▲ The Press Conference. Photographed by Lee Hyun Ji
On March 8, the Korea University Student Union (KUSU) held a press conference in the Central Plaza in front of the Inchon Kim Sung-su statue. Through the conference, KUSU officially introduced the movement to erase all vestiges of Inchon within the campus. The Supreme Court, on April 13, 2017, put forth a resolution stating that Inchon, the founder of KU, was a pro-Japanese individual during Korea’s period of Japanese rule. The KUSU Division of Human Rights and reporters from various media outlets attended this event.
 
The conference started with a brief introduction by President Kim Tae-gu (’12, Business Administration), who provided an overview of the status quo. He was followed by participants in the movement, who gave brief speeches that provided various views of the movement at hand. Chief of the Division of Human Rights Kim Min-ju (’15, Korean History) stated, “While Inchon’s accomplishments cannot be refuted, his faults outstrip his achievements by a wide margin.” She went further on to state that the school administration should stop making excuses and take down the statue of Inchon in the central plaza immediately.
 
In between each member consecutively providing a speech discrediting Inchon, KUSU encouraged students to chant. These chants demanded the removal of the statue, halting the deification of Inchon, and expunging all traces of Inchon from campus. The conference drew to a close with KUSU members hanging a banner inscribed with pro-Japanese comments issued by Inchon around the statue’s leg.
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