Korean Political Leader's Bellevue Visit Ends In Assault

BELLEVUE, WA — Puget Sound got a taste of Korean Peninsula politics recently when local conservative protesters confronted a progressive South Korean congressman at the Bellevue library, a clash that left a 77-year-old Federal Way man injured.

On March 17, South Korean Democrat Min-Seok Ahn visited the downtown Bellevue library for a speaking event. The South Korean Consulate in Seattle asked Bellevue police to provide security because protesters had been attending Ahn events in other U.S. cities.

About 20 showed up in Bellevue, standing silently outside the library holding signs, police said. The group calls itself "Taegeukgi," also the name of the Korean national flag.

At the end of event, Ahn and his entourage headed to the library parking garage. About 15 protesters followed, shouting and swearing at Ahn. That's when one member of Ahn's entourage apparently shoved a conservative protester, knocking him to the ground.

"One of our older folks, he cast a bad word at Mr. Ahn," Sang Hoon Noh, a witness and conservative protester, told Patch. The victim, Park Woong Chul, 77, went to the hospital and suffered bruising.

To understand the roots of the Bellevue incident, you have to delve into Korean politics, and the recent impeachment of South Korea's last conservative president.

Ahn was helped draft impeachment papers to remove former president Park Geun-hye in 2016. Park faced allegations that she abused her power by forcing some of South Korea's biggest companies to sign deals with her friends. She was sentenced to over 24 years in prison in 2018 on bribery and coercion charges, but has never admitted guilt.

That scandal led to the election of President Moon Jae-in, also a member of South Korea's Democratic party, and a backer of reuniting North and South Korea. Park supporters like Sang feel that Democrats like Ahn and Moon lied about Park to get her tossed out of office.

"This guy, Mr. Ahn, very critically contributed to this illegal [Moon] presidency," Sang says bitterly. "We don't call him president, he is the presidency-robber."

Many conservatives in Korea grew up under the dictatorial rule of Park Chung-hee, father of Park Geun-hye. He was assassinated in 1979, an event South Korean conservatives believe allowed North Koreans to infiltrate South Korea, foisting communist ideas on younger generations.

Conservative Koreans generally do not support making peace with North Korea. Moon's Democratic party supports talks with North Korea, and Moon met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un three times in 2018, including once in Pyongyang.

Sang says that conservative South Koreans see hope in Donald Trump. They want him to go to war with North Korea, and then expose the apparent coup carried out by Democrats like Moon and Ahn.

"We hope and pray Trump starts bombing North Korea," Sang said. "If Donald Trump makes the first step, I know we can do it."

A South Korean consulate employee was unable to comment on the events of March 17. According to the King County Library System, Ahn booked a room at the Bellevue branch, and his talk wasn't part of the library's programming. According to Federal Way-based KO-AM, a Korean-American broadcaster, Ahn talked about ways local South Koreans could visit North Korea — although KO-AM is associated with conservative politics. Ahn has since traveled back to South Korea.

A Bellevue police officer was able to track down a 69-year-old man from Olympia who allegedly pushed the conservative protester. The man told an officer he was driving an SUV for Ahn, and that the protesters were crowding around him, preventing him from closing the door. Police have forwarded a fourth-degree assault charge to prosecutors.