Park Jong-chul (; April 1, 1965 – January 14, 1987) was a South Korean democracy movement activist. His death by torture was a key factor in sparking the

June Democratic Struggle The June Democratic Struggle (), also known as the June Democracy Movement and the June Uprising, was a nationwide pro-democracy movement in South Korea that generated mass protests from June 10 to 29, 1987. The demonstrations forced the ru ...

, which led to the democratization of South Korea.

Biography

In the 1980s, as president of the student council in the linguistics department of

Seoul National University Seoul National University (SNU; ) is a public university, public research university in Seoul, South Korea. It is one of the SKY (universities), SKY universities and a part of the Flagship Korean National Universities. The university's main c ...

, he was one of activists in universities struggling against

Chun Doo-hwan Chun Doo-hwan (; 18 January 1931 – 23 November 2021) was a South Korean politician, army general and military dictator who served as the fifth president of South Korea from 1980 to 1988. Prior to his accession to the presidency, he was the cou ...

's dictatorship and the aftermath of the 1980

Gwangju Massacre The Gwangju Democratization Movement, also known in South Korea as May 18 Democratization Movement (), was a series of student-led demonstrations that took place in Gwangju, South Korea, in May 1980, against the coup of Chun Doo-hwan. The upr ...

. Detained during an investigation into such activities, Park refused to confess the whereabouts of one of his fellow activists. During the interrogation, authorities used

waterboarding Waterboarding is a form of torture in which water is poured over a cloth covering the face and breathing passages of an immobilized captive, causing the person to experience the sensation of drowning. In the most common method of waterboard ...

techniques to torture him in the National Police Headquarters' Anti-Communist Division, leading to his death on 14 January. A doctor from Chung-Ang University Hospital, Oh Yeon-sang, arrived at the scene and performed

CPR Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure used during cardiac or respiratory arrest that involves chest compressions, often combined with artificial ventilation, to preserve brain function and maintain circulation until sp ...

for 30 minutes before eventually giving up. Once he told the officers of Park's death, he later recalled that "they rolled his body in a blanket and shoved it in an elevator. In January 15, Oh was interviewed by multiple reporters who came to his office. The authorities, later that day, detained and interrogated him for 20 hours; afterwards Oh fled to Seoul outskirts for a week. Information surrounding the events of Park's death was initially suppressed, with the police attributing the death to a shock. His death by torture helped spark the

June Democracy Movement The June Democratic Struggle (), also known as the June Democracy Movement and the June Uprising, was a nationwide pro-democracy movement in South Korea that generated mass protests from June 10 to 29, 1987. The demonstrations forced the ru ...

of 1987. His death, including the events of its immediate aftermath, was subject of the movie '' 1987: When the Day Comes''.

Notes

References

External links

Martyr for Democracy Bak Jongcheol Memorial Association
1964 births 1987 deaths South Korean democracy activists Korean torture victims People from Busan {{SouthKorea-bio-stub

Biography

See also

Notes

References

External links