7th Anniversary of Triggered Earthquake: Pohang Citizens Rally Held... 'Citizens' Suffering from Earthquake Continues'

120 Social, Religious, and Volunteer Organizations Jointly Host, 'A Catalyst for Citizen Unity'

Increased Appeal and Impact Through Purity of Civic Movements and Voluntary Citizen Participation

The 7th anniversary citizen rally for the Pohang triggered earthquake will be held on the 15th at 2 p.m. at Yukgeori in Buk-gu, Pohang.

Poster for the 7th Anniversary Citizens' Rally of the Pohang Induced Earthquake. Provided by the Pohang Earthquake Citizens' Countermeasure Headquarters.

The event is co-hosted by over 120 religious, volunteer, and grassroots organizations in the Pohang area, including the Pohang Christian Church Association, Volunteer Club Federation, and Pohang Root Association, with the Pohang Earthquake Citizen Countermeasures Headquarters operating the citizen event preparation committee.

Shin Gi-ik, the head of the citizen event preparation T/F team, sent cooperation letters to about 1,500 local institutions and organizations requesting participation in the ‘Citizen Rights Recovery Signature Campaign and Rally,’ and reported that most organizations have expressed willingness to participate.

He stated that many expressed active participation, saying, “If we do not step up for the citizen rights recovery event, what justification would there be to continue activities in the Pohang area?”

However, to avoid the event being perceived as a government-organized demonstration, government-affiliated organizations decided to participate as cooperating and supporting groups rather than as co-hosting institutions.

Mo Seong-eun, chairperson of the Countermeasures Headquarters, which is in charge of the event, said, “For the rally to gain credibility and consensus from outside, it must be completely different from past event formats. It should not be a ‘government-organized demonstration’ where the city hall or town offices encourage gathering and provide transportation support. Only when citizens voluntarily rally from their hearts can the authenticity and sustainability of citizen action be guaranteed.”

The 7th anniversary citizen event preparation committee for the triggered earthquake has been operating since last September. To this end, the Pohang Earthquake Citizen Countermeasures Headquarters recruited about 120 representatives from local community and grassroots organizations as the 8th executive committee members and has been preparing the event through them.

Also, the 120 executive committee members of the 8th Pohang Earthquake Countermeasures Headquarters were assigned roles such as rally chairperson, promotion committee chairperson, executive committee chairperson, and operations committee chairperson based on the size and social recognition of their respective organizations.

The Pohang Earthquake Countermeasures Headquarters posted informational banners at over 150 locations in Pohang a month prior and distributed card news via SNS. Recently, they promoted the event through street broadcasts and local signature campaigns.

Son Shin-sook, head of the ‘Citizen Rights Recovery 500,000 Signature Campaign’ promotion team, reported that more than 10,000 signatures were collected within just one week of distributing the signature sheets, with a goal of surpassing 100,000 by the end of the year.

The campaign guide and signature sheets for the 500,000 signature drive were sent by official letter to about 1,500 institutions such as schools and churches in the Pohang area. The first collection of signatures is scheduled for November 15 at the event venue, and the second collection will be accepted by mail until the end of the year.

The citizen event preparation T/F team disclosed the list of about 1,500 related institutions and organizations that received the participation request letter for the 7th anniversary citizen event of the triggered earthquake.

The citizen event will be held on the 15th from 2 p.m., starting with a rally approved as an assembly and demonstration along the route from Yukgeori Silgaecheon to the Post Office via Jungang Shopping Street. From 4 p.m., a city march will proceed to Ogeori, and the event will disband at 5 p.m.

The citizen event preparation T/F team sent a cooperation letter to the Jungang Shopping Street Merchants Association in advance, anticipating some business disruptions due to the mass assembly and demonstration, to seek understanding.

Additionally, to prevent safety accidents that may frequently occur at large-scale citizen events, they will operate their own order maintenance team and requested cooperation from Pohang City Hall, Pohang Northern Police Station, and Pohang Northern Fire Station for traffic, terrorism, fire, and emergency medical support.

The Pohang Earthquake Countermeasures Headquarters, which organizes the citizen event, is a civic organization that led 500,000 Pohang citizens participating in a lawsuit claiming compensation for earthquake damages, winning 3 million KRW in damages.

Although it has been eight years since the triggered earthquake occurred in the Pohang area, the Pohang Earthquake Countermeasures Headquarters has claimed that citizens who suffered property and human losses due to the earthquake have yet to receive proper compensation.

In particular, the Countermeasures Headquarters started a lawsuit for earthquake damage compensation in 2018 and won a favorable ruling for citizen plaintiffs at the Pohang branch court after five years and one month. However, the defendant government appealed, and the lawsuit has restarted at the High Court.

After attending the first appellate hearing, Countermeasures Headquarters officials concluded that waiting passively is meaningless and decided to launch a citizen movement by uniting the power of 500,000 earthquake-affected citizens.

Mo Seong-eun, chairperson of the Countermeasures Headquarters, said, “Citizens must reclaim their rights themselves,” adding, “Urging the continuation of the earthquake damage compensation lawsuit is a legitimate right of citizens, and that process itself is a citizen movement. Not only the building damage, which has not been properly compensated through special laws, but also the resulting business losses must be fully compensated.”

Related organizations working with the Countermeasures Headquarters stated, “The 500,000 signature campaign to reclaim citizen rights is a movement by Pohang citizens affected by the triggered earthquake on November 15, 2017, to regain their lost rights. It will be recorded as a significant step that opened up Korean civil society, comparable to the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement.”