Hope Buses visit struggling elderly in Miryang

Posted on : 2013-05-27 13:45 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Supporters traveling to site of battle over construction that would endanger residents’ livelihoods
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By Kim Kyung-wook, staff reporter

Darkness settled outside the windows of the bus. One by one, people began to file on. It was around 8pm on May 24, and the ninety-odd people were boarding two “Post-Nuclear Hope Buses” parked in a public lot near Hyundai Department Store in Seoul’s Apgujeong neighborhood. They were on their way to cheer on locals in Miryang, South Gyeongsang province, who are fighting a tough battle against the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), which forcefully resumed the construction of transmission towers. The buses were the organized by Collective Action for a Nuclear-Free Society, a coalition of civic groups including the Korea Federation for Environmental Movement.

The passengers came from various backgrounds. Most were meeting each other for the first time: office workers from Seoul and its surrounding area, small merchants, students, nuns, painters, photographers, schoolteachers, and job-seeking university graduates. Also taking part were members of environmental groups and the Green Party.

The passengers expressed their anger at the situation in Miryang, saying they all hoped to add their small bits of strength to the elderly men and women, who are facing a relentless attack on their rights by state authorities. “They’re the vulnerable ones in our society,” said Kim Jin-cheol, a 48-year-old office worker riding the second of the buses. “I’m taking the Hope Bus to show my resistance to a barbaric and immoral society that victimizes the vulnerable.”

Kim Su-hee, who is a teacher at the Mt. Seongmi School, an alternative school in Seoul’s Mapo district, boarded the first bus with around thirty middle school students. It was the students’ idea, she explained. “Last month, we did a walking tour of Miryang,” she said . “They met a lot of these elderly men and women.”

“When they heard that those people were suffering, and they said we should go and cheer them on,” she added with a smile.

Heo Jae, a 25-year-old college student, said, “Hearing about their suffering, I thought about my own grandparents. I wanted to meet them myself and give them strength.”

A 26-year-old surnamed Lee whose father works at KEPCO explained, “I‘m taking the bus as a show of solidarity with these senior citizens who are suffering because of KEPCO.”

All of the passengers agreed that their aim was to give whatever encouragement they could.

After five hours of traveling through the darkness, the buses finally arrived in Miryang at around midnight on May 25. The 90 passengers from Seoul and Gyeonggi Province joined another 160 or so from places like Busan and South Gyeongsang Province, Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, and Chuncheon. At around 4am, after stopping at village centers and other spots for a brief rest, they dispersed to four townships - including Sandong and Bubuk - where towers are scheduled to be built. Villagers had been holding down the fort there since about 3am, hoping to stop KEPCO’s construction equipment from entering to resume work.

Most of the villagers were grandparents in their sixties and seventies, and the sit-in had taken its toll on them. In addition to the strain on their frail bodies from staying up from 3am to late at night, they also faced attacks while fighting against KEPCO’s attempts to continue construction. Some even passed out from the onslaught. Kim Su-am, a 71-year-old resident, had a cast on her right arm, the result of a dislocated shoulder suffered while scuffling with KEPCO employees and police on May 24. “They told me at the hospital that I would need to stay there and rest for about three or four days, but I can’t just lie down right now,” she said. “They could start construction again at any moment. I’m not very strong, but I’m happy just to be able to come out here and hold down the fort.” Deep wrinkles were etched into her face.

Because of their pitched battle, the villages were unable to go about their farming duties at one of the busiest times of the year for farmers. Yang Yun-gi, the 65-year-old chief of Donghwa Village in Sayeon Township, said the villagers were likely to suffer. “This is the time of the year when they need to be making rice-planting preparations and picking shoots from jujube trees,” he explained with a sigh.

The Hope Bus riders joined the residents that day in watching over the construction site. They handed out oriental medicine and vitamins to the villagers. A couple Daegu and their three-year-old daughter sang and danced to “Three Bears”, a popular Korean children’s song. One Miryang resident responded by singing a version of “Arirang” tailored to Miryang. Lim Oh-soon, 72, said, “I was able to smile for the first time in a long while.” The visitors gave arm and back rubs to the tired elderly men and women; some sketched their portraits.

“Nature doesn’t belong to us,” said one of the villagers. “We’re just borrowing it from our grandchildren. I hope you’ll tell people about the situation here so we can preserve nature.”

All they wanted was to live in their home village without a fight. KEPCO did not try to continue its construction that day, with 250 people gathered in the town from all around the country. Summer in Miryang is heating up.

 

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