[Actually] Subway protests for disabled people, the market is constantly changing?

People's Power CEO Lee Jun-seok said on his SNS on the 25th, "The protests have continued since Mayor Oh Se-hoon took office because of the failure to keep the promises made by Park Won-soon under the Moon Jae-in administration for the right of movement for the disabled."

This article was written while criticizing the recent controversial protests by groups with disabilities to get on and off the subway.

The promise was made by former Mayor Park Won-soon, but the protest was being held during the time of Mayor Oh Se-hoon.

I checked the facts.

We started by looking at the history of subway boarding and alighting protests by groups with disabilities.

The beginning of the protest goes back 21 years.

On January 22, 2001, an elderly couple with a disability fell to the first floor 7 meters down from the vertical lift at Oido Station on Subway Line 4 and died.

It was not well covered in the media.

The people with disabilities were outraged, and with this death as an opportunity, protests to secure the right to move people with disabilities started and have continued to this day.

In September 2003, the police are pulling out a disabled person who took part in a sit-down on Line 2 railroad tracks.

SBS archive material.

In fact, the team personally summarized the subway boarding and alighting protests of groups with disabilities over the past 10 years.

I couldn't find a place that was properly organized, so I checked past media reports.

However, we ask for your understanding that there may be some protests that may have been omitted since it is mainly based on media reports.

It can be seen that the protests by groups of people with disabilities on and off the subway have been going on for quite some time, long before Mayor Oh Se-hoon came in.

If you look at the journal, it is true that the frequency has increased recently.

Because of this, online bulletin boards say that groups of people with disabilities are protesting with political intentions.

However, the recent protests are an extension of the fatal accident that occurred in the Shingil Station lift in October 2017.

Prior to 2018, protests for the right to move buses were the main focus.

On August 14, 2018, members of the Solidarity for the Elimination of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities hold a press conference to declare a green light for a demonstration at the Seoul Subway Line 1 City Hall Station platform.

We asked the People's Power to verify the authenticity of the representative's remarks.

The People's Power side said, "We are well aware that subway protests have continued for a long time.

He added, "As President Lee said, it is not that I oppose the protests of the disabled group itself, but rather criticize the method of blocking the doors and delaying the operation. We are paying attention to the voices of the disabled."

Then, why do groups of people with disabilities continue to protest for such a long period of time?

Disabled groups are talking about 'promises not kept'.

In June 2002, one year after the Oido Station disaster, another fatal accident occurred in a lift crash at Balsan Station on Line 5.

The people with disabilities waged a struggle to occupy the railroad tracks, demanding a public apology from the city of Seoul and measures to be taken.

At the time, Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-bak promised, "By 2004, all subways will be equipped with elevators, and special means of transportation equipped with low-floor buses and lifts will be introduced."

However, just three years later, the Seoul Metropolitan Government changed its position that it was impossible to install 46 stations due to the narrow sidewalk width or civil complaints.

In 2015, at the time of Mayor Park Won-soon, on December 3rd, the Day of the Disabled, he promised again to install subways at all stations by 2022.

This is included in the 'Detailed Action Plan for the Promotion of the Mobility of the Disabled'.

However, there are still 21 stations that have not been installed so far.

Meanwhile, the disaster was repeated.

Promises continued from then Mayor Lee Myung-bak to former Mayor Park Won-soon, but were not kept or delayed.

There was also an argument that the mobility rights of the disabled on the subway have been greatly improved.

Representative Lee Jun-seok appeared on a radio broadcast on the 29th with the People's Strength Supreme Council meeting on the 28th and said, "The disabled group claims that the subway elevator for mobility rights for the disabled is not 100% complete, but about 94% has been completed." The places were built in the 1970s, so there is no structure to put an elevator in, or places that cannot be installed without drilling through private land,” he said.

Seoul Transportation Corporation requested accurate data and checked it.

