The 34-year ‘Babfor Movement’ stops… Seoul city charges Pastor Il-do Choi’s ‘unauthorized extension’

The Babfor Sharing Movement (Babfor), which has been distributing free food to socially vulnerable groups such as the elderly and the homeless for 34 years, is at a crossroads. This is because when Babfor Headquarters, which had been working on building temporary buildings on municipal land, extended without permission last year, the Seoul Metropolitan Government accused Rev. Il-do Choi, the representative of the Dail Community. As it is clear that Pastor Choi has contributed to the welfare of neighbors in the blind spot, it is difficult for Seoul to push hard. At the meeting between the Seoul Metropolitan Government and Pastor Choi, scheduled for the 17th, attention is paid to whether a breakthrough can be made.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government on the 16th, the city filed a complaint with the Dongdaemun Police Station in Seoul on December 10 last year for violating the Public Property and Goods Management Act and the Building Act. Pastor Choi is accused of violating the Building Act for unauthorized extension work since June last year in 554 Dapsimni-dong, Dongdaemun-gu, a municipal property.

Pastor Choi is the founder of Dail Community, a social welfare organization, and is known as a poor activist who has been running the free meal service ‘Babfor’ in the underground road of Dapsimni Guldari since November 1988. Since 2009, he has built a temporary building at the current location of a municipality and has provided free food to the elderly and the homeless every day.

Rev. Il-do Choi, chairman of the Dail Welfare Foundation, has an interview with the media at Dail Angel Hospital in Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul on December 22, 2021. news

Dail Community has been working on expanding the existing three-story headquarters building to five floors since June last year. Due to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), free food restaurants in Seoul are closing one after another, and hundreds of people flock to the headquarters every day. because of the Iranian judgment. However, as the extension construction began, complaints from residents began pouring in, and Dongdaemun-gu, an autonomous district under the jurisdiction, had already issued a correction order to stop the construction twice.

Nevertheless, as the construction continued, the city of Seoul began filing a complaint in accordance with the procedures. Although the Dail Community has been blind to the fact that it has occupied city land without permission, it is said that it was inevitably forced to take action as complaints have been continuously raised since last year. An official from Seoul said, “I would like to do well considering the 30 years of volunteer work, but there was nothing I could do about it as residents constantly complained against the current law,” he said. In the vicinity of the area, high-rise buildings are being built one after another after the house town called ‘Cheongnyangni 588’ was demolished.

As Pastor Choi began silent and fasting prayers from the 6th, an all-out war on both sides was expected. Rev. Choi said on his social networking service (SNS) on the 15th, “The discussion with the city of Seoul went well, so on the 17th, a meeting was promised with the officials concerned and with the mayor of Seoul in the near future.” Please pray earnestly for it to be completed and become a tool to make the underprivileged happy.”

The city of Seoul issued a statement on the same day, saying, “To prevent safety accidents, etc., we are continuously in consultation with the Dail Welfare Foundation so that construction can be stopped and facilities can be used in accordance with related regulations.” We are actively considering possible options,” he said.

Taekyung Woo reporter taek0ng@hankookilbo.com