A Japanese flag on Liberation Day? This reveals so much about the political forces behind these ill conceived far right tactics, which are so out of step with modern Korean trends. So too, with the banners lionizing dictators Syngmun Rhee and Park Chung-hee, proxies for the US and Japan respectively.
So one dumb judge let the right wing demagogue "pastor," Jeon Gwang-hun, out of jail on bail on the condition he not engage in political assemblies, and another dumb judge granted a permit for the Ilpa Mapa patriots group to assemble as long as they stayed on the sidewalk and limited their group to one hundred persons. It's estimated that approximately twenty thousand persons showed up for the anti- Moon Jae-in, anti April 15 election results demonstrations. The crowds simply disregarded the barricades. 30 persons were reported arrested so far in confrontations with police. The police are gathering evidence at the scene and will be pursuing all law violators. Jeon himself violated the conditions of release on bail. He also violated the quarantine restriction on him as a known contact of covid 19 cases from his church. Additionally, at least one news report indicates from anonymous sources that a pastor associated with Jeon's church encouraged church members to avoid quarantine tracking by shutting their phone off. In another case, another church member showing signs of covid 19 was told not to go to a public health center. The penalty for violating quarantine conditions is a 10 million won fine and up to a year in jail. It is expected that Jeon will be arrested.
Jeon claimed among other wild accusations that President Moon released the corona virus on his church. He said Moon was damaging the alliance with the US and making the South Korean people vulnerable to another invasion by North Korea. He demanded Moon apologize to the people and remove himself from office. He also, in a carefully worded threat, implored the President not to "commit suicide" as had former President Noh Mu-hyun and the recently deceased Mayor of Seoul, Park Won-soon. This shows the coordinated nature of the demonstrations and the politically motivated prosecutions of prominent democratic politicians and progressive activists. Interestingly enough, there was a chiron on the youtube production associated with the demonstration and Jeon's speech calling for donations in English that could be made to through the Wells Fargo Bank. Jeon's speech was translated into English for the benefit of his supporters in the US, evidently. The demonstrations are continuing.
This is an earlier report from August 15:
Right wing demonstrations in Seoul during covid 19 upsurge
There is a confirmed cluster of covid-19 cases associated with Jeon Gwang-hun's Love First Church, so at least two congregations, one in Seoul and one in Chuncheong have been closed by government order for two weeks. Pastor Jeon claims the outbreak is the result of a virus "terror" plot. While Jeon is not on the list of 115 newly infected cases of covid 19 in his church, he is violating the government order to quarantine as a known contact.
He publicly stated in Seoul this morning on a stage at the demonstration that he would not comply with government quarantine measures. There have been a total of 155 cases documented at his church thus far. Seoul and Gyeongido are undergoing a resurgence of covid 19 cases in last few days. Over 150 new cases were reported by JTBC this morning. The right wing christian evangelical demonstrations aimed at removing the democratic Moon Jae-in government are taking place at critical moment which may decide the future of the epidemic in South Korea. Jeon's church and movement are beginning to look like the Shincheonji cult on steroids.
Police are said to be collecting all possible evidence with a view to later charges against demonstrators who are in violation of the prohibition on large public assemblies in Seoul and other health code restrictions. Video shows many police with cameras for filming demonstrators and a few physical confrontations where the police are apparently asking individual demonstrators to identify themselves.
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