Kim Sang Yeon
| 2025, (97)
| pp.077~109
| number of Cited : 0
This study examines the student movement of the generation of Emergency Measure No. 9 and state violence committed under the measure based on the collected oral statements of and the interviews with those directly involved in them. Enforced in 1975, Emergency Measure No. 9 lasted for over five years and functioned as a mechanism to suppress the student movement and establish an all-encompassing national security system. Under strict media censorship and omni-present surveillance of daily life, the student movement was inevitably forced to undergo a big transformation in terms of both form and strategy. Students began to operate ideology-oriented underground bodies, formed small-scale groups, developed systematic educational curriculums to reestablish ideological frameworks, and engaged in such movements as voluntary activities for rural communities or for the urban poor to promote their ‘people-directed activities.’ Relying on the inner consolidation of these ideological groups, students launched full-scale movements beginning in late 1976. Maintaining strict secrecy, they adopted strategies to mobilize larger numbers of students for protests with minimal core personnel. This approach became the characteristics of the student movements of the Emergency Measure No. 9 generation. Inspired by the reports of demonstrations at other universities, students would stage protests at their own campuses in a cascading, chain-like manner. These so-called ‘guerrilla-style’ demonstrations came to symbolize the distinct style of student movement during this period.
In response, the Park Chung-hee regime intensified surveillance through intelligence agencies and carried out arrests accompanied by illegal actions. In the process of escaping from the scenes, students were exposed to wiretapping and collective violence. Once apprehended, they faced brutal torture and coercion during interrogations. In this regard, the testimonies of the narrators vividly reveal the state violence experienced by the generation under Emergency Measure No. 9. Furthermore, they sum up the ‘memories’ of the generation, which was engaged with the democratization movements of the 1980s across various sectors of society.