More pics. This one from last month in Tongduchon not far from the scene of the accident. These have been going on for almost five and a half months. I wonder if it says something that on the US side, there has been hardly any coverage of these getting larger and larger (literally little 'mindshare' back in the US that something unfortunate (and quite accidental) even happened over there in June) and then suddenly the US press reports pretty big anti-US demonstrations that appear to have come from out of nowhere, and these surprise and anger many Americans quite naturally.
I don't know if many are familiar with the details of the case, but a lot of snap judgements are now made. I myself think it is a combination of quite a number of factors: radical Korean students and professors, overracting S. Korean press, emotional protest as a fundamental way of life and cultural aspect of Korea, growing Korean 21st nationalism and patriotism, some legitimate points of view on the S. Korean side towards our military's off duty behavior in their sovereign country, and finally, the generally brain-dead status of S. Korean students who have little to no concept of previous American sacrifices and therefore there is not a level of appreciation toward American goodwill in the past (thanks again to the liberal Korean media and universities)...Not too different from the liberal agenda, I say, that what WE have to suffer in the US. On a personal level, I haven't felt threatened or insulted in Korea, as late as just last week, and the attitude toward Americans in general isnt particuarly a problem (of course, I speak Korean and could extract myself from most any incident, I am sure).
It is always an eery, surrealistic time gap for me to spend a few hours on the USArmy Yongsan post in Seoul, then take a taxi or subway to the ultra modern S. Korean COEX underground shopping area (the largest complex of movie theaters in the world, for example), then enter the 21st century with Korean students busy at ADSL-based public PC units sending e mail in the shopping mall, and it seems like the US is still living in the 1950s with their smoky NCO club, order around the Asian water boy attitude over in Yongsan. A real odd gap. This is not the Korea of your uncle's day. Something does not fit in the picture.
See how it can start to get out of hand with these gaps in information, friction, miscommunication, and emotion on both sides? Like I say, Pyongyang is loving every stinking minute of this.