White House rejects 1.3 million petitions
South Koreans take protest over girls' deaths to D.C.
By Sharon Ayling
Washington, D.C.
Police broke up a peaceful demonstration in front of the
White House on Dec. 7. People were protesting the deaths of two
Korean schoolgirls run over by a U.S. armored vehicle earlier
this year.
The protesters were attempting to deliver petitions signed
by 1.3 million Koreans. A delegation from South Korea had
brought the petitions halfway around the world.
The petitions demand that President George W. Bush publicly
apologize for the girls' deaths, turn over jurisdiction in the
case to Korean courts, and revise the Status of Forces
Agreement that governs U.S. military forces in South Korea.
SOFA gives the U.S. military legal jurisdiction when U.S.
soldiers commit crimes against Koreans.
As protesters stood before the White House gate carrying
boxes of petitions and trying to negotiate with White House
security forces, they were encircled by dozens of police on
foot, bicycles and motorcycles. Yelling that the demonstrators
were taking up too much sidewalk, the police started shoving
the protesters away from the gate, first with their hands and
then with clubs.
When the group firmly asserted its right to deliver the
petitions, the police roughly pushed several people to the
ground.
Several police officers surrounded Sukjong Hong, a
24-year-old New York City schoolteacher. They handcuffed and
arrested her, and charged her with three felony counts of
assaulting a police officer. The charges were later reduced to
misdemeanors.
The White House had refused to take the petitions the day
before too. The earlier denial prompted the Rev. Han Sang Ryul,
the delegation's leader, to cut his hand and write "national
people's sovereignty" on a banner with his own blood to show
the Korean people's determination for justice. Then, in record
cold weather, the delegation held an all-night vigil outside
the White House.
At the demonstration on Dec. 7, Han read an "Open Letter to
the American People" that reads in part:
"We ask, 'Where is America going these days? What is its
government doing?'
Currently armed with expansionist militarism and neoliberal
economic policy, the United States is exploiting people and
destroying the world. We cannot help but categorize the Bush
government as 'government of bombing, for bombing and by
bombing.' ...
"There is one thing the U.S. government and people must
realize: there are volatile and strong anti-U.S. sentiments
looming in South Korea right now. The U.S. government has added
fuel to this fire by lying to the Korean people, by acquitting
the two soldiers responsible for the girls' deaths and by the
insincere and indirect apology by President Bush to the Korean
people. We Koreans are deeply offended and we are mobilizing
now to claim our national sovereignty and dignity."
Members of the delegation, which represented the Pan-Korean
Committee for the Two Girls Killed by U.S. Armored Vehicle,
vowed they would collect millions more signatures and continue
to struggle until they win justice for Shin Hyo-Son and Shim
Mi-Sun.
The protesters then marched through Washington streets
chanting, "U.S. troops out of Korea," to the beat of Korean
drums.
Solidarity for the delegation was organized by the Congress
for Korean Reunification, Nodutdol for Korean Community
Development, the Korea Truth Commission, and the International
Action Center.
Reprinted from the Dec. 19, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
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