From Victimhood to Martyrdom: "March for the Beloved" and the Cultural Politics of Resistance in 1980s' South Korea

Abstract:In 1982, a group of activists gathered at a remote house in Kwangju. Evading the watchful eye of Chun Doo Hwan's military regime, the group clandestinely recorded "March for the Beloved" (Nim I wihan haengjin'gok), a song written to honor the "marriage-in-death" of two late activists Pak Ki-sun and Yun Sang-wŏn. Born in a city that witnessed a brutal massacre be transformed into the most consequential civilian uprising of the authoritarian period, the song moved vastly beyond its original intent of commemorating the union of Pak and Yun. Over the following decades, the song emerged as a central piece in South Korea's repertoire of resistance, resurfacing during some of the most politically contentious events in Korea and throughout Asia. As this article aims to demonstrate, "March for the Beloved" was instrumental in transforming the victims of state violence into martyrs and the subalterns of an unlawful state into political subjects of a morally righteous counter-state. In turn, this transformation enabled minjung [the (oppressed) people] to emerge as the most privileged category of collective resistance and persist as such through the 1980s. This article examines the cultural practices of resistance and the minjung traditions that gave birth to the song, analyzing the performative and affective dimensions that turned the song into an anthem of the counter-state. In conclusion, the article reflects upon the bizarre twists and turns of the song's afterlives as an occasion to think about the meaning of Kwangju and the perpetual struggle over its signification in contemporary South Korea.