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by Christian/Base21 Media Activist
dvs-b@t-online.de

Last Saturday, thousands of Koreans from all walks of life marched to Jongmyo Park in downtown Seoul after a rally in Daehang-no to express their outrage against the non-guilty verdict of the two U.S. soldiers who were involved in a deadly incident that took the lives of two Korean schoolgirls. Activists, religious groups, and politicians accused the U.S. military of a one-sided trial and have demanded a new trial as well as the revision or the abolishment of the SOFA, which allows U.S. soldiers who commit crimes such as the one that occured near Camp Casey on June 13th to be tried in a U.S. military court.

Riot police blocked the march from surging forward to the park. During a twenty minute scuffle, cops used teargas and pepper spray to deter the protestors. Demonstrators regrouped and marched around the police, and eventually occupied Jong-no, a large downtown street.

The large demonstration, again numbering in the thousands and mainly containing youth, marched in the direction of the U.S. embassy. Before the intersection to Gwanghwamun Avenue, hundreds more demonstrators, who were holding a candle-lit vigil, applauded the incoming group and joined the march. Near the U.S. embassy, thousands of riot cops again blocked the rally from moving forward. After two hours of violent struggle with the cops, demonstrators occupied more than 50 meters of the street.

Even though they failed to reach the embassy, they showed a strong, determined willingness to drive out the U.S. military from Korea. Many demonstrators said, "How do we change the SOFA? We have have to kick out the U.S. troops out from the Korean peninsula!"

According to the Korea Times on December 2, 16 other South Korean cities held anti-U.S. military demonstrations on the same day, demanding the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Korea.

The Korea Times also reported that at a public park a block from the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, 20 Roman Catholic priests continued a hunger protest for a second day Tuesday. They plan to only drink water and eat salt for nine days to protest the acquittals.

Activists plan another large-scale rally next Saturday.