All eyes on labor union chief's next move

Police guard the front gate of Jogye Temple in central Seoul where Korean Confederation of Trade Unions head Han Sang-gyun has been taking refuge, Sunday. He promised to leave the temple by Sunday if Saturday’s anti-government rally was peaceful. / Yonhap

Anti-government demonstration ends without major clash

By Kim Se-jeong

A second mass rally protesting against a number of government policies ended peacefully Saturday.

Attention is now focused on whether Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) head Han Sang-gyun will leave Jogye Temple in Seoul, where he has taken refuge, as he promised.

Han vowed last week that he would leave the sanctuary voluntarily by Sunday if police did not crack down violently on protesters on Saturday.

The head of the nation’s second-largest umbrella union had been on the police’s wanted list for refusing to appear in court on charges of previously organizing illegal demonstrations.

He also appeared at the first anti-government rally on Nov. 14 when violence erupted between police and protesters, and has taken refuge in the temple since.

Earlier last week, Buddhists there tried to force him out and had a physical confrontation. Han promised he would leave if the second rally was peaceful.

There was not a single clash with police at the rally of 14,000 farmers, laborers and members of civic groups. But as of Sunday evening, Han had not left.

There were signs that he may have changed his mind because if he left, he would be arrested immediately, with about 700 police surrounding the premises.

Many participants of the anti-government rally in downtown Seoul, Saturday, wore masks to protest the administration’s plan to crack down on masked demonstrators, presuming that they would use violence. Police did not detain any of them on the day as the rally was conducted peacefully. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

Late on Saturday, temple representatives met Han to discuss his departure, but left without an agreement.

A KCTU member said Han would have to decide by himself what to do next, adding that safety would be his priority.

“If he doesn’t leave voluntarily, it may cause a physical clash in the worst scenario,” said Park Jun, vice chief of the temple’s Buddhist association.

Almost 14,000 people attended Saturday’s anti-government demonstration, according to police. Protesters expressed their opposition to various government policies, such as labor reforms, state-written history textbooks, and more imports of rice.

Many participants wore masks, but mainly comical and satirical ones rather than the hoods that violent protesters wore on Nov. 14.

Saturday’s demonstrators wore masks in protest against the government’s earlier pledge to regard all masked protesters as intending to use violence and thus to crack down on them all.

President Park also depicted the masked demonstrators as terrorists.

But there was no violence on Saturday, from police or protesters.

The demonstrators gathered at Seoul Plaza and marched to Seoul National University Hospital where a farmer, Baek Nam-gi, has been in a coma after a police water cannon hit him at the last rally.

On the sideline of Saturday’s main protest, Christian pastors and priests and Buddhist monks gathered to pray for a peaceful demonstration.

Meanwhile, police said they were investigating 1,531 participants in the Nov. 14 rally.

Police said the KCTU planned the violence, preparing steel pipes and ropes and urging demonstrators to march toward Cheong Wa Dae.