The legal vacuum surrounding rallies and demonstrations in front of Blue House has been highlighted as president Lee Jae-myung plans to return to office in Blue House. “Korea Times” reported on the 7th, at present, to fill this legal gap, although the discussion has started, but progress is slow. The police have also yet to outline specific guidelines relating to Blue House Policing.
According to Yonhap, Blue House’s former assembly and demonstrations were previously restricted under Article 11 of the 1962 law on assembly and demonstrations. This provision expressly prohibits outdoor assemblies and demonstrations within 100 metres of the presidential residence. Police have interpreted the boundaries of the“Residence” as a wall around Blue House.
However, after then-president Yin Xiyue moved his office from Blue House to Long S?n in May 2022, the Constitutional Court ruled in December of the same year that assemblies were banned on the grounds that they were“Near the presidential residence”, it 2024 the Constitution and asked Congress to amend it by May 31st. However, Congress failed to amend the provision as scheduled, so that the provision has now expired. “There is really no sufficient legal basis to prevent people from holding rallies and demonstrations in front of the Blue House Wall,” Yonhap quoted police as saying
There are already two amendments in Congress to fill a gap in the law on assemblies and demonstrations in Blue House, but no progress has been made since they were introduced in February. The two amendments are reported to be far apart. Coordination was made difficult by the fact that one side argued for conditional permission to hold rallies within 100 metres of the presidential residence and office premises, while the other side argued for the complete removal of this distance restriction.
Yonhap news agency said the face of this impasse, experts call on appeal as soon as possible legislation. Cheng Chongzhuo, a law professor at Kyeongbuk University, said: “The Constitutional Court has clearly set a time limit for amendments, but the Parliament has ignored it for more than a year. This is a serious neglect of the legislative power.”