Candlelight Meeting is Illegal but Hard to Prevent

On March 18, at a government conference presided over by Prime Minister Goh Kun reconfirmed the standpoint of the police that the night-time candlelight meeting held in opposition to President Roh’s impeachment is illegal. However, since the meeting may be impossible to prevent, the government has decided to manage it as peacefully as possible.

According to the police, "this candlelight meeting, held every night, has exceeded the level of cultural events customarily permitted because it is related to the impeachment matters. It comes under the realm of an illegal meeting.” The other participants have consent with the opinion, according to Choi Kyung-su, the chief social mediator of Administrative Affairs Office.

He added, “As the night-time meeting is constitutionally illegal, we will continue giving warnings to the sponsors not to hold the meeting anymore. However, it would be our best countermeasure to prevent them from illegally occupying roads and carrying on violence, once the meeting is held, no matter whether it is legal or not,” suggesting that he would not prevent the meetings.

“The police’s basic management role is to issue a document requiring attendance to a police interview, as well as carry out the legal measures concurrently,” remarked Choi. "We will punish the sponsors of the candlelight meeting in the future with legal procedure,” he added.

Acting President Goh has previously expressed, “Demonstration should not heat-up to become a head-on collision between the pro and anti-Roh sides.”

Goh added, “It has been six days since the should-not-occur rule in the constitutional politics was expressed. I couldn’t believe this at first, but right now, I could swiftly cope with the situation by making use of the crisis management system, which was focused on by President Roh for a long time.”

Jeong-Hun Kim jnghn@donga.com