[Buddha-l] Perhaps the Buddhists in Korea have finally had it?

[jkirk]

The behavior of the cops and the Korean political leadership in
this matter is a clear representation of the power of Confucian
ideals of obedience to authority, perhaps the last of the
confucian ideals to go under modernity (since it serves state
interests so well). Confucianism was never a religion per se. It
was a prescriptive life-way which was promulgated and sternly
enforced under various dynasties because it served the cause of
law and order so well. By the standards of today's modernity,  or
of universal human rights (if one accepts their universality), it
was exceedingly abusive of women, children, and of anyone thought
to have engaged in lese majeste (the only survival of which _law_
today is in Thailand).
Joanna
===========================================


*Police Should Improve Methods to Deal With Protesters *The Korea
Times 10-08-2008

Amid the financial turmoil sweeping the world, the candlelight
vigils that protested against U.S. beef imports here seem almost
forgotten.

But some organizers of the two-month-long street protests are
still using a major Buddhist temple as a sanctuary from the
police, causing debates on the legality of popular demonstrations
as well as the moral justification of law enforcement authorities
clamping down on them.

Amnesty International's report on this matter released Monday is
therefore a timely reminder of how the law enforcement officers
of a self-claimed advanced democracy should have acted in those
situations ― and how the Korean police failed to do so.

The report called for police to ``refrain from excessive use of
force'' 
and improve rules regarding the riot police's allocation,
training and use of force to meet international standards.

This seems to be a correct observation, considering there have
been controversies on the police's use of water cannons,
liquefied tear gas and undue physical force, which led to the
fractured bones and broken noses of demonstrators, including
women. It is the first time the human rights body made an
official report on specific issues involving Korea, showing how
seriously it considers the issue.

Government officials are refuting, not without reasons, the AI
report as one-sided and favoring protesters, while failing to
look at the harm caused on ordinary citizens and police. But
justice in this regard has already been fully meted ― if not
overly done ― with the police and prosecution investigating all
organizations and individuals thought to have led the rallies,
including civic groups, Web site operators, army reservists,
teenagers in school uniforms and even women pushing baby
carriages.

Most pitiable ― or rather comical ― was the summoning of three of
those young mothers under the probable suspicion of using their
own babies as shields. Even the governing Grand National Party
criticized this absurd act as ``a show of excessive loyalty" (to
President Lee Myung-bak).

It did not take long, however, for politicians to realize that
the police chief actually understood the President's intention
far better than party allies. Asked by opposition lawmakers to
show leniency to the protest organizers, Lee made a rather
irrelevant response, saying, ``Mothers should not be allowed to
carry their babies to street rallies. 
This is equivalent to a violation of the 'Child Protection Law.'"
People could hardly believe their ears. Bringing babies to
protests was the best expression of will to engage in peaceful
rallies as well as a symbolic gesture that everything was for the
next generation. Might the President have cited the ``Child
Desertion Law" had they left their babies at home?

Such was the mentality behind what is seen as the political
vendetta against organizers of the candlelight protests, which
heated the southern half of the Korean Peninsula for two months
in early summer, during which the President had to twice
apologize for his mistakes.

This is no time for settling scores with anti-government
protesters, nor to attempt to track down dissidents on- and
off-line. Rather it is time to make the nation into one, with
all-embracing moves and gestures if for no other purpose than
tiding over the economic difficulties.

The AI report says in conclusion, ``The Korean government should
revise laws to allow the people to exercise their rights to
peacefully gather and express their views with no fears."

[link:
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2008/10/202_32363.htm
l ]

Curt
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