20 Million Signature-Collecting Drives against Capital Relocation

Conservative civic organizations that oppose the controversial capital relocation project launched their signature-collecting drives for citizens on July 9.

The civic organizations, including “People’s Union Against the Capital Relocation,” “People’s Action for the Eradication of Pro-North Korea and Leftists” and “People’s Anti-nuke and –Kim Jong-il Council for Extending National Rights,” staged a rally at Sejongno crossroads in central Seoul that evening urging, “We are going to keep conducting our campaign against the new capital until the government scraps the plan.”

“In order to achieve public consensus, we will keep collecting signatures from people for an indefinite period until we reach our goal of 20 million signatures,” they said. “The signature collecting will take place at bus stops and subway stations as well as in cyber space,” they added.

“The government should not waste our tax money on such a shortsighted and reckless project as the capital move. We need to try the current administration’s morals that relate the opposition campaign to the project to a type of campaign to withdraw the president from office,” they argued.

On the same day, the organizations also conducted the signature collecting in an effort to disband The Presidential Truth Commission on Suspicious Deaths (PTCSD) and withdraw its recognition on the deaths of North Korean spies, who refused to convert to a pro-democratic ideology, as suspicious.

The secretary general of People’s Anti-nuke and –Kim Jong-il Council for Extending National Rights, Shin Hye-sik, said, “On July 9 alone, more than 500 citizens participated in the campaign. From now on, we are going to join hand-in-hand with organizations such as the Korea Veterans Association that have devoted themselves to national benefits in order to stop the capital relocation.”

Yang-Hwan Jung ray@donga.com