Lee Jun-seok "Is it hate to say don't hold Seoul citizens hostage?... Jeon Jang-yeon is not 100% right"

"Protests Intensify After Mayor Oh Se-hoon Takes Office"

Lee Jun-seok, Leader of the People Power Party Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kang Woo-seok] On the 31st, Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party, expressed a consistent critical stance on the mobility rights protest by the National Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination (Jeonjangyeon).

On the same day, Lee appeared on MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' and said, "I do not intend to refute the claims of Jeonjangyeon protesting itself, but I am only saying that the method of protest should not be one that stops the subway to cause inconvenience to the greatest number of people." He added, "I have been consistently telling them not to take Seoul citizens hostage like this, and I wish they would respond to this argument, but instead, they always go with hate speech and things like that."

He continued, "The way they protested this time was a commute-time protest, and if it was a protest while boarding, there would be no problem, but the method was to wedge wheelchairs in the subway doors during operation, preventing the doors from closing, standing there for about 30 minutes. Going forward, whether it is mobility rights protests or protests by others who are not disabled, if causing inconvenience to the greatest number of people becomes a way to get our demands heard, then I think protests that stop subways or occupy public facilities will increase," he stated.

Lee said, "Their demand was to install elevators 100% in Seoul subways, but now about 94% have been installed. Mayor Oh Se-hoon has promised to achieve 100% within three years." He added, "I also met with them last August to discuss disability mobility rights. They are interested in subways, but I am interested in deploying low-floor buses for metropolitan and intercity routes, so we exchanged opinions. They talk about deinstitutionalization and various disability policies, but their ideas are not 100% good nor entirely correct," raising his voice.

He went on, "During Mayor Park Won-soon's administration, they did not continue protests that stopped subway operations by wedging wheelchairs in the doors, which I have consistently pointed out. Of course, elevator installation rates increased during that period, but at that time, they did not take what I call 'taking citizens hostage' actions." He criticized, "Such protests that stop subway operations have become more intense since Mayor Oh Se-hoon took office."

He said, "Jeonjangyeon also realized, based on critical public opinion, that boarding and alighting protests are very inefficient and should not be done." He criticized, "They said they would protest on Line 2 this time, and their basis is 'If Lee Jun-seok does not apologize, we will protest on Line 2.' This is not a civilized method."

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