By Bryan Kay
Staff Reporter
A Muslim human rights center at the core of a feud with Seoul Central Masjid appears to have been abandoned.
The site, set up earlier this year, has remained sealed for large chunks of time during which it previously said it would be open.
The Center for the Protection of Muslim Human Rights, located in Itaewon, Seoul, opposite the mosque, was set up at the beginning of the summer with promises to help Muslims from overseas resolve work-related grievances and visa problems.
Representatives told a Korea Times reporter in late July that the center would be open every day from 9 a.m. until late.
But several recent visits ― over the last few weeks ― have found the office shut and increasing signs of abandonment inside.
Attempts to contact those behind the center by telephone were also unsuccessful.
One worker reached said he had not been at the site for a month. When asked whether it had been shut down, he responded by saying he did not know.
Some members of the Islamic community said last month that the facility didn't appear to be living up to its billing, questioning its true motives.
However, center representatives hit back, saying that they were doing what they could with the limited amount of funds they had available.
They also dismissed claims the center was only set up out of anger toward the individuals within the mosque and its Korea Muslim Federation controllers.
A feud between the center and federation erupted in June when the former lodged a complaint with the police against the latter over alleged misuse of donated funds.
The courts had ruled in favor of the federation after the appeal, though it is understood those involved at the center were considering another attempt to have the decision overturned.
Imam Sulaiman Lee Haeng-lae, in a recent interview with The Korea Times, said he hoped the matter could be resolved and the community reunited, adding that attempts to spread the Islamic faith here had been curtailed in the crossfire.