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.
Two cities locked in lantern war
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Jinju Mayor Lee Chang-hee stages a one-man rally by holding a sign reading “Stop Seoul Lantern Festival” in front of City Hall, Wednesday. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-cheol
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon
A conflict between Seoul City and the southeastern city of Jinju escalated Wednesday as officials from both sides traded barbs to counter each other’s claims regarding rival lantern festivals.
Top officials of the two cities threatened to take legal action as the verbal sparring intensified.
Seoul repudiated Jinju City’s claim that the metropolitan government copied the small city’s lantern festival, arguing that the southeastern city borrowed some festival ideas from Seoul.
During a press briefing, Han Moon-chul, Seoul Metropolitan Government planner of culture and tourism, called Jinju Mayor Lee Chang-hee “spoiled” for his rare solo rally in front of the City Hall.
Han alleged that the southeastern city even “mobilized” elementary school students to campaign against Seoul to stop the November lantern festival. He said that Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon had no plan to sit down with Jinju officials to discuss the matter.
The city official’s cynical reaction came hours after Jinju Mayor Lee protested against Seoul City by holding a rally in front of the Seoul City Hall to urge Mayor Park to abandon the Seoul Lantern Festival.
Lee called Seoul a greedy, self-serving city stealing a cultural asset that Jinju City has cultivated for 64 years.
“Seoul Lantern Festival is literally a copy of the Jinju festival. The metropolitan city broke its promise that it would hold the festival only for three years from 2010 to commemorate the Visit Korea Year,” he said.
The mayor said Jinju City would keep all options, including a lawsuit, open to cope with Seoul as its survival hinges on the lucrative floating lantern festival.
“If Mayor Park pushes for holding the lantern festival again this year, we, Jinju City, would consider all, both physical and legal, options to thwart the plan,” Lee said. “Things will end smoothly if Park decides to stop holding the festival.”
After the rally, Lee met reporters at the Press Center near the City Hall to step up pressure on Mayor Park to rethink the lantern festival.
After this, the Jinju mayor headed to the National Assembly to hold another news conference criticizing Seoul for financially damaging the local city by holding a similar festival.
The two cities have traded barbs over Seoul’s lantern festival since 2009. Jinju City claimed that tourists to the southern city dropped sharply after Seoul held the exactly same festival in Cheonggye Stream in central Seoul in every November since 2010.
Jinju Floating Lantern Festival is held every October, a month before the Seoul festival. Jinju City claimed that Seoul “plagiarized” Jinju as the program details of the Seoul festival are identical to those of the Jinju festival.
The brand-new festival in Seoul was viewed as a threat to the small southern city because income earned from the 64-year-old festival accounts for a considerable part of financial resources of the local government.
Last year the floating lantern festival drew 2.8 million of tourists, creating 140 billion won of economic benefits for Jinju.
Seoul City officials said their Jinju counterparts are overreacting to the lantern festival, saying that lantern festivals are held all over Asia and thus Jinju City’s claim makes no sense.
Earlier, officials of the two local governments sat down on several occasions to narrow their differences. But they failed to do so because neither side made concessions.
Activists from Jinju have requested Seoul Mayor Park to sit down to discuss the matter on several occasions. But Park rejected their calls, saying he was busy.