Thousands of buddhist monks gathered at Jogye temple in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, January 21, 2022, to protest against president Moon Jae-in’s current ruling Democratic Party for insulting accusations and biased government policies. Last October, comments from lawmaker Jung Chung-rai of the Democratic Party sparked anger amongst buddhist communities as he compared monks to a crook collecting unnecessary toll fees from people hiking in the mountains where a lot of temples are located. The boiled up anger also stemmed from presidential Blue House actions and government polices that allegedly have shown religious favoritism slanted toward catholicism and biased accusations against Buddhism, such as promoting Christmas carols in shops and Christian themed songs for public citizens’ choirs. It was 28 years ago when The National Convention of Monks was last convened by the Jogye Order, the largest buddhist sect in South Korea. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES