hankyoreh

The government has both cut off and delayed disbursing subsidies to civic organizations that participated in the 2008 candlelight vigil demonstrations that began last May. The Ministry of Gender Equality has demanded that organizations recognize demonstrations as a form of illegal protest activity as a precondition to receiving subsidies or grants.

On Sunday, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security (MOPAS) confirmed the postponement of their selection results of organizations to receive public subsidies. The announcement originally scheduled for release on March 15 was postponed to April 15, and now has been moved to early May. Last year MOPAS, who grants the largest amount of public funding to the nonprofit sector among the central government ministries, distributed 5 billion won in subsidies to 133 civic groups engaged in public interest activities.

After the police designated 1,842 civic and social groups that participated in last year‘s candlelight vigil demonstrations as “illegal and/or violent protest groups,” MOPAS announced a new rule excluding these groups from subsidy consideration. The ministry’s official explanation for the delay in the announcements is, “We are running behind in selecting judges.” Organizations that applied are losing patience. “We cannot decide whether or not we should go proceed with project activities that have been planned for the first half of the year,” explained one civic group member.

The Ministry of Gender Equality and the Ministry of Labor have already selected their subsidy recipients, but they are requiring those selected to recognize demonstrations as a form of illegal protest activity. One women‘s group that participated in last year’s candlelight vigil demonstrations was selected as a government subsidy recipient this year, and on March 17 the Ministry of Gender Equality demanded that it sign a “confirmation document” as a precondition of receipt. This document requires the group to verify that they have not organized, led or participated actively in illegal protests and that it will not use the subsidy money for purposes outside of the grant agreement, including engaging in protest activities deemed to be illegal. An official from this group said, “We are very concerned, since agreeing to this confirmation statement would mean disavowing participation in candlelight vigil demonstrations.”

The Korea Women‘s Hotline recently received similar demands from the Ministry of Gender Equality, but after much debate the organization decided to refuse to comply.

“We participated in the candlelight vigil demonstrations, so we would be in denial if we produced this document that the ministry wants from us,” said a Korea Women’s Hotline member. “It will be very hard for us if we do not get the assistance we usually receive, but we will have to proceed on our own, even if it means reducing the scale of what we do to serve the public.”

The Ministry of Labor is making similar demands of organizations, including those it has worked with for years.

“A considerable number of organizations that have joined in efforts regularly over the years with the Ministry of Labor on various projects were part of the candlelight vigil demonstrations,” said a civic organization member. “We were stunned to hear groups will be ‘cut’ if we do not give them the ‘confirmation document’ it wants, even in the case of groups that have carried out programs on the ministry‘s behalf.”

The Korea Sexual Violence Relief Center, which has applied for money from the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s “development fund,” has for the first time in four years, found itself excluded from the list of groups receiving city support. The city government gave the following reason for the exclusion, “The decision was made by considering the appropriateness of the goal of the project applied for, the appropriateness of support, and the ‘Ministry of Public Administration and Security 2009 Guidelines for Support for Non-Profit Organizations.’”

In the case of national government ministries denying support for public interest projects and programs, decisions have been based on the Ministry of Strategy and Finance‘s “Guidelines for Executing the 2009 Budget and Plans for Operating Funds,” which among other things states that groups applying who have actively participated in protests defined as violent should be denied funding.

Some organizations have responded by not even applying. “This year we did not even apply for assistance. We have been trying to do all our programs on our own but it is impossibly difficult,” said an individual with the Research Institute of the Differently Abled Person‘s Right in Korea. “We will probably have to give up the public interest projects we have operated for the past three years.”

“With times like these, it is not easy to get backing for the things we do and that has made it hard. But, we plan on moving forward on our own and will have to reduce programs,” said an official with an educational organization. “The national government looks cowardly for coercing groups that participated in the candlelight vigil demonstrations with funding for public programs.”