Room No. 509 of the Namyeong-dong police branch in Seoul was used to interrogate suspected communist sympathizers. Student activist Park Jong-cheol lost his life here due to water torture in 1987. The incident later gave rise to the June Democracy Movement. (Yonhap News)
By Kim Hyelin and Yoon Sojung
A celebration ceremony to mark the 31st anniversary of the June Democracy Movement took place on the morning of June 10 at City Hall in Seoul under the theme of, “From democracy to peace.”
Approximately 500 people attended the gathering. They included members of pro-democracy groups, such as the June Struggle Foundation, groups of bereaved family members of victims of the democratic struggle, such as the Korean Association of Bereaved Families for Democracy, regular citizens and other students,
In the message read by Minister of the Interior and Safety Kim Boo Kyum, President Moon Jae-in said, “The government will rebuild the Namyeong-dong police branch where violence was committed by the nation as a memorial for democracy and human rights.”
The Namyeong-dong police branch, used to investigate suspected communist sympathizers, was where a lot of the patriotic martyrs who fought for democracy, including the late Park Jong-cheol, underwent torture and illegal detention.
President Moon said, “We are approaching our long-awaited wish for peace on the Korean Peninsula, along with democracy.”
“For us, peace is one connected body with democracy. The era of sovereignty for the nation, which began with the June Democracy Movement and continued through to the Candlelight Revolution, will come true in various aspects of democracy on a peaceful Korean Peninsula,” said President Moon.
The June Democracy Movement was an anti-dictatorship demonstration for democratization that took place from June 10 to 29, 1987, in order to obstruct the long –term seizure of power by then President Chun Doo-hwan’s military regime.
Participants in the 31st June Democracy Movement commemorative ceremony sing the song ‘In the Wilderness’ on June 10. (The Korea Democracy Foundation)
kimhyelin211@korea.kr