PARK JIN: BEEF PROTESTS A RESULT OF "TOO MUCH

C O N F I D E N T I A L SEOUL 001273

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/26/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL KS
SUBJECT: PARK JIN: BEEF PROTESTS A RESULT OF "TOO MUCH
DEMOCRACY"

Classified By: POL M/C Joseph Y. Yun, Reasons 1.4 (b,d).


1. (C) Summary: Grand National Party (GNP) Representative
Park Jin spent most of his June 18 dinner with ASD James
Shinn discussing domestic politics. Park described the
current political situation as a "crisis," and said the Lee
Myung-bak Administration would have to handle the upheaval
very carefully or the turmoil would continue throughout the
next five years. Park said the protests have brought to
light two issues that the government needs to find a way to
deal with. The first is the degree to which Koreans are
networked and sharing information over the internet. The
second major challenge is to deal with the challenge the
protests pose to Korea's democratic governance. Park said
Alliance issues would have to wait until things "settle down."

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"Land of the Morning Crisis"
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2. (C) GNP Representative Park Jin said Korea is
experiencing an "extraordinary" crisis. In response to ASD
Shinn's question about how the crisis came about, Park said
it would take a doctoral thesis to explain the reasons for
the recent protests over the impending resumption of U.S.
beef imports into Korea. Park said part of the reason was
that President Lee went to the U.S. too soon after taking
office. He should have waited until he settled in, but that
just was not possible. Yonsei University Professor Lee
Jung-hoon, also at the dinner, said a lot of the public angst
was rooted in Lee's personnel choices. Park concurred and
said the impression was that President Lee was leading a
government of the wealthy dictating policy to the common
people.


3. (C) Lee said that the perception that U.S. beef is
dangerous seems to be dissipating. The unions are moving on
to other issues. Park noted that there were also increasing
calls to stop the "lawlessness" of the protests. Park also
cautioned, however, that President Lee had to handle the
situation very carefully or it would plague him for the rest
of his term.

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"Too Much Democracy"
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4. (C) Representative Park said that the protests presented
a very serious challenge to Korean democracy. The democratic
movement, he explained, had progressed at breakneck speed and
now people thought that massive demonstrations was the proper
way to communicate with the government. Park speculated that
Korea had "too much democracy." Mary Beth Morgan, Korea
Country Team Director, asked if Korean constituents felt as
natural bringing complaints to their representatives as do
Americans. Park said that he got massive amounts of email
every day, but, when making policy decisions, he weighted his
constituents' opinion about 30 percent and national opinion
at about 70 percent.

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"Urban Guerrillas"
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5. (C) Both men said that the degree to which Koreans are
networked and sharing information via the internet has fueled
the protests and left the government wondering how to
respond. Cites like Agora Forum on Daum and Afreeca allow
users to post like webcasts and share information and, in the
case of U.S. beef, rumor. Park called this trend
"technological urban guerrilla civil disobedience." In order
to address this issue, President Lee decided to reinstate an
office on technology set up former President Roh Moo-hyun,
but closed down by the Lee Administration for being too
liberal. (Note: On June 19 the Blue House did, in fact,
announce that Kim Chul-kyun, a former vice president at Daum,
to assume a new position designed to monitor public opinion
on the internet.)

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Alliance Issues on the Backburner

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6. (C) ASD Shinn tried several times to turn the
conversation toward Alliance issues, but Park seemed
understandably distracted and consumed by the domestic
political situation. Park expressed regret that these
problems came at the beginning of a new relationship between
the U.S. and the ROK. Professor Lee mentioned OPCON and said
that he hoped the two governments could reconsider the
transfer decision. ASD Shinn replied that the transfer was
both a sign of confidence in and a huge opportunity for the
ROK military. In order to meet the requirements of the
transfer, there was a long was a lot of procurement and
training that would ultimately make the military stronger.
Morgan pointed out that the roadmap was very much on track.


7. (U) ASD Shinn has cleared this message.
VERSHBOW