1979-10-16, the Bu-Ma Democratic Protests began
The Bu-Ma Democratic Protests against the South Korean Yushin regime began on this day in 1979, starting in Busan and later spreading to and Masan (now Changwon). The first to protest were students from Pusan National University, who began calling for the abolition of the Yushin regime in public demonstrations.
The protests quickly grew, and, just two days later, they had spread to Masan, resulted in the destruction of a tax collection office and burned police vehicles, and President Park Chung-hee declared martial law, arrested more than 1,000 people. On October 26th, President Park Chung-hee was assassinated, leading to the eventual dissolution of the Fourth Republic of South Korea.
On the 40th anniversary of the event, President Moon Jae-in apologized for the previous episodes of political repression, stating \"As long as we have a history of great democratic protests, no power can rule over the people\".