Surprise subway protests Monday morning cause commute commotion

Social Affairs

Published: 19 Dec. 2022, 18:49 Updated: 19 Dec. 2022, 19:06

Surprise subway protests Monday morning cause commute commotion

Members of the Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination, including its chief Park Kyoung-seok, hold a protest on a subway train at Yongsan Station in central Seoul on Monday. [YONHAP]

Seoul subway trains were held up again during rush hour Monday morning due to protests by the Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination (SADD).

The SADD this time adopted guerrilla tactics to prevent the Seoul Metro from passing the trains straight through the stations with protests without stopping.

The SADD had previously announced in advance the stations at which the protests would be held, especially during commutes.

The hardline activist group kicked off their protest at the Seoul City Hall Station line No. 1. As they prevented the train from moving forward, it took 35 minutes to for it to travel three stops to Yongsan Station.

Even at Yongsan, the train was held there for another 17 minutes by members of the activist group.

Some of the commuters expressed their frustration, shouting “enough is enough.”

Complaints against the protests by the SADD in the last two years alone have reached nearly 9,000.

The group has often disrupted the subway flow for commuters going to or leaving work through its demonstrations, which include preventing the subway from moving forward by wedging wheelchairs between the platform and the train so that the doors can't close. Ladders were also sometimes used in keeping the train doors from being shut.

According to Seoul Metro, between January last year and Dec. 12 this year, the SADD has disrupted subway operations 80 times. Most disruptions were committed this year following the launch of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration.

This year alone, the SADD has stopped the trains 67 times.

The SADD is demanding that the government increases its spending to guarantee the basic rights of people with disabilities, including their rights to move freely, through means such as building infrastructure that allows people to access buildings and transportation without needing support.

Korea’s welfare budget has only one-third of the allotment of other leading countries. While the average welfare budget of OECD member countries accounts for 1.9 percent of their total annual budget, Korea’s is only 0.6 percent.

The SADD argues that next year's 5.8 trillion won budget set for people with disabilities, which is 700 billion won more than for 2022, is not enough.

In addition to asking for a budget increase, the SADD has argued that 150 billion won should be put toward the operation of special vehicles for people with disabilities, including drivers' paychecks.

The SADD argues that the government has only set aside 23.7 billion won toward the maintenance of such vehicles.

Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination chief Park Kyoung-seok, center, is blocked by members of another advocacy group for people with disabilities at Samgakji Station in central Seoul on Thursday. [SOLIDARITY AGAINST DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION]

SADD has recently been losing the public’s support due to its extreme measures, negatively affecting the daily routine of others.

Inconveniences reported due to the subway protest included being late to work and missing important medical appointments.

The SADD’s flyers plastered all over the subway train and on the platform walls with adhesives have also made it difficult for subway cleaning crews.

The city government and the metro company have tried to minimize disruptions caused by the SADD’s demonstration by stationing up to 100 police officers.

On Dec. 13, the Seoul city government and Seoul Metro decided to allow trains to pass stations without stopping where the SADD’s protest were expected to be aggressive.

Under the Metro Traffic Control Bylaws and the Operational Specifications of Business Establishments and Stations, the stationmaster can decide to let a train pass through a station without stopping when there are safety concerns.

Other groups advocating for people with disabilities have started to express their frustrations over the SADD’s aggressive tactics.

On Dec. 15, some 10 members of another group, Jangaein Yeondae, which translates to Disabled Solidarity, blocked SADD’s chief Park Kyoung-seok from taking the elevator down to the platform at Samgakji Station in central Seoul.

The Jangaein Yeondae argued that the SADD protest tactic of disrupting subway operations will only lead to increasing people’s disgust toward people with disabilities.

“There should no longer be inconveniences for innocent people by obstructing the operation of subways,” a member of the advocacy group said. “We have so far have held back because we didn’t want to give a bad impression, of people with disabilities conflicting with each other.

“But we have decided to take action as all people with disabilities are being cursed because of the violence of the SADD.”

BY LEE BO-RAM, BY KIM MIN-WOOK, LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]