Students down pens, textbooks; take to streets in protest against scandalized President
Some 3,000 university students gathered at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul on Nov. 26 march the streets, calling for President Park Geun-hye to resign. They rallied for two hours from 2 p.m. and headed for the presidential house Cheong Wa Dae. / Korea Times photo by Choi Ha-young
By Choi Ha-young, Park Si-soo
South Korea is infamous for its extremely high educational competition, pitting students against each other in pursuit of high scores they believe will land them in good schools and high-paying jobs.
But the burgeoning corruption scandal involving President Park Geun-hye seems to have put a brake on the furious race: an increasingly number of students has put down their pens, closed their textbooks, and taken to the streets, despite the cold weather, condemning Park and demanding her resignation.
On Saturday, nearly 3,000 university students gathered in front of the King Sejong statue in Gwanghwamun Square, central Seoul. They staged an anti-President rally of their own at 2 p.m., four hours before the fifth weekly mass anti-President on Saturday at the same venue that drew nearly 1.3 million people on Nov. 26.
Across the country, nearly 1.6 million people took to the streets in the largest anti-President protest in decades.
Braving the wet snow and cold wind, they chanted slogans denouncing the scandalized President, some of them venting their fury at what they described as “one-sided communication” of their school heads.
As of Friday, the student unions at 13 universities decided to boycott classes to stage rallies of their own against the President. According to reports, 10 more universities are expected to join the move in the coming week.
“We have to bring the President to justice,” said Andre, leader of the student union at Dongguk University. “The President has devastated the country but feels no responsibility for this. We have taken to the streets to fix it.”
Anger at schools
Some of the student protesters vented their frustrations at what they claim are “one-sided communication” of their school leaders and “arbitrary” school renovation plans designed without student consent.
“We’ve occupied the main building (of our university) since Thursday and will organize a general assembly for the first time in five years,” said Park Se-hoon, 23, a student leader at Korea University. He said the university’s chancellor has pushed forward with a plan, “future university,” without any kind of discussion with students, under which a department will be shut.
“We tried to enter the chancellor’s office to talk with him. But he refused and then fled overseas on a business trip,” Park said. “It has reminded me of ‘one-sided communication’ that the President also did.”
Seoul National University students are also at odds with the university over its privatization plan. Amid escalating conflict, the university administration building has remained occupied by student protesters for more than a month.
“We condemn the university’s unilateral decision (for privatization),” said Lee Tak-gyu, 23, the newly elected student body president at SNU.