SEOUL LETTER:RIOT POLICE are out on the streets of Seoul again, but it's a far cry from the bad old days of the 1980s when the autocratic government took on democracy activists in pitched battles marked by tear gas and baton charges, writes Clifford Coonan
Police line up their riot shields in case anger with President Lee Myung-bak’s government spills over into major protests. This time, many in South Korea are irate that a popular blogger known as Minerva has been detained on charges that he spread false economic information on the internet.
The case has drawn heated debate over freedom of speech and become another headache for Lee’s increasingly unpopular government.
These days, South Korea is Asia’s fourth-largest economy and one of the continent’s few democracies, as well as being one of its most sophisticated.
Protests take place regularly, albeit without the rancour of the 1980s. But how the government handles this particular case is being seen as a test of the substance of the country’s democracy. The economy has been badly hit by the global recession and, as a major exporter, its reputation is vital.
Democracy in South Korea was hard won – 1.5 million South Korean troops and civilians were killed in the 1950-1953 Korean War with the North – and it is in the entire region’s interests that South Korea maintains that stability.
Just how difficult it was to move to democracy against a backdrop of stalemate with North Korea was evident from the tight security I witnessed during a visit to the president’s office, Cheong Wa Dae, in downtown Seoul.
On January 21st, 1968, 31 North Korean commandos walked undetected for 64km (40 miles) from the border to the mountain behind the palace, where they descended into the compound to assassinate then president Park Chung-hee. South Korean security forces repelled the assault, but nerves were rattled.
North Korea remains an issue for those in South Korea much in the way that the Troubles in Northern Ireland were an issue for people in the Republic during the 1980s. People are aware of their cousins north of the border and of the strained political situation, particularly when it comes to the country’s nuclear ambitions, but North Korea doesn’t really have an impact on day-to-day existence in South Korea.
The capital, Seoul, is a pleasant city, with great food and friendly people – a less stressful version of Tokyo. Indeed, it has ambitions to give the Japanese capital a run for its money as an east Asian tourist destination.
Lee is a former building industry boss who swept to power in a landslide election win in November 2007 on an economic reform ticket. As a student, he was a democracy activist and served six months in Seodaemun prison in Seoul for “instigating rebellion”.
With his record as a student activist precluding him from a more high-ranking position in industry, he joined Hyundai Construction as a salaryman, but worked his way up to the top, earning the nickname “the Bulldozer”. He then became mayor of Seoul before his election as a successor to former South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun.
But since Lee was sworn in as president in March last year, his rule has been dogged by controversies. Within weeks of his appointment, the country was thrown into political crisis after the cabinet offered to resign over an unpopular deal to allow US beef imports. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets to protest against the president.
The decision to prosecute Minerva has angered human-rights groups, who fear freedom of speech is being undermined. The blogger, identified only by his surname, Park, became prominent because some of his gloomier predictions about the global economy, including the collapse of Lehman Brothers, proved accurate.
He is accused of spreading false information on an internet discussion site that the government had ordered major financial institutions and trade businesses not to purchase US dollars.
South Korea prides itself on its high-tech credentials. It is an IT manufacturing centre, so any efforts to control free speech on the internet could undermine a key pillar of economic growth.
The rights group Lawyers for a Democratic Society has called for Park’s release, accusing the government of intolerance and urging the prosecution to stop its investigation. The opposition Democratic Party expressed disappointment over the arrest.
The law used in the Minerva case has been applied on three previous occasions, with two convictions for spreading false information about police brutality to encourage people to riot, and one for falsely saying school was out on holiday.
The government’s problems are a major headache for Lee, but the fact that South Korea is able to absorb waves of protest, and that there is an open debate on the Minerva case, is a sign of a healthy democracy at work.
Most South Koreans hope the case is resolved in a way that proves to the world that this vibrant, ambitious country has moved on from the bad old days.