Memories of death vivid, 20 years later

The detonation of the movement that brought democracy to Korea, many believe, began almost exactly two decades ago, when 23-year-old college student Park Jong-cheol was tortured to death by the police.

▶ Park Jeong-gi, father of the activist Park Jong-cheol, visited the Namyeong-dong police office in central Seoul where his son was tortured to death 20 years ago yesterday. A civilian group held a gathering to commemorate the anniversary of the death, which helped catalyze a national democracy movement that year in June. [NEWSIS]

But that might never have happened without the efforts of a medical doctor, Oh Yeon-sang, who broke the silence about the nature of the Seoul National University activist’s death.
Mr. Park was taken to the police precinct in Namyeong-dong, central Seoul, on Jan. 14, 1987.
Police officers Cho Han-gyeong and Kang Jin-gyu used water torture on Mr. Park to try to make him reveal the whereabouts of blacklisted fellow activists. At some point, they saw that Mr. Park was not moving, and took him to nearby Yongsan Hospital at Chung-Ang University.
The two officers summoned Dr. Oh, who saw immediately that Mr. Park was dead.
“The moment I saw the dead body drenched in water, I had this flash of anger against the police,” Dr. Oh recalled in an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo last week. He added, “That anger gave me the courage to act like a real doctor.”
The officers tried to cover up the story, but they could not stop Dr. Oh from telling the truth.
Shin Sung-ho, then a JoongAng Ilbo reporter, first learned the facts from private conversations with several prosecutors and called Dr. Oh for confirmation of the facts. Mr. Shin then broke the story.
The headline read, “College student dead after torture by police.”
The public was enraged after the story broke.
At first, Kang Min-cheol, chief of the National Police Agency Headquarters, offered an excuse: “We had Mr. Park drink some cold water, and we started asking him questions. At one point, we banged on the desk and he suddenly yelled out, ‘Eh,’ and died.”
This is still recalled as one of the sorriest excuses in Korean police history, and it only led to bigger suspicions.
Dr. Oh, who performed an autopsy on Mr. Park’s body, then told reporters about the cause of death.
A prosecutor, Ahn Sang-soo, helped keep the police out of the autopsy room so Dr. Oh could conduct it.
Mr. Ahn, now a three-term legislator with the Grand National Party, told the JoongAng Ilbo last week, “It was necessary to have the autopsy without the police, for the sake of the truth.” He called that day the longest one of his life.
Dr. Oh said, “I had to break the silence because it was just so obvious that I had to do it. It’s not because I’m some great person.”
Religious leaders, politicians, professors and students started a series of rallies and issued statements calling for a ban on torture and an end to the military regime.
In Jae-geun, a democracy activist and now the wife of Uri Party chairman Kim Geun-tae, described the gathering momentum at the time: “It was quite a scene. I could see student activists gathering in crowds around Myeongdong Cathedral. Office workers used their lunchtime to join us.”
Under pressure, the police started an internal investigation, and five days after Mr. Park’s death, they officially announced that Mr. Park had died of torture. Officers Cho and Kang were detained.
Despite the pressure, President Chun issued a statement in April of that year that he would not amend the Constitution but would instead keep the indirect presidential election system. Until then, only a group of representatives from each region, all under the strong influence of the regime, could vote for the presidency.
More revelations about abuse by police came later. On May 18, a Catholic priest, Father Kim Seung-hoon, issued a statement, after interviewing activists, claiming that more police officers had been involved in Mr. Park’s death and that there had been a wider cover-up.
Later that month, prosecutors detained more police officers. Public anger exploded again, and some 500,000 citizens from all walks of life took to the streets in 22 cities on June 10, in mass rallies remembered as the June Movement. The government banned the public rallies to no avail.
Later in June, the public belatedly learned of the death of a college student, Lee Han-yeol, of Yonsei University. A tear gas bomb shot by the police killed Mr. Park while he was attending a rally on his campus on June 9.
Finally on June 29, Roh Tae-woo, who was designated as Mr. Chun’s successor, appeared in a nationally televised press conference.
“I accept the public demand for direct presidential elections,” Mr. Roh told the country.
Park Hyo-chong, professor of ethics at Seoul National University, defined the June Movement as a “historic happening that awakened the public interest to break the authoritarianism of military regimes.”
Park Jeong-gi, 78, the father of Mr. Park, said in an interview last week, “I’m sorry that young people these days do not know of my son. The government should do something not to let it be covered up in history.”
Since the death of his son, Mr. Park has contributed to the democratization movement.
He was awarded 240 million won ($255,300) from the government following an indemnity suit he filed after his son’s death.
Yesterday, about 300 prominent figures from the movement, including Mr. Park’s fellow activists and the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reporter who broke the story, gathered to honor the spirit of Mr. Park.
The commemorative gathering was held at the very office where the student Park Jong-cheol died. The office today is the human rights protection center of the police. A committee for the commemoration also plans to start a campaign for the 20th anniversary of the June Movement.

by Hahn Ae-ran,Chun Su-jin