By Park Moo-jong
Have you ever imagined seeing a refugee camp in the heart of the capital city of the Republic of Korea?
Most people will say "nope." But there are many. Alas, a huge "tent village" has been in existence for 1,000 days as of yesterday in Gwanghwamun Square, the very center of Seoul.
Adjacent to the area are some important national and foreign facilities such as the Government Complex Building, the Sejong Center for Culture and Arts and the U.S. Embassy, among others.
As almost all Koreans know, the city square located in front of Gyeongbok Palace from the Choseon Kingdom (1392-1910) has been the symbol of the capital city and one of the most popular tourist destinations.
There are two tent villages confronting each other in the heart of Seoul in Gwanghwamun Square and the nearby City Plaza that should be used for public recreation, cultural events or residents' relaxation.
A tent is a shelter consisting of sheets of fabric or other material attached to a frame of supporting poles or draped over a rope, which is mainly used for camping.
But the tents set up at the square look like "permanent" structures where the "residents" have few "living problems."
Just 1,000 days ago, families of the victims of the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster and their supporters mainly from progressive groups opposing the Park Keun-hye government put up 14 tents in the square to house memorials and altars for the 304 passengers who died in the incident, mostly high school students, and also for a sit-in rally to demand a thorough investigation of the cause of the sinking.
By late last year, leftists and progressives illegally added 55 tents to the "village," demanding the resignation of President Park who had been impeached by the National Assembly.
The residents of the tent village are apparently not to lonely because conservatives and supporters of embattled President Park set up a similar camp of some 40 tents on Jan. 21 at the plaza in front of City Hall, less than one kilometer away from their "town."
The face of the mega city with a population of around 10 million people is out of shape.
The law is just a scrap of paper for the sit-in protestors who built their own tent towns.
City regulations stipulate that the space (occupied by the illegal tent dwellers) should be used for citizens' cultural and recreational activities as a public facility.
For a long time now though, the place has become an eyesore for ordinary citizens, many of whom complain that they are now really sick of seeing the tents whenever they pass by Gwanghwamun Street.
A citizen in his early 60s whom I met in the very place for an interview for this column quipped flatly, "Why doesn't the City Hall allow them (the tent residents) to build houses there to replace the tents?"
A co-ed said, "I know well the heart-breaking sorrow of the families of the Sewol ferry victims and supported the establishment of an altar for mourning. But now they are going too far. How can such temporary facilities exist for more than three months in the city center?"
Yet, the city government led by Mayor Park Won-soon, a leader of progressive forces, who gave up his presidential bid a week ago, is just looking on with folded arms.
What's worse is the "bizarre" attitude of city officials, or to be more precise, Mayor Park himself.
The officials said that they were considering forcibly removing the tents set up by the people opposing the impeachment of President Park at the City Plaza, unless the illegal facilities were voluntarily dismantled.
On the other hand, the city government is not taking any action against the much older facilities set up in Gwanghwamun Square by the leftists demanding Park's immediate resignation.
Why? City officials "want" to prevent any possible physical clash with the left-wing protestors in the course of dismantling the tents.
If so, how about the tents built by the right-wing supporters of Park opposing her impeachment?
It's unfair; and the administration will lose all public confidence, if it loses sight of fairness and consistency in its policies.
The square has been turning into a space for "candlelit rallies" every weekend over the past few months, causing extreme traffic congestion in the city center and neighboring districts.
Thousands of police officers and troops are stationed around the two different tent villages to prevent possible accidents during the massive demonstrations during this freezing cold winter.
What a waste of the police force's time, whose duty is to work for security against crimes.
Seoul City Hall should remove the tents immediately and return the space to its original function as a place for citizens. Gwanghwamun Square and Seoul City Plaza should be a space for festivals, not for political confrontation. City officials should take a lesson from other major world cities such as New York, Tokyo and London.
