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It¡¯s been a month and a half since the candlelight vigils started and it¡¯s been more than 20 days that downtown Seoul has been paralyzed almost every day due to street demonstrations. Over that time, the Korean and U.S. governments have begun additional talks over beef imports. The prime minister and entire Cabinet plus presidential secretaries have tendered their resignations as well.
But the People's Association for Measures Against Mad Cow Disease says it will continue protest rallies by shifting the issues from fears over mad cow disease to opposition to privatization, educational reform, changes to public broadcasters and the cross-Korea canal.
In reality, over this time, the forces leading the candlelight vigils have changed from housewives and other ordinary citizens who came out to express genuine fears over the health of their family members to the usual suspects representing Korea¡¯s far-left, who appear at every anti-American event from those demanding the dismantling of the MacArthur statue in Incheon to the ouster of U.S. troops in Korea. Also leading the candlelight vigils now is the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, especially members working in state-run companies, who have vowed to protest until their country collapses. Some inexperienced university students who are the descendents of Hanchongryon, the militant student group, have also come to lead the protests.
The PAMAMCD felt it reached a limit in terms of how many people it can draw with mad cow disease fears, so it added these new factions and thereby showed its true colors.
The proposed bill to reform Korea¡¯s laws on medical services has nothing to do with privatization. The privatization of state-run companies is necessary, because taxpayers can no longer pay for their deficits. Educational reform and autonomy are a global trend that Korea has belatedly been able to pursue with the aim of enhancing the competitiveness of the country¡¯s education system. The ringleaders of the candlelight vigils will not give a penny to KBS, which has amassed a W150 billion (US$1=W1,024) deficit over the past five years. And privatizing the waterworks is something the government is busy retracting due to public uproar.
The PAMAMCD is said to be busy changing its name. That¡¯s because ¡°mad cow disease¡± now sits awkwardly with its new goal to oust the Lee Myung-bak administration. Now that its true colors have been revealed, it should not simply stop there but fold the organization altogether.
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