Yoon Sang-hyun "Why enforce Park Won-soon's 5-day funeral but ban the Liberation Day rally?"

Independent lawmaker Yoon Sang-hyun [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Bong-joo] When Seoul City announced that it would block the Liberation Day rally on the 15th to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus infection, independent lawmaker Yoon Sang-hyun mentioned the funeral of the late Park Won-soon, former mayor of Seoul, saying, "Unconditionally banning it goes against reason and fairness."

On the 12th, Representative Yoon opened his statement on his Facebook, saying, "As a large-scale rally in the Seoul area was announced for Liberation Day on the 15th, Seoul City declared that it would use all means, including requests to cancel the rally and orders to ban the rally, to block it."

He sarcastically said, "The reason given was that the public interest in preventing the spread of COVID-19 was judged to be greater. But a month ago, despite secondary harm to victims and opposition from 590,000 people in a Blue House petition, the Seoul Metropolitan Government forcibly held a five-day funeral for the late Mayor Park Won-soon. Was the public interest in Mayor Park's five-day funeral greater than preventing the spread of COVID-19?"

He continued, "At that time, Seoul City held the funeral under guidelines established in close consultation with the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention," and criticized, "Similarly, the Liberation Day rally could be adjusted with guidelines or conditions on the number of participants, but unconditionally banning it goes against reason and fairness."

He added, "This is no different from banning the June 4 Tiananmen rally in Hong Kong, which is in a quasi-civil war state due to pro-democracy protests, under the pretext of COVID-19."

Photo by Yoon Sang-hyun, captured from Facebook.

He also said, "President Moon Jae-in, when he was the leader of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy in 2015, emphasized that 'Our constitution guarantees the freedom of assembly and demonstration and prohibits a permit system for assemblies,' and that assemblies should not be banned or completely blocked."

Representative Yoon pointed out, "Liberation Day is the day when the people regained their light. The people who were liberated from Japanese colonial rule ran out into the streets and shouted 'Manse' (Hurrah). It is ironic that on the 75th anniversary of liberation, citizens are ordered by Seoul City controllers not to come out into the streets."

Earlier, Seoul City officially requested the groups that reported rallies on the 11th to cancel their rallies, citing concerns about the spread of COVID-19, as large-scale rallies and demonstrations were expected around Gwanghwamun for Liberation Day.

According to Seoul City, a total of 17 groups reported rallies around Gwanghwamun on the 15th, with an estimated participation of about 50,000 people.