The official name that ROK(Government of Republic of Korea) has given the naval base is intriguing – The Civilian Military Complex Tour Beauty. Complex? Yes. Beautiful? Well, maybe not so much.
For those of you who haven’t yet had the opportunity to visit Gangjeong, allow me to take you on a virtual tour.
First off, there really both is and isn’t such a thing as an ordinary day here in the peace community in Gangjeong. It is ordinary because the struggle goes on 24/7. The gates are blocked. With a hand made stove. With timber. Chairs. Flowers.
And activists.
The police comes. The gates are unblocked. The activists are removed. Not always as fast and efficient as they would have liked. And everybody films everybody.
There is advocacy going on. Here a reminder to the defence department that it is a 70 days’ construction stop period.
Activists are protesting by strolingl at a leisurely pace in front of the truck. Police trying to identify the disobedient character.
The treats of arrests, more often than not ” obstruction of business” is verbalized and also one of the charges that activists face in court.
Sometimes there are press conferences. Like yesterday when Kang Dong-Kyun(to the left), the mayor of Gangjeong (a persistant and active figure in the struggle against the naval base who has also spent time im prison for his involvement) talks to Jeong Bong-Ju(right), a former National Assembly man and a member of the Democratic United Party. He has been in prison for opposing the naval base.
notonlyformyself 