Disability rights group resumes subway protest after 6-month pause

The Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination (SADD) resumed its commute-hour subway boarding protest Thursday after a six-month hiatus.

The group staged its 69th "Commute-Hour Subway Ride" protest at around 8 a.m. Thursday at the Incheon-bound platform of City Hall Station on Seoul Metro Line 1. SADD had halted the subway protests after January, accepting a request from Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Kim Young-bae to suspend the demonstrations. The protest, resuming after roughly six months, was held to press the government to include disability rights funding in the 2027 budget.

A roughly 50-meter stretch from boarding gate 7-1 on the Incheon-bound platform was packed with more than 60 protesters, police officers and commuters. Some passengers trying to exit the train and reach the exits were slowed by the crowd, inching through the narrow corridor one by one. Voices of frustration could be heard throughout — "I'm going to be late" and "Excuse me, coming through."

Before boarding the train, SADD head Park Gyeong-seok called on the government to show how it differs from its predecessor on disability rights. "I hope this subway ride is the last one and that we no longer have to clash with commuters," Park said.

Park then urged the government to allocate the disability rights budget, saying, "As long as the Ministry of Economy and Finance does not reflect disability rights funding in the budget, the rights of people with disabilities cannot be guaranteed." Participants from the Korean Metal Workers' Union and the Coalition for the Enactment of an Anti-Discrimination Law also took the floor to express their solidarity.

The group's key demands centered on five issues: securing disability rights funding in the 2027 budget, the immediate reinstatement of 400 workers dismissed from rights-centered public jobs, abolishing the disability rating system, guaranteeing mobility, education and labor rights for people with disabilities, and supporting deinstitutionalization and community integration.

A minor altercation broke out as the corridor grew congested during the group's speeches. When a wheelchair-using activist blocked the narrow passageway, a man behind him shouted, "Ajeossi, move it." An activist assisting with the wheelchair pushed back, saying, "We're also waiting in line to move — why are you getting angry?"

After the speeches concluded, about 60 wheelchair-using SADD activists boarded a southbound Line 1 train at City Hall Station in groups of 10. The entire boarding process took about three minutes. The train departed without significant delay, and Seoul Metro did not carry out the non-stop bypass or boarding refusal measures it had previously announced.

The day before, SADD had resumed its "Commute-Hour Bus Ride" protest near Hyehwa Rotary in Jongno-gu, Seoul, and plans to continue bus boarding protests every Wednesday. The bus protest, now a regular fixture for the first time in 22 years since 2004, is part of the group's sustained push for legislation guaranteeing mobility rights for transportation-disadvantaged people and for securing disability rights funding.