Park Moo-jong is The Korea Times advisor. He served as the president-publisher of the nation's first English newspaper founded in 1951 from 2004 to 2014 after working as a reporter for the daily since 1974. He can be reached at moojong@ktimes.com or emjei29@gmail.com
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Most people will say "nope." But there are many. Alas, a huge "tent village" has been in existence for 1,000 days as of yesterday in Gwanghwamun Square, the very center of Seoul.
Adjacent to the area are some important national and foreign facilities such as the Government Complex Building, the Sejong Center for Culture and Arts and the U.S. Embassy, among others.
As almost all Koreans know, the city square located in front of Gyeongbok Palace from the Choseon Kingdom (1392-1910) has been the symbol of the capital city and one of the most popular tourist destinations.
There are two tent villages confronting each other in the heart of Seoul in Gwanghwamun Square and the nearby City Plaza that should be used for public recreation, cultural events or residents' relaxation.
A tent is a shelter consisting of sheets of fabric or other material attached to a frame of supporting poles or draped over a rope, which is mainly used for camping.
But the tents set up at the square look like "permanent" structures where the "residents" have few "living problems."
Just 1,000 days ago, families of the victims of the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster and their supporters mainly from progressive groups opposing the Park Keun-hye government put up 14 tents in the square to house memorials and altars for the 304 passengers who died in the incident, mostly high school students, and also for a sit-in rally to demand a thorough investigation of the cause of the sinking.
By late last year, leftists and progressives illegally added 55 tents to the "village," demanding the resignation of President Park who had been impeached by the National Assembly.
The residents of the tent village are apparently not to lonely because conservatives and supporters of embattled President Park set up a similar camp of some 40 tents on Jan. 21 at the plaza in front of City Hall, less than one kilometer away from their "town."
The face of the mega city with a population of around 10 million people is out of shape.
The law is just a scrap of paper for the sit-in protestors who built their own tent towns.
City regulations stipulate that the space (occupied by the illegal tent dwellers) should be used for citizens' cultural and recreational activities as a public facility.
For a long time now though, the place has become an eyesore for ordinary citizens, many of whom complain that they are now really sick of seeing the tents whenever they pass by Gwanghwamun Street.
A citizen in his early 60s whom I met in the very place for an interview for this column quipped flatly, "Why doesn't the City Hall allow them (the tent residents) to build houses there to replace the tents?"
A co-ed said, "I know well the heart-breaking sorrow of the families of the Sewol ferry victims and supported the establishment of an altar for mourning. But now they are going too far. How can such temporary facilities exist for more than three months in the city center?"
Yet, the city government led by Mayor Park Won-soon, a leader of progressive forces, who gave up his presidential bid a week ago, is just looking on with folded arms.
What's worse is the "bizarre" attitude of city officials, or to be more precise, Mayor Park himself.
The officials said that they were considering forcibly removing the tents set up by the people opposing the impeachment of President Park at the City Plaza, unless the illegal facilities were voluntarily dismantled.
On the other hand, the city government is not taking any action against the much older facilities set up in Gwanghwamun Square by the leftists demanding Park's immediate resignation.
Why? City officials "want" to prevent any possible physical clash with the left-wing protestors in the course of dismantling the tents.
If so, how about the tents built by the right-wing supporters of Park opposing her impeachment?
It's unfair; and the administration will lose all public confidence, if it loses sight of fairness and consistency in its policies.
The square has been turning into a space for "candlelit rallies" every weekend over the past few months, causing extreme traffic congestion in the city center and neighboring districts.
Thousands of police officers and troops are stationed around the two different tent villages to prevent possible accidents during the massive demonstrations during this freezing cold winter.
What a waste of the police force's time, whose duty is to work for security against crimes.
Seoul City Hall should remove the tents immediately and return the space to its original function as a place for citizens. Gwanghwamun Square and Seoul City Plaza should be a space for festivals, not for political confrontation. City officials should take a lesson from other major world cities such as New York, Tokyo and London.
Park Moo-jong is The Korea Times advisor. He served as the president-publisher of the nation's first English newspaper founded in 1951 from 2004 to 2014 after working as a reporter for the daily since 1974. He can be reached at moojong@ktimes.com or emjei29@gmail.com
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