[The State-Abandoned Seongam Academy③] State Violence Created by People Who Hated Vagabonds... 'Victim Recovery' Is Under Dark Clouds

Seongam Academy Created by a Society That Hated Vagabonds
Children Exposed to Labor Exploitation and Violence
Despite Acknowledging State Violence... No News on Victim Recovery

Seongam Academy was a facility established in the early 1940s on Seongamdo Island in Ansan during the Japanese colonial period and operated until 1982. It forcibly admitted children and adolescents aged 8 to 18, violating their human rights. Gyeonggi Province is preparing official apologies and support measures for the victims, while the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Past Affairs is investigating the causes and scale of the harm. Asia Economy conveys the testimonies of victims who are still suffering and discusses measures to prevent the recurrence of state violence and support plans for the victims.

Gyeonggi Province officials inspecting Seongam Academy. Gyeonggi Province systematically managed Seongam Academy, imprisoning and exploiting children. (Provided by the National Human Rights Commission)

[Asia Economy Reporter Gong Byung-sun] Seongam Academy was a place steeped in hatred toward children. In April 1942, the Japanese colonial government established Seongam Academy in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, to isolate vagrant children who had become urban poor from society and to reform them. Although reform was the stated purpose, it was essentially a space to instill colonial ideology. Even after liberation in 1945, Seongam Academy continued to operate.

In February 1946, Gyeonggi Province took over the operation of Seongam Academy, bringing in vagrant children, confining them, and exploiting their labor. In fact, in 1954, new buildings were constructed to better confine the children. From this point, responsibility lay with Gyeonggi Province. However, this was also a result of societal demands at the time, which did not want to see vagrant children on the streets. According to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Gyeonggi Province, Seoul City, and Incheon City actively captured children, but no one in civil society strongly opposed this. The National Human Rights Commission pointed out through its investigation that "the emergence of vagrancy itself was due to unavoidable social upheaval and economic collapse as individuals, but the cause was changed to personal attributes."

During this process, children who were not vagrants were also taken. This was because officials were given quotas to confine children in places like Seongam Academy. At the time, officials would mercilessly capture children who appeared skinny and dirty. Kim Young-bae, chairman of the Seongam Academy Child Victims Support Council, said, "When I was taken, I thought I had done something wrong," adding, "Later, I learned that officials had quotas and that local governments gave rewards for capturing many children." According to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, more than half of the children confined in Seongam Academy were brought there without the consent of their guardians.

Seongam Academy Children Powerlessly Exposed to Labor Exploitation and Violence

Children of Seongam Academy raising cattle. They had to endure a labor intensity that even adults could not handle. (Provided by the National Human Rights Commission)

The children at Seongam Academy were subjected to labor exploitation that even adults would find hard to endure. They worked in shifts until dawn, raising pigs and silkworms. Whenever heavy goods like salt or rice arrived at the Seongamdo pier, the children lined up to carry them. During this process, they were not provided with proper meals, and some starved to death.

Violence was also widespread. According to materials from the Gyeonggi Provincial Council, victims of Seongam Academy feared the sound of teachers’ sticks. They lost sleep at night, worried they would be beaten again whenever they heard the sticks scraping the floor as they walked. Not only teachers but also children assaulted each other. The harsh and organized environment, where children could starve to death, created tension. To avoid becoming targets of violence, children sometimes inflicted cruelty on others. In summary, the culture at Seongam Academy was no different from past military culture.

Children tried to escape from Seongam Academy. However, the academy was surrounded by mudflats. Children who attempted to escape drowned in the mudflats. When the bodies of children who died trying to escape floated back in the water, other children moved and buried them. Even if they succeeded in escaping, problems remained. Local residents at the time were fully aware of the plight of Seongam Academy children. They threatened to capture the children and send them back to Seongam Academy if they did not work at home. To avoid returning to Seongam Academy, children provided unpaid labor at local residents’ homes.