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Parents protest relocation of Seongnam’s probation office
A group of parents on Monday protested the recent relocation of the Seongnam branch of the Suwon Probation Office in front of its new office in Bundang-gu, Gyeonggi Province. They claimed that the facility’s “sneaky move” to a highly populated area exposes children to crime.
The Parents’ Committee for the Relocation of the Seongnam Probation Office held a sit-in demonstration in front of the building in Seohyeon-dong where the center was relocated last Wednesday. The protest started Thursday, a day after the facility took root in its new home.
Around 1,000 protesters blocked the center’s employees from going to work, effectively freezing management of some 1,500 offenders who had been ordered community service or placed on parole.
The probation center in Seongnam, a city on the southern outskirts of Seoul, had been based in Sujeong-gu, Seognam, prior to the surprise move to its current location.
The center’s new venue is located in the center of Seongnam City, near movie theaters, department stores and a residential area.
Participants at the sit-in called for the nullification of the relocation, saying that the probation center had been moved without notifying or consulting the people in the area. They also voiced concerns about potential safety hazards.
“Ex-convicts have to regularly visit the probation center, which means theft or sexual harassment may occur near the center,” said a 30-year-old office worker, who declined to be named.
Earlier in the day, 1,600 people from Bundang-gu visited the Ministry of Justice and held a protest demanding the facility be moved elsewhere.
Faced with furious opposition, Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung proposed late on Saturday an alternative of conducting observation and education of former convicts at a separate venue.
The Ministry of Justice sought to soothe the anxiety of parents by saying that most of those who visit the probation center are offenders of minor charges. Major criminals, on the other hand, are visited by center employees at their own residences.
By Yoon Min-sik
(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)
