Citizen Activism in the Wake of Korea’s Martial Law Declaration: Student and Faculty Perspectives
Wednesday, February 5th, 2025 at 7:00 pm ET
Virtual Event via Zoom
About the event:
Join the GW Institute for Korean Studies for our next installment of our Korea Policy Forum, entitled “Citizen Activism in the Wake of Korea’s Martial Law Declaration: Student and Faculty Perspectives” in collaboration with the East Asia National Resource Center (NRC).
Over the past two months, South Korean citizens have taken to the streets in large numbers to defend democracy. Some rallied despite the midnight cold following President Yoon Suk-yeol’s declaration of martial law and sustained peaceful rallies that contributed to Yoon’s impeachment. Others also mobilized to show their support for Yoon and protest his detention. This Korea Policy Forum adopts an innovative format by bringing together professors and students whose participant observation of this most recent wave of activism gave them front-row seats in this significant political moment in Korea. The speakers will discuss issues that mobilized citizens, cross-generational solidarity, activists’ tactics (both classic and novel), the organizations and professionals who facilitated mobilization, media coverage, and the social and political impact of citizens’ activism.
About the Speakers
Judy Han is a cultural geographer and assistant professor in Gender Studies at UCLA. She is committed to building critical and transnational conversations concerning gender, sexuality, and activism, and regularly contributes to community-based projects and public events both on campus and beyond.
Her comics and writings about (im)mobilities, religion and faith-based movements, and queer politics have been published in Journal of Asian Studies, Critical Asian Studies, positions: Asia critique, and Journal of Korean Studies as well as in several edited books including Religion, Protest, Social Upheaval (2022), Ethnographies of U.S. Empire (2018), Territories of Poverty: Rethinking North and South (2015), and Q&A: Queer in Asian America (1998). She is the author of Queer Throughlines: Spaces of Queer Activism in South Korea and the Korean Diaspora and co-author of Against Abandonment: Repertoires of Solidarity in South Korean Protest
Sung Soo Hong is a professor at Sookmyung Women’s University. His main areas of research are jurisprudence, socio-legal studies, and human rights law, and he has recently studied the issues of human rights, discrimination, hate speech, and hate crimes. He has focused on the role of law in these areas. His recent Korean publications include Reason in Law: Understanding Law with Films (2019), Human Rights Systems and Institutions (with Kim and Park, 2018), and When Words Hurt: What is Hate Speech (2018).
John Lee is a sophomore in the Elliott School, double majoring in International Affairs and political Science, with a minor in Economics and Public Studies. John was born in South Korea and moved to San Jose, California when he was 10. From his background in moving back and forth between the U.S. and South Korea, he developed an interest in U.S.-South Korea relations, primarily political and economic issues. During his time at Seoul national University in the summer of 2024, he developed a further interest in the Korean macroeconomy and the importance of politics for Korean companies. He is also passionate about major Korean social issues, such as the Korean education system, Korean generational conflict, high suicide rates, and gender conflicts. Aside from academics, he loves to watch and play soccer, listen to Korean rap music, and sing songs.
