Muslims in S Korea demand UN intervention for construction of mosque

The appeal comes after local residents in the southeastern city of Daegu blocked the construction of the mosque near Kyungpook National University.

The permission to build the two-story mosque was granted in 2020 and the site was earlier used as a prayer center.

A local human rights group on Monday appealed to the UN special rapporteur on religious freedom to urge South Korea’s central and local governments to “intervene to stop the residents’ obstruction of the construction work.”

The petition to the UN official urges the South Korean government and local authorities to “publicly condemn all forms of discrimination based on a particular religion or race, conduct education on the duty of religious neutrality and anti-racism for all public officials of Daegu City, and remedy all damage.”

Those opposing the construction have “physically” blocked access to the site, put up banners, threw pork barbecue parties, and displayed pig heads near the construction site.

Despite court orders to go ahead with the construction, the local Muslim community has been unable to complete the construction as some non-Muslim locals have hindered the process.

“We’ll fight against the mosque construction till our last breath,” read one banner displayed next to the site.

Condemning the act as Islamophobic, Mian Muaz Razaq, a Muslim students’ representative at the university, told the daily South China Morning Post about the different measures taken by local people which stand for “pure Islamophobia.”

South Korea has no official religion as among around 52 million people, 28% of South Koreans said they are Christian in a census conducted in 2015. Other 15.5% said they are Buddhist.

According to Korea Muslim Federation, Muslims in the country constitute a meager 0.4% or around 200,000.