Gyeonggi Province Requests National Funding for "Seongam Academy Special Law and Historical-Cultural Space" from Presidential Candidates

Gyeonggi Province has submitted requests to the election campaign headquarters of each presidential candidate for the enactment of a special law to ensure prompt support and the restoration of honor for victims and deceased individuals of the "Seongam Academy" incident in Ansan, as well as for national funding to create a historical and cultural space at the former site of Seongam Academy.

Currently, support for victims of the Seongam Academy incident is provided under the "Ordinance on Support for Victims of the Seongam Academy Incident in Gyeonggi Province." As a result, victims residing in regions outside of Gyeonggi Province are ineligible for support, raising concerns about fairness.

To address these regional limitations and issues of fairness, and to establish a comprehensive and practical support system, Gyeonggi Province has proposed the enactment of a special law for the Seongam Academy incident.

Seongam Academy Communal Cemetery

The special law would contain provisions to support the livelihood and medical needs of victims, provide trauma healing for victims, implement projects to preserve the former site of Seongam Academy and establish memorial spaces, and create shelters as safe havens for victims.

Additionally, Gyeonggi Province has requested national funding to develop the former Seongam Academy site into a historical and cultural space dedicated to remembering and healing from child human rights abuses.

Gyeonggi Province has completed the basic concept plan for transforming the former Seongam Academy site into a historical and cultural space and is preparing related procedures, including a public architecture planning service. The planned historical and cultural space will include a multipurpose exhibition complex, a healing and recovery space, a cultural exchange area, and a multipurpose community space for local residents and visitors.

Choi Hyunjung, Gyeonggi Province's Human Rights Officer, stated, "Because the majority of Seongam Academy victims are now in their 60s to 80s, it is crucial for the state to acknowledge responsibility and issue an official apology as well as enact a special law as soon as possible before it is too late. We will continue to design policies from the victims' perspective and work with the government to ensure meaningful recovery."

The Seongam Academy incident refers to human rights abuses perpetrated against more than 4,700 boys?who were subjected to forced labor, beatings, harsh treatment, and secret burials?under the pretext of vagrant rehabilitation, as part of a state policy from 1942, during the Japanese colonial period, until 1982.

Previously, in October 2022, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded that the Seongam Academy incident constituted "child human rights violations by state authority." The commission recommended that Gyeonggi Province, as the operating body of Seongam Academy, and the state, which implemented the unlawful vagrant policy, prepare support measures for victims of the Seongam Academy incident and undertake efforts to recover the remains of the deceased.