'Korea should stand on Iranian people's side'

Protesters attend a rally in Zuerich, Switzerland, Tuesday, in support of the mass demonstrations in Iran against the government. Nationwide anti-government protests, triggered by economic crisis and political repression, have taken place across Iran since December 2025, despite heavy crackdowns. EPA-Yonhap

By Lee Hae-rin

• Published Jan 14, 2026 4:00 PM KST
• Updated Jan 14, 2026 6:24 PM KST

Iranians residents urge support from Korean gov't, people as reports say thousands killed amid crackdowns

Amid intensifying and often deadly crackdowns on anti-government demonstrations in Tehran and around Iran, some Iranian residents in Korea are pleading for both Korean government and citizen support for the Iranian people.

For Niusha, an Iranian national who has lived in Korea for six years, the current crisis has sparked questions about Korea's role in international affairs.

“I chose Korea because I believed in its commitment to human dignity,” Niusha told The Korea Times in a written interview. “But it is shocking to see a G7-level democracy remain silent while our people are being massacred.”

She pointed to the stark contrast between Seoul’s caution and the substantive diplomatic actions taken by other major democracies, including Canada, France and Germany, and urged Korea to cut ties with the current regime.

“Korea is a country that won democracy through sacrifice,” said Sarah, another Iranian who has lived here for eight years, who asked to be identified using an alias. “For that very reason, I sincerely hope it will neither remain silent nor stand by as a spectator. I earnestly ask that the Korean government and civil society stand on the side of the Iranian people who are demanding freedom, not on the side of an oppressive regime.”

Layla, also an alias, who has called Korea home for a decade, echoed that view.

“I believe the most basic help Korea can offer is to at least remove the Iranian Embassy in Korea, withdraw the Korean Embassy from Iran and cut economic and political ties with this brutal government.”

They claim the international community is mischaracterizing the situation by calling it a “protest.”

“The biggest mistake is calling this a ‘protest’ over economic issues,” Sarah explained. “This is a revolution. It is a nationwide rejection of a system that has suppressed us for nearly half a century.”

They say the current uprising follows earlier crackdowns, including against the November 2019 fuel protests and the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022.

In each instance, the Iranian state cut off the nation’s digital network to obscure the scale of crackdowns, according to reports from Amnesty International and the internet watchdog NetBlocks.

Gwangju legacy

The interviewees urged Korea to offer solidarity based on its own democratic history. Layla linked the 1980 Gwangju pro-democracy uprising to the current situation in Tehran.

“The youth of Iran are standing before guns, shouting for the same freedom that Koreans fought for decades ago,” she said. “As a country built on the ruins of dictatorship, Korea has a moral obligation not to look away. We are asking the people of Gwangju’s legacy to be our voice while we are being silenced.”

The silencing is literal. As of Wednesday, while some international landlines have reportedly been restored, internet in Iran remains offline.

While the Iranian government claims there have been around 2,000 casualties, Persian-language media and human rights organizations report a figure closer to 12,000.

Through fragmented messages and calls routed through unstable lines, Iranians here in Korea have found accounts that rarely appear in headlines. “I heard that some families must pay huge sums just to receive the bodies of their loved ones,” Niusha said. “In other cases, authorities won’t allow funerals, or they quietly bury people at night without telling the family.

‘Be our voice’

All three interviewees said the most common plea they receive from inside Iran is simple: “Be our voice.”

“Before the blackout, my friends kept telling me, ‘Please tell people what is happening. Don’t let the world forget us,’” Sarah said. “I cannot fight there with them, but I can speak here.”

“People inside and outside Iran are using the brief moments when the internet connects not to exchange personal updates, but to let the outside world know what is really happening in Iran,” Niusha said. “More than anything, when the lines finally open, the first words I want to hear are, ‘We won.’”

Despite their fear, each shared a vivid hope for the day they return home.

“The first thing I want to hear is my mother and father’s voices again,” Layla said.

For Sarah, freedom looks very simple. “No gunshots. No fear of raids at night. Just families holding each other in the street without worrying someone is watching. I want Koreans to know: Iranians are not dangerous people. We are educated, peaceful and brave — and right now, we are asking you to stand on the right side of history with us.”

The Korea Times reached out to the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Seoul for comment, but officials were not immediately available.

The embassy’s official website has also been taken offline. While the error message claims "undergoing scheduled maintenance and upgrades," tech experts contacted by The Korea Times said this is a direct result of the regime’s total internet blackout, which has disconnected domestic government servers from the global web.