President Lee: "Striving to Ensure Sabuk Incident Is Remembered as History That Upheld Dignity and Justice"

▲ President Lee Jae-myung

President Lee Jae-myung said regarding the "Sabuk Incident" that he will "strive to ensure that the history of Sabuk is remembered not for pain and silence, but as a history that upheld dignity and justice."

In a written commemorative address read aloud that day by Truth and Reconciliation Commission Chairperson Song Sang-gyo at the ceremony marking the 46th anniversary of the Sabuk Democratic Uprising, President Lee stated, "Uncovering even one more truth buried in the dark shadows and restoring the honor of victims is the only way to move beyond pain toward true healing and reconciliation."

President Lee said, "Forty-six years ago, deep inside the coal face, miners who took responsibility for powering the entire nation while inhaling coal dust were not making grand demands, but rather a desperate outcry for the utterly basic right to 'just let us live like human beings' and for the dignity of labor."

He also explained, "The miners' earnest demands escalated into a struggle following a hit-and-run incident by the police, and during the crackdown, police officers were killed or injured," adding, "Sensational reports that followed amid the extreme confrontation left indelible wounds on the family members of the union branch head."

He continued, "However, rather than resolving the situation, state power responded with violence and unjustly branded the miners," pointing out that "harsh roundups and torture, along with discrimination that persisted for decades, destroyed the village community and trapped the lives of miners and residents in deep, dark suffering."

President Lee conveyed his condolences once again, saying, "Although the reality of state violence is coming to light, however belatedly, I know well that it remains far from enough to heal your deep sorrow and wounds."

The Sabuk Incident was an event in April 1980 in which a strike staged by coal miners of Dongwon Coal Mine in Sabuk-eup, Jeongseon County, Gangwon Province, protesting poor working conditions and low wages, escalated into a massive violent clash during a standoff with police.

At the time, the Martial Law Command arrested and detained approximately 200 miners and residents, and human rights violations, including illegal detention and torture, occurred during this process.

The first and second Truth and Reconciliation Commissions defined this incident in 2008 and 2024 as a "human rights violation case caused by the unjust exercise of public power" and recommended measures including an official government apology.

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