South Korean Olympic Torch Roundup

First, let's cut to the video.  (Sound levels may vary from clip to clip, so you may want to lower your volume before clicking on each link.)

Chinese mob assaults Korean-Americans in a hotel lobby for holding a Tibetan flag.  (According to a written account at Chosun.com, 400 angry Chinese chased them into the building, although only 100 of those managed to follow them inside.)

The two Korean-Americans who were attacked speak.  Class acts, them both.

An American or Canadian woman protesting the treatment of North Korean refugees in China gets more than she bargained for when the Chinese mob swarms forward.

A South Korean TV news account.  A third party added some English captions -- which don't pretend to be evenhanded, but do provide some context.

Another Korean TV news account, sans subtitles.  Incredibly, Chinese diplomat Ning Fukui BRAGS about his handiwork in this one for a few seconds in English.

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Speaking of Ning Fukui, here's how the South Korean cops got taken to the cleaners by the good ambassador:

Korean police acknowledged they had not anticipated such big, wild crowds for Sunday's event, according to Eo Choeng-soo, commissioner general of the National Police Agency.

"We were told by the Chinese ambassador that the Chinese crowd would be about 1,000 to 1,200," Eo said in a press conference yesterday.

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The police estimated about 6,500 Chinese students attended the event.

 

(Would I lie to you?  China's ambassador to South Korea, Ning Fukui.  Image from The Seoul Times)

OK, being misled is one thing, but are Korean cops just COMPLETELY stupid?  From The Marmot's Hole:

Police did, in fact, deploy only 9,300 personnel along the route, much less than the 14,000 cops they deployed during last month's protests against rising university tuitions. A police official said -- sit down for this -- that they thought the Chinese embassy would be able to control the Chinese demonstrators, but it didn't turn out that way. The official added that legal action would be taken against the Chinese they arrested following investigations.

UPDATE: Sorry, I just can't get over that police official.  We thought the Chinese embassy would be able to control the Chinese demonstrators.

Ever wonder what happens when 6,500 foreign students start a political riot at the behest of their government in the capital of another nation?  Visa restrictions, baby.

Call me sympathetic, but diplomatic immunity kind of precludes this one:  South Korean groups vow to sue Chinese ambassador.

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And from the blogs:

A series of photos from the protests in Seoul.

Some background on the new South Korean proposals to tighten the requirements for Chinese student visas following this little display.

So, will the Chinese government issue any apologies for "hurting the feelings of the KOREAN people?"

As I suspected, China's censorship-by-thug on the streets of Seoul is not proving popular among Koreans.  The Chinese government seems to be coming to grips with the P.R. disaster it has made for itself.  Its diplomats, though not quite in a full kowtow position, are offering either an apology or whatever it is that Asian diplomats offer when national pride prevents one . . .

[...]

President Lee, it should be remembered, has made an issue of restoring the public order that Roh had allowed to erode.  If he lets these goon squads escape real punishment, the Korean street will be furious, and rightfully so.  If the South Korean authorities prosecute, the Chinese street will be furious, and it will probably be lost on many of them that doing the same thing in China would likely earn them a stretch in the laogai or a fatal beating in a local police station.  For a day, Seoul became for politically repressed Chinese youth what Tijuana is for sexually repressed American youth.

Finally, a brief summary of the average Chinese perspective of what transpired:

. . .the Chinese Street's version:  "It didn't happen!," and its inbred cousin, "It didn't happen, and you should thank us for not killing you."  The "all we wanted was to throw you a party!" defense is so unintelligent as to evoke more pity than rage (I had no idea censorship was so costly to critical thinking skills).  Those who can at least perceive the futility of denial turn to argumentum ad hominem:  "you're agents provocateurs," and inevitably enough, "running dogs" and  "fetid Jews."

Comments

[STOP Ma]

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Interesting! I didn't hear much from the corporate media about these incidents. Thanks, Foreigner. Shameful and scary behaviour from the Chinese students. It reminds me very much of the KMT shenanigans during many a protest.
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[The Foreigner]

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Heh. Well, that's what they pay me the big bucks for. (Not!)

To be honest, it was Michael Turton's posting of that Aussie report about the torch that motivated me to do the checking for this. There was a case of a story which didn't make the local press, didn't make Drudge, didn't make Instapundit -- but was certainly worth hearing about.

So I began to wonder about what we likewise weren't hearing about when it came to the South Korean story.

[The Foreigner]

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For readers who may not be aware of the Australian report I referred to in that last comment, here's the link:

http://michaelturton.blogspot.com/2008/04/torch-in-oz-priceless-editorial.html

And while I'm at it, I might as well post a related link about a Chinese "sympathy demonstration" in New Zealand:

http://michaelturton.blogspot.com/2008/05/chinese-violence-in-auckland.html