Democratic Party Gwangju Branch Mourns Martyr Lee Han-yeol: "We Will Prevent the Regression of Democracy"

The Gwangju Metropolitan City Party of the Democratic Party of Korea commemorated the 37th anniversary of the death of the late martyr Lee Han-yeol, honoring his noble spirit of sacrifice and pledging to prevent the regression of democracy together with the people.

On the 4th, the Democratic Party's Gwangju City Party issued a statement saying, “The late martyr Lee Han-yeol sacrificed his life resisting the ruthless state violence of military dictatorship to protect democracy,” and added, “Because of his sacrifice, the people were able to stand up against the brutal military dictatorship and create the magnificent democratic history of the June 10th Uprising in South Korea.”

They continued, “The Yoon Seok-yeol administration has merely changed its power from military dictatorship in 1987 to prosecutorial dictatorship, but its behavior of regressing democracy and suppressing the press is exactly like looking in a mirror,” emphasizing, “They have shamelessly conducted raids on media reporters just for writing articles and have intimidated them to prevent them from writing.”

They also stated, “Ignoring the legislative power of the National Assembly, one of the three branches of government, is basic, and they have no hesitation in privatizing state power. The late Chae Marine Corps external pressure incident is a representative example,” and claimed, “Just as martyr Lee Han-yeol resisted the dictatorship, the exasperated people are now shouting toward President Yoon Seok-yeol.”

Furthermore, they said, “Like the June 1987 uprising toward democracy, accept the demands of the people so that resistance and protest are not repeated,” stressing, “Our people must remember that even under a military dictatorship armed with guns and knives, they did not hesitate to sacrifice and resist to overthrow power.”

They added, “The legacy of the late martyr Lee Han-yeol is not simply a part of past history,” and “It is a spirit of the times that lives and breathes in the present we live in and will be the foundation of democracy in the future Republic of Korea.”