A court on Monday said it is legal to hold rallies within the vicinity of foreign missions in the country if the event does not pose a risk of spreading or becoming violent. By law, outdoor rallies are currently banned within 100 meters from embassies and foreign diplomatic missions.

The Seoul Administrative Court ruled in favor of civic group Solidarity for Peace and Reunification of Korea, who sought the cancellation of a ban against rallies near the U.S. Embassy in central Seoul.

The group was denied after submitting a plan with Seoul’s Jongno Police Station to hold a rally in front of a KT building, some 50 meters away from the U.S. Embassy from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Nov. 10 last year.

Police at the time cited the location being within 100 meters from the embassy building. It also pointed out that one of the rally’s stated purposes was aimed at the U.S. Embassy, protesting the deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery here. It referred to the Assembly and Demonstration Act.

The court, however, underscored an exception clause that allows rallies to be held if there is no concern of the demonstration further spreading, and thereby ruled the police’s measure was unlawful.

The ruling also pointed out that the same group had held outdoor rallies with less than 50 people participating between February and September that year. It said that none of the previous rallies grew violent.

After the police ban, the group had relocated their rally to beyond the 100-meter radius from the U.S. Embassy. The demonstration was held peacefully.

The court also dismissed the police argument that previous rallies had become violent near the embassy, saying the demonstrations in question were different in purpose and arranged by completely different organizations.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)