U.S. Ambassador Speaks at Yonsei University

Speaking of enemy territory, Yonsei University has recently gained a reputation as being one of Seoul’s more violent protest venues. As a soldier, not knowing this, I walked all over the area in search of Ewha girls and never ran into any trouble, but then again, I wasn’t there to talk politics. U.S. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow was:

Around a dozen students who said they were the student organization of the left-leaning Democratic Labor Party staged a protest outside the hall. One held a placard that read, “Alexander, do you dare say we are ‘friends’?”

Vershbow, who has no working experience in Korea, said some people warned him in advance of radical Korean students. But he said once he met them, he found they respect diversity and are capable of making up their own mind. He added he was aware of how movements led by Korean students contributed to the country’s democratization.

Kudos to Vershbow for having the vision and guts to do this. The man is going to turn me into a fan, particularly if he keeps talking like this:

Vershbow reiterated several times that North Korea’s human rights problem must be addressed alongside the nuclear dispute. The envoy said “many efforts” were being made to include Korean in a visa waiver program, which was brought up at the Korea-U.S. summit on Nov.17, but this would take time.

It would have been nice of the Chosun Ilbo to give us more specifics about what he really said, but what’s encouraging is that someone is taking on the Fronks, right on their home turf. I wonder if the riot police broke with tradition and actually entered the campus grounds. Either way, I bet the place had more than its usual armed camp look.

Vershbow also had some interesting comments on Seoul’s Iraq announcement, which you can read for yourself.