Students from Sogang University laid out their department jackets at a monument at the school’s main gate on June 10, 2026, to protest what they called infringements of their right to political participation due to a ballot shortage during last week’s local elections. (Park Chan-hee/Hankyoreh)
On Wednesday, the 39th anniversary of the June Democratic Struggle — a nationwide pro-democracy movement that forced Korea’s authoritarian government to hold direct presidential elections — students at 18 universities across the country simultaneously issued declarations condemning the ballot shortage in the June 3 local elections. After the initial protest at Seoul’s Olympic Park was quickly co-opted by election fraud conspiracy theorists, young Koreans are now voicing their frustrations over the ballot fiasco on university campuses.“Thirty-nine years have passed, but we find ourselves here again, shouting about our right to vote. This is shameful,” read the statement put out in the name of Yonsei University’s student council.Korea University’s student council called for pledges to “restore our democracy through discourse and deliberation through public debate, instead of resorting to physical conflict.” Led by a forum of South Korean university student bodies, the student councils of 18 universities — Yonsei University, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Korea University, Sogang University, Chonnam National University, Seoul National University, Hongik University, Sungkyunkwan University, Chonbuk National University, and others — carried out relay protests on their respective campuses at 6 pm on Wednesday, each accompanied by a formal declaration condemning the incident. While the content of the declarations was not identical, as each student council drafted its own statement, they shared the same underlying message: this crisis is a “violation of voting rights by the state,” and that the focus should not be on “stoking political strife,” but on how “basic mechanisms of democracy have broken down.”The students specifically demanded a thorough investigation into the situation through parliamentary inquiries and a special counsel probe, the establishment of practical countermeasures for violations of fundamental rights by the state, a structural reform of the National Election Commission, and the creation of an independent body overseeing reform involving ordinary citizens, including young people and university students.Each campus found its own way to voice its discontent. At the main gate of Sogang University, students arranged 20-odd varsity jackets around a large print out of their declaration, which began with the words: “Why are we living in an era where we cannot speak up for what is right?”A mock polling booth was set up in front of Yonsei University’s student union building, with students writing what they thought of this situation on polling ballots: “The electoral system is the heart and soul of democracy,” “We strongly condemn the National Election Commission for giving fodder for insurrectionists.”After students at Korea University finished reading out its denunciation and listened to the speeches given by a few of its students, they marched through campus.Around 2,000 students signed Sungkyunkwan University’s statement slamming the current state of affairs.“Many students became concerned that their anger was becoming distorted as organizations representing particular political views joined the fray. We stand in solidarity with the student bodies of other universities to denounce the current state of affairs in South Korea as we wish to relay the true, undistorted voices of university students,” said Lee Yeon-woo, Sogang University’s student body president.By Park Chan-hee, staff reporter; Cho Hae-yeong, staff reporterPlease direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
