Student movements have played a significant role in much of modern Korean history. Secondary school and university students have participated in demonstrations and political activism in many forms since the broadening of the standardized education system during early 20th century Japanese colonization. [1] Much of their activism has aligned with broader social movements, such as anti-colonial and pro-independence movements prior to 1945 liberation, pro-democracy activism against authoritarian administrations, and various social issues relating to both student affairs and broader Korean society. Student movements have been largely associated with left-wing politics and interest groups in Korea [2] and their involvement in South Korean politics persists to this day. [3]
The earliest major student movement in modern Korean history was in response to Japanese colonial rule, leading up to the March First Movement for independence. [4] Inspired by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's call for the self determination of nations, the rebuffing of Korean representatives at the Paris Peace Conference, and the sudden death of the penultimate Korean monarch Gojong, Korean students studying at Japanese universities gathered to produce a declaration of Korean independence. [5] [6] Submitted to the Japanese government, foreign press, embassies, [7] and read in a ceremony at the Joseon Christian Youth Association Hall in Tokyo on February 8, 1919, the declaration and subsequent arrests of the student activists stirred domestic sentiments for political independence. [5]
The subsequent March First Movement began as decentralized mass protests in Seoul, Pyeongyang, and Gwangju, before spreading into rural areas. [4] Students of all levels participated in demonstrations, with contemporary international newspapers reporting female secondary students' involvement. [8] [9]
On June 10, 1926, the funeral date of Emperor of Korea Sunjong, secondary and university students in Seoul staged a protest and distributed a manifesto calling for Korean independence. Over 200 students were arrested. [10]
The Gwangju student movement formed in response to ethnic discrimination against Korean students in the colonial education system. [11]
On October 30, 1929, racially motivated harassment of female Korean students by Japanese students lead to a clash aboard a commuter train between students of both ethnicities. [11] Skirmishes amongst students persisted over the following days on train cars and platforms, culminating in a city-wide protest across multiple secondary schools on November 3, 1929. [11] The Japanese colonial government repressed news coverage of the event. [11]
On April 11, 1960, the body of a high school boy with a police tear-gas grenade lodged in his skull was pulled out of a river in the southeastern port city of Masan (now a district of Changwon). [12] The student had gone missing during his participation in the prior demonstrations against the rigging of the March 15, 1960 presidential elections. [12] The city erupted into three days of spontaneous protests and violent clashes with police, while news of the incident and downplaying by the Syngman Rhee presidential administration further incensed national anti-authoritarian sentiments. [13]
On April 18, 1960, several student leaders at Korea University in Seoul mobilized 3,000 students in a march to the National Assembly building. [12] The march and sit-ins were met by physical violence from gangs associated with the Rhee government. [13] The next day, over 100,000 high school and university students from 30 educational institutions [12] marched on the presidential residence, calling for Rhee's resignation. [14] Police opened fire on protestors, killing over 180 people. [15] Rhee declared martial law in order to repress further demonstrations. [16] These events came to be known as the April Revolution, and resulted in the eventual resignation of President Rhee on April 26, 1960. [13]
During the 1980s, student movements in Korea became an important force in the political climate of South Korea. [17] The turning point can be placed at the Gwangju Massacre in May 1980. This massacre gave the student movement a clear goal: revolution. The 1980s student movement can also be distinguished from its predecessors by its Marxist perspective. [17]
The reason of the movement's existence can, however, be traced through the 1960s and 1970s. [17] The generation who led the movement have later been called the 386 Generation. These people went to college in the 1980s and had experienced the oppression of both students and labour first hand. [17]
After Korea's liberation by both USSR and US troops, the Rhee-regime and the Korean War, the South Korean government wanted to suppress all forms of political dissidence. [17] All forms of political dissidence were treated as pro-communist and pro-North Korea and all such dissidence was prosecuted under the National Security Law. [17] Besides this violent oppression of political dissidence, South Korea also underwent rapid state-led capitalist reform and industrialization. [17] This led to a depletion of workforce in agriculture and a decrease of the rural population. [17] The working conditions in the factories were deplorable. [17] All civil liberty restrictions were justified under the Yushin system supposedly to discipline the workforce in the face of the threat of North Korea. [17] The strict labor laws were violently enforced. [17]
The Yushin system led to great discontent among intellectuals and students in the 1970s and made campuses around South Korea spaces for antigovernment activism. [17] Dissidence was practiced through small reading groups and educational activities provided by religious human rights organizations to escape governmental scrutiny. [17]
