SOUTH KOREA:A government directive intended to protect the blind has become a divisive issue for Koreans
UNHERALDED AND largely out of sight, a small army of blind masseurs has been kneading South Korea's tired muscles for almost half a century.
Now, demands that the masseurs share their profession with the non-blind have forced them out of the massage parlours and on to the streets into dramatic, sometimes suicidal protests.
In one incident last month, a group of blind masseurs burned cars and threatened to jump into Seoul's Han River unless the government reversed a decision allowing the sighted to practise. The police arrested 26.
Scores of blind demonstrators have leapt from bridges and buildings and two have died since a court declared two years ago that a directive allowing them to exclusively work as masseurs "excessively discriminates" against the sighted. A Korean court is expected to rule again on the dispute shortly, but the decision is likely to please nobody.
Protests began when a group of sighted masseurs mounted a legal challenge to the 1963 government directive, which grants a monopoly on the massage trade to blind therapists. The group's leader, Park Yoon Soo, says the 7,100-strong blind army can no longer keep pace with demand in South Korea, where at least 120,000 and possibly half a million masseurs operate illegally.
"It breaks my heart when I think that what I am doing every day, what I consider my calling, is a crime," Mr Park told the New York Times. "We are not trying to steal jobs from the blind, we just want to share the market."
Non-licensed therapists face fines of up to $4,500 (€3,300) and even prison, although many have worked in official positions - the South's former president is believed to have employed one, and they ministered to footballers during the 2002 World Cup.
Korea's massage monopoly dates back to the early 20th century, when discrimination forced the blind into one of the few professions that accepted them.
In 2006 the constitutional court responded to a series of legal challenges by ruling against the directive, sparking weeks of fierce demonstrations and a cave-in by the government, which wrote the monopoly into law.
That decision was the cue for more protests, by the sighted, one of whom died after plunging into the River Han. The government recently allowed a limited number of sighted therapists to practise, sparking more protests by the blind, who are demanding that the new arrivals only massage head and hands, leaving the rest of the body to them.
As the government seeks a solution, the protests continue. During the summer a group of blind therapists took over the top of Seoul's National Human Rights Commission building, draping a banner over the side demanding exclusive masseur licenses. Han Yong-seok said a ruling against them would steal their livelihood. "I simply couldn't get another job apart from massage work," he told the BBC this month. "I need to learn this trade so I can continue to bring up my family and be part of society."