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Protesters outside the city hall call on the Seoul Metropolitan Government to approve the Seoul Queer Culture Festival to go ahead on Wednesday morning. (Yonhap) |
Seoul’s citizen-led council decided on Wednesday to allow the Seoul Queer Culture Festival to take place at Seoul Plaza next month, but only for one day.
The decision comes two months after the organizing committee of the event filed a request in April to use the central plaza located in front of Seoul City Hall for six days from July 12-17.
The event will go ahead on July 16, marking the first time the LGBTQ event will take place in person in three years. The festival took place online for the last two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Seoul Queer Culture Festival began taking place in 2015 at Seoul Plaza and saw its popularity grow over the years. The organizers said some 150,000 people took part when it was last held in 2019.
But it has also faced opposition, mainly from conservative religious groups, over a display of what they considered obscene and harmful to minors such as some participants “showing too much skin” and the sharing of genital-shaped cookies.
This year, the approval for the use of the public plaza comes with a condition: “Excessive” exposure of one’s body and selling and displaying obscene materials that violate the Youth Protection Act are prohibited.
The new rule was one of the reasons behind the city government’s decision to greenlight the event, one official there told The Korea Herald.
“The longer the event is held, issues like body exposure and the sale and display of harmful and obscene material that violate the Youth Protection Act are more likely to occur. Also proponent and opponent groups often clash at the event,” the official said.
As for the delay in the approval process, the person said the city government has to see whether the LGBTQ event “fits the purpose” of the venue.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government has faced criticism from activists and festival organizers in recent weeks for sitting on its decision over the event, prompting protests outside the city hall building.
The organizers of the event earlier said it is “discriminatory” for city authorities to refuse to directly grant permission for the event and shift its responsibility to a citizen-led council. The council currently consists of civil servants, experts and citizen activists.
According to the city’s ordinance regarding the central plaza, requests to use the venue is approved in 48 hours under normal circumstances.
In 2019, South Korea’s National Human Rights Commission ruled that delaying the decision to approve the Seoul Queer Culture Festival is a “discriminatory action” against sexual minorities.
The organizers have yet to issue a statement about the approval.
By Yim Hyun-su (
hyunsu@heraldcorp.com)
