Korean Street Vendors Confederation (KOSC) held the 19th National Street Vendors' Congress and Rally on 8th June 2006 in Seoul, South Korea. Elvis Chishala Secretary of StreetNet International from the Alliance of Zambian Informal Economy Associations (AZIEA) attended the rally at the invitation of KOSC. About 12 000 street vendors participated in the event.

Street vendors are bracing themselves against expected nationwide raids and evictions from the streets and a revised but worse version of a law relating to evictions. The local elections on 31st May gave a landslide victory to the most conservative political party, the Grand National Party.

The Korean government and most of the municipalities have subsequently began to enforce a repressive policy on street vendors under the cloak of 'street beautification', 'street restoration' and 'developing and remodelling districts'.

New mayor of Seoul

The newly elected mayor of Seoul metropolitan city, Mr Oh Se-hoon, has also threatened to evict 894 street vendors at Dongdaemoon Stadium in Seoul who have been trading in the stadium since early 2004 following the struggle against the restoration of Cheonggye-Chon.

Speakers and political leaders at the rally demanded that the Korean government and municipalities recognise and protect the street vendors and abandon the unprogressive and oppressive law being prepared against the urban poor of Korea.

StreetNet International Secretary, Elvis Chishala, the presidents of the Korean Peoples’ Solidarity, Korean Peasants’ League, the Seoul Democratic Labour Party, the Socialist Party and the vice-president of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions were among the main speakers.

March to the city centre

During the march to the centre of Seoul City, some KOSC leaders held a dialogue with the newly elected representatives of Seoul local government and other leaders and officers of the Korean national government responsible for the revised eviction bill.

The representatives apologised to us for not considering the human right to earn a living by street vendors during and after the local elections and promised they would not evict street vendors without any other measures being in place.

However, on the new eviction bill they said they could not make such a promise as this will be considered by Parliament in November 2006. The KOSC declared that it would organise more rallies against the expected evictions of street traders and the revised bill.

Newsletter