ABSTRACT
This chapter briefly describes a “typical” demonstration in downtown Seoul. What was happening in Seoul in June 1987 was an extension of an established device of the Korean political culture, the resort to violent protest by university students as a means of expressing public dissatisfactions. Such a device has proven necessary because, historically, Korean governments have not been open or responsive to less vehement expressions of public sentiment. A literalist view, for example, might hold that news is comprised of whatever information gets published or broadcast in the news media. If an arms control treaty negotiation is reported to the public, it is news. If it goes unreported, it is, by definition, not news. News is a manufactured commodity almost in the same sense as are automobiles and toasters. The world is filled with raw materials—events, official pronouncements, great social trends, and the like—any one or more of which can be converted into news on any given day.
