Nation Honors Victims of Masan Uprising
By Do Je-hae
Staff Reporter
Masan, South Gyeongsang Province, triggered a protest in 1960 against the electoral corruption of Rhee Syngman (1875-1965), the founding president of the Republic of Korea.
Led by local students, the March 15 Uprising of 1960 played an instrumental role in overthrowing Rhee's autocratic rule.
It took half a century for Masan to get the level of respect from the government it has sought for the legacy of the movement as well as for remembering the victims. The government Friday designated the date of the uprising as a "national day of commemoration."
This means that the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs will be in charge of organizing the commemoration, rather than the local authorities as has been the practice for the last 50 years.
More importantly, it means that for the first time, the state has officially recognized the incident as a part of the nation's democratization movement and institutionalized a state ceremony to remember its spirit.
Kim Yang, minister of patriots and veterans affairs, will lead a ceremony today and read a message from President Lee Myung-bak at ceremony in Masan for the victims.
A local commemorative association has organized a reenactment of the bloody pro-democracy crusade to mark its 50th anniversary this year.
Citizens of Masan and South Gyeongsang Province have consistently asked for the designation of a national commemoration day, calling it a "large-scale democratization movement and the very symbol of Masan's devotion to freedom, democracy and justice."
When President Lee visited the city as a presidential candidate in 2007, he pledged that he would seek a national commemoration of the movement.
"The movement is the impetus for the April 19 Movement and the pioneering event in our democratization," Lee stressed.
As Lee said, the most important outcome of the Masan Uprising was that it eventually led to the April 19 Revolution ― or the April 19 Movement ― in the same year, which led to Rhee's resignation on April 26.
The events were touched off by the discovery of the body of Kim Ju-yul, a Masan-based student killed by a tear-gas shell in demonstrations against the election rigging of March, in Masan Harbor.
Kim's skull had been split by a tear gas grenade. He has since become a symbol of the March 15 uprising.
A commemorative association dedicated to Kim will hold a national event to remember Kim on April 11.
"Many activists of the Masan uprising are getting older. We are afraid that their sacrifice and sprit will be lost on the next generation," Oh Moo-seon, a leader of an association of victims, said. "The government must now be more proactive in redeeming the honor of those who participated in the movement."