Sunday, January 10, 2010

The Yongsan Tragedy


Yesterday, thousands of people turned out in downtown Seoul for a funeral that took nearly a year to happen. The story goes back to January 19, 2009, when a group of protesters took over a building set for demolition in the Yongsan district of Seoul. They were protesting the city's policy of redevelopment and the forced eviction of tenants, which had been (and still is) affecting people all over the city. Early the next morning, police raided the building to root out the protesters and somehow, during the clash, a fire broke out on the roof, killing five of the protesters and one SWAT officer. It's still not clear who or what caused the fire.

The families of the protesters who died vowed not to bury their loved ones until they received an apology from the government and proper compensation for the deaths. The bodies of the five men would remain in a hospital freezer until then. Meanwhile, as months went by, the families and their supporters created a kind of permanent protest vigil at the site of the tragedy. I visited the building a few days ago and found a kind of base camp of protesters -- they huddled around gas stoves for warmth, had piles of blankets and sleeping mats for spending the night, and even a kitchen (which was in full swing) to feed the coalition.


Finally, just before the end of the year, the families reached a settlement with the developer, and Korea's prime minister issued an official apology on behalf of the government. This paved the way for the funeral to be held, nearly a year after the protesters' deaths.

It's been interesting to see how yesterday's event has played out in the Korean media. The three major newspapers here form a triumverate that people refer to as the ChoJoongDong (조중동), short for the Chosun, Joongang, and Dong-a newspapers. They're often criticized for being stolidly conservative and government-friendly. This was plainly shown on their websites over the last 24 hours. While the more progressive newspapers here made the Yongsan funeral their top featured story -- complete with running coverage of the procession and editorials -- the ChoJoongDong gave the event very little play over the course of the day, sticking it on their front page maybe for a few hours only to bury it with the rest of their news soon after.

The Korean government has been trying hard to move past this event ever since it happened, and it looks as if they may have, if not already, succeeded. The public outcry, in spite of the large turnout at the funeral, seems to have dwindled to near indifference at this point, and redevelopment projects throughout the city, including in Yongsan, continue to be pushed forward. It'll be interesting to see how significant the one-year anniversary of the Yongsan tragedy turns out to be on January 20. It could either signal the real beginning, or the end, of the movement.


For anyone interested in learning more, a group of people put together a fantastic documentary about the Yongsan tragedy that I've posted below. This is part one. Full video can be downloaded here.

1 comment:

  1. Very interesting story! Did you report on it on air?

    ReplyDelete