Tag: protests

I like how Yonhap complains about conservatives holding a rally during a high COVID time, but last month the KCTU held a large protest in Seoul and not a word was said. I guess Yonhap must think the virus only spreads among conservatives at rallies:

 Conservative activists held a massive rally in downtown Seoul on Monday to celebrate Liberation Day, despite lingering concerns over COVID-19. 

About 20,000 members, according to police, of the far-right Liberty Unification Party led by Rev. Jun Kwang-hoon gathered in Gwanghwamun Square, which reopened earlier this month after a major facelift.

Jun is a conservative pastor of Sarang Jeil Church in Seoul, known for his inflammatory speeches attacking liberal former President Moon Jae-in. 

Protesters took to the streets and chanted anti-communist slogans through loudspeakers, prompting police to control traffic in the afternoon and causing inconvenience to people.

South Korea marks Liberation Day on Aug. 15 to commemorate the end of Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule. 

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Well hopefully she is not to seriously injured from this incident, but she was conducting an illegal protest prior to Nancy Pelosi arriving at the National Assembly:

Lee Yong-soo, a victim of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery in her 90s, was reportedly pulled out of her wheelchair by security guards while she was waiting to meet with U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the National Assembly grounds on Thursday.  
   
A video released after the incident by media outlets including JTBC and YTN shows Lee on the ground by her wheelchair, while several security personnel attempt to lift her.    
   
One security guard can be heard repeating, “Lift up her leg,” while Lee, in apparent protest, says, “Let go of me, you’re going to kill someone here.” 

Lee was hospitalized afterward at the Catholic University of Korea Yeouido St. Mary’s Hospital in western Seoul.    
   
A committee that she heads, which has been calling for the Korean and Japanese governments to settle the “comfort women” issue at the International Court of Justice, told the press that the security guards tried to move her despite her protest and that Lee fell out of her wheelchair in the process.    
   
“They pulled on her by her legs,” the committee said. “It was a traumatic experience for her.”  
   
The National Assembly Secretariat in a statement on Friday said that it “wishes well” for Lee’s health, adding however that “any attempt to meet up with an international guest at the Assembly without prior appointment is a disregard for diplomatic protocols. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

This is another example of how workers got used to something and don’t want to go back to the way things were before the pandemic:

Unionized workers of Seoul Metro are strongly protesting against the city government’s plan to resume late-night subway operations, a measure proposed to tackle the worsening nighttime taxi shortage in the capital.

The union that represents workers of a part of Seoul’s subway system which runs lines 1 to 8, held a rally in front of the Seoul Metropolitan Government office, Tuesday, demanding the local government withdraw its plan to extend operating hours.

“Late-night operations were suspended not only because of the coronavirus pandemic but also due to worsening operating losses, which nearly pushed the operator into bankruptcy. It is difficult to understand why the government has abruptly announced resumption of late-night operations, without any measures to resolve these issues,” the union said in a statement.

Earlier this month, the metropolitan government said it will extend subway operating hours on weekdays until 1 a.m., thereby increasing operations by one hour from the current midnight closing time, starting at some point in June.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Small business owners have been getting hammered by COVID restrictions and it appears they may have had enough:

Hundreds of restaurant and other small business owners demonstrated in central Seoul on Tuesday, demanding the government lift business hour curfews and sufficiently compensate them for losses from the prolonged anti-virus restraints.

Some 200 members of the so-called emergency association of small business hit by COVID-19 gathered near Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul in a protest rally calling for the right to survival. 

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.