Thousands march against FTA with US
Chosun Ilbo | Seoul | April 16, 2006
Thousands March Against FTA With U.S.
A massive protest against a planned free trade agreement between Korea and the U.S. brought some 8,000 trade unionists, farmers, students and actors from 100 groups to Daehagno, downtown Seoul on Sunday. Protestors say the FTA will turn Korea into a colony of the U.S. and demand the government abandon talks and make the entire negotiation process so far public.
Prominent figures at the scene included Democratic Labor Party chairman Moon Sung-hyun and reps Kwon Young-ghil and Dan Byung-ho as well as actors Ahn Sung-ki and Choi Min-shik. Movie people are opposed to the FTA because the government cut the screen quota reserved for Korean movies in domestic theaters in the run-up to negotiations.
After the rally, protesters marched down three lanes of a 2.7 km section of the road from Daehagno to Gwangwhamun. Some students splashed phrases like “Destroy the FTA,” “Impeach Roh Moo-hyun,” and “Roh, a Pet of Bush” on the road with white and red paint. A passerby who gave their surname as Kim (27) said, “It’s inappropriate to make fun of the nation’s president in a degrading graffiti. It would be better to erase them before children can see.”
