Today is South Korean President Myeong-bak Lee’s 100th day in office, and to mark the occasion 20,000 citizens have descended on central Seoul. The gathering, however, is not a celebration. Far from it. The people have decided that 100 days is long enough, and they’re not about to wait four and two-thirds years for Mr. Lee to finish his term in office. The people have decided that it is time for Mr. Lee and his friends to leave Cheongwadae (official presidential residence or the Blue House).

The controversy started a little over a month ago after the South Korean populace figured out that they were quickly becoming one of America’s favorite beef customers. After all, many Korean dishes use the parts of the cow that Americans prefer not to eat, and the South Korean government happily signed a deal to import beef from cattle including those past the 30 month age limit that other countries, such as Mexico and Japan, have decided pose too great a risk of carrying Mad Cow Disease (BSE).

Mr. Lee’s response to the initial outcry was that people should be happy that he had secured a steady supply of cheap beef, and that if some were put off by the negligible risk of contracting BSE, then, well, they shouldn’t eat it. The constant businessman then went on to remark that the South Korean beef industry should be refashioned based on the Japanese, luxury-priced model.

And that’s where it all began. No matter what long-term merits Mr. Lee’s plans might hold, they struck a very bad chord in the here and now. The protests started, and they haven’t stopped. South Korea’s omnipresent riot police, backed by S.W.A.T. officers, have been called in to do what they do best.

The protesters have long since grabbed the moral high-ground. In scenes repeated day after day, all of which would make Gandhi proud, the protesters have endured random arrests and intimidation, beatings (click and scroll down), and water cannon blasts while maintaining a disciplined campaign of non-violent demonstrations. All of this is happening in perhaps the most technologically savvy country in the world; every baton to the back of the head, each kick to the abdomen of a protester lying on the ground, and all the arrests of peaceful demonstrators are filmed and quickly uploaded onto high-traffic, independent news portals such as OhmyNews where ordinary citizens provide most of the content.

Until recently, President Lee pursued his normal tack when dealing with popular opposition - he didn’t listen. Mr. Lee, by most accounts an authoritarian leader, doesn’t take kindly to disagreement and governs in a way that is reminiscent of one of South Korea’s former presidents, Chung-hee Park.

Now, however, despite early erroneous assessment that opposition to his plans were actually anti-American sentiment, President Lee has started to understand that the protesters are really only angry about one thing, and that is Lee himself.

They have wearied of his constant talk of digging a canal from Seoul to Busan, and they want him to plod more cautiously in his quest to privatize nearly every industry that the government is responsible for running. Other things irk people as well, like his fervent devotion to his church and his tendency to hire people from the congregation to important posts on his staff. President Lee famously gave Seoul to God during his tenure as the city’s mayor prior to being elected head of state.

He is so disliked now that American beef has long since faded from the picture, and now the true controversy is the fact that Mr. Lee is still in office. Ironically, in a case of history repeating itself, Mr. Lee was one of a group of students who marched on the Blue House more than 40 years ago to demand a public dialog with Park. He was arrested for his trouble and served a little less than three months of a five year sentence.