President Lee Jae-myung: "Buma Democratic Uprising and May 18th Should Be Included in the Constitution"

"It hasn't been long since we enjoyed rights such as criticizing those in power... The Buma Uprising created a crack in the dictatorship"
"The shouts of Buma led to the Candlelight Revolution and the Revolution of Light... A milestone for democracy"
"Doing our best to restore the honor of victims... We must become a democratic nation where power fears the people"
President Lee Jae-myung delivering a commemorative speech
(Busan=Yonhap News) Reporter Shin Jun-hee = President Lee Jae-myung is delivering a commemorative speech at the 47th anniversary ceremony of the Buma Democratic Uprising held at Busan City Hall on the 16th. 2026.10.16 [Blue House Press Corps]hama@yna.co.kr
(Seoul=Yonhap News) Reporter Lim Hyung-seop = President Lee Jae-myung stated on the 16th, "Including the Buma Democratic Uprising and the Gwangju Democratization Movement in the preamble of the Constitution is the minimum measure to ensure we do not forget our people's blood-stained history to protect the democracy and popular sovereignty of the Republic of Korea," and requested, "I ask the National Assembly to promptly engage in gathering public opinion and rational debate for constitutional amendment."
President Lee made these remarks while attending the 47th anniversary ceremony of the Buma Democratic Uprising held at Busan City Hall today.
President Lee said, "The shouts that began in Busan and Masan 47 years ago today pierced through the vast darkness of dictatorship and became an unquenchable flame that brightly lit the democratic republic of the Republic of Korea," adding, "I express my deepest respect and gratitude to the citizens of Busan and Masan who cried out for justice with their entire bodies during that harsh era."
In particular, he explained, "The democracy we enjoy so naturally today was never obtained by itself. It has not been very long since the people have fully enjoyed their rights as sovereigns, such as directly electing representatives of the sovereign through elections and freely criticizing or expressing opinions toward the government or those in power."
President Lee Jae-myung and Representative Kim Min-seok
(Busan=Yonhap News) Reporter Shin Jun-hee = President Lee Jae-myung is greeting Kim Min-seok, the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, while entering the 47th anniversary ceremony of the Buma Democratic Uprising held at Busan City Hall on the 16th. 2026.10.16 [Blue House Press Corps]hama@yna.co.kr
President Lee looked back, saying, "Half a century ago, under the shadow of cold authoritarianism and the Yushin dictatorship, the fundamental rights of the people were thoroughly suppressed. Voices of political opposition and criticism were ruthlessly suppressed, and freedom of the press and expression were indiscriminately controlled."
He added, "Under the name of emergency measures, countless innocent citizens were arrested and detained, and it was frequent that people were punished simply for expressing their own thoughts."
President Lee said, "However, even in those circumstances, there were citizens who did not remain silent. The courageous cries of the citizens pushed away the dark night of the dictatorship and brightly lit the morning of democracy."
He continued, recalling, "The cries to abolish the Yushin system and overthrow the dictatorship, which began on the campus of Pusan National University, resonated even louder with the solidarity of citizens standing shoulder to shoulder. Ordinary citizens hid students being chased by the police and handed bread and kimbap to the protesters. The streets of Nampo-dong and Gwangbok-dong, where office workers and laborers joined in, were filled with shouts longing for democracy."
President Lee explained, "Eventually, the government declared martial law and tried to silence the citizens with tanks, guns, and swords, but instead, the shouts spread like a wildfire from Busan to Masan. The cries of 47 years ago, which felt like hitting a rock with an egg, finally created a crack in the massive wall of the Yushin dictatorship."
Furthermore, President Lee evaluated, "The Buma Democratic Uprising did not merely end a single dictatorship. By upholding the firm principle that power cannot reign over the people and that the state must exist for the people, it became a solid cornerstone for the development of democracy in the Republic of Korea."
President Lee Jae-myung delivering a commemorative speech
(Busan=Yonhap News) Reporter Shin Jun-hee = President Lee Jae-myung is delivering a commemorative speech at the 47th anniversary ceremony of the Buma Democratic Uprising held at Busan City Hall on the 16th. 2026.10.16 [Blue House Press Corps]hama@yna.co.kr
He particularly emphasized, "The shouts and spirit of Buma led to the Gwangju of May '80, then to the June Democratic Struggle of '87, and finally to the Candlelight Revolution and the Revolution of Light."
President Lee highlighted the significance, saying, "Although the era and the appearance of the streets were different, the burning desire for popular sovereignty was one. Therefore, the Buma Democratic Uprising is an indispensable name in the history of the Republic of Korea and a great milestone of our democracy."
Along with this, President Lee pledged, "It is our duty to deeply engrave this noble spirit in our history and our hearts and to pass it on intact to the next generation, in order to enjoy and protect democracy."
President Lee said, "The government of popular sovereignty will not turn a blind eye to the wounds and pain that state power left on the sovereign people in the past. We will do our best to restore the honor of the unfairly victimized. That is the minimum responsibility the state must fulfill today."
At the same time, he emphasized, "The Republic of Korea that the next generation will live in must be a country where citizens do not give up their lives or make sacrifices for the sake of democracy. It must be a country where no special courage is needed to exercise one's natural rights as a sovereign, and a true democratic nation where the people do not fear power, but power fears the people."
President Lee promised, "We will move unwaveringly toward the true democratic republic, the Republic of Korea, where popular sovereignty lives and breathes, as the citizens of Busan and Masan shouted shoulder to shoulder 47 years ago. Just as the shouts of that day became the history of democracy in the Republic of Korea, I will do my utmost to ensure that the democracy we create together today becomes a lamp that lights the tomorrow of the Republic of Korea."
President Lee Jae-myung saluting the national flag
(Busan=Yonhap News) Reporter Shin Jun-hee = President Lee Jae-myung and First Lady Kim Hye-kyung are saluting the national flag at the 47th anniversary ceremony of the Buma Democratic Uprising held at Busan City Hall on the 16th. 2026.10.16 [Blue House Press Corps]hama@yna.co.kr