Protest Blocking Entrance to Police Human Resources Development Institute with Agricultural Machinery
[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] Local residents are protesting the government's decision on the 29th to designate the Chungnam Asan Police Human Resources Development Institute as a temporary living facility for evacuees from Wuhan, China.
About 60 residents, mainly from the Onyang 5-dong Village Chief Council, the Residents' Autonomy Committee, and Saemaul leaders in Asan City, began protesting around 1 p.m. by blocking the entrance to the Police Human Resources Development Institute with five agricultural machines, including tractors and tillers. Around 6 p.m., Asan Mayor Oh Se-hyun and Lee Seung-woo, Director of the Disaster Safety Bureau at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, visited the site and attempted to engage in dialogue with the residents, but faced strong opposition and left.
Song Dal-sang, chairman of the Village Chief Council, said, "Initially, the facility was decided to be in Cheonan, but when there was opposition there, it was changed to Asan, which is absolutely unacceptable," adding, "We oppose the decision made without establishing safety measures for residents."
Some members of the Asan City Council also held an emergency meeting in the morning and declared, "We will strongly carry out opposition activities together with the citizens." They further emphasized, "The sudden change to Asan cannot be seen as a rational decision but only as a matter of power dynamics," and stated, "We cannot accept the central government's arbitrary and unilateral selection without consultation with Asan City."
Lee Myung-soo, a member of the National Assembly from the Liberty Korea Party representing the Asan Gap district, also issued a statement saying, "There are many issues and constraints, including numerous residential areas such as apartment complexes near the Police Human Resources Development Institute, making it unsuitable as a quarantine facility," and declared, "We actively oppose the quarantine at the Police Human Resources Development Institute." He further proposed, "If hundreds of Wuhan evacuees are housed in a single facility, there is a high likelihood of large-scale infection, so they should be divided by region or group and dispersed across multiple facilities for protection."
Asan City released a press statement saying, "It is very regrettable that reasonable criteria for site selection, procedural validity, and consultation with the local community were requested but not accepted." However, the city expressed willingness to accept the facility, stating, "From a magnanimous perspective that the Wuhan evacuees are our brothers and sisters, we will actively support them to stay healthy and safely return to their families."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
