So, America and South Korea signed their Free Trade Agreement today. As promised, hundreds of people are protesting all over the city. This pics are from the protest in Myeongdong. From my limited Korean, I think the main concerns are the increased availability of American produce [worries about the Korean farming industry], American beef [considered in general to be low quality and unclean... huge protests about this back in 2008] and the building of nuclear power plants [arousing fear of N. Korean aggression]. Before the official signing of the agreement, there were signs all over Seoul in Korean, English, and Japanese reminding everyone that the Korean war ended with a cease fire and that the war could restart at any point. Many Korean people think that the Korean War will be restarted at some point, it's just a matter of when.
The president is REALLY unfavorable right now (his popularity has been in a steady decline for a little while now), because he's perceived as being too pro-American.
It was crazy. Mob police were everywhere. My friend and I were there in Myeongdong and the anti-American tension was fierce. I wasn't necessarily afraid, but I didn't feel safe either. We were asked a bunch of times if we were American and we denied and claimed Canadian citizenship. It was interesting to witness. I wish I knew more Korean to understand exactly what they were saying.
