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Trains bypassing Seoul's Hyehwa Station as disability advocacy group resumes protests

Published: 21 Apr. 2025, 10:15

Park Kyoung-seok, chief of the Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination (SADD), lies down across the entrance of subway car at Hyehwa Station, Line 4, as part of SADD's ″We Take the Subway to Work″ campaign on April 21. [NEWS1]

Disability advocacy group Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination (SADD) resumed its rush-hour subway boarding protests on Monday for the first time in over a year.

At 8 a.m., SADD members gathered on a platform for trains bound for Dongdaemun at Hyehwa Station on Seoul Subway Line 4 for the 62nd installment of the group’s "We Take the Subway to Work" campaign. As of 9:29 a.m., trains are bypassing the station without stopping.

Although Seoul Metro staff attempted to block the group, some participants tried to board a train around 8:45 a.m., briefly causing a scene at the station.

Protesters repeatedly shouted, “Come out!” as they clashed physically with police officers and Seoul Metro employees.

Trains were unable to depart as doors failed to close properly amid the scuffle. Some demonstrators chained their wheelchairs to the train cars, causing further delays and prompting shouting matches with commuters.

This marks the first rush-hour boarding protest by SADD since April 8 last year.

Over the past year, the group halted boarding protests and instead staged “die-in” demonstrations — where participants lay down on platforms to mimic the dead — to press the National Assembly to pass legislation on disability rights. SADD said it resumed boarding actions because its demands had not been met.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.

BY HAN YOUNG-HYE [[email protected]]