NHRC Issues Recommendation to Jongro Police Chief to Allow Demonstrations at the Yulinmadang Public Park in Downtown Seoul
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued a recommendation to the Jongro police chief to stop prohibiting demonstrations so long as the area for the demonstration, as stated in the rally permit, falls beyond the 100-meter radius around foreign embassies and consular offices even in cases where the other parts of the same park where the demonstration is to be held do not. The recommendation follows a complaint filed in June 2002 by Father Mun, Jeong Hyeon—the chair of the “People’s Action for Reform of Unjust ROK-US Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA)” (hereafter, People’s Action for SOFA Reform)—after the Jongro Police Station, citing article 11 of the Assembly and Demonstration Act, issued a notice prohibiting the group from holding rallies in the Yulinmadang Public Park, Gwanghwamun District, downtown Seoul in February 2000.
The NHRC investigation found that within the park, there was an area that was both over 100 meters away from all nearby diplomatic offices (the US Embassy, the Japanese Embassy and the Consular Office of the Japanese Embassy) and also large enough to accommodate a sizeable demonstration. Furthermore, the investigation confirmed that the rally permit had expressly stated intent to hold the rally within the part of the park that was 100 meters away from nearby diplomatic offices and residences. However, the Jongro Police Station issued the prohibition on the grounds of article 11 of the Korean Assembly and Demonstration Act, which prohibits rallies in a 100-meter radius of foreign diplomatic missions, stating that “Yulinmadang Public Park is within 100 meters of the US Embassy, 35 meters from the Consular Office of the Japanese Embassy, and 90 meters from the Japanese Embassy.”
After assessing the facts, the NHRC concluded that prohibiting all rallies in
Yulinmadang Park just because some parts of the park fell within a 100-meter radius of foreign diplomatic missions was an excessively amplified interpretation of the law. Considering the purpose of the Assembly and Demonstration Act (to guarantee to the utmost, the right to lawful demonstration), article 21 of the ROK Constitution (freedom of speech, press, assembly, and association), and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (right of assembly), the NHRC found that the Jongro Police Station’s prohibition of assembly and demonstration in all parts of the park violated the freedom of assembly and recommended that the police allow rallies and demonstrations that do not fall within a 100 meter radius of foreign diplomatic missions even though other parts of the same park or place do.
