University members held opposing rallies on the 14th over the question of restoring a statue of former President Syngman Rhee at Inha University, which was dismantled more than 40 years ago.
According to police and other sources, a student group called Inha Spirit (인하정신), made up of Inha University students, held an inauguration ceremony for a committee dedicated to restoring the statue at the university’s rear gate on the morning of the 14th.
Approximately 30 people attended the ceremony, according to police estimates. Kim Moon-soo, former Minister of Employment and Labor, was also reportedly present. Participants held protest signs bearing slogans such as “Syngman Rhee founded Inha University” and “Restore the Syngman Rhee statue.”
In a statement recently posted on social media, the group argued: “Syngman Rhee was the person who spearheaded the founding of Inha University, so what kind of university doesn’t have even a single monument commemorating its founder?” They announced their intention to push ahead with restoring the statue.
In response, a group calling itself People at Inha University Opposed to the Far Right held a counter-rally opposing the restoration of the former president’s statue. Holding signs reading “NO to the Syngman Rhee statue,” they chanted slogans including “The far right will find no foothold at Inha University.”
Previously, the Youth Committee of the Incheon chapter of the Progressive Party had also posted protest notices around campus opposing the restoration. The rallies concluded without any physical confrontations.
Inha University was established after former President Syngman Rhee instructed Kim Beop-rin, then Minister of Education, to establish an engineering college in December 1952, during the Korean War, while the government was temporarily based in Busan. The university subsequently opened in 1954 as Inha Institute of Technology in Yonghyeon-dong, Michuhol-gu, Incheon.
The statue of Rhee was originally erected in 1979 in a garden near Inkyung Lake on campus, standing 6.3 meters tall. However, it was dismantled in 1984 by students who criticized his authoritarian rule and his historical ties to pro-Japanese collaborators.
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