Secret Service Guards Tackle Norbert at U.S. Embassy

Since one of the AP reporters in Seoul seems to have a well developed sense of irony, I’ll let him or her tell what happened at Condi Rice’s press conference at the U.S. Embassy there yesterday:

Earlier Sunday, Rice extolled the virtues of free and open societies at a news conference with Internet journalists, after security guards wrestled a man to ground as he loudly called for American intervention to free the communist North.

“Miss Rice, the North Korean people are dying and they are crying for your help,” yelled the activist, German physician and former aid worker Norbert Vollertsen. He held up a poster that read, “Freedom for North Korea: 50 Years Overdue,” until an embassy employee ripped it in half.

As Rice took her seat for the conference, security officers were literally muffling Vollertsen as they wrestled him to the floor. He had talked his way into the media gathering before Rice arrived, but an embassy public affairs officer recognized him at the last moment and demanded he be removed.

Speaking to that group, Rice described true democracy as the ability to “say what you wish, worship as you please and educate your children.”

In contrast to the closed society of North Korea, Rice said, “you can come here and think what you want and ask me anything — the United States secretary of state — and what a wonderful thing that is.”

So, umm, Condi, how long have you been tone deaf?

The Yonhap version differs in a number of details and quotes Norbert as saying that the secret service guys kicked him and stuffed their fingers in his mouth.

Several observations here, beginning with the fact that two weeks ago, it could have been me. More significantly, just why was it necessary for the secret service boys to tackle Norbert, clamp their hands over his mouth, kick him, or rip his sign in half–assuming these reports are even halfway accurate? Or for the “public affairs” guy to (warning: third-hand info) point Norbert out to the Secret Service boys as “this asshole?” I expect that kind of behavior from China or South Korea. Yes, it’s a U.S. Embassy, and you have to make these places secure, but you’d think that given the choice, the security gate would have been a better place to intercept the most recognizable man in Korea (clue: he’s the one with the huge sign!) than in the middle of a press conference. Anyone who has ever been to that embassy knows what a fortress it is. Instead, our embassy’s public affairs officer had to spot him and sic the thugs on him in front of a hundred journos. Well done with those public relations, guys. This would be a good time to ask for that raise.

No, Norbert certainly wasn’t acting as a reporter there. He most likely intended to make his scene and get hauled away to bring attention to a worthy cause. I salute his willingness to put up with this B.S. for the sake of others. Normally, the way this game works is that–unless you get violent, and there’s no indication that happened here–the nice men in the dark blue suits take you by the arms, fold up your sign, and firmly but politely escort you from the room, question you about what the hell you were doing, and release you. Those are the rules of the game by which citizens protest and the government communicates to the public without allowing a “heckler’s veto.”

No wonder our image needs work. Just look at the incompetence of the people whose job it is to burnish it.