January 26, 2026
SEOUL – The location for Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education’s annual Student Rights Memorial Day event has become a topic of political dispute, with allegations that the city council members applied what some say is “unfair pressure” to switch the venue
Members of the Seoul Metropolitan Council from the People Power Party — the council’s conservative majority — reportedly requested to move the event out of an auditorium on the council’s premises. Due to the last-minute complications, the SMOE told reporters three days before the event that the “location would be clarified later.”
Local online outlet OhmyNews reported Sunday that officials from both the education office and the city council confirmed the supposed pressure.
A coalition of 200 education and human rights groups in Korea, sharing a common purpose to protect the Seoul Student Human Rights Ordinance, issued a statement Sunday decrying the People Power Party council members for what they called an unjust intervention of administration. They called on the conservative party to apologize for the ordeal, and urged the SMOE to push ahead with the event as planned.
The controversy comes amid a prolonged standoff between the education office and the council over the abolition of the Student Human Rights Ordinance, a municipal regulation that protects students from discrimination based on sex, religion, family structure, gender identity and sexual orientation.
While the ordinance itself has been widely debated, the latest dispute suggests a shift in how the conflict is unfolding: moving away from legislation and spilling into the realm of civic events and symbolic spaces.
Why conservative council members objected
The Seoul Metropolitan Education Office decided to hold the event at the council’s auditorium for the first time this year, moving away from previous venues such as the education office itself, the Seoul Metropolitan Government building and the Seoul Museum of History.
Although the education office did not explain why it selected the council’s auditorium as the venue, the decision came just one month after the council voted for the second time to repeal the Student Human Rights Ordinance, on Dec. 16. On the same day, Seoul Education Superintendent Jung Geun-sik visited the council in protest.
On Jan. 5, Jung formally requested the council to reconsider its decision to repeal the ordinance, warning that the move violates the Constitution and higher-level laws. The council must now pass the repeal again with a two-thirds majority.
“The Seoul Metropolitan Council and the education office have worked together until now, but shouldn’t they have sought our understanding before holding this event here, given that the ordinance repeal had already passed the plenary session?” a People Power Party council member who is named in the allegations told local media.
“How is this pressure? It falls within the bounds of reason,” the council member added.
Meanwhile, members of the liberal bloc voiced concern.
“The auditorium does not belong to council members,” said a Democratic Party council member. “I cannot understand why they are acting this way, especially when many students are expected to attend the event.”
“People Power Party council members argue the event is inappropriate because the ordinance was repealed,” said Democratic Party Rep. Kang Min-jung, who plans to run for Seoul education superintendent in the June election. “But students have human rights regardless of whether the ordinance exists.”
Politics outside the chamber
The move by the conservative bloc is widely seen as expressing opposition through administrative leverage, exercising both direct and indirect control over permits and venues, comparable to similar cases in other countries.
In March 2025, a school board in North Carolina faced a lawsuit after barring a student club from holding a trivia night aimed at raising awareness about sexual minorities.
More recently, the University of Hong Kong drew criticism after denying students a venue to mourn victims of a deadly apartment fire that killed more than 160 people, citing concerns over “social instability.”
South Korea has seen comparable controversies. In 2023, Seoul and Daegu faced international backlash after authorities denied venues and imposed fines on LGBTQ+ Pride events.
Some political scientists have accused such uses of legal and institutional prerogatives — exercised without mutual restraint — as pathways to the erosion of democracy.
In a 2023 fireside chat hosted by the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy, Harvard political scientist Steven Levitsky said democratic backsliding often begins not when institutional powers disappear, but when politicians stop exercising restraint in how they use them.
“We see political leaders systematically exploiting the letter of the law to subvert its spirit,” Levitsky said. “To prevent that, it’s critical that politicians across the aisle share a commitment to restraint.”
Legal scholar Ozan Varol, a professor at Lewis & Clark Law School, has similarly argued that seemingly lawful actions can be used to deter political opponents and their agendas.
“(Politicians) cloak repressive practices under the mask of law, imbue them with the veneer of legitimacy, and render anti-democratic practices much more difficult to detect,” Varol wrote.
People Power Party council members, however, say it was the liberal bloc that failed to show mutual restraint.
“(The Seoul Education Office) needs to show mutual respect, but holding such an event at the city council is inappropriate,” a party council member said.
On Friday, the Seoul Metropolitan Education Office notified reporters of its intent to hold the event as scheduled at the Seoul Metropolitan Council. The education office reiterated its resolve not to change the venue on Sunday to local media outlets.
The city council does not have the authority to force a venue change, as the auditorium is managed by the Seoul Metropolitan Government. The education office has confirmed it received the necessary permits to use the space.