A coalition of 85 civic organizations including the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions declared Thursday that they will wage a campaign to boycott a revised law on assembly and demonstration, calling it a reform for the worse. "Under the revised law on assembly and demonstration, which passed the National Assembly at the end of last year and became effective beginning this month, authorities could ban marches on major Seoul roads for the reason of hampering traffic and prohibit gatherings near foreign diplomatic missions and military facilities," said a member of the coalition. "In addition, as it contains a clause banning possibly violent and noisy rallies, the legislation violates the Constitution by blocking virtually all assemblies and demonstrations." These groups vow that they will wage a campaign to revise the law by boycotting the new law and holding a signature-collecting drive. "We even plan on rallies to protest the law," the member said.
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President Roh Moo-hyun listens to a Labor Ministry operations report by Labor Minister Kim Dae-hwan at Cheong Wa Dae on Thursday morning.
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About this, police responded that some civic groups misunderstood or distorted the meaning of the law, which they say was enacted on the basis of a national consensus to reform the culture of assembly and demonstration. "The revised law is to guarantee the freedom of expression as much as possible while preventing possible inconvenience to citizens at the same time," said an official.
(Jang Jun-sung, peace@chosun.com )
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