How Korean teens see the democracy struggle they never lived through

“If I had been a college student in 1987, I don’t think I would have been able to join the protests or take a leading role in the pro-democracy struggle because I would have been afraid of torture, guns and tear gas,” said 15-year-old middle schooler Kang Hyun-joon.

“But I think I would have tried to work for democracy in less visible ways.” Kang had just finished touring the Democratization Movement Memorial Hall in Yongsan-gu, central Seoul.

The site had once served as an anti-communist invest ...