Photoblog: Seoul’s Farewell to the “Babo President”

[It’s been almost six months since I last submitted something to OFK, but I’m hoping to be able to write a bit more frequently from now on.  We’ll see.]

In addition to the title “People’s President,” which is being used a lot this week, I learned today that Noh Moo-hyun was called “바보 대통령.”   I’m not so knowledgeable about the man, so that was a bit of a surprise for me to hear at the ceremony for him at City Hall early this afternoon (노제 — a word not in my dictionary — which followed the 영결식 that was attended by all the big-wigs at Gyeong-bok Palace just up the road).

Most of you know what 바보/babo means, but for those who don’t, it literally translates to fool, though it’s tossed around so frequently among friends that it’s often along the lines of calling your friend a dork for doing something silly.  Ie, the term is clearly used with affection here.  Though I suspect there is a back story here.

Begin Update — Friends have since filled me in on Babo Noh Moo-hyun.  He apparently got that nickname before he ever became president — for running as a liberal in races for the National Assembly in districts that were conservative, ie, in races he inevitably lost.  It also was used, now somewhat ironically, to say that he would not be corrupted by the machinations and dealing and corruption that is common if not expected in politicians here.  The thinking was along the lines of only a fool *wouldn’t* go down that road. — End Update
I got to City Hall a bit after 1pm, when things were scheduled to start there.  During the World Cup, it was a sea of red, and this time it was a sea of yellow, the color that represented Mr. Noh.  Many people were wearing card-stock adjumma-style yellow hats that had been handed out, and others were punching yellow balloons in the air.

               
I never did get close to the stage, but you can kind of see the setup here.

For those of you who haven’t been to City Hall recently, you’re probably asking yourself what happened!   They put up a fancy construction facade a month or two ago that goes all the way around the old City Hall and the new one they’re building behind it.

Overall, I thought the ceremony at City Hall was quite powerful (and I assume it was moreso on TV), and it just reinforced to me that Koreans are great at, along with design in general, setting a mood and creating amazing spectacles.  What caught me off guard today in that department were the following two cranes:

I couldn’t figure out what on earth they were doing as they slowly raised the two baskets with men in them.  But then once they were 10-20 meters in the air, the men started throwing what appeared to be ashes into the wind!   The remains of Roh Moo-hyun, the People’s President, drifting amongst his people in Seoul Square!   But I quickly remembered that the cremation was scheduled later in the day.  But still, a powerful sight.

A little later I realized that there had to be a route for the funeral procession, and I wanted to be next to it.  I started to make my way across the street (toward Deok-su Palace), figuring since it must be over that way since it wasn’t on my side of the street.  After a few minutes, I realized it wasn’t there either.  I was quite confused, because the procession was supposed to go to Seoul Station next, and the only logical way was along the road I’d just crossed.  I looked back where I came from and realized a group of people with tall banners were starting to form the procession route — right where I’d been until five minutes ago!

Considering that the procession literally pushed its way through the crowd, it went fairly smoothly, I guess.  But I’m still somewhat astonished they didn’t have the route cleared in advance.  I did manage to get within 5-10 feet of it, and as everyone surged forward and then to the right as it passed, I was jostled every-which way and a few times virtually carried along by the crowd.

Here the first car is approaching and then passing by.

The hearse going by (stills from a bumpy video I took):

         
I’m not sure, but I think the woman with the gloved-hand to her face is Roh’s widow, and the man behind her maybe their son? (see below for a photo of Noh’s family)   A bit before they went by and until a bit after, the amount and intensity of people’s shouting went way up (little of which I understood).

Begin Update — A Korean friend looked at the photos above for me and said it’s not Noh’s family, though the last photo at the bottom of this post correctly identifies his family.  She writes, “The woman in black suit  in the middle is ex-prime minister Han Myung sook–  a very  possible Presidential candidate for the liberal party in the next general election, along with Rhyu Si  min, I think.” — End Update
         
After the procession passed, there were lots of old school vertical banners.

