Jeonjangyeon: "Police's Detention Process of Representative Park Kyung-seok is Inhumane"

"Boarding as if forced... No safety devices or seat belts"
Excessive investigation into physical support worker detention

The National Solidarity for the Elimination of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (Jeonjangyeon) held a press conference on the morning of the 15th in front of the Namdaemun Police Station in Seoul, claiming that the police's arrest of representative Park Kyung-seok (63) the previous day was an illegal excessive investigation and inhumane.

Jeonjangyeon stated, “The police arrested Representative Park on the spot on charges of obstruction of general traffic, obstruction of bus operations, and violation of the Assembly and Demonstration Act for an unreported assembly, but all the charges claimed by the police are fabricated,” adding, “Representative Park requested to be allowed to board a bus with stairs that persons with disabilities cannot use, and rather, the bus operators and drivers discriminated against persons with disabilities and refused boarding.”

Park Kyung-seok, former representative of Jeon Jang-yeon, boarding a police vehicle on the 14th [Photo by Jeon Jang-yeon Solidarity for the Elimination of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities]

They also said, "The vehicle arranged by the police was one where wheelchairs had to be pushed up a makeshift ramp with great difficulty and boarded as if being forced in," and "Inside, there were no safety devices to secure the wheelchair, nor safety belts to tie the wheelchair and the person with a disability."

They continued, "The police also arrested Representative Park’s personal assistant at the scene," and pointed out, "Detaining a personal assistant who simply provided physical support is an excessive investigation."

The police arrested Representative Park on the spot the previous day on charges of obstructing operations and violating the Road Traffic Act for blocking bus number 5618 at a bus stop in front of the Glad Hotel in Yeouido-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, for three minutes from 2 p.m.

Representative Park requested a vehicle capable of wheelchair boarding and was transported to Namdaemun Police Station around 3:20 p.m., about an hour later, in a police van equipped with a makeshift ramp attached next to the door. According to Jeonjangyeon, Representative Park complained of pressure sores while being investigated at Namdaemun Station and was detained in a hospitalized state at Green Hospital in Jungnang-gu, Seoul, around 12:30 a.m. that day.

The police plan to decide whether to apply for an arrest warrant after investigating the sit-in protests Representative Park held for three days from the 12th at Jongno 1-ga in Jongno-gu, the central bus-only lane at Hyehwa-dong Rotary, and the bus stop in front of Daebang Station in Dongjak-gu.

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