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Universities in Hong Kong
This Week in AsiaPolitics

Fiery Hong Kong student protests evoke memory of South Korea’s own 1987 June Struggle

  • On social media, photos of tear gas-filled protests at Chinese University are being compared with those of the student-led rallies against dictator Chun Doo-hwan
  • South Korean students are also clashing with mainland Chinese over their support for Hong Kong’s protests

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A protester burns a rubbish pile at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Photo: EPA
Crystal Tai
As violent clashes between police and anti-government protesters raged across Hong Kong university campuses this week, some South Koreans were reminded of the fiery student-led protests that took place on their own soil three decades ago.
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More than 2,000 students at Yonsei University, one of the country’s top universities, fought with police on campus in 1987 to protest against military strongman Chun Doo-hwan and call for democracy.

Known as the June Struggle, or June Democracy Movement of 1987, the demonstrations in Seoul continued for nearly a month and led to the death of Lee Han-yeol, who was hit and killed by a tear-gas canister.

Posters seen at Korea University. Photo: Zhang Yu Xuan
Posters seen at Korea University. Photo: Zhang Yu Xuan

The protests finally ended on June 29, 1987, when presidential hopeful Roh Tae-woo promised to amend the constitution to accede to the protesters’ eight demands: holding direct elections for a president; allowing free candidature and fair elections; restoring freedom of the press; establishing social reforms; ensuring human rights and the right of habeas corpus; increasing local and education autonomy; enabling political dialogue and compromise; and granting amnesty to political prisoners.

As the protests enter their sixth month in Hong Kong, side-by-side photo comparisons of Yonsei University and Chinese University’s smoky protests have gone viral on social media.
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