K-pop singers boycott concert for US soldiers over past tragedy

[rawfudge.livejournal.com]

Korean singers on Saturday boycotted a government-backed concert for United States Forces Korea troops after workers and netizens revived a bitter episode involving the American military.

The municipal government of Uijeongbu in Gyeonggi Province organized the concert to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 2nd Infantry Division, which is stationed in the city.

USFK commander Vincent Brooks, the 8th U.S. Army commanding general Lt. Gen. Thomas Vandal, 50 officers and 400 soldiers as well as more than 3,000 civilians attended the free concert at the Uijeongbu Sports Complex.

But the musicians invited ― including soloist Insooni, K-pop bands EXID, Oh My Girl, Sweet Sorrow, punk band Crying Nut and rapper SanE ― neither showed up nor performed.

Insooni, 61, whose father was an African-American USFK soldier, told the audience at the start of the concert that she would not perform her three songs.

Shorty after this, the audience was told that all planned performances had been cancelled, causing many people to leave.

The concert, scheduled for three-and-a-half hours, was cut short by an hour, and went ahead with gigs by the 8th Army Band, the city orchestra and dancing troupe, a gukak (Korean traditional music) band and a taekwondo demonstration.
The boycott stems from a tragedy in 2002 when a 2nd Infantry unit tank accidentally ran over and killed two female middle school students on a street in Yangju, Gyeonggi Province.

Even though the unit commander apologized and compensation was paid, two soldiers were found not guilty of killing the students because a U.S. military court at Camp Casey in Dongducheon ruled their deaths were an accident.

The decision triggered a series of anti-American protests.

The concert took place three days ahead of the day when the accident happened in 2002. And the singers received anonymous threats not to perform, apparently due to anti-U.S. sentiment.

"Fans called our office and also left comments on the band's fan club site and each member's SNS pages to demand the stars not show up at the event," EXID's agency Banana Culture Entertainment told The Korea Times.

"We discussed about the aggressive attention, which persisted for three days, and decided the band had better not be there."

Hours before the event, 10 members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions' northern Gyeonggi branch also demonstrated against the city government in front of the complex.

A confederation spokesperson said, "Forcing students to congratulate USFK's establishment with celebrities goes against our educational ethics," according to the Chosun Ilbo.

Civic groups also demonstrated, criticizing the city for spending 570 million won ($505,000) of citizens' taxes on the concert.

A city official said the concert had been timed "to allow as many American soldiers to join the event as possible" before three divisions move to Pyeongtaek next year.

"The event was prepared to strengthen the bilateral friendship and Korea's national security," an associate of the event organizer said. "I am worried that the lackluster event might have done the opposite."

source: korea times

Comments

[lightframes.livejournal.com]

Those poor girls. I get why people would still be upset about that.

[lovebeat-down.livejournal.com]

US base - korea relations are rightfully tense

Those poor girls...

[pastelpinklace.livejournal.com]

Good for them and tf korea, spending 500k on a concert smh

Didn't mean too reply

[megustaelmoney.livejournal.com]

good tbh. when will the us haul their asses off korea

[obviousgirl.livejournal.com]

Once their war ends?

[megustaelmoney.livejournal.com]

lmao

[donaldjdrumpf.livejournal.com]

yikes sis, ur foreign policy knowledge is worse than mine! lol

(but seriously, that's NOT a good idea, despite how tragic that accident was).

[megustaelmoney.livejournal.com]

it's hilarious how americans/american allies think their help is needed or even wanted in every foreign country they set their eyes on but ok lets leave this discussion for another time

[kimbafierce.livejournal.com]

[365daysafter.livejournal.com]

What in the world. How does something like that even happen?

[mjspice.livejournal.com]

Good that they pulled out.

[soyunatetera.livejournal.com]

concert to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 2nd Infantry Division

I thought military presence of the US in Korea was after WW2?
Anyways, the boycott it's totally justifiable I can't believe the organized it a couple of days away form the anniversary of that tragedy. I've read it many times now as a recent example of Korean resentment towards the US, specially their military presence

[krissasaur]

I feel sorry for those girls, how horrible.

That said, it interests me how this is what they decide to boycott against. I mean, I do think it is justified... It just interests me that Korean people who have raped and murdered are still well loved and praised.

[reader17.livejournal.com]