Disabled advocacy group to resume rush-hour subway protests

SEOUL, April 20 (Yonhap) -- A disabled advocacy group decided to resume daily rush-hour subway-riding protests on Thursday, calling upon President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's transition team to come up with more concrete policy suggestions for people with disabilities, officials said.

Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination (SADD) said it will hold protests at Gyeongbokgung Station on Line 3, City Hall Station on Line 2 and Gwanghwamun Station on Line 5 in central Seoul from Thursday at 7 a.m.

"The presidential transition committee's policy for the disabled is too abstract and far from reality to guarantee the basic rights we have been seeking for 21 years, let alone enough to abolish discrimination," the SADD said.

The committee did not respond to the request to secure budgetary funds for the improvement of disability rights in the 2023 fiscal plan, the group added.

Demanding measures to improve mobility rights and budget for disability rights, SADD has been leading subway protests since late last year and often caused delays in metro services during rush hour as some of its members used their wheelchairs to prevent trains from departing.

SADD halted the subway protests and turned to a daily head-shaving protest campaign late last month after the transition committee promised to review the group's demands, according to its officials.

On Tuesday, the transition team said it will review changing city buses to non-step ones, expanding ride-hailing services for disabled people and installing at least one elevator per subway station as part of its policy on disabilities.

SADD, however, said the suggestion does not include a specific timeline, a plan for how to secure the necessary budgetary funds and measures on job creation and education for the disabled.

"A civilized society only for the able-bodied people is just an uncivilized society," SADD said.

nyway@yna.co.kr
(END)