Appendix B - The Korean Campus Situation Since 1980

Appendix ‘B’

THE KOREAN CAMPUS SITUATION SINCE 1980

Korean universities occupy a special position in Korean society today. Historically, Korean students have been a powerful social force, dating back to the struggle for liberation and since 1945, in the struggle for democracy and social development. The student movement, therefore, has had a great political influence in Korean society.

Korean campuses can be seen as a microcosm of Korean society; the social contradictions and conflicts in society are also present on the campuses. As Korean students struggle to resolve these conflicts, they are also involved in the struggle to resolve the larger societal conflicts. Thus, the efforts of the students contribute to the creation of a healthier society and their suffering represents the suffering of the nation as a whole. The present period is no exception; political unrest in Korean society has been accompanied by increased campus unrest. As societal and campus unrest reach an unprecedented level of intensity, it is the student movement that becomes the first target of government suppression and oppression.

In order to understand the situation on the campuses today, we must first outline the developments since 1980. Three trends characterize the campus situation.

1. Increased Student Enrollment:

The Ministry of Education's quota system in which enrollment was increased but 30% of each class would not be allowed to graduate has had two effects. On the one hand, more young people have been allowed to attend college and experience campus life, but on the other hand, there has been a decrease in the level of quality of campus life.

2. Increased Government Interference and Control of Campus Affairs:

The government has exerted its control over campus affairs in the following cases:

a) the expulsion of students and the dismissals of professors

b) Interference in the faculty appointment process

c) Interference by the Ministry of Education in the determination of student discipline, punishment and university administration.

d) The usurpation of the activity of faculty councils

3. Increased Suppression of Student Activities and Autonomous Organizations:

Campus suppression has taken on various forms:

a) The suppression of autonomous student organizations and the formation of government supported Student Defense Corps to supplant other student organisations

b) Granting school officials the authority to veto or censor meetings of more than 10 students, intra-campus announcements, the distribution of printed materials, invitations to outside speakers and any regular publications

c) The constant presence of policemen on the campuses and the investigation of student activities

d) Open police violence against student demonstrators

e) The forced conscription of student activists into the military

These three trends reveal the extent of the government's domination of the campuses and the suppression of academic freedom. In the light of this situation, the student's struggle intensifies every day in an effort to restore academic freedom on the campuses and democracy and people's welfare in society.

In the wake of the Kwangju uprising in May, 1980, all the movements for democracy were banned. Also as a result of Government repression such movements became demoralized and nearly collapsed. During the 18 years of the Park Chung Hee regime, nearly 700 students were expelled from their schools as a result of their opposition to the anti-democratic, violent dictatorship. In comparison, in the three years after the May 17, 1980 tragedy, more than 1400 students were expelled and 500 others were forcibly and summarily conscripted into the military. At least 6 conscripted students have died while in the army and many student activists face the prospect of death or injury in the military and on the campuses.

However, in late 1983, the government announced that it would liberalize its hard line campus policy. On December 21, 1983, the government released detained students, reinstated those expelled, withdrew investigative forces and plain clothes police from the campuses and stated

that it would restrict police intervention in campus demonstrations. This was the gist of the government's campus autonomy policy. These measures, however, merely limited direct oppression. Although there was a temporary police protection at the campuses, confiscation of printed material, violence, police suppression of campus demonstration, long prison terms for student demonstrators, forced leave of absence from school continued. It became clear to the students that campus democratization and the democratization of society are inseparable.

During this period, the government portrayed its new policy as one of liberalization, yet it continued to suppress campus activities by initiating a massive propaganda campaign to isolate the student movement by labeling them violent and leftist.

In spite of the government's actions, the students were able to establish independent student organizations on virtually every campus and then, by linking these separate organizations, created a national student organization. The students by engaging in direct political activities such as demonstrations and sit-ins were able to expose to the people the illegitimacy of the dictatorship.

These efforts bore fruit in the February 12, 1985 National Assembly elections in which the opposition parties scored an impressive victory. (The distribution of votes was: DJP 35.3%; NKDP and KNP 57.9%). This result was not only a loud and clear expression of the people's dissatisfaction with the government; it was the beginning of a revolution by ballots rather than by bullets.

I. The Campus and the Student Movement in 1985

The February election filled the Korean democratic movement with great hope. Discontentment and criticism of the dictatorship have increased as the political consciousness of the people has grown. This political consciousness, which has been forced to remain silent, was given a voice in the national elections. Similarly, the student movement displayed renewed energy and vigor after the February election. On April 17, 1985, the 62 student councils representing universities throughout the nation joined together to form the National Federation of Student Councils in the student movement's greatest show of strength against the dictatorship in recent memory.

