Welcome to BASE21

By Lee Min-a/ Base21 Correspondent
(joli803@freechal.com)

The graveled road of Insadong was strangely empty. It was growing fairly dark and about time that people got out of work and might as well stopped by at a traditional Korean teahouse in Insadong. But most of the stores were closing up since there were not too many visitors walking down the sidewalk - perhaps it was the other way around.

Another uncommon scene was spotted in the indigenous market street. Parked at the entrance to Insadong were a district truck, a van and a police car. The truck had a banner that said, Special Vehicle for Consolidating Street Stalls. It was then that a squad of policemen was seen walking down the road when a snack vendor hurriedly moved his cart away from the police.

▷Street stalls are likely to be pulled down
The streets of Insadong after hours are usually bustling with a crowd. Packed with traditional stores selling native products arranging from rice papers to celadons in the heart of Seoul, Insadong attracts foreigners as well as Koreans to this small region. The stores selling antiques are now famous for their special articles, but the sidewalk vendors and their booths are also popular attraction among visitors to Insadong. But not so in the eyes of district officials who think that regulating the sidewalk stalls on cartwheels, small trucks or portable tables is an effective way to keep the city clean and in orderly.

Strict regulating measures imposed on sidewalk stalls were always carried out during the past decades; now they are being implanted more rigidly in anticipation of international slated event to be held in Korea.

During the Seoul Olympics in 1988 and the ASEM in 2000, for example, the Jongro-gu district officials said that streets ought to be free of vendors selling alcoholic beverages at night to prevent rowdy behavior of people including vomiting, littering and noise. This time the city of Seoul was getting prepared for the "Visit Korea Year 2001" and the 2002 World Cup, and Insadong was just one of the many quarters around the capital witnessing a disturbance between the vendors and the men hired by the district office to get rid of them.

▷Racketeers would do more than tearing the stands down
"It was September 7 when the hired men from the district office arrived," started a vendor in his 50's, inhaling deeply to temper his anger from the memory. "They were not average men, but a bunch of gangsters hired by the district for more than 100 million won to tear down our carts. And four who were trying to protect our possession from them were taken to a nearby hospital. I wonder why the district cannot spend their money to help the destitute instead of wasting it like that."

There never was any serious crack down on open-air stalls in Insadong before. One could argue that Insadong was developed to become what it is today because more and more vendors created a market place. That slowly began to attract sightseers. Back in 1988, the city of Seoul announced that Insadong would be the "street of culture" but not much has changed until 7 billion won was poured to pave on paving the road last year. And recently, some one hundred gang men were dispatched to disband sidewalk vendors so that street cleaning could continue for the visitors to Korea.

There are, however, other reasons why the district offices of Seoul are carrying out such activities. According to the public notice issued by the Yeongdeungpo-gu district states, "First of all, the vendors infringe upon the citizens' right to walk freely by enlarging their stands on sidewalk. Secondly, the vendors pay no income tax. Lastly, it is illegal for the vendors to do business on street." Yeongdeungpo-gu district office also attempted to clear its street of sidewalk merchants but no strong action have yet been taken.
"I started this business when I was 11, when I ran away from home," said a vendor selling traditional Korean candies in Insadong. He gave only his last name ,Park, and seemed suspicious that this reporter was probing into his privacy. "Actually, the district office is only watching the vendors who sell alcoholic beverages, so I did not suffer anything tangible. But I hear these stories that restrictable measures will be extended to all unlicensed street vendors beginning in October."

Park was a man in his early thirties but looked much older. He has been selling goods in Insadong for three years and so he is savvy of what is happening around him.
"I am angry at the district office because they are treating us not as human beings but some kind of trash and what is worse, they hired gangsters wielding weapons," Park said, finally laying down the facts. "Even though I participate in protests, I am not fond of violence. But this time I have no choice but to fight to live!"

▷Concrete counter plan needed while people can only wait
The National Association of Street Stalls (NASS), an organization that is on the side of these vendors, calling for counter measures to address this problem. Th district government weren't thinking what would happen after 7,000 vendors in Jongro-gu alone are out of work, stated NASS. Before getting rid of these shops, NASS added, there should be a social network that can help the soon-to-be-jobless vendors to go back on track with a viable means of living. Another suggestion was that, instead of disbanding these street booths, the district government should implant a measure that can help build a "street of culture" in Insadong, as the Jongro-gu district office had planned, creating a unique quarter of street stalls.

Because the district officials do not deal with the vendors as decent citizens, their plight grows worse.
"I do not want to talk about this matter," said a 60-year-old man in rags when asked to talk about his life working on streets. "I know that I have nothing to lose, since people treat me like a bum. All I want is to be able to keep on working without worrying about where to run away when another policeman rushes in to deprive me of my livlihood. How could I live if I lose my work