Myeongdong Cathedral Fighting Image of Protest Haven
By Lee Dong-min
Yonhap New Agency
Korea Herald
March 22, 2002Catholics in Korea have survived religious oppression, persecution and dictator governments, but the biggest challenge to them now are unionists and activists.
Minor scuffles erupted intro brawls at Myeongdong Cathedral in downtown Seoul on Sunday when priests and worshippers clashed with power utility unionists, demanding the protesters leave the cathedral grounds at once.
The unionists have been at the cathedral since Feb. 25, demanding the government abandon plans to privatize power companies.
Myeongdong Cathedral delivered an ultimatum to 60-odd unionists on Saturday to leave its grounds by Sunday afternoon but the unionists said while they understand the reasons they were being asked to leave, they cannot because they simply have nowhere else to go.
Priests fought priests Sunday over whether the protesters should be forcibly ousted while hundreds of worshippers were arguing loudly with the unionists.
Indeed, the protesters are not welcome anywhere else. College administrations have declared their campuses off-limits to union groups. Some said they will not allow any mass assemblies by outside organizations and warned they will pursue criminal action against violators and demand compensation for any property damage incurred by rallies.
Protesters "favor" Myeongdong Cathedral because the place is one of the last remaining sanctuaries the government is reluctant to invade to drag them out of.
This is why just about anyone with a grudge or a complaint rushes there. Foreign workers decrying human rights violations by their Korean employers have done so, film and directors complaining about U. S. pressure to open Korea’s movie industry have done so, and some 10.000 telecommunications unionists demanding higher pay have done so.
It was here in 1976 that now President Kim Dae-jung and dissidents gathered on March 1 to demand then President Park Chung Hee to step down.
Myegongdong Cathedral was completed in May 1898 on a plot of land that used to belong to Kim Bum-u; who formed the first Catholic community in Korea. It had 72 followers when it first opened. Now it has more than 45,000 regular worshippers.
The cathedral became a symbol of the people’s democratic movement under the military regimes of late President Park Chung Hee and his successor Chun Doo Hwan, who seized power in a coup.
A group of Catholic priests spoke against the dictator in 1974, and from the following year, the cathedral became a haven for the dissidents and activists. Priests were arrested for subversion at the height of the government oppression.
Some 600 students and citizens led a hunger strike inside the church in 1987 when the government tried to cover up the torture and subsequent death of collegian Park Jong-chol.
Archbishop Stephen Cardinal Kim Sou-whan stepped forward to mediate the tense situation at the time.
Cathedral officials have opposed using police to break up the protests. When riot police stormed into the church compound for the first time in June 1995 to arrest and disperse telecommunication unionists, the priests issued a statement expressing regret at the use of force despite ongoing efforts for mediation by the church.
The Myeongdong Cathedral declared in December 2000 it would no longer admit protesters who do not have prior approval from the church. The ban followed a messy demonstration by telecommunication unionists who beat female churchgoers, vandalized church property and left behind piles of trash during six days of rallies.
But protesters still gather at the cathedral, ignoring church officials' ultimatum. So far, the most severe retaliation by the church stopped at issuing warnings and cutting off power to unionists' tents.
"We are not talking about a democracy movement now," said one of the worshippers at Myeongdong Cathedral. "We can no longer put up with interest groups using the cathedral to fulfill their demands," he said.