Remembering Park Jongcheol: 39th Memorial Held at Former Namyeong-dong Anti-Communist Investigation Office

First Memorial Service at Democracy Movement Memorial Hall
Memorial Week Observed from January 10 to 16
"A Social Promise to Prevent the Repetition of State Violence"

The 39th memorial service for the late martyr Park Jongcheol was held on January 10 at the Democracy Movement Memorial Hall in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. This is the first time a memorial service has been held at this location since the building, formerly known as the Namyeong-dong Anti-Communist Investigation Office, was reopened as the Democracy Movement Memorial Hall in June of last year.

A solemn atmosphere fills the memorial space at the Democratic Human Rights Memorial Hall in Yongsan-gu, Seoul (formerly the Namyeong-dong Police Torture Center), where photos and relics of the late martyr Park Jongcheol, who died from police torture in 1987, are displayed.

The Democracy Movement Memorial Association and the Park Jongcheol Memorial Foundation held the memorial service at 11 a.m. at the Democracy Movement Memorial Hall, four days ahead of the 39th anniversary of Park's death. The ceremony was attended by Jang Namsu, President of the National Association of Bereaved Families for Democracy, and Kwon Oeul, Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, among others.

The Namyeong-dong Anti-Communist Investigation Office is infamous as a site where pro-democracy activists were tortured during the military regime. Park Jongcheol was forcibly taken there in 1987, and after being tortured, he died on January 14 of the same year. His death is regarded as the catalyst for the June Democratic Uprising that led to democratization in South Korea.

The association has designated the period from January 10 to 16 as "Park Jongcheol Memorial Week." During this week, visitors to the Democracy Movement Memorial Hall can participate in laying flowers in front of the M2 5th floor interrogation room, where Park Jongcheol was killed, and take part in related programs such as writing letters to him.

The association plans to use this memorial week as an opportunity to continue the values and memory of democracy.

At the memorial service, Lee Jaeo, Chairman of the Democracy Movement Memorial Association, emphasized, "The memorial service for Park Jongcheol is not simply a commemorative event, but a social promise to remember so that state violence is never repeated."