Chapter 272
Chapter 272
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 67 Revolution (2)
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The Korean Prime Minister showed solidarity with the European students.
The world was stunned by the news.
Yi Seong-jun, that senile old man, was stirring up shit again.
That was how Europe's governments saw it, but the young people thought differently.
"Yi Seong-jun is a giant among giants. Even at his age, his view of society is several times more progressive than our politicians'."
They were greatly encouraged by the show of support from the leader of the world's second superpower.
The young people printed out Yi Seong-jun's statement and plastered it in front of universities.
Of course, Yi Seong-jun's statement of support didn't just affect Europe.
It rippled across North America and Asia too.
"Then let's make our voices heard too."
Even the Korean student protests, which had been quiet for a while, received a major jolt.
In response, Yi Seong-jun issued the following measure.
"I will meet with student representatives and hear their opinions."
The Prime Minister wasn't just expressing support in words—he was showing his intent to communicate with the youth through actions.
Of course, would this lead to actual policy changes?
Not in the slightest.
"This is just propaganda."
Yi Seong-jun dispelled the bureaucrats' concerns with that one line.
Yi Seong-jun's words weren't empty lip service.
At the meeting with the student representatives, he wielded his silver tongue with skill.
"How could I not understand your longing for change? I've been through a revolution myself."
That revolution had been a military one achieved with guns and swords rather than words, but it wasn't wrong.
"Your Excellency, we don't want much. We're just asking to make this competitive society a little more livable for people."
Then as now, the student movements were led by socialists.
But it was a mistake to equate anti-government forces with leftists.
Socialists led the movement because society's vested interests were capitalists.
If society were upside down, right-wingers would be leading the student protests.
Yi Seong-jun held this perspective, so he wasn't surprised at all by the students' socialist claims.
"Make the Republic of Korea a more livable world."
"Yes. We want a world where not just capitalists thrive, but workers and citizens do too."
"I've heard what you have to say."
"Thank you for understanding, Your Excellency."
But gratitude was premature.
"Before I respond to you, let me ask one question."
"Yes. We'll listen carefully."
"Between this country's companies and American companies, which ones help Korea more?"
"Korean companies, of course."
The students looked puzzled.
"That's the reason I can't grant your demands."
"Pardon?"
"Think about it. If we reduce competition and improve worker treatment as you demand, Korean companies' competitiveness weakens. Won't they then get crushed by American companies?"
"That's an exaggeration."
"Of course it's exaggerated. But situations can change at any time. We can't arrogantly assume we'll always beat the world. Even that mighty America thought the same and got trampled by our Far Eastern companies. And does our Republic of Korea have a market as big as America's? Resources as abundant? No, it doesn't."
The exchange between Yi Seong-jun and the students was published in the newspapers.
The Prime Minister sitting down with young students for a logical conversation.
It was also a message to Korea's university districts.
"I'll listen to you. I'll hear you out, but there are reasons I can't reflect it in state affairs. So don't protest over this issue."
Yi Seong-jun periodically summoned students for talks, acknowledging points where logic failed him and accepting their opinions.
"Our Prime Minister at least isn't someone you can't reason with."
Thanks to Yi Seong-jun's dialogue approach, Korea's student movement didn't turn radical.
The problem was other countries.
"Look at the Korean Prime Minister. Doesn't he constantly summon students to listen to the youth's voice? We should learn from that instead of closing our ears!"
The protests by young European students soon turned violent.
It was an expression of rage against their own politicians and older generation who, unlike the Korean Prime Minister, shut their eyes and ears.
"We'll set fire to the capitalist consumer system!"
On January 22, 1967, a department store in Frankfurt was damaged by arson.
This youth movement provoked the Junkers who held power.
"Isn't it time we showed those red commie agitators a lesson?"
Prime Minister Hasso von Manteuffel, the second leader of the Yusin Council who had taken power after Manstein, hinted that the 'reds' inciting social unrest could not be left alone.
The regime leadership's intent to clean out the reds was relayed through right-wing media like Bild to far-right groups like the Steel Helmets.
"You filthy red bastard! How dare you dream of a Marx-Leninist revolution on sacred German soil?"
Josef Bachmann, a member of the German Steel Helmets, fired two shots at Rudi Dutschke, the student movement leader branded an 'enemy of the German people.'
"A person... a person is dead!"
The assassination of Rudi Dutschke, the leader of the German student movement, was enough to enrage German university students.
As soon as German students learned Josef Bachmann was a Bild reader, they attacked the Springer Group that owned the paper.
"What? The newspaper company is under attack?"
The German Yusin Council, which had received support from the Springer Group during its rise to power, viewed the situation gravely.
"Deploy every available police force."
Even with police fully mobilized, suppressing the university students attacking the Springer Group was no easy task.
More accurately, they were overwhelmed by the sheer number of students and couldn't do a thing.
The Junkers were furious at the police's failure to suppress.
"Have these red mobs lost their minds?"
The Yusin Council announced harsh measures.
"In a national emergency, the military may use force, and in some cases, issue orders to shoot."
It was an order envisioning even civil war.
"You think we'll be scared by that?"
The protesters relentlessly targeted media outlets owned by the Springer Group.
