Korean wave: Synchronised sing-along chants and coordinated light stick movements from the mainly young demonstrators that you might see at a concert fired up the recent political protests in Korea. — AFP
IN 1981, the South Korean youth had Nimeul Wihan Haengjingok (March for our Beloved).
While it was penned after the May 18 Democratic Uprising in 1980 in Gwangju, the protest song holds a special place in the country’s democratic movement.
Composed by then-student Kim Jong-ryul and written by novelist Hwang Sok-yong in the early 1980s, the song has been used to commemorate the students and young activists who were killed in the pro-democracy uprising.
Soldiers leading student protesters away after a raid in Gwangju in May 1980. The military killed many young people as it crushed a pro-democracy uprising in the city. — Agencies
In the massive rallies calling for the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol recently, young protesters flooded the streets of Seoul with a long K-pop playlist.
Waving the plastic light sticks that are ubiquitous at K-pop concerts and chanting lyrics to songs by G-Dragon, aespa, 2NE1 and Girls Genération, among others, tens of thousands took to the streets in sub-zero temperatures outside the National Assembly in the capital.
The protesters chanted “impeach, impeach, impeach Yoon Suk Yeol” to the beat of aespa’s techo jam Whiplash, as well as waving flags and chanting along to G-Dragon’s Crooked and 2NE1’s I Am the Best.
An effigy of Yoon, with its own light stick, at a rally calling for the impeachment of the South Korean president. — Reuters
Videos of the musical protests featuring the kind of synchronised sing-along chants and coordinated light stick movements from the mainly young demonstrators that you might see at a concert had flooded social media feeds, including light sticks promoting the K-pop boy band Treasure.
As Seoul-based music critic Kim Do Heon told Reuters, the advantage of using the light sticks is how sturdy the blinking toys are, versus the candles that were the hallmark of 2016 impeachment protests over former President Park Geun-hye.
“It also shines very bright and comes in a size that is easy to carry around,” Heon said.
Protester MC Park Min-ju shared she used K-pop style beats to keep the shivering crowds energised and engaged during the demonstrations, telling Reuters that she cooked up the pop instrumentals and a variety of slogans to “cheer people up.”
‘People’s songs’
Music and songs have always featured in protests around the world.
In South Korea, which was under authoritarian rule from its formation in 1948 to the late 1980s, music and civil protest also has a long history.
In the 1970s, a democratic movement comprising university students and labour union leaders organised protests and sang politically conscious songs known as minjung kayo, or “people’s songs”. Circulated through unofficial channels during a time of censorship, minjung kayo were sung by students, accompanied by acoustic guitars.
Minjung kayo melodies are simple. Their lyrics encourage political awakening and affirm the singers’ shared dedication to the democratic cause.
In the recent rallies, a simple and cheerful song by Girls’ Generation, one of the most successful K-pop girl groups, emerged as a protest anthem: Into the New World.
“There’s a rough road ahead of us,” sang the demonstrators in unison, gathered daily outside parliament since earlier this month.
“With the unknowable future and obstacles, I won’t change and I can’t give up... We will (do it) together no matter how long it takes in my new world.” protesters bopped to the upbeat song with hopeful lyrics.
The K-pop industry – a major economic engine for the country thanks to global superstars including BTS, Seventeen and Blackpink – typically stays apolitical and avoids weighing in on current events.
And though the lyrics to the songs being blasted during the rallies also avoid social or political commentary, opposition party member Kim Byung-joo has reportedly shared a list of K-pop songs being used in the protests on X, writing “Impeach Yoon Suk Yeol, ringleader of treason! from folk songs to K-pop.”
Sensational K-Pop group Girl’s Generation’s ditty ‘Into the New World’ spurred the young protesters in Korea to stand up for democracy. — AHMAD IZZRAFIQ ALIAS /The Star.
This is not the first time the Girls’ Generation’s hit has made an appearance in politics – the single, released in 2007, first got harnessed nine years later during student demonstrations at Ewha Womans University.
What started as a campus protest on South Korea’s top women’s university in 2016 intensified due to the school’s link to former President Park Geun-hye’s corruption scandal, eventually leading to Park’s dramatic impeachment the following year.
Viral footage showed Ewha students singing Into the New World and linking arms while engaged in a standoff with the police.
The song’s “grassroots power made (it) an emblem for the various protests since then,” said Jiyeon Kang, a Korean studies professor at University of Iowa. It “encapsulates ... the courage to stand against perceived injustice even when the odds of success are slim, and the comfort of finding a supportive community.”
Used as an activism tool, Into the New World is frequently featured in South Korea’s annual queer parade and also blared during a rally supporting the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.
Girls’ Generation, whose youngest member was 16 when they debuted in 2007, remains one of the most successful K-pop groups of all time.
Member Yuri said in a 2017 interview she had cried while watching the video of their song sung during the university protests.
“It was a moment when I felt a great sense of pride as a singer,” she said.
For protester Han You-jin, the song is a familiar one as she was just a year old when it debuted.
“Singing this song, which I’ve known my whole life, alongside so many other people from different age groups has been special,” the 18-year-old said after she sang it with thousands outside parliament.
This reception is a far cry from how the song was received in 2016 by some commentators calling it inappropriate for protests, said Ewha University alumna Kim Ye-ji, who recalled it as a way for students to “raise their voices.”
“I have seen the world change firsthand a few years ago,” she said, remembering her friends being removed by authorities and “a sense of violence” epitomising her protest days, before it resulted in a presidential impeachment.
“I believe we will navigate well through this as well.” — ANN/Agencies
