Engaged Couples Stage 'Wedding Car Protest'... Growing Demands for 'Easing Quarantine Measures'

National Newlywed Couples Association Holds Wedding Car Parking Protest
Entertainment Business Owners Also Announce Vehicle Protest... "No Retreat"
Self-Employed Emergency Committee "Will Respond Strongly If Government Remains Silent"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-yoon] Engaged couples, who have been holding various protests demanding the easing of restrictions on the number of wedding attendees, have now launched a 'wedding car parking protest.'

The National Newlywed Couples Association, consisting of engaged and newlywed couples, began the wedding car protest on the morning of the 15th by parking 22 wedding cars with banners attached in the on-street public parking lot in front of Yeouido Park in Seoul. The banners included phrases such as “Unlimited entry after lining up for hotel breakfast, please exclude 49 people from hotel weddings” and “Delayed weddings, delayed plans for the second generation.”

They are demanding that administrative orders be issued so that the number of people allowed to enter the wedding hall matches the guaranteed number, and also request ▲ allowing entry per area size considering the scale of the wedding hall ▲ separately calculating the number of people in the wedding hall and banquet hall with vaccine incentives applied ▲ establishing consumer protection policies against forced sales of low-quality wedding favors by wedding halls ▲ providing predictable long-term guidelines related to social distancing levels.

The association previously conducted a series of protests, including a 'truck protest' touring downtown with a truck displaying protest messages on an electronic billboard starting from the 19th of last month, followed by 'fax protests' and 'wreath protests' by sending protest letters to government agencies. They plan to continue protests until the guidelines related to wedding halls are eased.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Demands for 'easing quarantine standards' from groups suffering losses such as business restrictions and financial damage due to COVID-19 are intensifying. Entertainment business owners, who have been unable to operate for a long time due to assembly bans, have also resumed collective action. The Korea Entertainment Food Service Central Association plans to hold a vehicle protest involving about 1,000 vehicles mobilized from entertainment business owners in Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Incheon metropolitan areas starting at 4 p.m. today. After issuing a statement demanding the lifting of the assembly ban in front of the National Assembly, they will move by vehicle to the Blue House. A central association official said, “Starting with this vehicle protest, we will continue protests until the government lifts the assembly ban imposed on entertainment pubs. Most businesses want to close but cannot due to demolition costs, and seven members have taken extreme measures due to financial hardship.”

Earlier, the National Emergency Response Committee for Self-Employed (ERC) and the Federation of Small Businesses, which led nationwide vehicle protests, issued a statement yesterday regarding the recent series of extreme choices by self-employed individuals. They said, “We strongly urge the government to take responsible measures to prevent the tragedy of small business owners and self-employed people being driven to death from recurring. The government must promptly announce its position on the five major demands, and if it ignores the voices of the self-employed again, we will respond strongly.” They called for stopping repression against the ERC and demanded ▲ abolishing excessive business restrictions on small business owners ▲ full compensation for losses including personnel restrictions ▲ immediate implementation of loan maturity extensions and interest repayment deferrals and significant expansion of policy fund loans ▲ guaranteeing participation of the Federation of Small Businesses in the Living Quarantine Committee and Loss Compensation Review Committee.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.