▲ Hologram protest takes place at Gwanghwamun Square. Provided by Amnesty International Korea.

More than a hundred protesters gathered at Gwanghwamun Square, the center of Seoul, on February 24, to demonstrate against the crackdown of the current Park Geun-hye administration. However, the cries did not come from real people; it echoed from speakers. In fact, there was nobody at the scene of the protest. Only 3D holograms of protesters in the size of real people marched while chanting. The police watched, taking notes and arresting no one. Why and how did holograms end up there?

Amnesty Uses Holograms, Not People

World’s second hologram demonstration took place in Korea, on the eve of the third anniversary of President Park’s inauguration. A screen, ten meters in length and three meters in height, projected blue ghostly images that cried out, “Government should protect the freedom of assembly and speech!” The protest lasted for around thirty minutes and was peaceful from the beginning to the end, while three hundred police officers were assigned to the site.

The first venue of this unique type of demonstration was Madrid, Spain. Thousands of holographic images marched pass a Spanish parliament building to protest against constraints in the Citizen Safety Law, which the critics referred to as the “Gag Law.” While the Spanish law criminalized the right to protest, none of the protesters were arrested, for no one existed at the site. Only a recorded film was shown in which people shouted with pickets and banners.

The latest hologram demonstration held in Korea was designed and directed by the local branch of Amnesty International. More than 120 people gathered to take part in the hologram film on February 12, at a studio in North Ahyun-dong. In addition to the imageries produced by the actors and actresses, text messages and voice mails from all those who wished to voice opinions against the restriction of freedom of speech were also included as part of the hologram film. 

Why Holograms, Not People? 

Amnesty International had designed the hologram demonstration in order to make a point against the Park administration’s gradual limitations in the boundaries of the freedom of speech and assembly. “The government has been g radually limiting the boundaries of citizens’ freedom of assembly since the tragedies of Sewol,” continued Kim Hee-jin, the director of Amnesty International Korea, “and therefore there was no choice but to protest in the form of ghosts.”

In fact, Amnesty International Korea’s initial plan was to hold a live demonstration, but this was rejected by the Seoul Metropolitan Police. Grounds for the rejection was that the protest would be disruptive to traffic. The rejection prompted the organization to design a hologram protest, which circumnavigates the existing law. Amnesty International slightly changed the event and reported the hologram demonstration as a “cultural activity.” 

▲ 120 participants take part in the hologram film on February 12. Provided by Amnesty International Korea.

The Response by Police

To the report by Amnesty International of the “cultural activity,” the Seoul Metropolitan Police warned that their projection could violate the law. Lee Sang Won, the Seoul police commissioner claimed on the day before the planned date that the rally could be illegal if the event includes chanting of collective opinion, for that would be an unreported demonstration.

To this, Kim the director of Amnesty International Korea had expressed her pity. “Having the police forejudge our project and announce the possibility of strong retaliation is tantamount to arbitrary restriction at the police’s discretion; however, the freedom of assembly is a fundamental right of citizens,” she claimed.

When the hologram demonstration finally took place at Gwanghwamun Square, the response by police was a pressing matter. In the midst of controversies, the police concluded that the hologram demonstration “had the characteristics of a demonstration.” Kang Shin-myung, chief of the National Police Agency, claimed that the hologram protest clearly resembled a normal demonstration, and yet also further claimed the difficulties in judging its legality due to the complexity of the features of demonstration in that it did not have actual flesh at the site.

With the February’s hologram demonstration as the starting point, Amnesty International Korea nnounced their plans to establish an “institutional framework” to fight against the “abuse of police force.” Furthermore, Amnesty International Korea made its stance clear that the latest “ghost protest” must be the last one, and that the rights of real people to freely demonstrate must be protected. “Assembly is a human right,” Amnesty said in the hologram digital film.

Maina Kiai's Visit to South Korea

The history of democracy in Korea is impressive considering such a short period of time the nation needed to achieve democracy, but there are also critics that worry about the regression of South Korea’s democracy project. In response to a request for investigation on the rights to freedom of assembly and of association made by a group of civic organizations to Maina Kia, the lawyer and Kenyan human rights activist who currently serves as the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of assembly and of association, made a trip to Korea from January 21 to January 29.

After the investigation, Kiai praised South Korea for the “impressive achievements” the democracy project has made in a short period of time, and yet unambiguously pointed out the existence of “a trend of gradual regression on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association― not a dramatic shutdown of these rights, but a slow, creeping inclination towards degrading them.”

Kiai specifically stated that, “the organizers’ failure to notify an assembly beforehand does not make an assembly illegal, nor should the notification process be used to preemptively ban assemblies.” He also emphasized the need for eradication of aggressive police tactics that were frequently used in Korea during assemblies, such as but not limited to the use of bus barricades and water cannons that often cause serious physical injuries to the protesters. Simultaneously, Kiai also left messages for the citizens of South Korea to have peaceful assemblies in order to reduce tension and enhance delivery. 

All in all, Korea still has a long way to go in its democratic quest. Though many foreign experts consider Korea’s case to be impressive, various signals indicate the latest status to be disappointing. The hologram protest, however, as ironic as it is, indicates a piece of hope in the dull era in that the citizens are capable of making their point clear, peacefully. Still, many hope that the latest hologram demonstration in Korea will be the first and last hologram demonstration in the country.