Korean politics remind me of elementary schoolyard politics…

January 14, 2009  |  Expat Life, Life in Korea, No Sidebar  | 

So, this is old news to folks living in Korea, but politics here can get hilariously absurd at times.  For your own entertainment, I bring you photos of the Korean National Assembly/Parliament during “talks” on December 18th:

(photos not mine, from the Guardian)

One political party has barricaded the room against the other political party.

Trying to kick away the debris.

When feet don't work, try hammers!

The barricaded party fights back with fire extinguishers.

Politicians fleeing fire extinguishers being wielded by the opposing party.

Korea is most definitely an interesting place to live, believe me.


8 Comments


  1. Great pictures. Did you take those? Amazing, though, that those are grown-ups.

  2. Hahaha. I wish! While most of the time I enjoy being here in the sticks, there are times when I wish I were closer to Seoul, so that I could expand my photojournalism portfolio a little more easily. It has been a trade-off; on one hand, I am getting photos of a side of Korea that few people see, but I also am not able to get photos of more political stuff, like the mad cow protests, etc.

    The photos are from the Guardian. Here’s another funny one taken a few days ago (also not mine, obviously) of a politician jumping up and down on a table. Professional, eh?

  3. Why is he wearing a pink carpet jumpsuit?

  4. He’s wearing traditional Korean clothes:

  5. Actually, I think most five year olds would behave better than that…

  6. I think there should be a reality TV show just highlighting Korean parliament’s antics. “This week on Korean Parliament” or something like that.

  7. I know it’s horrible, but sometimes when I see clips of it on youtube or the news here, I hear monkey noises in my head. I think my Hampshire professors would have a heart attack if they knew that.

  8. WE’re that the monkey noises not apropos…

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