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.
Remember when the Korean media was in lockstep condemning South Korean conservatives for rallying last year against President Moon? The leftist organization, KCTU has held multiple rallies since then and threatening to hold illegal “guerrilla rallies” to get around COVID restrictions with hardly any criticism from the media:
The Seoul city government has prohibited South Korea’s major umbrella labor group from staging street rallies this month in accordance with a law on preventing the spread of infectious diseases, an official said Sunday.
The measure came in response to a formal report submitted by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) on its plan to hold outdoor rallies in some areas of the capital on Oct. 20. The KCTU stated it will carry out a general strike on the day.
City authorities, however, sent an official document to the KCTU notifying it of a decision to forbid such rallies. The city government plans to maintain a ban on street rallies as part of efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19, with stringent social distancing restrictions in place.
It raises the possibility that KCTU members will again push for “guerrilla-style” illicit rallies as they did in downtown Seoul in July that led to the arrest of the labor organization’s leader, Yang Kyung-soo.
Under the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act, the Seoul mayor is empowered to prohibit rallies in the city.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but as much as I dislike the KCTU at some point they need to be allowed to hold their rallies along with other organizations. As South Korea is quickly increasing its vaccination status there has to come a point where a level is reached where groups can gather again. Protests and rallies are a strong part of the democratic process in South Korea.
Like I have always said, Korean authorities can open the road to the THAAD site any time they want to, they just choose not to on a daily basis:
Protestors failed to block 32 vehicles carrying construction equipment and materials onto a military base Friday in South Korea where the U.S. Army operates a missile-defense system, according to local media.
More than 50 people staged a sit-in as trucks approached the former golf course that’s home to a U.S.-built and operated Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD, about 190 miles south of Seoul in Seongju, The Joongang Ilbo, an English-language newspaper, reported.
Stars & Stripes
You can read more at the link, but the article says the convoy brought in construction material to help with barracks renovations and remove old construction waste from the site.
Protesters have been blocking the road since the THAAD battery was put in which causes daily logistical support to the site to be conducted by helicopter. Only when materials that cannot be moved by helicopter need to be brought in does the police open the road. I have always been concerned that over an extended period of time this could increase the chances of a helicopter crash happening.
