[This article is a follow-up to last week’s “South Korean Protesters Call for President’s Resignation”.]

South Korean President Lee Myeong-bak’s approval rating now stands at 16%.

The people want change. True, this president was sworn in only a little over a hundred days ago, but they want change again. Serves them right for not voting in the first place.

But the protests of 2008 aren’t the protests of yesterday. These protests are being maintained by the well-connected community of regular people that surf the Internet every day (also known as netizens). More on that later.

The sorry press

BSE was the tinder for this blaze, but this issue has been in the public conscious for a while. The Chosun Ilbo (newspaper), one of the conservative stalwarts of the Korean press, has supported Lee Myeong-bak on an issue that it used to harass his liberal predecessor, President No Mu-hyeon, to no end about. The Chosun has consistently been first in line to back the assertions of the president and has breathlessly vouched for the safety of American beef. The paper has been boycotted for its well-documented hypocrisy.

In retaliation, many companies canceled their subscriptions to the newspaper. But the people that influenced these decisions quickly figured out that subscriptions weren’t the best way to force the newspaper into covering the controversy from a more neutral stance. They approached the companies that buy ad space in the Chosun, and threatened to discontinue use of their services if they didn’t pull their ads. Many of the companies complied.

The Chosun finally apologized for not taking the citizens concerns seriously, and they called on President Lee’s family to eat American beef every day for a year to prove its safety (not that vCJD kicks in that quickly, but who’s counting?), but the damage had already been done. Citizens have continued to shun the Chosun as pictures from the newspaper’s cafeteria hit the Internet showing large signs stating the safety of the beef that it serves. Despite its routine proclamations that US beef is perfectly safe, the beef served in Chosun Ilbo’s own cafeterias is 100% Australian.

The new protest medium

The Internet is the master of these proceedings. These days people are flocking to discuss their opinions on Agora, a section that can be found on the Korean Internet portal, Daum. The South Korean citizenry, an incredibly web-savvy people, congregate daily on-line to post demonstration updates, share stories, and put an impressively light-hearted spin on the month-long protests that have emptied universities and turned the nation’s political establishment on its ear. However, this didn’t start with university students and 30-something company workers.

All this began with the children. The junior high school and high school students got this off the ground. They were roundly criticized by the media, but older members of society started to show up to help them out. Korea is a country with a long history of civil disobedience and social activism, so the older generations are well-versed in riot police tactics. They have been integral in helping to maintain the non-violent atmosphere that has governed the vast majority of protests. Many from the older generations are former riot police themselves, and they know all about how the police will try to turn the situation to their advantage.

The advantage comes if and when large-scale violence breaks out.

Police tactics revealed

The older protesters have told the teenagers and twenty-somethings to be on the lookout for “purakchi” (a Russian loan-word meaning instigators/spies) that are sent by police into the protesters’ ranks. They attempt to take control of the volatile group mentality that pervades most demonstrations. They often shout things like, “We should attack them!” or “Kill them!” and try to get protesters to mindlessly commit to a battle with police. Rather than falling for the trap, the kids have taken to snapping photos of the infiltrators.

The sage advice of the experienced, sometimes referred to as necktie troops because they show up after work, also appears regularly on the Internet. A few nights ago there was a message warning protesters not to go near the large transport containers that the military lined up to block protest routes. It was noticed that the containers are covered in grease. They quickly posted notices on the web warning that purakchi might try to get people to light the greased canisters on fire, “Don’t let that happen because then all of our work (non-violent protests) will be lost”. Word quickly spread via the Internet, and the containers, aside from some humorous graffiti and banners commemorating the blockade as Korea’s newest World Heritage Site, have remained untouched.

Instead of fighting police tactics, such as mass arrests, the citizens of Seoul have embraced them. Whereas arrests were at first feared, now protesters have dubbed the journey to police headquarters in the caged buses “dalkjangcha tueo” (chicken cage bus tours), and they take pictures of the occasion and post them on their personal blogs.

And guess who else showed up?

The people who show up are truly from all walks of life. Some are “yebigun“, or former soldiers, that wear their old uniforms and masks to man the front lines. They lock arms and act as cushions against the riot police. They claim that they are protecting both sides by separating them. Needless to say, they’ve taken a lot of physical abuse and have therefore attained an elevated level of respect amongst netizens.

Meanwhile, the president can’t seem to do anything right. Everything that President Lee has done or said recently angers yet another cross-section of society. A new group that has appeared on the scene is the “yumocha“, or baby-stroller moms, that arrive with their children in tow.

Lawyers have also chimed in to advise citizens of their rights in the face of arrest. They have reminded them what they can do (the right to remain silent), and what they can’t (resist arrest). The police have reportedly been hamstrung by a sudden increase in silent detainees that have been brought to local police offices.

Those who can’t directly participate, such as Koreans living overseas, have sent donations to help pay for food and water for the protesters. University students have come together to form “Kimbab Daehakkyo” (Kimbap University) which specializes in distributing the donated food.

President scrambles to recover

The government is feeling the heat. Minister of Agriculture, Forest, and Fisheries, Jeong Un-cheon, offered himself up as a sacrifice a couple of days ago, literally, when he confronted the several hundred thousand-strong contingent of marchers this evening. Many saw it as a bold, yet largely dramatic act. President Lee, for his part, has extended an olive branch to his parliamentary adversaries to help stem the flow of support. The president’s cabinet has also signaled its desire to resign to help alleviate some of the pressure felt by South Korea’s head of state.

A similar wave of protests gripped Seoul in 1987. Protesters threw soju-bottle firebombs and brandished metal pipes. Even though many parallels can be drawn between the protests of 1987 and 2008, this year, fortunately, citizens have opted for candles and peaceful demonstrations.