Photo: K-pop lightsticks that became a mainstay in pro-democracy rallies. Credit: Seoul Shinmun.
Yoon Suk-yeol won the narrowest presidential election in South Korean history by, in part, peeling off young men’s votes by appealing to toxic misogyny. So it’s poetic justice that young women have played a crucial role in impeaching Yoon.
Based on Seoul’s data on public transportation usage, women in their 20s comprised the single largest gender-age demographic among the protesters who gathered in front of the National Assembly 국회 on December 7, at 23%. The second largest demographics were women in their 30s and men in their 50s (both 12%), followed by men in their 40s and women in their 50s (both 9%).
The infusion of young women is subtly changing South Korea’s protest culture. The 2016-17 protests against Park Geun-hye 박근혜 were called the Candlelight Protests 촛불시위 because of the candles that the protesters carried. This time, the candles gave way to K-pop lightsticks - the favored tool for K-pop concert attendees to show solidarity with their fandom.
The music repertoire is also changing. The democracy movements of the 1980s gave rise to a number of classic “people’s songs 민중가요” that are typically sung at large protests, such as Morning Dew 아침이슬 by Kim Min-gi 김민기 or March for the Beloved 임을 위한 행진곡 by Kim Jong-ryul 김종률. But the 21st century people’s songs are decidedly K-pop, with numbers like Whiplash by Aespa.
On December 14, when the impeachment bill passed, the sound system began blaring Into the New World 다시 만난 세계 by Girls’ Generation 소녀시대. Their generation, indeed.