Photos capture democratization moments
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This iconic photo, titled “Oh My Country,” shows a group of civilians marching down the street in Busan on June 26, 1987, protesting against the Chun Doo-hwan government. The photo was taken by Ko Myung-jin, a former photographer at Hankook Ilbo, a sister paper for The Korea Times. / Courtesy of the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History
By Baek Byung-yeul
Historians generally say that Korea’s modern history began with the end of Japanese Imperialism in 1945.
After achieving independence from Japan, the Korean Peninsula split into two parts ― the southern part developed under the umbrella of the United States and the upper region under the influence of the Soviet Union and China.
Since then, South Korea has had impressive industrialization, and international democracy indices now categorize the country as a fully democratized nation. However, this transition toward democracy would not have been possible without sacrifices from the general public.
To commemorate those sacrifices, the state-run National Museum of Korean Contemporary History is currently displaying photographs capturing three democracy movement moments in South Korea’s contemporary history.
Entitled, “Exhibition of Record Photographs of Korean Contemporary History: Views, Records, History,” 42 photos documenting scenes of three pro-democracy protests--the April 19 Revolution in which college and high school students led mass protests against the authoritarian Syngman Rhee government on April 19, 1960; the Gwangju Uprising when more than 200 Gwangju citizens were killed during the Chun Doo-hwan government’s bloody suppression of demonstrations; and the June Democratic Uprising, a nationwide uprising that occurred in June, 1987 against Chun’s military regime.
“This year marks the 70th anniversary of Korea’s independence from Japan.
During the past seven decades, Koreans have achieved democratization and industrialization. This was only possible because there were constant sacrifices from earlier generations,” Kim Wang-sik, director of the museum said at the opening ceremony, Monday.
“I hope this exhibition gives a chance to glimpse at critical moments in the country’s contemporary history.”
While the museum explains that its photo exhibition has covered “watershed moments for Korean democracy,” it could face criticism that the exhibition only deals with only a small part of the country’s modern history as there is no mention of the slain dictator Park Chung-hee, the father of current President Park Geun-hye. The late president led the country for 18 years after he seized power through a military coup in 1961, and was assassinated by the Korean Central Intelligence Agency director Kim Jae-kyu on October 26, 1979.
“The current exhibition was focuses on Korean people’s moments of protest for democracy, but as it has not been long since our museum was established (The museum was opened in December, 2012.), we don’t have enough photos related to protests that happened during the Park Chung-hee regime,” the curator of the museum said, adding that the museum didn’t purposely exclude incidents during the late Park’s regime.
The exhibition runs through July 5 For more information, call (02) 3703-9200 or visit www.much.go.kr.