hankyoreh

an organization of university students

Members of Youth Left, an organization of university students, were detained by the police for scattering pamphlets around the National Assembly that mourned “the end of constitutional government on Constitution Day.”

On July 17, two members of Youth Left – surnamed Geum, 24, and Lee, 21 – ripped up A5-size printouts of the text and provisions of the South Korean constitution and scattered them from the rooftop of the Eroom Center, which is located near the National Assembly building in Seoul’s Yeouido neighbourhood. The two also distributed a total of three thousand pamphlets titled “Mourning the End of Constitutional Government on Constitution Day.”

scatter pamphlets from the roof of a building around the National Assembly mourning “the end of constitutional government on Constitution Day

The full text of the constitution that the two distributed came from a pamphlet printed by the Constitutional Court that the two had copied and expanded in size.

Immediately after scattering the pamphlets, Geum and Lee were arrested by the Yeongdeungpo Police Department for violating the Building Trespassing Act and for unauthorized distribution of fliers under the Minor Offenses Act.

” July 17. (by Kim Myung-jin

While being arrested, Geum shouted, “Constitutional government in South Korea has been discontinued. Does this country even have a constitution? I wasn’t the one who ripped up this constitution. Is today Constitution Day?”

“We mourn the end of constitutional government on Constitution Day. Constitutional government has ended, and the rule of law has been hung upside down. Duties are forced upon everyone, while rights are only given to the people in power,” Youth Left said in a statement.

staff photographer)

“The main culprits in the presidential election funding scandal were cleared of their charges, and the Constitutional Court put on a show to disband a political party on the second anniversary of the presidential election. President Park vetoed a bill revising the National Assembly Act that was sponsored by the speaker of the National Assembly and passed with bipartisan support, and she openly wants the National Assembly to become a rubber stamp her own agenda. Park mentioned concerns about the constitutionality of the bill, but what the bill offended was not the constitution but rather her own feelings.”

Members of Youth Left

By Kim Kyu-nam, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]