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Last Sunday, Baek Nam-Gi lost his 10-month fight for life after he was grievously injured from a blast from a high-pressure police water cannon. The 68-year-old activist and farmer, who spent years fighting for the rights of the rural poor, had joined a massive rally on the streets of Seoul on November 14, 2015, to demonstrate against the government’s agricultural policies. The police water cannon scored a direct hit on him, knocking him off his feet and causing him to smash his head on road. He was taken to Seoul National University Hospital, where doctors operated on him to stem bleeding in the brain. He remained there in a coma from then until the day he died.  

South Korean activist Baek Nam-Gi. © KCTU

Nam-Gi has rapidly become a prominent symbol of victimization, excessive use of force by police, and the government’s growing crackdown on freedom of assembly under President Park Geun-Hye’s rule. His case was even cited by Maina Kiai, the United Nations special rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, last June, when he criticized the police’s excessive use of force by water cannons, and the shrinking space for the rights to peaceful assembly in South Korea.

Now police have added insult to injury after Nam-Gi’s death. Doctors originally reported he suffered a cerebral haemorrhage caused by the water cannon, and died due to injuries sustained during the incident, which eventually led to kidney failure while he was still in a coma. But the police went to court to demand an autopsy be performed, against the wishes of his family. They also blocked hospital exits to prevent his body being sent to a funeral home. The court agreed to allow the police to remove Nam-Gi’s medical records from the hospital, and also – following an appeal by police after they were initially unsuccessful – perform an autopsy. The zeal of the police pursuing this autopsy contrasts significantly with their lack of enthusiasm in examining the way that the authorities deployed high-pressure water cannons against demonstrators on November 14.  

Even with sustained national and international condemnation, law enforcement agencies refused launch an investigation about excessive use of force by the police that resulted in Nam-Gi’s injuries. Instead, the government persecuted the organizers and participants of the rally, and indicted 20 members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, including its president, Han Sang-Hyun, who was given a five-year prison term for organizing the demonstration.  

Nam-Gi’s death should have prompted a far-ranging review of police responses to public demonstrations in Seoul, but that opportunity has so far been missed. The fight over the autopsy and the arrests of protest leaders signal the government’s determination to control the narrative and steer the conversation away from justice for Nam-Gi, despite increasing international condemnation. 

It’s now time for South Korea’s allies and friends to tell Seoul to stop trying to evade responsibility for the consequences of police actions around this protest. Instead, they should really investigate and hold officers accountable for what they did on November 14, and demand the government respect people’s rights to peacefully assemble and protest. 

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