ANTI-AMERICAN PROTEST AT YONGSAN POST & US EMBASSY, 29 MAY

Following the anti-North Korean rally on Friday, where the older generation called for a stronger ROK-U.S. alliance, South Korean students protested the presence of the U.S. military on the peninsula:

Thousands of South Korean students rallying Sunday against the U.S. military’s five-decade presence clashed with police after trying to enter the American base, and at least 12 people were injured and more than 20 were arrested. Demonstrators marched through Seoul before attempting to enter the main Yongsan U.S. military base in the city center. They called for the withdrawal of the 32,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War. Demonstrators also gathered near the U.S. Embassy in downtown Seoul demanding talks with the ambassador.

If South Korean students mellow with age – like the anti-establishment American students of the 1960s have done – the longterm stability of the Korean Peninsula has a chance. If not, incompetent administrations (like the current one) will continue to allow a wedge to be driven between South Korea and the U.S.