SEOUL, A graduate of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) filed a constitutional petition Tuesday, claiming presidential bodyguards violated his basic rights by forcefully dragging him out of a graduation ceremony for shouting at President Yoon Suk Yeol.
Shin Min-ki, a KAIST graduate and a member of the minor Green Justice Party, had his mouth covered by Presidential Security Service agents and was carried out of the ceremony by his limbs for shouting at Yoon during his congratulatory speech on Feb. 16.
“I attended the event to receive my master’s degree, but I could not receive my diploma and all I could do was hear the sound of applause from a cold room as the presidential guards had hauled me away and confined me,” Shin said during a press briefing in front of the Constitutional Court.
“This is an incident that nobody in the Republic of Korea should have to go through,” he added.
Shin, who lodged a petition with the Constitutional Court, referred to the guards’ acts as a viola
tion of the freedom of speech and personal liberty.
Shin said he is awaiting the results of a police investigation after the presidential bodyguards filed a complaint against him on charges of business obstruction and detained him.
“Think about it. Why would I intrude on a graduation ceremony when I had my graduation diploma that I so dearly wanted in front of me?” Shin said.
Source: Yonhap News Agency