Man fined for obstructing ancestral rite

A ritual table to honor ancestors

By Lee Kyung-min

A district court fined a man 500,000 won, Friday, for flipping over a ritual table set by others to honor their ancestors.

The Seoul Central District Court found the man, only identified by his surname Kim, guilty of obstructing a memorial service.

Under the law, those who disrupt a traditional ceremony, funeral or religious service face a prison term of up to three years or a fine of up to 3 million won ($2,500).

The provision is aimed at helping such ceremony organizers maintain quiet and order.

The court said Kim got into a physical confrontation to thwart the ritual, organized by Seonyanghoe, a group of descendants of six Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910) ministers called Sayuksin, at a park in Seoul set up to commemorate their loyal spirit, in 2011. The six, who were executed by King Sejo, who crowned himself after forcibly ousting his teenage nephew King Danjong, have been revered for their loyalty to this day.

Kim flipped the table over when the group tried to put more food on it, thereby ruining the ceremony, according to court documents.

Kim is a member of Hyeonchanghoe, another group of descendants of Kim Moon-ki, a high-profile figure who was also killed for protesting against King Sejo during the same period, claiming that his ancestor should receive the same recognition as the six. But Seonyanghoe had refused Kim’s request.

“Kim ruined the ceremony that was meant to be solemn,” the judge said in the ruling.

Courts have made similar rulings in the past. In 2011, a district court fined a man 300,000 won for locking the entrance to an ancestral shrine to prevent his relatives from holding a ritual.

In 2010, a district court fined a woman 500,000 won for disturbing a family from having a ceremony for 30 minutes at a Buddhist temple in North Chungcheong Province.