New Gwanghwamun Square is opened to the public

People visit Gwanghwamun Square, a major landmark in central Seoul, on Sunday, after it opened to the public after nearly two years of renovation. [YONHAP]

Gwanghwamun Square, a major plaza in downtown Seoul, opened to the public Saturday after 21 months of redevelopment.

The square opened to the public at 11 a.m. Saturday, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Government. It says the site has been turned into a "park-like square."

The biggest change is that people no longer have to cross a road to get to Gwanghwamun Square.

Previously, there were roads on both sides of the square. But the road on the western side — in front of Sejong Center for the Performing Arts — was filled in during the construction, more than doubling the size of the square to 40,300 square meters. The width of the square was also expanded from 35 meters to 60 meters.

Around 5,000 trees were planted to create shade, increasing green areas to a quarter of the plaza, three times larger than before.

An exhibition space has been created where visitors can see artifacts from the Joseon Dynasty that were discovered during construction.

A ceremony to commemorate the square's opening was held on Saturday night, with 300 people participating. To participate, they made reservations in advance.

“It’s the moment when the proudest landmark of Seoul, the capital of Korea, is revealed,” Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said during the ceremony.

“I'm very nervous,” Oh said. “It feels like releasing a new product.”

The mayor continued, “Just as CNN and BBC report in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, it became possible to deliver news from Seoul to people all over the world at this place.”

To establish Gwanghwamun Square as a site of leisure and cultural activities, the city said it will ban rallies and demonstrations that can cause noise or interfere with traffic.

Gwanghwamun Square has frequently been at the center of historically significant rallies and protests, including protests against U.S. beef imports in 2008 and the candlelight vigils demanding the impeachment of ex-President Park Geun-hye in 2016.

In fact, holding rallies and demonstrations at Gwanghwamun Square has already been prohibited under city ordinances.

Yet some civic groups such as the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) describe their protests as "cultural festivals" to obtain permission to gather there.

Following the city’s announcement that those days are over, critics have said the freedoms of assembly and association guaranteed by the Constitution are being infringed upon.

"The freedom to rally involves the freedom of organizers to decide when, where, and how,” the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD), a non-governmental organization, said in a commentary on Aug. 5. “Constitutional restrictions on basic rights are possible in accordance with the law, but the attempts to ban them by the Seoul Metropolitan Government ordinance are unconstitutional.”

The Citizens’ Coalition for Economic Justice also wrote in a statement, “It's unconstitutional to declare no rally allowed.”

BY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]