Update from saveptfarmers.org: 9.27

Several days after the demonstration, villagers defied the Korean Ministry of Defense by beginning this season's rice harvest. Villagers haven't been able to reach most of their fields since the police fenced them off with razor wire during the May 4^th attack, beginning the police occupation of the fields that continues today. But in some close-in fields, where activists cut through the fencing on May 5th, villagers have been able to irrigate their crops and prepare for the harvest. On September 27th, villagers began to harvest one of the fields that the government claims as property of the Ministry of Defense. At one point during the day, a government helicopter buzzed down near the field to take pictures of those working in the fields. Villagers will keep harvesting the fields that they can still reach during the coming days. The continued rice harvest, in preparation for the winter, shows that villagers aren't planning on going anywhere before the government's October 31 expulsion deadline.

This week the nightly candlelight vigil is being held in nearby Pyeongtaek City, in front of the jail where Daechuri leader Kim Ji-tae has been held since May. Villagers and supporters continue to demand that Kim Ji-tae be set free immediately.