2018 HSS-Korea Program Student, Ece Hakim, '21, Made a Short Documentary Film about the Culture of Protest in South Korea

2018 HSS-Korea Program student, Ece Hakim, '21, worked on an individual documentary film project on the culture of protest in South Korea during her time on the HSS-Korea Program in Seoul this past summer. Please take a look:   https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j_ucrm0ehGo   One of my Korean friends in the program suggested that we focus on the controversy on “Japanese military sex slaves”, also known as “comfort women,” in our final project for the HSS-Korea film class. At first, I thought that it would be hard to do research since it took place before and during World War II. However, I was told that we could interview people who attend the “Wednesday protests.” Wednesday protests are the protests that have been taking place in front of the Japanese embassy for 22 years. I was shocked to learn that the Korean people did not let this war crime become forgotten over time. I decided to further explore this protest culture in my individual documentary film project. Although I spoke little Korean, I went to Gwangahamun Square and attended more than five protests within a week. I ate with the protesters; I helped them set up their placards. It was a very unique experience that taught me so much about Korea.