hankyoreh

calling for former President Lee Myung-bak to be arrested and decrying state institutions’ interference in the 2012 presidential election. The incident took place 49 days after Lee Nam-jong self-immolated on the same elevated roadway. (Yonhap News)

By Bang Jun-ho, staff reporter

Kim Chang-geon, 47, climbed up the elevated roadway in front of Seoul Station at 5:35 pm on Feb. 15. Around 10 that morning, he had purchased seven chocolate bars, coal briquettes, gas, chains, and paint thinner near the Cheonggye Stream in Seoul and put them in his backpack.

Kim let himself down to a steel platform below the roadway and stacked three briquettes to both sides before setting them on fire. He also hung up a banner with various slogans written in red script - “Park Geun-hye should resign!” “Arrest Lee Myung-bak!” “Government intervention, unfair election.” He slipped the chains through the railing and then wrapped them around his neck, locking them and throwing the key to the ground below.

After Kim had chained himself up, police officers showed up above and below the elevated roadway. This also attracted about 200 citizens who were attending a memorial service held at Seoul Station Plaza. The service was held before the 49th Day Ceremony (Feb. 18) for Lee Nam-jong, who burned himself to death in the exact same location on Dec. 31, 2013, calling for Park Geun-hye to step down.

When Kim tried to start his protest, the police who were above the elevated roadway used fire extinguishers to put out the burning briquettes. Thinking he had no other option, Kim poured kerosene on the briquettes and reignited them and then doused his own body with kerosene. “When the police approached, I got worked up,” Kim recalled.

At that moment, the briquette on his left blew up, setting his left arm and leg on fire. Shortly thereafter, the police extinguished the fire, forced Kim to the ground, and handcuffed him. Kim suffered second degree burns on his left wrist and ankle and a contusion on his knee.

Meeting a Hankyoreh reporter at the Hangang Sacred Heart Hospital in the Yeongdeungpo District of Seoul on Feb. 16, Kim said, “I didn’t climb the roadway intending to die, but I was extremely scared. It occurred to me that Lee Nam-jong must have felt the same kind of fear.”

“It is obvious that the government interfered in the election, but the political process has been slow and Koreans’ interest has faded,” Kim said. “I planned the demonstration with the hope that if I could just hold out on top of the highway at Seoul Station for three days, I would get people’s attention.”

Kim was an ordinary Korean until the “mad cow” candlelight protests in 2008. He said that he voted for Lee Myung-bak during the 2007 presidential election.

But in May 2008, he read an article online about how the government was selling the people’s sovereignty over the food they eat. After he took part in the candlelight vigils, his opinion changed.

“I realized that there were so many things I didn’t know,” Kim said. “After that, I would work during the day and attend the candlelight vigils in the evening.”

In June 2009, Kim was forced to quit the company where he had been working. The police raided his house in connection with the candlelight protests. They also searched the offices of his employer - the Korean branch of an American investment company - as well as the Seoul residence of the Korean-American branch head.

“Until that time, no one at the company knew that I had been attending the candlelight protests,” Kim said. “After the police raid, the home office ultimately shut down its Korean branch, and I lost my job.”

After that, Kim said, he began working with civic groups such as Citizens’ Gathering for a World We Can Live in Together and Netizen Solidarity for Candlelight Citizens.

Kim heard the news about the self-immolation of Lee Nam-jong on the same day while he was participating in a candlelight protest on the Cheonggye Stream. He rushed to the hospital that night.

“It was a huge shock to hear that the person who had burned himself to death was not a long-time protestor but rather an ordinary person,” said Kim. “The protests organized by the major civic groups gradually lost steam, and I felt that the courts and the opposition parties were on the same side. Lee Nam-jong must have thought that this was the only thing that an ordinary citizen could do, too.”

Kim had been hoping to continue his protest for three days, but he was dragged away after less than an hour.

"Considering that Kim had set fire to coal briquettes and soaked his body in kerosene, we had no choice but to stop the demonstration,” the police said. “When his treatment is complete, we will summon him for questioning on charges of arson.”

Kim Chang-geon in his hospital bed at Hangang Sacred Heart Hospital in the Yeongdeungpo District of Seoul on Feb. 16. (by Bang Jun-ho

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