Rioting is as Korean as Kimchi (the Chosun era practice of Sok Chon and modern Korean riots)

As I posted yesterday, there was another big riot in Seoul yesterday. The main issue that the rioters were concerned about was a free trade agreement with Chile. Well, the vote was delayed so we will have at least one more chance to catch these farmer Chos in action.

Now, several bloggers out their have strong opinions on rioting here. The Infidel at Kamelian X-Rays had this to say:

For those unfamiliar with the insular nature of South Korea, and enslaved to exotic notions of oriental wisdom, as a foreigner, South Korea is not a society, so much as a family. I know John Locke destroyed the arguments for patriarchy in the First and Second Treatises on Government, but in South Korea, family metaphors are right on the money. There is no difference between public and private, and the rulers' right to commit violence allows the children to respond in kind. I've never met people so inured to violence, physically or psychologically (and both my parents were abused children), in all my travel, nor so many people prepared to jump at the chance to respond with violence for any perceived infraction.

I am still waiting for my chance to disagree with the Infidel because he is pretty much on the money here.

The simple fact is that these riots are not a sign that there is some problem in Korea. They are just as much a part of Korean culture as kimchi, soju and sad sad movies. As I said about the labor union riots in November of last year:

There is nothing spontaneous about a Korean riot. Everyone knew there was going to be a riot and prepared accordingly.

These riots have a ritualistic quality. There are certain roles that everyone plays and certain rules that everyone follows. They are battles, but they are ritualistic battles like the flower wars of the Aztecs.

The farmers didn't attack the riot police because they couldn't get to the National Assembly building. The police-kids were the targets from the beginning.

Take another look at the video of the rioting (click on the link that starts "여의도는..."). You won't see some of the things that most westerners expect to see in a riot. There are no plastic hand cuffs to detain people with. There are no plastic bullets that could break a crowd up. In fact, the goal of the riot police is not to stop the riot and arrest the protesters. The goal of the riot police is to go out and do battle with them. As you look at the video footage, you'll see that the two sides take turns attacking the each other's lines and then falling back.

Also, take a look at the overturned, burning cars. What? There aren't any? That's right, there aren't. In fact, you'll see that both sides fight their way around them. This is not blind rage in action. This is a social role being played out. Since the owners of the cars and the shops in the area are not in the battle, both the police and the rioters usually try to avoid damage to them. Of course, this is not always the case and several shops were damaged in the November riots. But the point stands that these riots were not a case of people going out of control.

In fact, going into battle because of a perceived wrong is an old Korean tradition. Check out this article on Sok Chon from the Korea Times. Here is a sample:

The participants were generally the young men of two different villages, or families and their friends that had suffered some wrong from their opponents. Other times the battles were between two guilds that had decided to use the Sok Chon as a way of settling their differences _ these battles usually involved several hundred men and were particularly brutal.

The Korean government looked upon these "games" as a means of promoting martial spirit and allowing the people to let off some excess steam. Policemen were present, but they were not there to prevent the fights but to keep the crowds from getting caught up in the battle. Soldiers also witnessed the event, but they were prohibited from taking part, unless they were on their off-duty time, and then they often participated, sans the uniform, with violent glee.

The two teams advanced towards each other from opposite directions, their approach heralded by the intense taunting and cheering of their spectators. The combatants were armed with stones that had been polished and rounded by boys, iron and wooden cudgels, armor of twisted straw, wooden shields, and leather caps for helms. The stone throwers stood in the front rank while the cudgel wielders formed the second rank.

Calmness fell upon the land as the two leaders, a short distance ahead of their "soldiers," glared at one another and shouted taunts, challenging the other to prove himself a man. Suddenly one of the leaders shouted a battle cry and was answered by a rain of stones, and the two sides raced across the vacant expanse towards each other.

So what we have in these riots is basically a democratization of Sok Chon with people who think that they have been wronged by the government going into battle with agents of the government.

Usually, both sides play by the unwritten rules and there are mostly minor injuries. I'm not saying that rioting is OK, just that it is not as bad as it seems to us outsiders.

BTW, my last pic from yesterday's post showed farmer Cho pushing a burning cart towards the police. Well, this pic from the Chosun Ilbo shows that he made it.

I guess he was the little farmer that could. You go Cho!

Comments

[haisan]

Good post. I remember wandering into a few riots when I first came to Korea... there was this one where the police and the protesters were lined up, toe-to-toe, ready to go at it. I walked right between them with my camera. And as I got ready to click the picture, everyone turned and posed and smiled and made the "V" symbol with their fingers. Pictures over, they returned to their life-and-death showdown.

On one hand, I get annoyed as everyone else at the mindless rioting and futile violence of the protesters... but then I think, in a society like Korea, the people in charge aren't going to respect you for mature, non-violent protests -- they're going to think you're a pussy and walk all over you twice as hard next time.

Not sure what the solution is. Maybe the unions should bring in some foreign union reps the same way businesses brought in foreign MBA holders a few years ago... get some successful, out-of-the-box strategies that have worked elsewhere.