Furious Korean students at US university join Park protest rally

Korean students at UC Berkeley hold an anti-Park rally near the university’s front gate on Tuesday. The rally came amid the political scandal surrounding President Park Geun-hye and her confidant Choi Soon-sil. / Courtesy of CalFocus

By Hong Dam-young

Korean students at the University of California, Berkeley, are furious at the political scandal involving President Park Geun-hye and her confidant Choi Soon-sil.

Thirty Korean students from the U.S. school on Tuesday denounced Park and her administration for not taking full responsibility for the deepening democratic crisis.

They are the first Korean students studying at American universities to hold a protest rally over the scandal.

The students read a statement in Korean and English that said: “As students of Korean heritage, we are furious to find out about the recent political scandal known as ‘Park-Choi Gate.’ To restore democracy in South Korea, we demand President Park, her administration and her party assume full responsibility.

“We are furious. We, as South Koreans, are furious to witness such a collection of criminal events taking place in a democratic country.”

One of the signs Korean students at the University of California, Berkeley, used at their protest rally on Tuesday. / Courtesy of Kim Eun-lak

The rally started after a member of an online community used by Korean students in the U.S. emphasized the need for the students to join the protest.

“A lot of students here, including Koreans, are well aware of the situation,” Kim Eun-lak, the rally leader, told The Korea Times. “But what they couldn’t understand was that such a thing happened in the democratic country.”

The scandal is seen as a historic democratic failure that will keep being dealt with in the International Studies, Political Science and Ethics subjects at the school, Kim said.

Kim said Korean communities at other American universities have also expressed their willingness to follow the UC Berkeley students’ lead.

Meanwhile, Korean students from a university in Sydney, Australia, protested in front of the Korean consulate general on Tuesday. They held a sign that read: “We, from outside Korea, worry about the illegal administration power that rocked the entire nation.”