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Police requested arrest warrants for two foreigners who demonstrated against the construction of a naval base on Jeju Island. It is the first time that warrants have been sought for foreign protestors against the controversial project.
According to Seogwipo Police Station Wednesday, warrants were sought for Angie Zelter from Britain and Benjamin Monnet from France, on charges of illegally entering the naval base site and damaging property in the process.
Zelter entered the Gureombi Seashore, where the naval base construction is underway, through the seawall from Gangjeong port last Monday, police said. Zelter severed the barbed wire fence that was installed around the base and illegally entered the site.
Zelter is a British peace and environment activist who has been arrested over 100 times around the world for carrying out anti-nuclear weapons campaigns. She is visiting Jeju to attend an international peace conference organized by Global Network.
Monnet, a French peace activist, is also charged for illegally entering the naval base last Monday by rowing a kayak onto the Gureombi Seashore and crossing over the barbed wire fence and climbing on an excavator.
Monnet, who came to Korea to attend a film festival to be held on Jeju in May, had already been indicted last November for assaulting a construction worker who was installing the barbed wire fence.
The police also requested an arrest warrant for a Korean who climbed on the excavator with Monnet on charges of obstruction of business but released the other 13 who were apprehended along with them.
Over 20 foreign activists are reportedly participating in the protest, according to the immigration office. The Jeju police were unable to determine the exact number of protesters.
