee Myung Bak candlelight demonstrations rallied at the headwaters of the Cheonggye Stream. At City Hall, about 50,000 people protested U.S. beef imports, in the second-largest demonstration over the past two months.

Eun Joo-Kim, a North Korean who defected to Seoul in 2002, was visibly upset when she spoke about the groups protesting American beef.

“North Koreans don’t have food, and here in South Korea they’re saying ‘which beef is better,’” Kim said.

Riot police divided the counter-protest group from the anti-President Lee Myung Bak protesters. At one point the two groups faced each other, both sides holding up signs. The anti-Lee protesters’ signs read “Lee Myung Back Out” while the counter-protesters’ read “Shine Your Candles On North Korea.” They yelled back and forth but no physical conflict arose.

A week ago, 37,000 tons of wheat arrived in North Korea, the first of 500,000 tons of food aid promised by the United States, according to the World Food Program.

At a stage set up the Cheonggye Stream, a North Korean defector spoke to the crowd about a man he met in prison who cannibalized a woman for lack of food. Next to the stage a big-screen television showed videos of recent protest violence.

The anti-Lee protests have grown increasingly more violent. Videos and photographs of assaults on protesters and police have circulated on the internet.

John Yim, a Korean who recently returned from living in California for six years, said he ate a lot of “galbi,” or barbecued ribs, in America and he misses American beef. He spoke against the economic effect of the protests and violence against the police.

Nick Chiassoa, an American English teacher in Gangwan Province, expressed sympathy for the riot police and disdain for the economic ramifications of the protests.

“(The anti-Lee groups) have a right to protest, but they don’t have a right to cripple the city’s infrastructure,” he said.

Separately, an international non-profit organization operating out of Washington, D.C. marched for human rights in North Korea. The group of about 30 South Koreans, North Koreans, Korean Americans and expatriates, all clad in black, held a mock funeral to “ask the South Korean people to help raise awareness for the sufferings of the North Korean people.”

Adrian Hong, director of the organization, said South Korea’s concerns about beef are valid but that he would rather see them putting their energy into the human rights situation in North Korea.