Political outrage against President Park

University students’ declaration of situation
With the public demanding the resignation of President Park throughout the country, university students have been no exception in making a declaration in response to the situation. The declaration of situation is an action of individuals and groups clarifying their political and social beliefs and calling for the settlement of a situation regarding the state’s important affairs. This has spread very quickly among universities in regard to the current scandal. Sogang University, President Park’s alma mater, is one such university. The SGA of Sogang University held a press interview on Oct. 26 for the declaration, stating that President Park has lost her qualification as she had allowed a civilian, Choi Soon-sil, to interfere in considerable parts of government affairs.
“The democracy and constitutional order of Korea has been damaged by this incident, and we cannot remain silent,” said a member of Sogang SGA. “We aim to combat the current condition, in which the distinction between common sense and nonsense has become unclear, and to suggest that people address the issue together.”
Another participating SGA was Dongguk University, which declared for the situation on Oct. 28.  According to the SGA, Dongguk University has suffered from the tyranny of religious order and the current school president for the past two years. In the meantime, anger grew due to the fact that the government had privatized the state’s supreme power, and the behind-the-scenes power-brokers had intervened in state affairs. Therefore, the SGA decided to call for the resignation of the current government, uniting the students’ voices in the school.
“By this declaration, we wanted to announce that the incident regarding Choi is only the tip of an iceberg and that our fury has festered during President Park’s regime,” argued the SGA of Dongguk University.
Among universities raising their voices for the declaration, Hanyang University has also taken part. The SGA in Hanyang saw the declaration of situation necessary in order to speak out against the current degradation of democracy.
“The declaration of situation has played a significant role in our society throughout important times in history,” said a member of Hanyang SGA. “We believe that there could be changes in the society by the virtue of students’ conduct following the declaration. Therefore, the declaration has its meaning in that we can realize democratization and present the right direction for the future. We have carefully prepared our declaration by including contents that will gain sympathy from both students and citizens and gather the power to solve the problems we face.”
The movements of universities for declaration of situation are spreading all over the nation. With university students and citizens’ protests for the president’s resignation, the approval rating for the president has plummeted to five percent according to a recent survey conducted by Gallup Korea from Nov. 1 to 3.

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