In the process, 40 died, 500 were injured, and 3,500 were arrested by police.
Even with the military and police's merciless crackdown, the protest momentum didn't wane.
The protests that spread like wildfire in Germany also reached France.
"Outdated German militarists crushing young students? Let's show them our solidarity."
French university students declared an 'Anti-Militarism Day' and tried to occupy the amphitheater at Nanterre University to commemorate it.
"What? Who the hell are you to occupy our university facilities? You're causing a ruckus!"
The university not only blocked student access but also hauled the ringleaders into hearings on charges of inciting unrest.
When students gathered over the hearings, police were dispatched to block them.
The moderate leadership JCR mediated during the standoff, and things seemed to calm down, but a misunderstanding arose.
The students mistook the leadership boarding police buses for talks as them being arrested.
"You dirty bastards. We knew you'd trick us."
The protest turned into a riot in an instant.
When concrete blocks flew at police officers, the police responded violently.
"Beat them all down."
Hundreds were injured in the large-scale bloody suppression.
Other universities, seeing this, preemptively issued shutdown orders out of fear, but the students didn't disperse.
"Hey, we'll open the campus, so why don't you disband?"
The university authorities tried deceptive tactics to force dispersal, but such tricks only fueled the university students' anger.
"No need to talk to these small fry anymore. Let's go where we can get real answers!"
When over 20,000 French university students began marching through downtown Paris, the police couldn't stand idle.
Tens of thousands of university students clashed head-on with police in the city streets.
The hellish scene of Molotov cocktails and clubs flying made one doubt this was the capital of a First World nation.
Hundreds died or were injured in the clash.
French dailies, previously negative toward the 'red students,' changed their tune.
"Enough already! Are you going to kill all the kids?"
With the dailies' support, the number of universities and high schools joining the protests exploded.
Unions also expressed solidarity with the university students.
Only then did the French Prime Minister hurriedly enter negotiations with the protesters.
"We will listen to the protesters' opinions."
The French government's capitulation became a major milestone in the student movement—no, the 67 Revolution.
"If we show force, even the old fogeys open their ears. To Bonn—the seat of the West German government!"
Even the German university students, who had targeted only media outlets until now, shifted their aim to the government.
The German government didn't just take it lying down.
The Junker government immediately issued a mobilization order to the quasi-official Steel Helmets.
"Deploy the Steel Helmets for suppression too!"
Germany, which had seemed orderly under the Junkers, regressed in an instant to the Weimar Republic era of political thugs and protesters fighting with clubs.
This brawl stimulated other European countries too.
"Everyone in Germany and France is trying to change the world—can we just sit on our hands?"
Solidarity with the German and French student protests began surging across the rest of Europe.
"Rise up! If not now, the old fogeys with clogged ears won't budge."
Europe's changes influenced America too.
"Europe's youth are shouting: How long will we stay silent about our shameful past? They're right. How long will we stay silent about our shameful racial discrimination?"
Martin Luther King Jr., the godfather of the Black civil rights movement, grabbed the microphone.
"Huh? Why are you suddenly fired up? We passed the Civil Rights Act for you."
The Lyndon Johnson administration, which had been watching the surrounding changes, was startled by the sudden bolt from the blue.
But this wasn't a sudden occurrence.
Korea was behind it.
The KCIA's local assets posed as anonymous donors with funds and contacted Black civil rights groups to incite sympathetic whites.
"Racial discrimination is fundamentally a problem of perception. To restore Blacks to their proper place, we first need to correct Americans' gaze."
Korea emphasized to them that the essence of racial discrimination was 'perception.'
"A matter of perception."
"To fix that, we start with 'expression.'"
"Uh, are you talking about outdated political correctness? That's something even lefty kids laugh off."
By this era's standards, political correctness was not just outdated but a laughingstock.
Because of what the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany had done.
"If you oppose us, you're not correct."
After decades of that, how could anyone agree with notions like political correctness?
"Of course, I know that sounds ridiculous. But political correctness is the only bulwark Blacks can rely on. Imagine a world where racists can't even speak freely."
"That sounds plausible, but how is that possible?"
"Why not? Language shapes thought. Control speech, and you can reshape perceptions as much as you want."
The Black civil rights groups found this persuasive.
"Then our task is to start correcting 'discriminatory language.'"
"Of course. Starting with words like 'negro,' we eliminate terms that feel discriminatory. For that, we'll need solidarity with fellow underdogs like women."
PC, feminism.
The KCIA piled terrifying toppings onto the grand cause of the Black civil rights movement.
"Listening to you opens my ears."
Black civil rights advocates endlessly pushed this narrative behind King Jr.'s speeches.
"We must eliminate discrimination. Racial discrimination, gender discrimination! Let's fight all forms of discrimination!"
The Black civil rights movement's voice ignited fiercely with this new momentum as fuel.
The flames blazing in America gave strength to the youth confronting authoritarian governments in Europe.
"It's not just Korea supporting us. America has voices echoing ours, trying to change the world."
The protesters began issuing calls for societal reform instead of scattered demands.
At that moment, the 67 Revolution took on the face of true revolution, no longer just a social movement.
Only one leader recognized this fact: Yi Seong-jun.