1980 Sabuk

Introduced by You Jae Lee, followed by a talk with Inuk Hwang.

In April 1980, coal miners and local residents in Sabuk, South Korea, rose up to demand their labor rights. The newly installed military government responded by declaring a state of emergency and violently suppressing the uprising. The incident at the Dongwon Coal Mine, which preceded the Gwangju Uprising by one month, was covered up by the state and remained undocumented for a long time.

Over a period of five years, the director visited the site more than 140 times and conducted interviews with over 100 people. The film gives voice not only to victims and their families, but also to former perpetrators and police officers, thereby enabling a multi-perspectival approach to the events. In this way, the film contributes to the historical reckoning with state violence and lends weight to the ongoing demands for an official state apology and reparations.

Screening the film in Germany establishes a historical connection with Korean miners who, also in 1980, were fighting in the Ruhr region for human and residency rights of the last remaining 800 guest workers. Their success in Germany was directly linked to the bloody events in Korea. Transnational, grassroots solidarity honors the history of ordinary people whose stories are otherwise forgotten in history books. (YJL)

Inuk Hwang is Director of the Institute of Jeongseon Region Society and is narrator in the film.

You Jae Lee is Professor for Korean Studies at the University of Tübingen.