“THE YOUTH OF MAY”
Posted on : March 4, 2025Author : Varsha Kachhap
The Youth of May rather shows the fragility of human lives that want to prosper just one last May, not knowing they have so much at stake that month – so many promises that will remain unfulfilled, so many goodbyes that will remain unspoken. In terms of its political relevance, the Youth of May allows us a delve into the ugly power play that unfolds in third world countries in the name of “maintaining democracy”. The Youth of May, created by Moon Jun Ha (KBS Drama Production), written by Lee Kang and directed by Song Min Yeob is a story of the twist of fates in the 1980s in a fictional account, representing real circumstances. 1980s – the period when the drama is set, is one of pre-existing political chaos and turmoil with waves of democracy ebbing and flowing and the people constantly resisting the same. Many lives that were inter-meshed with dreams, are but torn apart as things get ugly on the other side of the spectrum.
Released in 2021, it is set in pre-democratic South Korea, revolving around two main leads – namely, Hwang Hee Tae and Kim Myeong Hee. Hwang Hee Tae is the eldest son of the Head of the Anti-Communist regime; who despite being a top student at SNU (Seoul National University) decides to not graduate with his medical degree. Kim Myeong Hee is the eldest daughter of a simple watch repairer who strives to make ends meet – she stays by herself, working as a nurse at the Gwangju Hospital. However, it is a drama limited in capacity to show the real brutalities of these war-like circumstances, due to the strict censorship by KBS (Korean Broadcasting System). The power play of the officials at the helm is evident rampantly in the drama. The deep seated concerns of the bourgeoisie and vested interests that precede any real inclination towards ideology. South Korea, due to its constant conflict with its neighbouring twin, wanted to differ from the North (that was Communist). It ended up joining hands with the USA which proposed the ideology of Capitalism to them. It wasn’t their inclination to the West, rather the need to differ from their immediate neighbour.
As it’s evident, Europe’s history has long been told to the world as ‘World history’. The study of politics being Euro-centric raises the demand to niches that have had their own story to tell. In these smaller pockets of the third world countries; hybrid regimes were blossoming as facade democracies. There was Procedural Democracy, but no Substantive Democracy. An apparently “small uprising” in a peninsular country in the East; probably could have had nothing to do with the world. But such small uprisings were a mirror to the political shadow of turmoil and ideology that preceded the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. As we find in the Youth of May – where the soldiers get directed to confine, hit, stab or even shoot anyone that they are suspicious of as protestors. Not complying with the violent measures adapted by the other soldiers, would bring trouble to the rebel. One of the soldiers, who happened to be a friend of Hwang Hee Tae, loaded his bullets intentionally wrong. His seniors on discovering this had nothing but harsh punches for his non-compliance to the directions issued by the authorities. We reach a point where the children in the drama are witnessing this brutal sight of rampant massacring. In their conversation, they are under the impression that “The North Korean soldiers have invaded the country; these people are not our soldiers. Why would our own soldiers charge on their people like that?” War crimes happen under the garb of misusing their power and exploitation of citizens and their rights. The protests for democracy were actually more peaceful than the military action that was taken to curb them. Not inclining with the ideology of the bourgeoisie, would end up with derogatory tags like being called a “commie”, a tag which was likely to persist in their next generations.
In the Post Second World War phase, “dictatorship” earned a bad name for itself – in an infamous attempt, the heads of the state started calling themselves democratic under the garb of doing everything that is undemocratic in its character. Instead of silencing citizens outright; they carefully curated and manipulated the organs of the government and the process of electing the government to their interests. In the Youth of May, similar representations can be seen as electoral, judicial, legislative and executive wings; where all of them speak in one voice – the voice of the powerful in suppressing the peaceful protestors. It brings back the cliche “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter”. Journalists, opposition politicians and other government critics alongside protestors are even spied on, threatened, harassed or arrested. The cost of bringing democratic ends to the country cost many undemocratic means.
Kim Myeong Hee, one of the main leads is denied her visa to Germany owing to the fact that she might be planning on trespassing to the North. She had prepared herself and studied hard for achieving her dreams of settling abroad. She aspired to receive higher education in Germany and work there as a nurse. Her dreams come to a standstill as she is accused of choosing ‘Germany’ for her “deliberate wrong reasons” of trying to trespass to the North. It is then that she discovers that her father’s family had been accused of being “commies”. They have been wrongfully alleged to be traitors having previously trespassed to the North. In reality, her uncle went missing and couldn’t even be found – for which the higher authorities framed her family for personal reasons.
South Korea continues to have its mandatory military service for all Korean males; which raises the question: how democratic is their “democracy” if citizens are to necessarily give up their current occupation for a period and enlist as military personnel? In the Youth of May, people are prohibited from mindlessly roaming about after the ‘curfew hours’; by virtue of paranoia of secret uprisings, by the military and government. After the declaration of martial law as depicted in the drama, the curfew hours are moved up, to minimise public movement. It is obvious that the real reason for such curfew or security was the “security of the government” and not the “security of the people”. Several people participated in those protests; but the ones who “had connections” are able to get away much easily and manage to make it out alive. During the pre-martial law phase in the drama; akin similarity with the military dictatorships of those times is being represented – keeping the people in confinement without letting them know that they’re actually confined.
Movie Name : The Youth of May, 2021
Director : Song Min Yeob and KBS
Starring : Lee Sang Yi, Go Min Si, Lee Do Hyun, Keum Sae Rok, Oh Man Seok, Sung Ki Yoon and others
References :
Fareed Zakaria, 1997, “Title – Rise of Illiberal Democracy,” Foreign Affairs, Volume 76, Number 6, Nov-Dec 1997, pp 22 to 43
Steven Levitsky and Lucan A. Way, “Rise of Competitive Authoritarianism”, Journal of Democracy, Volume 13, Number 2, April 2002, pp – 51 to 65
Steven Levitsky and Lucan A. Way, “The New Competitive Authoritarianism”, Journal Of Democracy, Volume 31, Number 1, January 2020, pp – 51 to 65
Varsha Kachhap
Intern, Asia in Global Affairs
The views and opinions expressed in this book review are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Asia in Global Affairs. The review is intended for academic and informational purposes only. It is not an endorsement of any particular viewpoint, nor is it intended to malign any individual, group, organization, company, or government.
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