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Priests of the Catholic Church hold a fast and prayer urging an end to the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project in front of the Seoul branch of the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs headquarters, Aug. 12. (Photo by Rhee Jong-chan) ���
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The four major religious groups will also hold a three-day candlelight prayer vigil and fast
By Park Kyung-man, Senior staff writer
In a move that is expected to have major repercussions, South Korea’s four major religious groups, the Catholic Church, Korean Buddhism’s Jogye Order, Protestants, and Won Buddhists, announced a decision Sunday to carry out a boycott of products made by companies participating in the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project. The four groups are also planning to campaign for a referendum on the project as part of a movement of civil disobedience against the Lee Myung-bak administration.
Officials from the four religious groups announced Sunday that the groups made a decision to inform South Koreans about the companies participating in the construction project and to carry out a boycott campaign against the companies’ products.
The list of companies currently participating includes some of the country’s most prominent corporations, including Hyundai Engineering and Construction, Hyundai Development Company, Samsung C&T, Samsung Heavy Industries, SK Engineering and Construction, GS Engineering and Construction, Daewoo Engineering and Construction, Daelim, Doosan Engineering and Construction, POSCO Engineering and Construction, and the Hanyang Consortium.
Religious workers with the four groups plan to hold a press conference at Seoul’s Gwanghwamun Square at 3 p.m. on Monday to announce their plans, and to carry out a candlelight prayer vigil and fast to stop the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project for the three days through Wednesday. Around one thousand religious workers with the four groups are expected to participate in the vigil and fast, including Catholic Solidarity for Deterrence of Four Major Rivers Project Executive Director Father Joseph Cho Hae-bung, Venerable Jigwan of Buddhist Solidarity for the Preservation of Life at the Four Rivers, Rev. Yang Jae-sung of Christian Action to Save the Rivers of Life, and Won Buddhists Preserving the Rivers of Life administrator Hong Hyeon-du.
“This may be the first time in South Korean religious history that believers of the four major religions are gathering together to hold a fast and prayer vigil for three days,” said Catholic Solidarity Executive Committee member Maeng Joo-hyung.
On August 13, the four groups, which have been holding prayer vigils and river pilgrimages to stop the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project since early this year, began holding weekly joint prayer vigils every Friday at the plaza in front of Seoul’s Daehan Gate.
Meanwhile, the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project headquarters in the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs (MLTM) announced Sunday that weirs were more than 50 percent finished and dredging over 30 percent completed as of Sept. 30, ten months after construction began on the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project effort. According to the headquarters’ announcement, the overall rate of completion for the project was 28 percent on average, putting it 5 percent ahead of the originally scheduled 26.6 percent. Rates of completion were 30.5 percent for the Han River portion, 27.0 percent for the Nakdong River portion, 34.0 percent for the Geum River portion, and 23.7 percent for the Yeongsan River portion. Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]
