DIRTY WATER, DIRTY BUSINESS - WE SHOULD ALL BE WEEPING

Mayor Kang holds a shirtless and weeping Father MoonThis is a photo after the Navy's first blasting on Gureombi rock on Jeju Island. Sung-Hee Choi writes:

The issue of erupting underground water by a blast of rock is a very important matter as the Jeju media reports that the clean water in the Gureombi rock was changed into muddy water by the blast of the rocks. The underground water underneath the Gureombi rock is highly guessed by the villagers to be connected with the Gangjeong stream that feeds citizens in the Seogwipo City (the southern part of the Island). Beside that the sea in front of Gangjeong is known as the most cleanest and beautiful sea throughout the Jeju Island, being the only UNESCO-designated soft coral habitats and one of the most frequent sites of the Indo-Pacific bottle nose dolphins, the IUCN-listed endangered species.

It is becoming more than obvious that South Korean President Lee's rush to push through this flurry of destruction before the coming spring National Assembly elections is not well thought out. The environmental implications of continued Navy base construction are staggering.

But now we have these revelations that the water table that feeds the southern part of the island lies underneath the rocks that will be blasted, cemented, and exposed to nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines - all sorts of industrial and radioactive wastes from the Navy. There is no way in hell that the drinking water contamination is not going to be massive. Just check any military base in the world to see if this isn't the case. We know that the military is the biggest polluter on the planet

And then, of course, there is the massive pollution that will be done to the sea. The dredging has already begun just off the coastline to make it possible for these big U.S. warships to come into port. That means the soft coral will likely be killed and large amounts of fish and other sea life will be destroyed. This is a fishing and farming village. Their way of life is being totally disrupted.

Now you know why the South Korean activists call President Lee "the bulldozer". He comes from the corporate development interests who for whatever reason seem to have no spiritual connection to anything - particularly the environment. Like most developers they are blinded by their love for money. They have an insatiable appetite for money and power. They are broken spirits who have convinced us to give them power. Now they have the power and look at what they are doing with it. Disgusting.

Equally disgusting is the large number of workers and police who do the daily bidding of these corporate development interests. Of course everyone needs a job but at what point do these workers see that they are active participants in killing the environment and in killing the so-called democratic society that they are supposed to be protecting? Where is the moral outrage? Will people do anything for money? Even to the point that they destroy their own nest? Think about it.

Shouldn't we all be weeping? Where is our damn humanity?