"June Democratic Uprising: 6 월 민주 항쟁(六月民主抗爭)" by Yani Lee
1987: the year of pro-democratic uprising in the Korean Peninsula. This date marks the notorious conflicts between the Fifth Republic of Korea, a practical military dictatorship, and its people who demanded a direct presidential system and democracy. Their democratic ideals developed upon the foundation of failures from previous democratic movements, such as the May 3rd Movement in Incheon and October 28th Konkuk University Uprise in 1986. Because of these continuous failures, 1986 marked the decline of democratic attempts. However, on January 14, 1987, an incident that served as a turning point for the ongoing conflict took place. Park Jong-cheol, a student from University of Seoul, was arrested by six officers from the Anti-Communist Office of the Public Security as a referee to be interrogated for information on a suspect. Coincidentally, the innocent 21 year-old referee was found dead the next day. Despite the government’s attempt to conceal it, the public soon found out that Park Jong-cheol was tortured with electricity and water—eventually to the point of death. This absurd torture homicide incident soon led to nationwide protests for a torture-free country.
Nationwide protests after the torture homicide incident
On April 13, 1987, former President Chun Doo-hwan officiated the April 13 Constitution Measure (4.13 호헌조치) to “protect the current constitution retaining the law.” The measure revealed the government’s imposition of retaining the current constitution, simply neglecting the public’s demand for an amendment with terms of a direct presidential system and democracy. This was President Chun’s ultimate attempt to put an end to ongoing arguments about the constitutional amendment, but it produced an opposite effect. Instead, his actions infuriated the already displeased crowd—causing a headwind and fueling the June Democratic Uprising.
Then on June 10, 1987, nationwide protests occurred in concert throughout the peninsula—starting with university students and making its way to involving more than one million protestors. In response, President Roh Tae-woo approved The June 29 Declaration of Democracy (6.29 선언), abolishing the 4.13 constitutional measure and revising the constitutional amendment. This amendment brought an end to the Fifth Republic of Korea’s practical military dictatorship and established the democratic Sixth Republic of Korea.
Emblem of the Fifth Republic of Korea. Emblem of the Sixth Republic of Korea
Although the 4.13 Constitution Measure is often viewed as the major cause of the June Democratic Uprising, many other infamous incidents also contributed to sparking the revolutionary uprising. These include the Bucheon Police station Sexual Torture case, Park Jong-cheol torture homicide, Murder of Lee Han-yeol using teargas grenade, 5.3 Incheon Incident, 10.28 Konkuk Univ. Uprising, and etc. All of the aforementioned incidents consist of unilateral abuse of power by the military and government. The most formidable among them all is the murder of Lee Han-yeol using teargas grenade. Lee Han-yeol, a student at Yonsei University, participated in anti-dictatorship protests against the martial law of the military dictatorship, as well as pushing for the amplification of the truth behind Park Jong-cheol’s death. On June 9, 1987, Lee Han-yeol participated in a protest at the Yonsei-in resolution convention for the 6.10 tournament. There, he was shot in his occipital bone by a tear gas grenade (SY44), putting him in a critical condition. He passed away 27 days later in a hospital bed. The public was infuriated by the fact that the tear gas grenade was aimed at an unarmed student. Ironically, the tear gas grenade was shot by one of the combat police, and their protocol was to aim the grenade at void spaces in order to avoid that very tragedy.
Lee Han-yeol gets shot with a tear gas grenade from a combat police
Sources:https://dbpedia.org/page/June_Strugglehttp://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Contents/Item/E0068343https://jacobinmag.com/2020/06/south-korea-democracy-movement-protests-tear-gashttps://koreabridge.net/post/610-democracy-movement-610-민주항쟁-intraman
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