Major annual 'Queer Festival' takes place in Seoul

Participants of the Seoul Queer Culture Festival are in costumes, Saturday, July 1. Yonhap

Tens of thousands of people gathered in downtown Seoul, Saturday, to enjoy the annual major LGBTQ version of the Pride Festival amid opposition from some protesters, according to the organizer.

The Seoul Queer Culture Festival (SQCF) took place in Seoul's Euljiro 2-ga area, where local sexual minorities and citizens took part in a queer film festival, a rainbow merchandise festa and various other events, according to the SQCF organizing committee.

The committee said around 58 booths were set up, including ones operated by the embassies of the United States, Britain, Germany and Canada, and more than 50,000 people were expected to join the event.

U.S. Ambassador to Korea Philip Goldberg and top diplomats in Seoul from several other nations also sent congratulatory video messages.

The participants plan to march through downtown Seoul, including Seoul Plaza.

"The most important thing is to deliver the message that queer people are citizens living together with us," Yang Seon-woo, a chairperson of the SQCF organizing committee, said.

Some civic groups staged protests in opposition to nearby queer festivals, and police set up fences around the SQCF event venue to prevent potential clashes.

The festival used to be held in Seoul Plaza, but a Christian group earlier obtained government approval for the use of the plaza for a youth concert on the same day this year.

The Seoul festival was held from 2000-2014 in various neighborhoods around the city before moving to Seoul Plaza in 2015.

The festival was held there annually through 2019 before moving online due to the COVID-19 pandemic over the last two years. (Yonhap)

The Seoul Queer Culture Festival staff carry a rainbow banner, July 1. Yonhap