Seoul City must return Gwanghwamun Square to citizens

Bereaved families of victims in the sunken ferry Sewol and other people are staging sit-in protest in front of the statue of Admiral Yi Soon-shin at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul. It has been five months since the Sewol disaster occurred, and more than two months since sit-in started at the square. It is claimed to be a site of sit-in by bereaved families, but when you visit there, you will get confused about who are the hosts and who are the guests because people from outside, including members of the Unified Progressive Party, outnumber bereaved families. Fourteen tents were installed at Gwanghwamun Square, and only one of them was set up by bereaved families.

As sit-in protest at Gwanghwamun Square by bereaved families and others has become a prolonged one, people who believe the former’s demands are excessive also set up tents at a site across the street and are staging sit-in to counter them. Some people are even engaged in provocative ‘binge eating struggle’ around the protest site, saying they are against hunger strike by bereaved families and others. Police are monitoring the situation, but it is feared that violent clash might occur between those who support hunger strike and those against it.

Political rally and demonstration was never allowed at Gwanghwamun Square before. According to Seoul Metropolitan City’s executive ordinance, the Seoul mayor is obliged to ensure that Gwanghwamun Square serves as a venue to support citizens’ leisure and culture activities. If the rule is enforced properly, tents installed by bereaved families and others should be removed. However, since the Seoul metropolitan city provided tents other than the one installed by bereaved families on humanitarian ground, it is not currently in a position to demand removal of the tents. Mayor Park Won-soon is responsible to a significant extent for chaotic situation at Gwanghwamun Square.

Gwanghwamun Square is not only the center of Seoul but is one of the iconic places in Korea. As the area around the square is packed with a government complex, foreign embassies, conglomerate office buildings, stores, palaces and galleries, countless citizens and tourists pass by every day. Gwanghwamun Square in disarray not only gives inconveniences to citizens but causes Korea’s image to be tarnished among foreign tourists. It is impossible even to imagine a situation like this at Champs Elysees in Paris, France, the Mall in London, the U.K., or Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany.

It would be the best to see if the bill on the Special Sewol Act is agreed upon by the rival parties early on and thus bereaved families and others end hunger strike, but there are no signs that they will reach agreement anytime soon due to wide differences between the positions of the two sides. Seoul Metropolitan City should not turn a blind eye to the situation, and instead should seek to find a solution as the organization in charge of managing the square. Once a bad practice is established, it gets very difficult to correct such practice later on. The Seoul city government is urged to return Gwanghwamun Square to citizens now before it gets too late.