[Opinion] Peaceful Protests

Concepcion Picciotto, a 65-year-old U.S. citizen, has been staging a one-man anti-war and anti-nuclear protest in front of White House for 26 years. One of numerous peace activists, she calls President Bush “evil” without any hesitation. She is allowed her protest, living in a tent near the White House, because she has done it peacefully. If she broke the police line or attempted some violent action, she would have been arrested and punished by the police.

Last year alone, about 10,368 protests were staged in Korea, which translates into 28 protests a day. A large-scale rally and demonstration was planned yesterday to disrupt a Korea-U.S. FTA negotiation session. But the police blocked it, citing the organizer’s record of violent demonstrations. About 9,400 people were accused of violent illegal demonstration last year, but only 305 among them were arrested. Moreover, only a handful actually served their time in jail. It is fair to say that public powers and the judiciary are lenient about illegal demonstrations.

This is why an association of 13 civic groups, which advocates peaceful demonstration, agreed to submit a petition to the National Assembly to revise the law on assemblies and protests. The association believes that the public power is generous about violent illegal protests because many figures in the administration used protests as a tool of the democratization movement. The draft revision is about “permitting peaceful protests as much as possible, while strongly regulating violent illegal protests and protests in the city center.” The existing law on assemblies and protests has been partially revised five times since its last revision in March 1989. But the National Assembly needs to seriously consider the review of the law because there are new forms of protest emerging, such as masked protests.

The right to assembly and protest and the right of innocent people to avoid damage from such assemblies and protests are conflicting in some ways. It is one of the basic rights in a democratic society for individuals or groups to influence others’ decision making and overwhelm opposing arguments in a variety of ways. But the problem is how to express one’s opinions. Korea is unique among democratic countries in that it is lenient about violent and illegal expressions of opinions.

Gwon Sun-taek, Editorial Writer, maypole@donga.com