I am an editorial writer at The Korea Times, focusing on foreign policy, North Korea and domestic politics. My key areas of interest include North Korea, foreign interference in elections, election integrity, cyberattacks and human rights. Prior to joining the Editorial Board, I served as both Politics Desk editor and Culture Desk editor. During my career, I have reported on the Presidential Office under the Lee Myung-bak administration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Assembly.
Lantern festival pits Seoul against Jinju
By Kang Hyun-kyung
The southeastern city of Jinju is threatening to file a suit against the Seoul Metropolitan Government, demanding the metropolitan city stop its annual lantern festival.
The dispute over the originality of lantern festivals dates back to 2009 when Seoul started its lantern festival at the Cheonggye Stream in central Seoul. The conflict between the cities is escalating as neither side is willing to compromise.
Jinju city residents claim that the Seoul Lantern Festival is a copy of its floating water lantern festival, dubbed Jinju Namgang Yudeung Festival, which was first held six decades ago. They claim that Seoul has infringed upon Jinju’s intellectual property right.
Jinju is mounting its campaign to pressure Seoul to scrap its lantern festival scheduled for November. Citizens from Jinju have taken turns to hold a one-man rally in front of the Seoul City Hall.
Jin Hyun-chul, director-general of the Bureau of Welfare and Cultural Affairs of Jinju City government, said the local government is considering instituting legal action against Seoul.
Jin said the local city suffered an immense economic loss because of Seoul’s lantern festival since its inception has stolen its potential tourists.
“Most visitors to our festival are southerners living in Chungcheong or provinces located below the region. We tried hard to attract tourists from Seoul and its vicinity areas to our lantern festival held every October” Jin said.
“Our plan got messed up because of Seoul City. Tourists were discouraged from visiting us due to the Seoul Lantern Festival which is usually held one month after the Jinju festival.”
Meanwhile, since last year, some 200,000 Jinju residents ― more than half of its 350,000 population ― have signed a petition to bar Seoul from holding the festival.
They claimed that Seoul took advantage of its decades-old cultural festival featuring floating water lanterns which were used as a communication tool between soldiers and their families during wartime nearly four hundred years ago.
Activists from the local city plan to hand the petition over to Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon to pressure him into yielding to their demand.
Seoul City dismissed the allegation that its lantern festival is a violation of their intellectual property right, claiming that any city or entity can hold such an event.
It said it would launch a countersuit against the Jinju City if the latter takes the dispute to court. Seoul City officials say they hope that they will smoothly resolve the dispute in a mutually beneficial manner.
Officials of Seoul and Jinju Cities have met several times to reach a breakthrough over the years, without any success.