First-person: former president Roh's funeral procession

OK, I know you can read the official story on any of the Korean newspapers - but I was there. My job requires an unusual schedule, but it gives me the afternoons off. In any case, I got to see it first-hand. It's one thing to read about the story in a rather second-hand way, but I spent this afternoon at the procession - all the way from Gyeongbukgung to Seoul Station. Here's some pictures of the action.



I arrived at the Gwanghwamun subway station, just outside Gyeongbukgung (entrance to the palace itself was only for those invited to the funeral). From the moment I took the steps to street level, there were people everywhere. The Korea Herald estimated a million people gathered, and that definitely sounds right. This is the street connecting the subway station to the palace.



Since the average Korean couldn't get into the palace itself, they ended up watching one of the big-screen TV's on the side of buildings. There were actually three gigantic screens showing the action - the largest was attached to a post office building.

One oddity of note: some people ended up watching the very same broadcast on their cell phones (not unusual to watch TV in Korea), but the lag between the TV audio and the cell phone audio sounded much like the echo at a baseball stadium.



Also of note was the police presence, though in more of a ceremonial role than in riot gear.




The procession made its way out of Gyeongbukgung towards City Hall.





The picture of the former president began to change the mood of the crowd - while watching the big screen and listening to rather somber music, the crowd was eerily quiet. Without much warning, some in the crowd began uncontrollably sobbing... Yellow paper airplanes flew over my head, and a few crashed into someone before being picked up and thrown again.



Those attending the funeral followed the procession of cars, joined arm in arm.



OK, everybody pose for the biggest group shot! The crowd, not surprisingly, joined them - breaking or going under the police lines at the coordinated time. They stayed well-grouped, and proceeded fairly slowly towards City Hall / Deoksugung.




It was here that the crowd had a problem - the City Hall plaza was simply unable to hold the massive throngs of people. Those in the back 2/3 of the procession tried one angle or another, but there was simply no way for the area to get everyone a decent view. The next few pictures are my attempts at getting around (one foot literally in front of the other):





That's City Hall - the main action was actually facing away and to the right.




This is essentially the only view some people had.

After over an hour of songs and speeches we could hear (good speaker systems) but not see (due to the crowd), the procession began again, albeit with flagbearers leading the way:



Deoksugung (palace), across the street from City Hall



The car from the procession - a lot better looking up close and without resorting to a 10x zoom...



The procession closing in on the restored site of Namdaemun. What surprised me about the procession was the people - outside of the usual pushing and shoving it went very smoothly. The police (dressed in typical guard gear, NOT riot gear) almost never seemed to interfere or stand in the way. That there were in regular guard uniforms presumably helped to defuse some of the tension.



The procession drew a lot of onlookers - with the roads closed for several kilometers through the heart of downtown you couldn't help but be curious.



One of the only times I saw the policemen get in anyone's way - not sure what they were doing, but they seemed to insist on taking up half the sidewalk. Back aways, some people flew some yellow paper out of their floor, which prompted the procession to cheer and change their chant to the building's name for a brief time.


Onlookers from the bridge above while heading to Seoul Station from Namdaemun.




Another memorial set up in front of the old Seoul Station. And the procession just kept going...



Eventually most of the people settled around the new Seoul Station area. Bear in mind that at this point it's about 3pm; most of them have been in the hot sun since 10 or 11am and have just walked about 4 kilometers. A few profit-minded clever people sold water and pop along the way, though. The crowd was occupying the street and the street level when I got on the subway to get back home.

Even though the crowd wasn't violent, I could definitely see the unreleased tension on people's faces, the angst on their spirit, and the restraint that seemed forced upon them. Even though police weren't omnipotent, they certainly could have had public opinion turn against them should things get out of hand. They didn't, however.

I'm tired - and getting out of Seoul for the weekend. Rest in peace, Mr. Roh.

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