Shifting gears, at first I didn’t see a whole lot in the way of Lee Myeong-bok-bashing, but that was because I hadn’t reached the Deok-su Palace gate yet.  As I was getting ready to go home, I spotted political opportunist central.

This was cool, though a little hippy-esque.

This guy kept yelling that Lee Myeong-bok was the murderer of Noh Moo-hyun while handing out stickers.

And, of course, a petition.  This one read, simply:   이명박 대통령 탄핵소추를 바라는 국민서명운동 (이 서명은 국회에 이명박대통령 탄핵소추를 바라는 국민의 뜻을 전달하기 위한 것입니다.)   Basically, let’s impeach the president.

Here are other photos that may be of interest.  The banner in the second to last photo, under the motto “Don’t kill anyone else,” says there will be a big gathering tomorrow (Saturday) at 4pm here at City Hall.  That event will likely be much more feisty than today’s.

I can’t finish without a word about the police.  Other than lining both sides of the funeral procession, I didn’t see many police the whole time.   As I was leaving, I noticed groups of mostly young officers doing their public service.  Some of them must have been really hot in their fancy robocop gear.

Also, unlike during the World Cup in 2006 or at last year’s beef protests (I only made it to a few of the bigger nights), I saw VERY few — virtually no — non-Koreans for 2.5 hours.  Very unusual nowadays in Seoul.

Notes on the Rest of Today’s Events

Before leaving to go to the City Hall event, I watched part of the TV coverage of the funeral service at Gyeong-bok Palace.

Something that’s being made an issue of is that the day’s events are known as the Citizens’ Funeral (국민장), yet only invited guests were allowed into the palace’s courtyard.  Indeed, as Lee and his wife paid their respects, there was shouting in the background, though nothing was visible on the screen.  Presumably it came from outside the gates.

Sunshine/Sunflower Policy architect Kim Dae-Jung was in a wheelchair, though he got up and with a bit of help slowly walked to the altar.  I realized this was maybe the first I’d seen of him since arriving in Korea a few years ago.  I hadn’t realized the state of his health.

Along with Kathleen Stephens, Victor Cha and a handful of others were in the US delegation.

Buddhist monks, a protestant minister, a Catholic priest, as well as a nun choir, all participated in the ceremony.

The flag, instead of being at half-mast, was flying about one flag-height below the top of the pole.

Right before dinner, I turned on the TV briefly and saw Noh’s casket being taken into the crematorium in Suwon.  As with the pallbearers in Noh’s hometown this morning, the pallbearers were wearing face masks more normally associated with yellow-sand and swine flu.  This completely goes against what I was saying about Koreans being good at creating spectacles! (er, good ones, anyway)

I’m pretty sure this is Noh’s immediate family:

Notes on Korean Reactions
As to what the average Korean makes of this week’s events, I don’t have a very big sample size to go on.  Certainly, Noh’s popularity is skyrocketing compared to what it had been at the end of his presidency.  Will this week’s events permanently resurrect Noh’s image in South Korea?  Though it’s certainly a big start, I’m not so sure, we’ll have to see.

At breakfast this morning, I briefly talked to a couple of the Korean Yonsei college students in my boarding house.  When I asked them if they were going to the funeral, they said they had to go to class.  What a change in Korean society from the 1980s, the decade of student protests when students rarely went to class — at least
according to pop-lore here.  One of them then said, “Oh, but I do like him.”  I’m not so sure he’d have said that a week ago.

I also emailed back and forth a few times today with a Korean friend and recent college graduate — she said she was watching all the coverage on TV, in addition to having gone outside her office to see the procession pass by on its way to Gyeongbok Palace.  So I think it’s safe to say the nation is quite focused on what’s going on.  Much more than on the nuclear test, and, as usual, on things like this.

I’d be interested to hear what others think about Koreans’ reactions to this week’s events.