Global Issues
SOUTH KOREA: Schoolgirls at Forefront of Street Protests
Hundreds of teenagers, many of them female, were out on the streets Wednesday demanding a public apology from the Lee Myung-bak government for the tragic death of former president Moo-hyun Roh, who committed suicide last month.
The candle light vigil joined by professors, activists, jurists, and monks, also commemorated the 22nd anniversary of the 1987 pro-democracy uprising in South Korea, which toppled a military dictatorship that had ruled the country with an iron fist for nearly three decades.
The protestors, an estimated 100,000 strong, also urged the government to call an immediate halt to the ongoing privatisation of public services in South Korea.
'We act what we learn in school. Protect our democracy', was one of the many placards held aloft by the sea of student protestors, easily identified by their school uniforms.
Youth participation in political protests has increased enormously across South Korea since last summer. One of the predominant characteristics of this politicisation has been the active participation of female students in large numbers. The teenagers, who are articulate and openly political, say they are organising themselves through the internet.
Teenager Suji Kim, who joined the protest with three other class mates, has little sympathy for the 14-month-old Myung-bak government.
'I think this government is doing everything wrong,' she told IPS. 'Whenever I come across information about government policies on the internet, I can see there are many problems that we (South Koreans) need to address. That is why I came here today.'
Kim said she had participated in the protests last month over the death of the former Korean president. And in May 2008, 'me and my friend joined the demonstrations and protest rallies against the import of American beef,' she added.
According to Kim, '(there are) many young girls like us joining these protests. Until the existing problems are adequately addressed, I will continue to come out on the streets with my friends to fight.'
Korean female students have been very politically active since last May’s anti-U.S. protests over the import of American beef, which most people believe was contaminated with Mad Cow disease. The protests were one of the biggest seen in Korea in the last two decades.
In fact, the demonstrations were mainly initiated by a few middle school female students. These teenagers, who read on the internet about the health hazards involved in eating American beef, started by taking their concern on to Seoul’s streets. Soon they began a small candle light vigil around Seoul City Hall.
Before long the protest had snowballed into nationwide anti-government demonstrations that raised questions about South Korea’s free trade agreement with the United States, and the country’s overall neo-liberal policies which the Myung-bak government has continuously attempted to push through since it was installed in February 2008.
While eventually the protests were called off, public anger against the government has not died down. When former president Roh committed suicide on May 23, most people were quick to blame it on what they believed were politically motivated corruption charges against him and a dubious investigation launched by the present government.
Roh’s public funeral became another political platform for people to show their anger against the government. Here too schoolchildren, again mainly female students, were very visible, queuing up for hours to pay tribute.
Yearim Yun who has a job was present at the 10th June protest. She said she was 'very happy' to see so many schoolgirls active in the street demonstrations. 'I find that in every political gathering there are more female than male students.'
While she could not say what the possible reason for this was, she said, 'I think this phenomenon will have a very positive impact on Korean society.' 'I was also very interested in politics when I was a high school student, but I couldn’t participate much,' she confided.
According to experts, the politicisation of South Korean youth shows that democratic culture has sunk deep roots. Songwoo Hur, professor of gender studies at SungKongHoe University, believes, 'there are three factors to make this possible. It is family, school and society.'
'Compared to the past generations who lived under authoritarian regimes, this young generation has grown up in so-called ‘democratic regimes’, and has learned more about equality, and (about) fairness of democratic society in school.
Therefore, for them, having freedom of expression in the public domain including internet is a natural prerequisite of democratic society. But when a government violates and restricts their freedom of expression by clamming censorship on the internet and the press, they become more sensitive and angrier,' she said.
Why are there more females in the ranks of student protestors? Hur thinks the reason could be that the Korean family structure has become more equal and relatively gender sensitive. 'More gender sensitive atmosphere inside the family allows daughters to become more expressive and active inside the family. It also naturally leads them to become more expressive in social affairs,' she explained.
The professor cites her personal experience. She said that when Roh died, her daughter and her son’s reactions were very different. 'My daughter and her friends had become so conscious of the issue, they discussed a lot about it in their school. But my son and his male friends in school were not very interested,' she said.
According to Hur, 'I found there is a tendency that many female students care more for social relationship and intimate issues as well as social issues. I think this makes for a difference between male and female students.'
© Inter Press Service (2009) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service