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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.” 
—————————-

“Land of the Morning Crisis”

—————————- 
¶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. 
——————–

“Too Much Democracy”

——————– 
¶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. 
——————

“Urban Guerrillas”

—————— 
¶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.) 
———————————

Alliance Issues on the Backburner 
——————————— 
¶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