Birthplace of the BUMA Democratic Uprising, Yet No Commemorative Events This Year

There will be no events commemorating the 10.16 BUMA (Busan-Masan) Democratic Uprising on campus this year. Although Pusan National University (PNU) is the birthplace of the BUMA Democratic Uprising and has held various commemorative events on campus every year, no events have been prepared this year.

PNU has traditionally held the “October Festival” led by the General Students’ Association (GSA) or the BUMA Democratic Uprising Memorial Foundation has hosted commemorative events on campus with support from the PNU Head Offices (reported by “Channel PNU” on October 4th, 2024). Last year, the PNU Head Offices even operated a “commemoration week of the BUMA Democratic Uprising.” However, this year, the GSA announced that they will not hold the October Festival, and the PNU Head Offices also stated that they have not supported any related events. This year’s commemoration ceremony will be held at Busan City Hall, hosted by the Ministry of Public Administration and Security and organized by the BUMA Democratic Uprising Memorial Foundation.

Students are expressing disappointment at the news that there will be no October Festival in 2024. Many students were looking forward to the October Festival, as it has become a long-standing tradition of PNU’s festivals, with the Daedong-Je in May and the October Festival in October. The October Festival, which started in the 1980s, changed from an academic festival format to an all-student participatory festival in 1991, becoming the representative autumn event of PNU commemorating the spirit of the BUMA Democratic Uprising. Park Jae-Wan (Dept. of Physical Education, 21), a student at PNU, said, “I couldn’t enjoy school events when I first entered due to COVID-19 and went to the military. It’s disappointing that there are no events in the fall, only in the except for spring.”

The reason for not holding the October Festival this year is a lack of budget. As a result, the October Festival will be exceptionally canceled for two consecutive years. However, this situation differs from last year when the commemoration week of the BUMA Democratic Uprising, supported by the university office, was held on a large scale, replacing the October Festival. Lee Chang-Jun (Dept. of Geological Sciences, 22), president of the GSA, said, “The October Festival is unavoidably not being held this year due to continuous budget cuts by the PNU Head Offices. We are currently coordinating a small event to commemorate the Buma Democratic Protests at the GSA level.”

PNU maintains that there were originally no BUMA Democratic Uprising commemorative events led by the PNU Head Offices. They say that they support events by providing campus space and costs when there are requests from outside and that last year’s events, such as the designation of the BUMA Democratic Uprising as a school memorial day, campus tours for alumni, the  naming ceremony for Siwol Square, operation of commemoration week of the BUMA Democratic Uprising were rather exceptional. The Division of General Affairs explained, “Last year’s commemoration week was a one-time event planned by former President Cha Jeong-In. If the commemoration ceremony hosted by the Buma Democratic Uprising Memorial Foundation is held at PNU’s 10.16 Memorial Hall, the PNU Head Offices will only provide support.”

News of the absence of any BUMA Democratic Uprising-related event at PNU this year has also disappointed some citizens outside the school. This is because October 16th, the day the BUMA Democratic Uprising occurred, was designated as the only memorial day in PNU’s regulations along with the school’s foundation day starting last year. Jeong Han-Young (Dept. of Business Administration, 20), a student at PNU, stated, “I think the BUMA Democratic Uprising should be commemorated at PNU, which was the starting point, as the uprising occupies a significant place in modern history.” Jung Gwang-Min, chairman of the Busan Democratic Movement Memorial Association, who led the BUMA Democratic Uprising by distributing declarations to students, said, “It’s problematic that there are no events even though October 16th has been established as a school memorial day.”

Meanwhile, the installation of the “BUMA Democratic Uprising Road sign,” promoted since last year and its’ design contest completed in May, will be postponed until after October 16th. An official from Busan’s Geumjeong-gu Office said, “We were planning to install the BUMA Democratic Uprising commemorative sign to coincide with this year’s anniversary, but it was delayed due to the schedule of the by-election for the district head.” He continued, adding,  “We were hoping to cooperate and hold an installation ceremony if PNU held a commemoration ceremony for the BUMA Democratic Uprising, but we heard there are no special events.”

Reported Lim Seung-Ha

Translated by Seo Yoo-Jung