Musical Chairs

On the way home from the football on Sunday we had to go to Gwanghuamun to get our bus. In front of Yi Sunsin's statue there was a massive protest, or so we thought. It was actually about 20 protesters literally swamped by 200-300 riot police. On each corner of the intersection was a row of police in all their gear ready for action. The scene reminded my of the Myrmidons of old.

The game itself was a little disappointing. Behind us were a group of Japanese students chanting "우리는하나다!" along with the Korean crowd in our section. The phrase means "We are one!" and was shouted any time players helped each other during the game.

Lee Myungbak's government is still under siege. The protests are still raging on but the issues have changed from what was primarily beef imports to criticism of nearly every Lee MB policy. The president's solution? Revamp the Blue House PR machine, whose charge among others is cultivating the image of the president.

I was also reading some interesting articles about Korea, by Korean scholars. Basically, and I feel vindicated to hear this from Koreans, North and South Korea's form of government was identical up until 1987. Koreans also regard their country as relatively poor, which is nearly all economic areas is untrue. Perhaps because Korea's progress was so fast, from a ruined battleground to world leader in 40 years, that the Korean mindset has yet to catch up. As usual, attitudes are always the hardest things to change. Once they do change, it's as if someone has turned the lights on in the Louvre where before all one could see were the outlines and shadows of what could be.