President Lee Chokes Up at End of Busan–Masan Uprising Address, Calls for Busan–Masan and 5·18 to Be Enshrined in Constitution

[Financial News] President Lee Jae Myung stressed on the 16th that the spirit of the Busan–Masan Uprising and the 5·18 Gwangju Democratization Movement should be enshrined in the preamble to the Constitution, and urged the National Assembly to promptly begin discussions on constitutional revision. As the ruling and opposition parties have shown consensus on including these spirits in the Constitution, he called for concrete action. In particular, at the end of his commemorative address, he became emotional and appeared to tear up as he spoke of those who sacrificed their lives for democracy.
In his commemorative address at the ceremony marking the 47th anniversary of the Busan–Masan Uprising in Busan that day, President Lee said, “Enshrining the Busan–Masan Uprising and the Gwangju Democratization Movement in the preamble to the Constitution is the minimum measure needed to ensure that we do not forget our people’s blood-soaked history of defending democracy and popular sovereignty in the Republic of Korea.”
He continued, “I once again ask the National Assembly to promptly undertake public consultation and rational discussion on constitutional revision.”
In particular, President Lee stressed, “Wasn’t enshrining the spirit of 5·18 and the spirit of the Busan–Masan Uprising in the preamble to the Constitution something everyone, ruling and opposition parties alike, used to say in unison whenever the occasion arose? Now is the time to put it into practice through action, not words.”
President Lee also stressed that the Busan–Masan Uprising was a turning point in the development of democracy in the Republic of Korea. “The cries of that day 47 years ago, which seemed as futile as throwing an egg against a rock, finally made a small crack in the massive wall of the Yushin dictatorship,” he said, noting that the citizens’ resistance at the time had created a rift in the Yushin system.
He added, “The Busan–Masan Uprising was about more than ending one dictatorship. By upholding the firm principle that power cannot rule over the people and that the state must exist for the people, it became a solid cornerstone for the development of democracy in the Republic of Korea.”

He also noted that the democratic spirit that began with the Busan–Masan Uprising has carried on to this day. President Lee said, “The cries and spirit of Busan–Masan have carried on to Gwangju in May 1980, then to the June Democratic Struggle of 1987, and on to the Candlelight Revolution and the 12·3 Light Revolution. Though the times and the scenes in the streets were different, the fervent yearning for popular sovereignty was one and the same.”
He also expressed his determination to fulfill his responsibility for redressing the harm caused by state violence in the past. President Lee said, “Our government of popular sovereignty will never turn away from the wounds and pain that state power inflicted on the people, the sovereigns, in the past,” and promised, “I will also do my utmost to restore the honor of those who were unjustly victimized.”
President Lee reiterated the value of popular sovereignty, saying, “It must be a true democratic republic where people need no special courage to exercise the rights they are naturally entitled to as sovereigns, where it is not the people who fear power, but power that always fears the people.”
At the end of his commemorative address, he became overcome with emotion and was at one point unable to continue speaking as he mentioned those who sacrificed their lives for democracy. President Lee began, “Those who devoted their lives to democracy in this land,” then paused briefly before concluding his address: “As we once again reflect deeply on the noble spirit of all those people, I offer my profound respect and gratitude once again to those who contributed to the Busan–Masan Uprising and to their bereaved families.”
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