In May, the student movement pressed ahead with a nationwide campaign to force the government to reveal the truth about the Kwangju Uprising and punish those responsible for the massacre. The climax of this campaign came on May 23 with a sit-in at the USIS Library in Seoul.

Since the USIS incident, in spite of brutal government suppression, the student movement has continued to support the laborers and the farmers in their struggle to survive. Students in all metropolitan areas around Seoul, in solidarity with the labor movement, have steadfastly opposed the suppression of the democratic labor and farmers' movements and also the liberal policy of foreign agriculture products. In support of these activities, students have issued statements and staged street demonstrations.

The Main Issues for the Student Movement in 1985 were:

a) The investigation of the facts of the Kwangju incident and punishment of those responsible for the massacre.

b) The resignation of the current government and the dismantling of the military dictatorship, and amendment of Constitution.

c) Opposition to the suppression of the labor movement and active support for the rights of the laborers.

d) Opposition to the liberal import policy of foreign agriculture products.

e) Opposition to the forced eviction of urban squatters.

f) Opposition to the subordination of the national economy to foreign power and support for the establishment of an independent, self-sufficient economy.

g) Opposition to American support to the military dictatorship.

II. Recent Efforts by the Government to Suppress the Student Movement

At the end of 1983, the government released imprisoned students, reinstated those expelled and withdrew the police force from the campuses. The government also changed its hard line policy of jailing student activists in favor of a "student guidance" system. These limited steps toward campus autonomy, however, were soon shown to be deceitful and intended merely to improve the government's image. After the USIS incident, the government's true nature was revealed and the idea of campus autonomy was abandoned altogether. The police returned to the campuses and student activists were once again arrested and imprisoned.

1. The Rapid Increase of Student Arrests

a. There are currently 377 political prisoners in Korea, 287 of whom are students.

b. Since the beginning of 1985, the number of political prisoners increased by 287; 195 of these are students. Of all political prisoners currently in jail, 76% of them have been arrested after 1985. Of these, a total of 68% are students.

2. Most student activists are now tried under the National Security Law and prison terms for convicted students are longer. Kim Min Suk, chairperson of National Federation of Student Councils, and Ham Un Kyung, leader of the USIS sit-in and the chairperson of the Seoul National University's Sammintu branch, were originally charged with violating the Law on Assembly and Demonstration, but are now being tried under the National Security Law which allows for the maximum penalty of death. Almost all the leaders of the student movement are being called leftist and pro-communist by the government. Thus, they are likely to be tried under the National Security Law.

3. The government has called all autonomous and democratically organized student groups illegal and is arresting the leading members of the National Federation of Student Councils (NESC) as well as members of the universities student council.

4. The police are entering the campuses in large numbers to search the offices of student organizations and confiscate printed materials and equipment. On July 29, the police ransacked the offices of the student councils of 9 universities. The campuses have been invaded by riot police who have used excessive force to put down all demonstrations.

5. Demonstrators are terrorized and tortured during investigations. The police have indiscriminately beaten students during demonstrations and cruelly tortured them at interrogation centers.

6. Government plans to enact the Campus Stabilization Law. In order to break up the student movement, the government and the ruling DJP have proposed a Campus Stabilization Law which would allow student activists to be placed in re-education camps for "guidance education". This law, if enacted, would virtually prohibit all forms of political dissent and jeopardize all opposition leaders, dissidents and participants in the democratic movements. In the face of nationwide opposition, the government temporarily shelved the bill but plans to reintroduce it later

this fall.

7. Prospects for the future

As the brutality of government suppression increases, the student movement's struggle intensifies. In the coming months, it is expected that arrests of student activists will increase along with the government's accusation that they are leftist and pro-communists.

On September 7, Kyung Won University student Song Kwang Young set himself on fire. As the flames spread over his body, he shouted, "The government must take responsibility for the Kwangju massacre, Chun Do Hwan must step down! Withdraw the Campus Stabilization Bill, dismantle the dictatorial regime!" He is presently in a critical condition.

III. Students Demand Resolution of National Crises

The Changes advocated by the student movement can be summarized by the three-Min concepts of "Minjok" (the nation), "Minju" (democracy), and "Minjung" (the people).

Minjok: Korea must liberate itself from the domination of the superpowers and its role as a subordinate country in the international capitalist economic system. The Korean people must build an independent, self-reliant nation.

Minju: The military regime, which seized power in a bloody coup and which is responsible for the Kwangju massacre, must step down. The Korean people must be allowed to build a true democracy.

Minjung: The unequal distribution of wealth must be corrected and the economic system which is controlled by a handful of monopoly capitalists and based on exploitation must be changed. The people must be allowed to build an economy based on the interest of the "Minjung".