South Koreans confront U.S. over military base

Protesters battle police.

Some 12,000 residents of Pyeongtaek, South Korea, joined with farmers and anti-war activists from all over the country July 10 to protest U.S. plans to expand Camp Humphrey, a nearby U.S. military base. Over 200 people were hospitalized following a brutal attack from thousands of riot police. Hundreds of demonstrators were arrested.

Protesters oppose U.S. base.

Photos released by the demonstration´s organizers show women and even high-school-age children from Pyeongtaek trying to physically stop some of the 6,000 police from entering their village. This courage in the face of much superior forces and arms was itself proof of broad popular support for the movement. Young demonstrators carrying bamboo sticks also fought police wielding heavy batons.

Representatives from Korean Democratic Labor Party.

After a rally protesting the U.S. military´s plan to expand its base, thousands formed a human chain surrounding Camp Humphrey. Some demonstrators cut wires and pulled down parts of the fence surrounding the base. Among the protesters was a large delegation from the Korean Democratic Labor Party.

Everyone joined the protest.

The July 10 action is part of a year-long concentrated effort among Koreans to “Get U.S. bases out of Korea in 2005,’ a campaign enormously popular among ordinary South Koreans. This year is the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Korea from Japanese rule, the 55th anniversary of the Korean War, a bloody conflict in which the U.S. sent hundreds of thousands of troops to Korea in a failed attempt to overthrow the socialist government in North Korea, and the 25th anniversary of the Gwangju Uprising, when residents of Gwangju, South Korea, fought heroically against the military government there before being massacred.

The demonstrators´ statement explained the context of current developments in South Korea: “As part of the U.S. military´s strategic global realignment plan, the role of the U.S. military in South Korea now encompasses all of East Asia. To support its new military role, the U.S. military plans to expand its bases in South Korea in addition to building a number of Patriot Missile Bases along the west coast of South Korea targeting China.’
  
Pyeongtaek´s residents have struggled against the U.S. military base as well as this unilateral base expansion, which would grab up their farmlands.  For 310 days before July 10, they held candlelight vigils calling for “No base expansion! U.S. troops out of Korea!’ and “No Korean war!’

“As part of the agreement signed by South Korea and U.S., purchase of the land has to be concluded by end of the year and the Pyeongtaek residents and people in South Korea are engaged in all-out struggle against this plan,’ reads their statement.

On May 15 over 15,000 South Koreans had protested against the planned U.S. Patriot missile bases. The overall mobilization will continue throughout the year.