Lee says people's resistance to 2024 martial law driven by spirit of April Revolution

The April Revolution laid the grounds for the people to resist the 2024 martial law, President Lee Jae Myung said Sunday, on the 66th anniversary of the April 19, 1960 movement that led to the end of the first president Syngman Rhee's decadeslong dictatorship.

Lee said in his remarks that the spirit of resistance to a brutal suppression of demonstrations against rigged elections served as a foundation stone for the people's resistance to the 2024 martial law imposition.

At the ceremony held at the April 19 National Cemetery in northern Seoul, Lee said the spirit of the April Revolution has endured for decades — through protests in the Busan-Masan Uprising in 1979, Gwangju Uprising in 1980, the June Democratic Struggle in 1987, the candlelight vigils in 2016 and against martial law in 2024. He added the spirit "stood firm to bear fruit with people's solidarity and yearnings for the country led by a true leader."

He then recalled people's gathering on the night when armed forces were deployed to the National Assembly under martial law, and the following peaceful protests calling for former President Yoon Suk Yeol's ouster that Lee has dubbed "revolution of light."

"Thanks to the spirit of the April Revolution that brought down ruthless dictatorship and was enshrined as a guiding spirit of the Constitution, our people were finally able to resist the insurrectionist forces on the night of December 2024," Lee said.

Lee on Sunday awarded 70 people for their roles during the April Revolution. The president said his administration "will never forget that the extraordinary sacrifices and devotions for the good of our community has allowed us to relish the freedom, prosperity and peace on current days."

Meanwhile, the main opposition People Power Party slammed the ruling bloc accusing them of abusing legislative power to undermine the liberal democracy, invoking the spirit of the April Revolution.

Rep. Choi Bo-yun, senior spokesperson of the People Power Party, said in her statement Sunday that the April Revolution was a testament that the state power cannot belong to an individual sovereignty, adding that its liberal rival Democratic Party's unilateral moves to pass controversial bills without consent of the People Power Party "distorts the will of the people and destroys the foundation of the liberal democracy."

Neither PPP Chair Rep. Jang Dong-hyeok nor Floor Leader Rep. Song Eon-seog attended Sunday's event.