On the 15th, President Lee Jae Myung said, “As the President of the Republic of Korea, I extend a sincere apology and words of consolation to the bereaved families of the victims of the 3·15 Uprising, who suffered great pain at the hands of state power,” and added, “We will not forget your noble sacrifice.”

Attending the ceremony marking the 66th anniversary of the 3·15 Uprising at the National 3·15 Democratic Cemetery in Changwon, South Gyeongsang, he said, “I extend deep respect and gratitude to the persons of merit who did not back down even in the face of great hardship and threats.” Since the 3·15 Uprising was designated a national commemoration day in 2010 and ceremonies have been held under government auspices from the following year, this is the first time an incumbent president has personally attended the event.

He said, “Sixty-six years ago today, we remember the ‘history of popular sovereignty’ that began here in Masan,” and added, “Citizens and students who resisted the dictatorial regime, with their blood and sweat, reminded us that ‘the people are the owners of the nation’.”

Regarding the ordeals suffered by the victims and their families, he said, “Even amid brutal oppression and crackdowns, the firm conviction to safeguard the nation’s future with the hands of the sovereign people was never broken,” and added, “It was because citizens and students possessed a fiery and dauntless courage, fearing the unjust reality of their own country more than the hail of bullets, and hurting more over trampled freedom and justice than over the iron that pierced their abdomens.”

He continued, “The 3·15 Uprising that began in Masan sparked the 4·19 Revolution across the country and ultimately toppled the powerful dictatorial regime,” adding, “The spirit of 3·15, which continued through the Buma Uprising, the 5·18 Democratization Movement, the June Democratic Uprising, the Candlelight Revolution, and the Revolution of Light, has become our compass to raise the nation each time a crisis arose.”

President Lee said, “The lesson the 3·15 Uprising left in our history is that ‘democracy does not come by itself’,” adding, “The power to complete democracy comes not from laws and institutions themselves, but from the earnest aspirations and actions of the sovereign people.”

He went on, “As time passed, the searing wounds and memories engraved in our hearts and minds, together with the firm historical belief that ‘no power can defeat the people,’ enabled us to dispel the darkness of insurrection on the night of December 3, 2024,” adding, “Just as the citizens and students of Masan bravely faced guns and blades with their bare bodies, the people of Korea likewise blocked the martial law troops with their bare bodies on a winter night in 2024.”

He also said, “As was the case on March 15, 1960, December 3, 2024 will likewise be recorded as the day when the wisdom of popular sovereignty defeated the ambition for perpetual rule, a day that opened the way to hope beyond a winter of despair.”