Anachronistic 'Underground Organization'

In the 1980s student movement, there were numerous underground organizations called 'family' (패밀리). While public organizations like the student council president appeared to be the leadership, the actual leadership was the 'underground' (언더). Among the behind-the-scenes leaders, those in charge of the student council were called 'hoepo' (회포), and those responsible for organizing protests were known as 'tupo' (투포). In 1987, the police tortured Park Jong-chul, a Seoul National University student, to extract information about the whereabouts of 'underground leader' Park Jong-woon. Alumni of underground groups include politicians, chief judges, law firm representatives, businesspeople, and even current ministers. ▶The 'underground' did not remain hidden forever. Senior members of the underground groomed juniors with good appearance and eloquence for student council roles, while those strong in theory and organization were nurtured as underground core members. Figures like Kim Min-seok, Democratic Party leader, and Baek Tae-woong, OECD ambassador, were selected from the underground and later served as student council presidents. The underground assigned 'turns' for open struggles like the occupation of the U.S. Cultural Center. Ham Un-kyung, a key figure in the U.S. Cultural Center occupation, said, 'The purpose of the underground was to maintain security, cultivate core personnel, and preserve organizational capabilities in case of emergencies.' This was during the era of military dictatorship. ▶After the 1984 campus autonomy movement, many underground organizations transitioned to public circles or disbanded. However, as the student movement split into the National Liberation (NL) faction, aligned with Juche ideology, and the People's Democracy (PD) faction, rooted in socialism, the tradition of secret factional meetings continued. They gathered privately to study the original texts of Kim Il-sung, Marx, and Lenin. They would write rally locations and times on paper, share them, and then burn the paper on-site, saying, 'The secret could be leaked.' However, when they arrived at these supposedly secret rallies, police were often already present. ▶Figures like Kim Young-hwan of the People's Revolutionary Party and Lee Seok-ki of the Unified Progressive Party created outright illegal revolutionary organizations. Lee Seok-ki, after years of underground activity, entered the National Assembly in 2012 as a proportional representative of the Unified Progressive Party. He was sentenced to nine years in prison after being convicted of planning to attack national infrastructure in case of emergencies. The Revolutionary Organization (RO) emphasized secrecy, but this secrecy degenerated into irrationality, akin to organizational control or a cult. ▶Yong Hye-in, the nominee for Minister of Gender Equality and Family, is reported to have been part of an 'underground organization.' It is surprising why such groups are still needed in a world where progressive leftists are rampant. The real shock came from the Labor Party's investigation, which revealed that underground organizations forced female activists to adhere to 'abortion bans' and 'premarital chastity.' Yong, a Labor Party member, has remained silent on these allegations. It is surreal that a group claiming progressivism imposed feudalistic submission on women. The administration's judgment in selecting someone who inherited anachronistic gender-discriminatory culture as a gender equality minister is also questionable.