Based on lines 1 to 8, 254 out of 275 stations had elevators connecting the ground and the basement.

92.4% of the total.

It's actually improved a lot.

The following is the status of 21 stations that do not have elevators that 'connect the ground and the underground' provided by Seoul Transportation Corporation.

Seoul Transportation Corporation calls it '1 Station 1-dong Line'.

As CEO Jun-seok Lee said, in places where installation was difficult, there was a big problem of conflict with private land.

Sinseoldong Station, Kachisan Station, and Daeheung Station are representative.

Seoul Transportation Corporation said, "Kachisan and Daeheung Station are difficult to install due to the conflict with private land, so we are considering reducing the elevator size or adjusting the boundary of the sidewalk."

This time, we inquired about the National Solidarity for the Elimination of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities, which is leading the demonstration.

Numerically, there is a lot of improvement.

"This protest is not only for securing subway elevators, but also for the right to move the disabled," the answer came back.

The subway problem is only part of it, and the mobility issue for people with disabilities means that there is still a long way to go.

Jeon Jang-yeon cited the low-floor bus problem.

In fact, the team searched for accurate data regarding the introduction of low-floor buses.

The National Assembly enacted the Transportation Vulnerable Act (Act for the Promotion of Convenience of the Transportation Vulnerable) enacted in 2004.

For the first time, the concept of mobility rights for the handicapped was specified in the law.

In accordance with this law, the government has established a '5-year plan for the improvement of mobility for the transportation vulnerable' from 2007, and the introduction of low-floor buses is based on this plan.

In the first plan, the government wrote that 31.5% of city buses nationwide would be converted to low-floor buses by 2011.

In 2007, the Ministry of Construction and Transportation's 'Five-Year Plan for the Promotion of Mobility Convenience for the Transportation Vulnerable'.

He announced that by 2011, 31.5% of city buses nationwide would be converted to low-floor buses.

However, the actual adoption rate in 2011 was only 12%.

This was repeated until the 2nd and 3rd plans.

Even this, Seoul is on the better side.

As of 2020, where statistics are available, 57.8% in Seoul, but 10% in Chungnam, 11.5% in Jeonnam, 12.3% in Ulsan, 14.1% in Gyeonggi, 14.1% in Gangwon, and 16.2% in North Gyeongsang Province, which did not exceed 20%.

Intercity and express buses are much slower.

Two years ago, there were no buses that could accommodate wheelchairs.

The pilot project was carried out only in 2019.

Seo Jae-hyeon, an activist at Jeon Jang-yeon, explained, "There are still only four areas in Seoul where people with disabilities can travel by intercity bus."

There are many opinions about whether it is right to use the inconvenience of citizens as an opportunity cost.

I asked the front desk again.

Here's the answer I got:

Jeon Jang-yeon, activist Seo Jae-hyun: There are also voices of concern within the group.

We are very sorry for any inconvenience caused to citizens.

However, there is also the desperation of people with disabilities who had no choice but to repeat the same slogans for 20 years.

Non-disabled people would never say that they want to ride the bus or subway, but I hope that people with disabilities have no choice but to ask for these natural words at a risk of safety.

In fact, subway elevators are frequently used by the elderly and pregnant women.

Broadly speaking, the number of people with disabilities in transportation is 15 million.

Our parents are also benefiting from it.

In other words, this demonstration by the disabled group is an explanation of the fact that the cycle of 'promise' and 'break' has continued for nearly 20 years, and the accumulated distrust and urgency for institutional change are contained.

Jeon Jang-yeon also explained that the right to move must be guaranteed in order to receive education, and only then to be able to work and become self-reliant.

If disabled people can easily become self-reliant, it will mean that the welfare burden for non-disabled people can be reduced to that extent.

Jeon Jang-yeon decided to suspend the subway boarding and alighting protests from today.

Representative Lee Jun-seok said on his SNS that he welcomed the suspension of the protest.

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