Fighting Irrational Fear

Activism in South Korea is, like every other nation, is a tough business as there are myriad of causes grabbing people’s attention.  But only in South Korea can one of the dumbest “issue” ever conceived be the most popular

Committee for Democratization of North Korea President Hwang Jang Yop has criticized the “candle light demonstrations,” which have been going on for over 2 months in the center of Seoul against imports of U.S. beef, as nothing but the “dictatorship of the masses.”

Hwang Jang Yop released a statement on the 2nd to encourage “the citizens’ alliance against illegal candle light demonstrations,” saying that “There are now two kinds of dictatorship on the Korean Peninsula. The first one is North Korea’s dictatorship that destroys even third generation seeds of resistance; a state dictatorship. And, the other is the South Korean one, the dictatorship of the masses, ruled by the leftists who previously fell under the spell of North Korean propaganda.”

He pointed out that, “From my perspective, which has witnessed both systems, North Korea’s state dictatorship is similar to the South Korean masses’ candlelight one. While the national principle is the Juche Ideology, the South Korean principle is ‘against mad cow disease,’ which was stimulated by anti-Americanism. While the command group in North Korea is the National Defense Commission, South Korea’s leading group is the faction of pro-North Koreans and the followers of Kim Jong Il, the so-called ‘progressive leftist group.’”

Unfortunately, one common tactic that propels any issue to the top is to turn violent. It’s embarrassing stunts like the anti-beef protests that make me wonder if North Korean human rights can be serve better if we withdrew from South Korea.

After all, the issue is too important to rely on people hooked on the latest leftist cause.