To be a historic and educational place with the honorable spirit of the 4.19 Movement
The Memorial Place for the 4.19 Movement sacrifices, that is the long term wishes of
bereaved families, is constructed so that the resting place for
the
sacrifices of the 4.19 Movement is settled. Also, it is
wonderful that the
4.19
Movement Memorial Tower,
formally located
in
Yongdusan Park, has
been moved to
Democracy
Park so that they are
placed in
the same
location.
The 4.19 Memorial Tower is the very
tower that was constructed by the citizens’
voluntary donations to honor the honorable spirit of the 4.19 Movement’s sacrifices, who struggled against the autocracy of SeungMan Lee’s government in 1960.
This democratic spirit has been successful in Busan’s & Masan’s democratic struggles, the 5.18 struggle, and the June struggles so that it made the present conditions possible.
The meaning of the Memorial Place and Tower for the 4.19 Movement is that it will be a historical place of historic demonstration, an educational place for our descendants, as well as raising the honor of Busan citizens, fitting into the 20th anniversary of the June Struggle, bringing glory to 2007.
4.19 Democratic Struggle (1960)
Passing through the division of the Korean Peninsula and Korean War, President Lee’s government had forced down the democratic and nationalism power using terrorism, with the morality of Anti-communism and unification in the War against North Korea by connecting with pro-Japanese groups. In addition, the contradictions of the domestic economy that depended only on the support of America and the wealth of parasitic groups deepened.
On March 15, 1960, the youth and students rose up against the Liberal Party starting with momentum from the fraudulent election of the president and vice-president.
The students’ nationwide demonstrations, including the Daegu demonstrations on 28, Feb. and Busan and Masan demonstrations from March to 18 April led up to the ‘Bloody Tuesday’ of 4.19. To make matters worse, the corpse of Juyeul Kim, who stroked the phosgene bomb on his eye during the demonstration, floated on the shores of Masan, causing the flame of rage to spread out nationally. The huge scale of demonstrations had peaked and was forced down by police gunfire, resulting in the massive bloodshed that occurred on 19, April, 1960.
In Busan, students of KyungNam High School, Busan High School, Teresa Women’s Middle and High School as well as some university students and citizens joined the struggle on the morning of April, 19. Due to the firing by police, much blood was shed. Enraged citizens occupied and destroyed the Busanjin police station.
President Lee’s government tried to cover up the incident of the resistance of the people, but 259 professors of each university nationwide demonstrated peacefully on the street with the slogan of “Reply to the blood of students” so that President Lee announced that he would resign from the presidency and finally end the autocratic era.
- Construction of the Memorial Place and moved the Memorial Tower for the 4.19 Movement Sacrifices.
