April 23, 2025 | 05:56 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Several Greenpeace Indonesia activists staged a peaceful protest in front of the South Korean Embassy in Jakarta on Wednesday, April 23, 2025. During the demonstration, they also submitted an official letter to the South Korean Ambassador and embassy representatives, demanding the release of five fellow activists detained in South Korea since November last year.
About an hour and a half after the protest began, they were received by a representative of the South Korean Embassy. “We were received warmly by Pak Ha, the Counsellor on Environmental Affairs at the South Korean Embassy,” said Greenpeace Indonesia Head Leonard Simanjuntak when met at the location on Wednesday, April 23, 2025.
During the meeting, Leonard conveyed that Ha understood Greenpeace’s argument regarding the importance of safe spaces for peaceful protests in a democratic country like South Korea. “He (Ha) understands Greenpeace’s argument that in a functioning democracy, there must be a safe space for peaceful protest and non-violent direct action, such as those carried out by Greenpeace activists,” he said.
According to Leonard, Ha also hopes the Greenpeace activists will be released soon. “He (Ha) said he would forward Greenpeace Indonesia’s demand for the release of the five Greenpeace activists in South Korea to the South Korean Government, specifically the Ministry of Justice,” he stated.
The five Greenpeace activists were arrested after a peaceful protest aboard a tanker carrying propylene, a fossil fuel-based raw material used to make plastic, at the Hyundai Daesan refinery complex in South Korea on November 30, 2024. The protest was part of the Rainbow Warrior tour titled Sailing for Change: The Plastic Free Future Tour, which called for an end to single-use plastic production and urged world leaders to take concrete action against plastic pollution.
Leonard explained that the five activists' action was part of Greenpeace's longstanding method of nonviolent direct action, which has been practiced worldwide for more than 50 years. “Peaceful actions like this should be respected and not met with harsh punishment,” he said. He even pointed out that in Indonesia, whose democracy index is lower than South Korea’s, Greenpeace activists have never been detained for more than 24 hours.
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