Seoul Subway Station 'Mobility Rights Guarantee' Sticker Case: Jeon Jang-yeon Representative Found Not Guilty

Court: "No Issues with Using Inner Wall and Floor of Station"

Executives of a disability organization who were prosecuted for placing hundreds of stickers demanding mobility rights on the platforms of Seoul subway stations were acquitted on the 1st.

Park Kyung-seok, Co-Representative of the National Solidarity for the Elimination of Disability Discrimination (Jeonjangyeon) [Image source=Yonhap News]

Judge Ji Chung-hyun of the Seoul Western District Court Criminal Division 6 acquitted Park Kyung-seok, co-representative of the National Solidarity for the Elimination of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (Jeonjangyeon), Kwon Dal-ju, co-representative of Jeonjangyeon, and Moon Ae-rin, representative of the Seoul Solidarity for the Elimination of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities, who were charged with damaging public facilities, causing safety issues, and obstructing passenger passage (joint property damage under the Act on the Punishment of Violent Acts).

The court stated that although stickers were attached to the subway platform walls and lacquer spray was applied to the floor, there was no significant problem in using the station’s interior walls and floors, leading to the not guilty verdict.

The court pointed out, "Although the attached stickers are made of somewhat strongly adhesive material, they do not appear to be significantly difficult to remove," and added, "The Samgakji Station platform is located deep underground, and there was rain at the time, so there was no evidence that there was no time to remove the stickers due to the risk of the floor getting wet." It further stated, "There are claims that passengers could not move to the places where the stickers were attached and lacquer spray was applied, but it seems that this only occurred during the removal process."

After the verdict, Representative Park said, "I hoped for a not guilty verdict with the desire for society to change, so I am happy," and added, "I have never been outside the bounds of realistic law." When asked if there are plans to place stickers or spray lacquer during future demonstrations, he replied, "There is no plan made in advance," emphasizing, "The solution to this issue is for Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, Seoul Metro, and the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, as responsible parties, to guarantee the mobility rights of persons with disabilities as soon as possible."

Earlier, on February 13 of last year, Representative Park and others held a press conference at Samgakji Station on Seoul Subway Lines 4 and 6, where they were reported for damaging public facilities by placing stickers demanding disability budgets and mobility rights on the platform floor and walls and spraying lacquer.