Which is Worse? Reasoning of Demonstrators or the Mis-Reporting By the Press?
The Korea Times reported on the anti-FTA demonstrations here. Before addressing the logic of the demonstrators, a brief English lesson. The word massive usually means something like “large in scale, amount, or degree.” Well, that needs to be compared to something in order to judge. According to the police, in this Xinhua news article, there were 2,000 protesters while protesters suggested that there were 20,000 attendees. Hmmm. How many people live is South Korea? Uh, 49,000,000. Registered voters? 35,000,000. Even if there were 20,000 protesters, that would be less than 0.67%. That’s right, less than 0.0067 of the registered voters protested. Massive.

The Majority of Koreans Will Benefit From KORUS FTA
You can listen to every special interest group in Korea, but the bottom line is that the supply of imported goods into Korea is higher than in other countries due to tariffs. Those higher prices allow domestic producers to keep their prices high as well. Lower tariffs, lower prices for everyday goods. Like what? Ever hear of clothes or food? Will farmers (the main demonstrators) be negatively affected? Will fishermen most likely be affected? Yes. Those groups’ interests are not large enough in number to affect the overall benefits of a KORUS FTA.

Loss of Democracy? KORUS FTA Proves Democracy
By ratifying the KORUS FTA, the Korean Government has put the largest part of the population first, and by doing so, has supported the concept of democracy. Just because a few demonstrators are organizing and yelling does not make their arguments correct. This blog has pointed out this very peculiar manner of making arguments. This is yet another example.

How About a Vote to Shut the Demonstrators Down?
It is a very large waste of time and money to the Seoul economy. Gathering downtown, clogging up the already-crowded streets, and interfering with large tourist attractions is costing the Seoul economy untold millions of KRW a day. The Seoul Gyopo Guide wonders if a referendum were held overnight, on this one topic, would put these demonstrations to rest. The answer, of course, is no. It is also inadvisable because there is no way that we can have a referendum on every single issue. That would totally defeat the point of electing a parliament. Government would be completely unworkable. So unfortunately, Korea will attract these very unflattering headlines and news stories for some time to come.