Korean Media: Insufficient Ballots Lead to Evolving Protests, Young People Gradually Withdrawing

(Central News Agency, Reporter Yang Qifang, Seoul, 4th) Protests sparked by the issue of insufficient ballots in South Korea's local elections have continued for a month. Korean media reported today that after reaching a peak on the first weekend, the scale of the protests has been decreasing, and the nature of the demonstrations is gradually shifting, with young people withdrawing.

According to Yonhap News Agency today, based on the "Seoul Subway Station Ridership Information by Line and Station" released today by the Seoul Open Data Plaza, the cumulative number of people passing through Olympic Park Station on the first weekend after the protest began at Jamsil polling station, which was last month's 6th, reached a total of 118,369 person-times.

Excluding the previous weekend before the protest began, when the number of people arriving at Olympic Park Station was around 40,000, it can be inferred that approximately 80,000 person-times on June 6th were to attend the protest at Olympic Park. However, by the second weekend of the protest activities, the scale of the demonstration had decreased by less than half and continues to decline.

The report indicated that some analyses suggest the main reason for the decrease in participants is the change in the nature of the protests. In the early stages, the現場 avoided shouting "election fraud" slogans, instead focusing on the demand for a "re-election." There were also calls to avoid using the American flag at the scene, as the American flag was seen as a symbol of far-right groups at the protest site.

However, as time passed, "election fraud, re-election" gradually became fixed slogans. On protest posters that originally read "Please only wave the Taegeukgi (South Korean flag)," some people added with a thick pen, "The American flag can be used."

Koo Jeong-woo, a professor in the Department of Sociology at Sungkyunkwan University, stated that in the early stages of the protest, centered around the younger generation, when universal issues such as the protection of political participation rights were raised, some people expected it to become an opportunity to further expand democracy. However, as blind blockades continued and extreme tendencies emerged, it ultimately lost its support base.

Koo Jeong-woo predicted, "The Gwanghwamun street forces (conservative forces) have their own rules and are organized, but those gathered at Olympic Park cannot form a systematic organized force. Even if the protests continue for a long time, they will show a trend of continuous decline." (Editor: Chen Cheng-kung) 1150704

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