Captain in Siren Done by: Denise Chung

1. Family Tree

Story of my dad That’s me

2. Interview •  Setting?

On April 24, in the warm weather, friend got arrested

•  Daily routine?

Study, talked with leaders for better school, play etc

•  How did it start?

Evening

Friend went to another school and got arrested

Younger friends and students told the news

Way back to school after lunch

On field, students ran and told the news, very urgent

•  What happened to your friend?

It wasn’t time for his friend to come back, in the middle of the thing, got arrested

Nearby school, in the way, out the way, hidden police, arrested

Very upset, shock, still

“Oh rly?” Shocked

“Let’s first go up to Discuss Room” and made plans etc

Called police to check first

•  What happened next?

About 10 students first started the protest, then others came and made up to about 30 friends

In front of the school, on the roads, yelling (Leader yell the phrase like “Let our friend free!”, then the others followed.

Signed names, called police etc

•  What next?

Across the street, Medicine shop, a crowd

4-5 students said like “There’s Mr. Kim here!”

About 30 students pulled Mr. Kim, police spy for schools out

Dad know the police, Mr. Kim and about 40yrs old

4-5 students arm-crossed him, dragged him to the school

•  In the school?

30 students went to Discuss Room again

Those 4-5 arm-crossing students took care of Mr. Kim

Various opinions, one said to trade the friend with Mr. Kim

Negotiated, mostly agreed, so dad, the leader agreed

•  Next??

“Biyobiyo” policemen with gas bombs, heavy clothes, rubber pipe, and helmet surrounded school, weren’t able to go right in to school

Police also didn’t came cuz about 100 and more students were against

More and more policemen arrived

Dad was calm cuz that time, those things happened a lot

•  Didn’t the principal do sth?

Principal: not rly came to school, not here that time

Teachers: couldn’t bother cuz students were adults, so no point to be against

•  Anyway, so?

Call from police, “Leaders, come out to café across the street, to the 2nd floor.”

Leaders, including dad went there, while Mr. Kim was still in a room wherever those kids put him

Since the police surrounded entrance of the school, leaders went to café using another exit

•  What happened in the café?

2-3 leaders of the police waiting in the 2nd floor

Police, “Let Mr. Kim free!”

Dad with leaders, “Free our friend, its not right to do such thing!”

Added and after some conversation, “We will free Mr. Kim, so make sure our friend is freed until next day, 10a.m.”

•  But hot could you make sure that they will set your friend free?

Only a gesture, no way to make really sure that the friend will be freed

Anyway, the leaders went back to school

“Where’s the spy?” dad asked. 6th floor, room for another discussion

Mr. Kim was tied on the chair with eyes covered

•  What did you do?

Said, “Hi”

Mr. Kim angrily, “How dare u do that!”

“Sry, but its not right to arrest my friend, agreed to let you free on tmr morning, 10a.m.”

Sent Mr. Kim as the promise

•  While negotiation, in the school….

Police tried to rush in to the college

Students were against them: threw rocks and fought back

When they kind of rest, 100 students all sat on the staircase

Call, night met police

Set spy free night

•  Did your friend come?

The demo group was waiting for the friend, but the friend didn’t come.

Dad called the police, “Your didn’t do what you are supposed to, we will fight you back!”

More than 100 students went to the street just in front of the police station and blocked all the cars

•  How about food and water and stuff?

5hr of protest, good citizens gave food etc cuz they knew that demo group was right.

•  But how will it help your friend?

We aimed at social issues to give the police pressure.

More Behind….

•  How?

Since we were really noisy and blocked the cars, the drivers will ask and they will spread the news around with friends

Also, news reporter filmed the protest that will make the protest to a social issue.

•  How did you fight back those gas bombs and police?

In most protest, students made bottles with fire on. Average: 300-500

But, dad told students to make 1000 and they did it!

•  Weren’t there any complains?

They asked if they could stop but dad told them to make

They knew what he meant, made and fought back

•  How did it end?

The police didn’t free him but he was freed after months

3. Research Notes

Blogs: -  A boy once high school when 1991 May, 10

said, “There were a lot of protests that year. When I was walking past a college, I almost died. After entering college, they taught a kind of gas bomb. While the protest, people rushed in through the alley. There were screams everywhere and people fell around. It was so terrible.”

