hankyoreh

Approximately 4,000 people hold candles again at Cheonggye Plaza on October 18. This “Candle Culture Festival” was held two months after Liberation Day, August 15, and was sponsored by Internet cafes, including one called “Anti-Lee Myung-bak,” and the opposition Democratic Labor and New Progressive parties.

Event participants criticized the Lee Myung-bak administration for policies they said were for one percent of the population against the other 99 percent. Many made acrid remarks about the Education Ministry’s attempts to revise high school history textbooks in accordance with the standpoint of the New Right. They also watched a film about the candlelight demonstrations that took place on the streets of Seoul from April to August.

Event organizers announced that they will hold another “candle culture festival” on October 25, and said they would continue to criticize the Lee Myung-bak administration.

The event concluded at around 10:00 p.m. and there were no conflicts between participants and the police that had been deployed to cover it.

Photo by Kim Tae-hyeong/The Hankyoreh.