 In the left photo taken on June 5, grass on Seoul Plaza in central Seoul is green. In the right photo on June 12, however, the lawn has almost died, as people have trodden on it in massive rallies against the U.S. beef imports almost every day. / Yonhap |
By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
Seoul Plaza, one of the major achievements boasted by President Lee Myung-bak during his tenure as Seoul Mayor, is now turning into a curse for its creator.
Tens of thousands of citizens have continually been at the round plaza in front of Seoul City Hall to condemn the President and his decision to import U.S. beef. Lee demolished a large water fountain that stood in front of City Hall for four decades and built the plaza in May 2004 to provide a space for various festivals for citizens.
However, it is becoming a Mecca for the everyday rallies that are devastating the plaza lawn and disrupting various festivals planned by Seoul City.
Demonstrators have held candlelit protests for about 40 days now. In recent weeks, conservative civic groups opposing the rallies have also staged demonstrations there.
The biggest victim of these rallies is the plaza lawn. With tens of thousands walking on the plaza everyday, the 6,449 square meters of lawn now has holes in it and the grass is withering. Some conservative groups even drove 7,000 mortuary tablets for deceased soldiers into the lawn earlier this month.
The city government changed the grass of the lawn in March to coincide with the start of spring, but the lawn has already died. The city spent 60 million won ($57,500) in purchasing grass last year, and expects to spend more than 100 million won this year.
``Lawns die when tens of thousands of people keep stepping on it. We cannot recover the withering grass but have to change the lawn completely. But we don't know when we will be able to do so, as we don't know when the rallies will be over,'' a city official said.
The gatherings have also forced the city government to cancel or reschedule cultural events it had planned to hold at the plaza.
The city planned to present jazz, traditional Korean music and ballet performances almost every evening until October with a budget of 750 million won. Among 21 planned performances for the last month, 11 were cancelled.
A gymnastics show, which the city and Hyundai Capital organized to open on the plaza on June 13-15, was forced to move to Olympic Park in eastern Seoul due to the candlelit protests. Seoul Women's Squash Open was held there on June 2 to 7 as scheduled, but gained little attention due to the mass rallies.
``We have had 300 to 400 phone calls from citizens asking whether the events are going to be held as scheduled. We plan to resume the suspended performances starting Monday, but we are not sure whether we will be able to,'' the official said.
rahnita@koreatimes.co.kr
