Home / News / Hardcore Band MEA CULPA Tackle Korean Politics In New Single [Japan]

Hardcore Band MEA CULPA Tackle Korean Politics In New Single [Japan]

By on December 17, 2024

MEA CULPA is a hardcore punk band based out of Tokyo, with Japanese, Koreans, and American members. The martial law in Korea, enacted by Yoon, inspired them create the new song “Set Fire” in protest of this violent betrayal against the Korean people.

The song was recorded only one day after the impeachment of Yoon.

From Sihan, vocalist of Mea Culpa:

“On December 14th, the day of the impeachment rally held by Korean volunteers in front of the south exit of Shinjuku Station, I happened to see a BBC article on my way home at 7:30 am after finishing my night shift, which said that only about 3.3% of the participants in the large-scale rally in Seoul calling for the impeachment of Yoon (I don’t want to call him President, so I’m using the word “Mr.”) were men in their 20s.

And from my perspective, who participated in the rally in front of Shinjuku Station from around 3:30 pm until the end, there were really no men who looked to be in their 20s or 30s that day. Maybe I just happened to be standing in a bad place. But as a man in my 30s, I felt a certain embarrassment.

For the time being, the impeachment was successfully decided. However, after that festival-like moment in the square, I think we have returned to our “normal” lives. Nothing has changed in our daily lives. In Korea, anti-discrimination laws have not even been proposed yet, and the right to mobility for the disabled has not been properly established. On a global scale, Israel is still repeating genocide (or rather, ethnic annihilation). In Japan, strange labeling and conspiracy theories against foreigners living in Japan, mainly on social media, continue.

Because “ordinary people” have been prioritized, they have been put on the back burner, and those who should be part of this democratic society have been erased and marginalized as if they were not there, and we go about our daily lives as if “nothing has changed”.

We should pursue the democracy that was preached in the square as everyday democracy. That is why I thought we should pay attention to “what we should do and how we should do it”. If not, a second or third Yoon will appear again. Discrimination against marginalized people will continue without any problems.

So what should I do?

What can I do?

In the end, all I could think of was that I could write lyrics and scream in songs.

Even though I feel a sense of emptiness about myself being completely powerless, the feeling that I want to do something remains. In the first place, I hate living without any hope and continuing to only continue cynical discussions.

I put those feelings into this song. I didn’t want it to be a song that simply disses the corrupt government and politicians, but rather a song that talks about what we should do from now on. I hope I was able to convey that feeling well.”

https://www.instagram.com/meaculpahxc/

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