May 18, 1980
Gwangju Democratic Movement
On May 18, citizens of Gwangju took to the street to protest against the martial law declared by then army officer Chun Doo-hwan, who had taken control of the country by coup amidst political turbulence in the wake of president Park Chung-hee’s assassination the previous year. The Gwangju Uprising was brutally crushed by Chun, with paratroopers firing into protesters 3 days later to kill hundreds at where later named as the 518 Democracy Square.

July 9, 1989
Funeral of Lee Han-yeol
In May, it was revealed that student Park Jong-chul was tortured to death during police interrogation on whereabouts of a campus activist. The incident ignited nation-wide protest and demand for free election known as the June Democracy Movement. On June 10, Lee Han-yeol, another student activist, was fatally hit by a tear gas grenade. With millions rallying against Chun’s junta, a democratic election was declared on June 29. Lee’s funeral took place 10 days later in Seoul Square, marking the democratic turn of South Korean history.

June 22, 2002
Korea-Spain quarter-final, 2002 FIFA World Cup
At the 2002 Korea/Japan World Cup, South Korea won the match against Spain to make the final 4. Throughout the World Cup, millions of people in red, the color of the national football team, poured out into squares across the country for street cheering. The semi-final match drew an estimated 7 million crowd nation-wide, with 1 million at Gwanghwamun Square.

In the 2000s, South Korea has become one of the most wired countries around the world with the highest speed of internet, with many local and global portal sites competing for market share. Naver has become the ultimate winner in 2004.

May - June, 2008
US beef protests
After Lee Myung-bak administration reversed a ban on US beef import, rumors involving a potential outbreak of mad cow disease swept online in one of the world’s most wired nations. Protesters gathered holding candlelights in protest for over a month, with the crowd peaking on June 10. The police stacked containers to bar off the marching crowd at Gwanghwamun Square, which later named as Myungbak Fortress after the president who took office earlier that year.

May 23, 2009
Death of ex-president Roh
On May 23, 2009, liberal ex-president Roh Moo-hyun committed suicide by jumping off a cliff amid a corruption investigation accused by many as a political retaliation. His funeral took place 6 days later. The Seoul Square was filled with wailing mourners in yellow paper hats, the color of his party. Later that year, iPhone was introduced to South Korea for the first time, leading the ensuing explosive growth of smartphone uses and social network services in the ultra-wired country.

February 25, 2013
Inauguration of Park Geun-hye
Park Geun-hye, a daughter of the assassinated former military dictator Park Chung-hee, took office as president of South Korea. Her campaign was later revealed as rigged by the country’s intelligence agency, which mobilized cyber warfare experts and paid agents to smear the opponent Moon Jae-in, a former aide and friend of the late Roh Moo-hyun. In the same year, South Korea topped the world in terms of smartphone penetration.

April 16, 2014
Sinking of MV Sewol
On the morning of April 16, 2014, Sewol Ferry carrying 476 passengers sank near the Southeast port of Paengmok, South Korea, traumatizing the entire nation. Most of the 304 victims were high school students on a field trip. In the aftermath, the country was bitterly divided over what went wrong and who was to blame. Allegations of mishandling and campaigning against the bereaved families were made against the Park administration, which were partially confirmed later.

May 17, 2016
“Murder at Gangnam Station”
At a public toilet in an alley of Gangnam Station area in Seoul, South Korea, a young woman was stabbed to death. The offender did not know the victim, and told the police that he had chosen a woman because he had felt like “ignored” by women all his life. This case was met with unusual outpouring of public rage and grief, especially from young women, who flocked to exit 10 of Gangnam Station with flowers and hand-written notes as tributes for the victim. Debates ensued over whether the murder was a hate crime.

March 10, 2017
Impeachment of Park Geun-hye
President Park Geun Hye was impeached after the revelation of her ties to Choi Soon-sil, a confidante and secretive adviser. The ruling was announced by Acting Chief Justice Lee Jung-mi of the Constitutional Court, which was nationally broadcast. The downfall of the first-ever woman president of the highly patriarchal country started the previous year at the prestigious Ewha Womans University, where in the course of protests against a degree program, students uncovered evidence of favoritism for fellow student Chung Yoo-ra, who later turned out to be the daughter of Choi.

January 29, 2018
Female prosecutor Seo Ji-hyeon went public with allegations of sexual harassment and subsequent cover-up that happened 8 years ago. The incident served as a defining moment for #MeToo movement in Korea that had already begun online.

May 19, 2018
Outraged women gathered to protest against biased police investigation into a case involving a female nude model, who secretly took and posted a naked photo of a male colleague. She was swiftly arrested and made to stand in front of media for photoes. Three more rallies were held in Daehakro near Hyehwa Station in Seoul in June, July and August, each one larger than the last.

June 13, 2018
After a report of 500 mostly male Yemenis refugees arriving in Jeju Island, South Korea, an anti-refugee petition was posted to the website of the presidential office, calling for an expulsion. The online petition system is one of the initiatives of Moon Jae-in administration for engagement: the presidential office issues an official statement for any petition with 200,000 or more consents in 30 days. The petition ended up with over 700,000 consents, the largest ever. A survey found that a majority of women in their 20s were against accepting refugees.

August 8, 2018
It was reported that the authorities were hunting the manager of Womad, a radical feminist website, to hold her accountable for illegal porn uploaded to the website.

August 9
An anti-spycam campaign by the police sparked outrage, which was later cancelled. The campaign encouraged visitors to the famous Haeundae beach in Busan to find and take photos of human-sized figures of a spycam perpetrator, and post it to #Instagram for a prize. The perpetrator was featured as a man-boy in child-like costume, red cheeks, sunglasses and a knaughty expression.

August 14, 2018
Governor Ahn Hee-jung, a big-time politician and top presidential hopeful of the ruling party, was aquitted of a rape charge, which had been brought against by his secretary. Earlier he had admitted the sex was not consensual and apologized.

August 14, 2018
The female nude model arrested in May was sentenced to 10 months in jail without suspension, an unusually harsh verdict for a spycam case.