President Lee Jae-myung said on the 15th at the ceremony marking the 66th anniversary of the March 15 Uprising that "the history of popular sovereignty began in Masan," adding, "Gathered together, the firm historical belief that no power can defeat the people made it possible to drive out the darkness of insurrection on the night of Dec. 3, 2024."
Since the March 15 Uprising was designated a national memorial day in 2010 and the government began hosting the ceremony in 2011, this is the first time an incumbent president has attended. During his commemorative address, President Lee bowed to the families of the March 15 victims and offered a formal apology. It is also the first time an incumbent president has apologized to the bereaved families.
On March 15, 1960, citizens and student demonstrators protesting the fraudulent March 15 election were killed and injured amid indiscriminate police gunfire and mass arrests and detentions. Enraged citizens attacked police substations and stations, as well as the homes of lawmakers and police chiefs. In the process, there were more than 80 casualties (7 deaths), and 26 people arrested as ringleaders were branded as communists and subjected to brutal torture.
A month later on Apr. 11, the body of Masan Commercial High School student Kim Ju-yeol, who had gone missing in the incident, surfaced in the sea in a horrific state with a tear gas canister lodged in his right eye. Afterward, beginning with the Buma Uprising, pro-democracy protests spread nationwide, igniting the April Revolution.
President Lee said, "The March 15 Uprising that began in Masan sparked the April 19 Revolution across the country and ultimately brought down a powerful dictatorship," adding, "The lesson the March 15 Uprising left in our history is that 'democracy does not come by itself.'"
He went on, "Just as the citizens and students of Masan bravely faced guns and blades with their bare bodies, on a winter night in 2024 the people of Korea also stood unarmed to block the martial law troops," adding, "Dec. 3, 2024, too, will be recorded as the day the wisdom of popular sovereignty defeated the ambition for permanent rule, and as the day that opened a spring of hope beyond a winter of despair."
President Lee said, "The popular sovereignty government will always remember that the indomitable strength our people have shown forms the foundation of the freedom, democracy, and prosperity we enjoy today," adding, "We will strive to ensure that the spirit of the democracy merit honorees who devoted themselves to democracy in this land takes root across society and is carried on as an even more precious value for the next generation."
He added, "To that end, we will find, commend, document, and honor even one more person who took part in the March 15 Uprising and the April 19 Revolution."