Students also became involved in distributing critical opinions through an underground press and many students who were expelled from school due to their activities were believed to have gone into the publishing business, where critical journalists had formed the Council for Democratic Press(민주언론시민연합). [17]
Three main political camps can be distinguished in the Korean student movement of the 1980s: The National Liberation (NL), the National Democracy (ND) and the People's Democracy(PD). [17] Although they leaned on different political views, all facilitated several organizations and together they managed to mobilize two major demonstrations. [17] In the so-called 'Great June Democratic Struggle' in 1987, over a million people attended an illegal street riot that led to a sweeping political change including a direct presidential election. [17] The second protest was the 'Great Worker Struggle', which opened up the path for an independent trade union movement. [17]
The Chun Doo Hwan administration, oppressed a pro-democracy movement by force of arms. [18] In this process, many citizens and students were tortured by the police force. [18]
The torture and death of Park Jong-Chul is one of these cases. [18] Although the police announced that this affair was simply a shock death, they later officially admitted to torturing Jong-Chul with water after an autopsy was done on the body. [18] After part of the affair's truth was revealed, the opposition party launched a new offense against the Chun Doo Hwan administration. A memorial rally related to this affair led to the June Democracy Movement in 1987. [18]
As demonstrations intensified, students in Yonsei University swore to take to the field and demonstrated at the university on 9 June 1987. [19] During the protest, Yonsei student Lee Han-yeol was seriously injured when a tear gas grenade penetrated his skull and he died on July 5. [19] Through these affairs, citizens became distrustful towards the Chun Doo Hwan administration and democratic resistance was extended, with the June Democracy Movement established at the peak. [19] The Chun Doo Hwan administration agreed to revise the constitution for a direct election system. [19]
Park Mi wrote that "the student generation of the 1980s played a pivotal role in the democratization of South Korean society". [17]
After the discovery of mad cow disease in the United States, a candle light vigil was held to oppose the import of beef into South Korea from the United States. [20] In response, the South Korean government suspended the import of beef. [20] However, on 11 April 2008 the Lee Myungbak government initiated a deal with the US to restart import of beef. [20] This sparked criticism that the government sold the people's life and health. [20]
On 2 May 2008, students and other citizens held another candle light vigil to show opposition to the beef import. [20] At the first meeting, more than sixty percent of the participants were high school girls. [20] The vigil continued for more than a hundred days and the issue finally became political. [20] Hundreds of thousands of people participated in the rally during its peak in June and July. [20] Finally the government mobilized the police and arrested a large number of participants. [20] These people were put on trial for assembly and demonstration, and obstruction of ordinary traffic. [20]
In the election pledge, the new government promised to lower university tuition, but they failed to fulfill this pledge, funding being the biggest problem. [21] College students and related organizations demanded that the government implement its pledge, saying that tuition is too expensive and students are too busy with their part-time jobs to properly attend to their school work. [22] Civil society and the university students demonstrated every day. [23] The students even did the 10,000 bae, 10,000 bows, aimed at removing 10,000 earthly desires, for a lower tuition fee. [23] [24] Eventually, the government did not implement the promised half-tuition fee, but they did increase the government scholarship for the low-income bracket. [25]
A number of NGOs and international organizations tried to investigate and resolve the essence of the comfort women issue for 25 years. [26] On 28 December 2015, South Korea and Japan came to an agreement regarding 'comfort women' or abducted Korean women who were forced to work as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War II. [26] Representatives of colleges and citizens however declared this agreement inadequate. [26] Eunhye Choi, president of the student body of Ewha Womans University, declared "The voice of the victims was excluded" and "There wasn't an apology from Japan. It is a disgraceful agreement. Comfort women victims desired to be made clear about responsibility for forced mobilized labour at national level, formal apology, legal compensation, recording on textbook and punishment. So that the same thing and victimization would not occur again in this land." [26]
Student demonstrations were held at Kyonggi University at Seoul, Kyunghee University, Korea University, Dongguk University, Busan College of Education, Pusan National University, Sogang University, Seoul National University, Sungshin Women’s University, Sejong University, Yonsei University, Ewha Womans University, Hakuk University of Foreign Studies, Hanyang University, and Hongik University with attendees including 25 student body presidents and 250 national university student unions. [26]
Activists, including many students, staged various protests against the agreement as late as January 2016. [27] [28] [29]
University students and youth were prominently involved in the protests triggered by President Yoon Suk Yeol’s declaration of martial law and subsequent impeachment proceedings. [3]
