Seoul City: "Jeonjangyeon Rallies and Protests That Hinder Good Citizens Must Stop"

"Estimated Social Loss Cost of 445 Billion Won Over 2 Years"

The Seoul Metropolitan Government urged the nationwide coalition for the elimination of discrimination against persons with disabilities (Jeonjangyeon) to stop their protests, stating that Jeonjangyeon forcibly held about 76 rallies and demonstrations this year alone, causing great inconvenience to citizens due to demands such as guaranteeing mobility rights and condemning the abolition of rights-centered severe disability jobs.

On the 20th, members of the National Solidarity for the Elimination of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities resumed a subway boarding protest at the platform of Seoul Subway Line 2, City Hall Station, in the direction of Dangsan Station, urging the inclusion of the budget for the mobility rights of persons with disabilities in the 2024 budget allocation. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

On the 21st, Seoul stated in a press release, "The estimated social loss cost caused by Jeonjangyeon's protests over the past two years (2021 to early 2023) amounts to 445 billion KRW, and it is analyzed that about 10.6 million people failed to arrive at their destinations on time."

The city said, “Actions that infringe on others' rights to assert one's own rights cannot be justified under any circumstances,” and emphasized, “Before Jeonjangyeon insists on their demands, they must first stop illegal and unfair public transportation disruptions to ensure the peaceful and legitimate mobility rights of ordinary citizens.”

Furthermore, the city refuted Jeonjangyeon's claims point by point. First, regarding Jeonjangyeon's assertion that “Seoul City abolished the rights-centered public job project and dismissed 400 severely disabled persons and their dedicated personnel,” the city responded, “The 'rights-centered severe disability customized public job' project had been overly focused on rallies, demonstrations, and campaigns, was promoted mainly by specific organizations, and raised fairness issues compared to other job projects, leading to its discontinuation.”

The city reported that a March survey on the 'rights-centered severe disability customized public job' project confirmed that 50.4% of participants' job activities over three years were concentrated on rallies, demonstrations, and campaigns. Additionally, reviewing individual work logs of job participants revealed that about 95% had experience participating in rallies, demonstrations, and campaigns, and that they participated in large numbers in events hosted by Jeonjangyeon. This indicated that the project was used for Jeonjangyeon's activities rather than being operated in line with the public job policy's intent, exposing issues with the job's effectiveness.

Moreover, the city announced that for next year's disabled public job project, it has allocated 49.3 billion KRW, an increase of about 2 billion KRW compared to the previous year, and will provide 4,674 public jobs, 350 more than last year.

The city stated, “Under the principle of walking together with the vulnerable, we will steadily pursue disability policies in a rational and reasonable direction,” and strongly urged, “Jeonjangyeon must immediately stop distorting facts and disrupting citizens' peaceful commuting mobility rights to enforce their claims.”

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