3) No Assembly Zone and the Current Status of the Amendment to the “Assembly and Demonstration Act” A) Controversy Surrounding the Yongsan and Pyeongsan Assemblies and Demonstrations and Proposed Amendment to the “Assembly and Demonstration Act” The presidential office was moved from the Blue House to a building used as the Ministry of National Defense building in Yongsan-gu in May 2022. Afterwards, the police established a policy to ban all assemblies within 100 meters of the relocated presidential office, and banned all assemblies reported.159) Issues were raised regarding the disposition of the police on whether the office of the president falls under the no assembly zone under the ‘Assembly and Demonstration Act’160) because the two spaces, the office of the president and the “presidential residence,” where assemblies are prohibited under the Assembly and Demonstration Act, were located in the same place previously but are separated now. The police interpreted the office of the president to be a no assembly zone under the Assembly and Demonstration Act. Civil groups criticized the police for issuing a ban that violated the freedom of assembly through arbitrary interpretation, even though the “office of the president” is not specified in the no assembly zone under the Assembly and Demonstration Act, and the organizers of the assembly and demonstration requested the court to suspend the execution of the ban by the police. The court found in several cases that the vicinity of the office of the president in Yongsan did not qualify as the “presidential residence,” a place where gatherings are prohibited under the Assembly and Demonstration Act. Moreover, with the decision to suspend the effect of the police’s notice of assembly, the assembly was allowed near the office of the president, with conditional depending on individual cases.161) On the other hand, in May 2022, when former President Moon Jae-in retired and began 159) Sisa Journal, Police maintaining the policy of no assembly within 100m of the office of the president in Yongsan, May 14, 2022. 160) Article 11(3) of the Assembly and Demonstration Act prohibits assembly or demonstration within 100 meters of the presidential residence. 161) Seoul Administrative Court, Decided on May 20, 2022, 2022Ah11434, Decided on May 11, 2022, 2022Ah11236, etc. 62