By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
Eleven groups of beauticians and others providing massage services have filed a petition with the Constitutional Court against a recent ruling giving blind people a monopoly in providing massages.
A member of the Massager Association of Korea said Tuesday that the group and 10 others, including an association of skin massage therapists and a group of massage shop owners, filed the petition Monday,
The petition is in defiance of the Oct. 30 ruling that it was constitutional to grant the exclusive right to hold licenses for massage services only to the visually impaired. The ruling was made after various sighted masseurs filed a petition in 2006 to claim that the law, which grants the exclusive license, interfered with people's right to choose their occupation.
The 11 groups asked the court to review the constitutionality of the law, as well as a related law that punishes those who provide massage services without the license. They also claimed the law infringes on not only the right to choose occupation but also the freedom of association, the right to get an education, the right to pursue happiness and the right to work.
They filed the petition against the National Assembly speaker as well, claiming the Assembly has not established a law that can guarantee non-visually impaired masseurs' employment and thus neglected its duty.
``About 7,000 visually impaired people have massage licenses, and they cannot cope with the much larger demand for massage services. The law also prevents other welfare policies for the visually impaired by allowing the exclusive rights,'' the groups said in the petition.
``The previous petition was made by only by sports massage therapists, but this time, more groups from related industries have joined. We will hold rallies in front of the health ministry starting next month and devise ideas which can bring coexistence of the visually impaired and non-visually impaired,'' the massage association member said.