The history of Korea has been full of political, international, social, and cultural struggles. When the authorities were perceived as acting illegitimately, hundreds of thousands marched to the streets to demonstrate. Such huge demonstrations happened first in the early 20th century, against the Japanese colonizers. Later, with the division of Korea, mass protest was not observed in North Korea. In South Korea, mass protests in the early 1960s brought about the collapse of a corrupt government. In the 1980s, mass protests were a main reason for the abolishment of military dictatorship and the beginning of democracy. In 2016, protests of millions resulted in the impeachment of the president and new elections. Moreover, various dissent movements expressed discontent in other manners, for example, hunger strikes and self-immolation.

In the class, we will explore the processes that led to protest movements in modern Korea, the people who participated in them, and the manners in which they chose to express their aspirations for a change.