- Another guy said his friend died while protest in 1991  

Korean Studies: - During student protest 1998-1992, most frequent protest was on year 1991

4. Bibliography

Aleman, Jose. "Protest and Democratic Consolidation: A Korean Perspective." International Journal of Korean Studies (2005): 71-90. Web. <http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&ved=0CDoQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffaculty.fordham.edu%2Faleman%2FKoreanStudies.pdf&ei=gRV-ULTGEsewiQecnoCgAQ&usg=AFQjCNGvq05fQDqE7rbPBAZjaSIqnk--PQ>.

"NAVER ë�‹¤ì�´ì�´ë¦¬ :: ë�„¤ì�´ë²�„ 블ë¡�œê·¸." NAVER ë�‹¤ì�´ì�´ë¦¬. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2012. <http://naver_diary.blog.me/150078348325>

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5. Historical Narrative

Captain in Siren

A siren rattled through the building. Oh no, I couldn’t believe what was going on. Please don’t say this is related to my friend, our sub-captain of Student Counselor! The world felt as if it had stopped. I slowly turned my head. More than 20 students were squashed together in Discuss Room. April’s blissful sunshine glistened through the window at my back, though the situation wasn’t that great.

“Captain!” one of the 20 students called me anxiously, “this can’t be Korean police, right?”

I bit my lip, and glared down through the window. Policemen armed with gas bombs,

heavy clothes, rubber pipes and helmet charged out of the police car. They formed a big circle like fierce birds surrounding a bunch of worms.

“This is still happening in 1991? It started from 1998 until now! There were so many gas bomb incidents, and still there’s no peace between colleges and police!” I moaned to myself, placing my forehead on my arm lying on the window.

I straightened my back. I can’t just stay like this; I’m the captain of Student Counselor! The idea of fighting back the police, caused a cold sweat to drizzled down my forehead. My mouth went dry. I clutched my sweaty, tensed fingers tightly. Billions of thoughts sped through in my brain. So, the police caught our sub-captain and we caught Mr. Kim, the spy from the police. Now the police are just few feet away from me! What exactly should I do to fight back?

Rrrrrrr, the phone rang, breaking the frustration. I glanced at my students, my eyes

wide-open. Oh, I realized, call from the police. I stretched my arm and my index finger touched the handset, trembling. My hand grabbed the phone and lifted it up. I looked at the phone for a second, took a deep breath, and placed it near my ears. My heart was pounding like crazy. The room was totally silent except for some nervous breaths. I swallowed my saliva and whispered, “Hello?”

“Sub-captain!” Now, the sub-captain stood in front of me. We cheered for the return of the sub-captain. Everyone was overwhelmed with jubilance. We patted him, hugged him and welcomed him back.

“It was a great disaster,” I grinned, “to rescue you. We failed to exchange you with the spy so we started to protest. And now you are back!”

“Thanks a lot,” he said. “Really, I didn’t know you guys would do this for me! Or even

try to deal with this dangerous thing!”

We smiled, placing an arm on each other’s shoulder. With cheers around as background music, we headed back to the college.

6. Reflection

1. How has working on this project helped you learn about your family’s history and given you a better sense of your identity?

Working on this project helped me to learn that I am special and without that moment, I might be a totally different person. It made me to know better of my identity too.

 

2. Why do you think doing a project like this is important?

I think it’s important because you can know where your identity was shaped from and could feel that yourself is important. Also, doing interview allowed me to improve communication skills and noting skills. Researching helped me to have a better knowledge of choosing reliable information too.

3. What part of this project did you enjoy the most? Why?

I enjoyed interviewing my dad because I never had a conversation about his protest in college. Also, it was a refreshing idea to interview one of my family members and I learned a lot from preparing the interview.

4. What specific challenges did you face during this project and how did you over come them?

I didn’t have much information since the case was not popular. When I searched for “Korean protest 1991”, strange things unrelated to the protest appeared a lot that took me a lot of time to get information.

More behind..

5. What advice would you give future students as they begin this project?

I would give advice to future children not to delay too much work. Since in my case, the moment wasn’t well known, it took a lot of time just to find a paragraph with right information. Also, finding photo wasn’t as easy as what I’d thought, so if possible, I advice to do research while dealing with Historical Narrative.