MBC’s investigative program “PD Notebook” is tracing allegations of “Samcheong-style reeducation” carried out on middle and high school students during the Chun Doo-hwan military era.
The episode airing May 5, titled “Forgotten Boys, 1981: Student Samcheong Reeducation,” examines how 4,701 students nationwide were mobilized for so-called “reeducation” from 1981 to 1988, according to the program.
The reporting began with a handwritten tip letter that said, “I am a victim of the student Samcheong reeducation camp.” The topic was unfamiliar even among investigative reporters who have tracked state violence in the 1980s, but “PD Notebook” said its reporting confirmed the claims were true.
Victims said they boarded buses at the suggestion of teachers. Some said they were told they would be able to try activities such as archery and horseback riding. Instead, they said they were taken to training centers in nine locations nationwide, including Gyeongju and Asan, where soldiers subjected them to verbal abuse and beatings.
Students said they were put through 10 days of training that resembled military instruction, including field exercises, drill and airborne training. Some victims said they attempted self-harm after being unable to endure the training. The program also reported testimony alleging sexual violence against younger students or those with smaller builds. Victims interviewed by the production team said they still suffer symptoms including auditory hallucinations and post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, 45 years later.
The program said the selection of students was driven by forced quotas. In 1981, the government assigned each middle and high school a number of students to send for “reeducation,” and the Ministry of Education pressured schools by warning that homeroom teachers and principals could be held accountable if a student not included on the list later caused problems, according to the report.
Victims said schools sometimes chose students by drawing lots or by encouraging students to report one another. Testimony also said students from poorer households or single-parent families — those less able to protest — were often targeted.
“PD Notebook” said the student “reeducation” went beyond school discipline and was tied to the Chun Doo-hwan military government’s governing strategy. It said the military, which operated the Samcheong Reeducation Camp as part of a 1980 “special measures to eradicate social evils,” expanded the target to include middle and high school students. The program also said it analyzed the policy as aimed at blocking the momentum of the democratization movement spreading from Gwangju.
One victim interviewed by the program said he was singled out and beaten with a pickax handle because of his history of participating in the May 18 Democratization Movement. The program said the case shows that, under the pretext of identifying “delinquent students,” state violence was inflicted even on teenagers.
After their release, victims said they were left with the stigma of being labeled “delinquent students.” They said they were shut out of normal opportunities for schooling and employment and stayed silent for years, treating the state violence as a personal shame. Victims also said threats from soldiers — including orders to “never speak about it” — contributed to their silence.
More recently, victims filed state compensation lawsuits after an investigation by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. However, the court set compensation at 100,000 won per day, totaling 1 million won, citing factors including that schools also bore responsibility and that the victims were students at the time, according to the program. Victims said they were devastated that decades of suffering and life damage were reduced to the 10 days of forced confinement.
The victims, once boys, are now elderly, and perpetrators are also dying, the program said. “PD Notebook” said it asks how victims’ lives collapsed under violence designed by the state and enabled by schools, and how the state should be held accountable.
The “PD Notebook” episode “Forgotten Boys, 1981: Student Samcheong Reeducation” airs at 10:20 p.m. May 5.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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