It's all about the protests

In a rare mid-week post, I am going to attempt to upload the video I have spent creating tonight. It is a little repetitive. However, I need to justify spending about 2 hours creating this and another 2 hours uploading it.

It repeats a little; chanting, marching, singing, etc. The main thing I find interesting, besides the sheer number of people, are all the different types of people protesting. Young men in military uniforms, middle age business men (ajashi's), families, little children, students, etc. It is also interesting to see the police men (young young men)* and the barricades they've built.

*Military service for men is compulsory in Korea. It is a mandatory service of two years and there are only a few circumstances where you can "get out" of it. However, most of the time you cannot. If Korea has conscientious objectors, they are rare. By law if you do not want to complete your military service, you are sent to jail for two years (the same amount of time you would serve in the military).

There are a few options of when and what type of service you can serve. If you are a first son, of someone who was a war hero or someone high ranking, you are considered a "son of God" and get to complete an easy "military" assignment...like park services or something. If you are a good (amazing) athlete, you can complete your assignment as a team member for a national sports team (no joke). If you have good English skills, you can apply to be a translator and serve with the American army (few positions). You can also choose to complete your military service before, after, or during your university career. If you choose the first choice, most likely you end up as a police "man", which is why all the police officers in the pictures look so young. If you choose to complete your military service after university, you have the option to go into your branch as an officer. I think you need good grades to do this, but there are advantages to this. A slightly more interesting post and it looks good on job applications.

Hm, this post is longer than I expected. Enjoy!

-me