The Korean chapter of Thousand Madleens to Gaza holds a press conference outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul on April 2, 2026, to condemn its attempt to revoke the passport of Haecho, an activist taking part in the flotilla to bring aid to Gaza. (Cho Hae-young/Hankyoreh)
By Bora Chung, authorOn April 18, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez hosted a summit titled “In Defense of Democracy” in Barcelona. The meeting was attended by several left-leaning heads of state including Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Colombian President Gustavo Petro.I arrived in Barcelona on April 24, one week later, to attend a literary event. While the “In Defense of Democracy” summit was already over, I roamed around downtown Barcelona with the faint hope there might be a related event that weekend. And sure enough, I ran into a march against the war while I was heading to the Picasso Museum on Sunday, April 26.The first things I spotted were a Lebanese flag, a Palestinian flag, and a big banner hanging from a sound truck that proclaimed, “No a la guerra,” or “No to war.”Since I’d been half hoping to find a demonstration of this sort, I’d gone out wearing a T-shirt that said, “Solidarity for Peace in Palestine.” So I was dressed for the occasion.Following the procession, I marched a very brief distance from Jaume I Station on the Barcelona Metro to a square called Plaça Sant Jaume. Right across from the station, the Catalan trade union building displayed a small banner with the words “No genocidi” between pictures of the Palestinian flag.The sound truck stopped at Plaça Sant Jaume, and a middle-aged woman leading the rally took the microphone. Of course, I don’t speak Spanish, so I couldn’t follow her remarks. But I definitely caught the phrases “no to war” and “no to rearmament.” I also heard the names of countries including Syria, Lebanon, Iran and Palestine. Whenever she paused in her remarks, somebody shouted English slogans like “Free, free Palestine!”The whole time, more people were gathering at the plaza. Demonstrators around the sound truck began to hang up banners that said, “No to war,” “No to rearmament,” and “Solidarity with the citizens of Ukraine,” among other slogans. Many people had brought small banners that simply said “Democracy” or waved the flags of Palestine, Iran and Lebanon.There were many women wearing stickers that said, “No a la guerra.” I wanted to get one for myself, but was unable to because of my ignorance of Spanish.One striking feature of the day’s demonstration was that most of the organizers and protestors were middle-aged or elderly women. A group of pensioners had shown up in orange vests with an orange banner. As best I could tell, their banner said that if the government had enough money to wage war, it could afford to pay a more generous pension — a sentiment I could relate to.Spain has officially recognized the state of Palestine and allowed it to reopen its embassy in the capital of Madrid, where the Spanish king officially welcomed the Palestinian ambassador.Pedro Sánchez, the prime minister, has continued to make public statements expressing his vigorous opposition to the US’ bombing of Iran and its inexcusable war of aggression.Here in Korea, President Lee Jae Myung recently made a social media post criticizing Israel’s slaughter of the Palestinians. When Israel’s Foreign Ministry objected to Lee’s comments, he delivered a courteous but stinging rebuke — “It’s disappointing that Israel won’t take the time to heed the reproach from people around the world.”In defiance of the ceasefire, Israel continues to butcher Palestinians in the Gaza Strip day after day. As the strip remains under blockade, the Korean activist Haecho, a member of the Korean Flotilla for a Free Palestine, took to the seas aboard a ship sailing in the Freedom Flotilla Coalition in order to deliver relief to the Palestinian people. But as soon as she departed, South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs revoked her passport. Article 12, paragraph 3, of Korea’s Passport Act states that the minister of foreign affairs may issue a passport to a person who had their passport denied or revoked “where any reason prescribed by Presidential Decree exists, such as urgent humanitarian reasons.”Children are dying in Gaza — they are starving to death, and they are being shot dead by Israeli soldiers. If delivering medicine and relief supplies to these children does not constitute an “urgent humanitarian reason,” what does? Even the president has criticized Israel’s crimes against humanity and violations of international law. As other countries reopen Palestinian embassies and refuse to let the US use their bases to stage its war of aggression against Iran, Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has revoked the passport of a human rights activist for her crime of trying to deliver lifesaving aid to a people on the brink of death. For shame. If anyone needs to learn how to respect basic human rights here, it’s South Korea’s Foreign Ministry. “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” If the government of Korea truly upholds the spirit of the provisional government of the Republic of Korea established by the March First Independence Movement, it should think long and hard about what this slogan really means. Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
