On October 24, JTBC revealed that Soon-sil Choi, who is not elected as an official, looked at President Geun-hye Park’s speech and changed it to her taste. After that, a huge amount of corruption was found among Soon-sil Choi, her daughter and other people around President Park. Koreans are really angry about this because just one person made interventions to many policies in Korea and made a profit from them.
In response to this, there was a declaration of state in the University of Seoul on October 31, in front of the Student Hall. Before the declaration of state, the Student Council posted their statement on Facebook and got assent from students.

“We will denounce the violation of constitution law. We want president Geun-hye Park to take responsibility for damaging democracy which was built by our seniors,” a professor started to read the declaration of state. Many students denounced Soon-sil Choi and President Park’s violation of constitution law. Students gathered and responded enthusiastically when they agreed with the speech.

Following more speeches, there was a booth taking signatures of students who agreed with Siwon , the Student Council. Many students were interested in this and gave their signatures to show their consent on the Student Council’s statement. A signature-seeking campaign was also run on the internet. Although it was raining and the weather was cold, many students participated in this event and did not seem to care about the rain.

On November 8, after the students’ general meeting, professors in UOS made a declaration of state. 194 professors made statements and several professors made speeches based on their statement. Professors held a banner demanding the resignation of President Park. Some professors claimed that President Geun-hye Park is not our president anymore. A few hundred students waited for professors after the student’s general meeting, and gave fervent responses to the professors’ statement of declaration. When there was a part that students really agreed on, they screamed out expressing their assent.

After the professors’ declaration of state, the UOS students and professors started marching, holding candles in their hands. They screamed out “Resignation of President Geun-hye Park” and “Punishment for the person in charge.” This march could have been dangerous because students had to walk on the road. Therefore, police officers helped them to march safely.

The march started in front of the Main Auditorium, after the general student assembly, and ended in Cheongnyangni Station Plaza. Students kept their order really well while walking and chanting resignation of president Geun-hye Park. Many citizens watched students’ marching and some people took photos of them. Afterwards students sat together. Some people, including citizens, made free speeches to denounce President Geun-hye Park. These speeches were followed by a performance given by a students’ central club “Hansorae.” Finally, the declaration of state was made by the President of the School.

By Jae-in Jung