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| Remains of stalls that were demolished overnight by construction workers hired by Seoul Chinese Primary School are seen in a street in Myeong-dong, Seoul, Monday. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk |
Seven vendors' stalls demolished overnight following land-use conflicts with school
By Lee Hyo-jin
Several streetside eateries and stores in Myeong-dong, downtown Seoul, were demolished overnight following a monthslong dispute with a Chinese school located nearby. The vendors are crying foul over the school's move, arguing that it illegally tore down their property. But the school claims that the merchants had been doing business on their land without legal permits.
On early Monday morning, owners of seven stores selling food and accessories along an alley of the shopping district were horrorstruck to see their stalls left in ruins.
According to the Jung District Office, the demolition was conducted overnight by construction workers hired by Seoul Chinese Primary School, also known as Hanseong Chinese Primary School, located right next to the vendors. Established in 1909, the educational institution is the largest Chinese school in Korea, teaching hundreds of students from China and Taiwan.
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| Remains of stalls that were demolished overnight by construction workers hired by Seoul Chinese Primary School are seen in a street in Myeong-dong, Seoul, Monday. Yonhap |
"It's unacceptable. They must have come after midnight since we'd stayed open until past 11 p.m. on Sunday," said a man who operates Gomone Tteokbokki, one of the demolished stalls, who wished to remain anonymous. "They have been threatening us for months and demanding that we move out, but I didn't imagine they would do something this horrible."
According to him, the dispute between the stall owners and the school began a few months ago. Tensions mounted from November last year, when he resumed his business after suspending operations for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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| Chinese Ambassador to Korea Xing Haiming, right, and his wife Tan Yujun, eat tteokbokki at a stall in Myeong-dong near Hanseong Chinese Primary School, May 2020. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk |
"For the last several months, people from a construction company working for the school came to us multiple times pressuring us to move out, saying that we were doing business on land owned by the school. They said they're planning to do some sort of reconstruction here," he said.
He said the construction workers threatened to pursue legal action if he didn't remove the stall, and had even proposed to pay compensation. But the stall keepers turned down their proposals.
The vendor also claimed that the land on which he is doing business is owned by the district office, and thus he has been abiding by the regulations set out by the authorities.
"We've filed complaints to the police against the school for alleged damage of property and have asked the district office to engage in resolving the issue," he added. "We will see what additional measures we can take depending on how the police investigation goes."
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| A notice from the Jung District Office reads that the remains of demolished stalls should be removed from the street immediately as they are causing inconvenience to passersby, Monday. When The Korea Times revisited the site on Tuesday afternoon, construction workers hired by the Chinese school and officials from the district office were cleaning up the remains. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk |
The Korea Times contacted Hanseong Chinese Primary School for comments, but it declined to give further details.
Reached by phone, an official of the school said, Tuesday, "I was not aware that the vendors' stalls would be demolished. I heard the news that they were removed only after it happened."
The Jung District Office said the demolition was conducted solely by the Chinese school and that the authorities hadn't been notified about the operation in advance.
"Part of the land where the vendors were doing business is owned by the school. We do not know the details as to whether the stall owners have rented the land through legitimate contracts with the school," a district official said, adding that he is not in a position to say whether the venders were illegally doing business on the school's property.
According to the district office, the school has been planning to commence a partial reconstruction of its building, including the area where the stalls were operating.
"We are looking into details, but technically speaking, there isn't much room for us to engage since street vendors are not legally registered businesses. For now, we have cleaned up the demolished stalls to minimize inconvenience to passersby and neighboring shops," he said.
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