By Lee Tae-hoon/ Yun Suh-young
Woo Sang-ho, former student activist and legislator, will never forget June of 24 years ago.
On June 10, 1987, the then-head of Yonsei University students’ association and fellow students took to the streets outraged by the government’s oppression and the loss of a friend, Lee Han-yeol.
“I saw him dying right in front of me after he was hit by a tear gas canister fired by riot police while participating in a campus protest organized by me that day on May 9,” the former spokesman of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) recalled.
Lee’s death prompted the June Democracy Movement _ nationwide protests against the autocratic Chun Doo-hwan administration that took place from June 10 to June 29, 1987. Earlier in that year, the initial cover-up of the death by torture of another collegian, Park Jong-chul, preceded Lee’s death.
The incident led to students’ demand for the truth about Park’s death and democracy.