From dabke to digital: How South Koreans mobilize for Palestine

SEOUL: From one-man protests to mass demonstrations, performances and literature, South Koreans are increasingly raising awareness on Palestine, with activists outdoing each other in creative expression as the solidarity movement quickly grows.

Advocacy for Palestine has been present in South Korea for several decades, but it has never been as prominent as it is now. While it began to gain some traction in the wake of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, only a handful of activists were involved.

“It was difficult to mobilize back then. Sometimes we had just two members, usually five,” Deng Ya-ping, leader of BDS Korea — a group affiliated with the global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement — told Arab News.

Korean civil society groups used to get together to denounce Israel, but only in response to particular incidents.

“When the situation was over, the groups would return to advocating for their own agendas,” Deng said.

“But now, because the massacre and genocide have been going on for the past 15 months and it’s becoming serious, so many groups — to new magnitudes — have been collaborating to show solidarity.”

It started out as marches in downtown Seoul and soon evolved into a multifaceted awareness campaign as Israel’s response to the attack by the Palestinian group Hamas in October 2023 reached a genocidal scale.

More than 230 civil society groups have joined together as Urgent Action by Korean Civil Society in Solidarity with Palestine, transforming what was once a little-known cause into a dynamic and visible movement that incorporates diverse advocacy methods.

Every day, members of the movement choose one person to hold a banner reading “Stop Genocide” in front of the Israeli Embassy in Seoul and encourage passersby to call for an end to Israel’s onslaught, massacres, and occupation of Palestine.

They also host readathons of Palestinian literature, screen documentaries exposing the realities of life under Israeli occupation, organize meetings with Palestinian refugees, and learn about Palestine’s culture, as they perform the dabke — a traditional dance and a symbol of Palestinian resistance and identity.

Social media has played a major role in amplifying these efforts. A recent Instagram campaign went viral after Korean activists filmed themselves posing as Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas’s political bureau, who remained defiant to the end. The footage released by Israeli forces showed Sinwar with severe injuries and one hand severed, but still fighting the combat drone they had sent to kill him.

The creativity displayed by the Palestine solidarity movement is an inherent trait of South Korea’s civic activism.

“South Korea’s demonstration culture has become highly creative in the 21st century. This is also reflected in the Palestinian solidarity movement here,” said Eom Han-jin, sociology professor at Hallym University in Chuncheon.

“Towards the end of the 1990s, South Korea had already become a democracy, so it had the capability to focus on not only domestic issues, but issues that occur in other regions. The Palestine issue was one of the major international solidarity movements at the time, and people in Korea started to take interest in the Israeli occupation and atrocities in 2000 … Then, the US invaded Iraq, and South Korea sent troops, making it a major agenda for social movements.”

As people who have also experienced colonial occupation, Koreans feel a sense of connection to Palestinians, which has lately been fueled by the influx of foreign workers and students from Palestine and the Middle East who share their stories firsthand.

What strengthens the movement further is the current situation in Korea as well.

“As anti-government protests intensify, the pro-Palestine movement has become part of this larger wave of resistance,” Eom said.

“Unlike in other countries where activism is focused around Middle Easterners and people who sympathize with them, a very diverse set of groups have been collaborating and advocating in South Korea.”

By blending digital advocacy with cultural and grassroots activism, the South Korean movement has attracted a broad and varied base of supporters.

“I was shocked when I saw children being killed and hospitals being attacked,” said Kim Seok-gyu, a 22-year-old observer of the movement.

“I was dumbfounded, because how can they (Israelis) possibly do something like this in the 21st century?”

He is not alone. A recent study by Hankook Research found that 62 percent of its respondents felt more sympathetic toward the Palestinian cause. Support for Israel, on the other hand, has plummeted.

Joo Jeon-ja, a 30-year-old not affiliated with any activist group, has been joining the protests they organize.

“In the news, I have seen little children being killed by the Israelis. I just couldn’t believe my eyes. I thought I had to act,” she said.

“I can’t make large donations or go help the kids, so I just want to do my best from what I can. That is why I participate. I plan to participate more often in the future.”

Joo is also trying to get more people involved.

“I want to bring more people to the protests with me in the future,” she said.

“I realized that collective efforts are important in making a change. It is voices like ours that (can) … make a real difference. And that is what I strive to do.”

Another driving force behind the solidarity movement’s expansion is student activism, which engages especially the younger generations.

Unlike their US counterparts, who have largely relied on mass demonstrations and sit-ins, South Korean students have diversified their activism by running advocacy booths, collecting signatures for petitions, and hosting discussion forums. Online campaigns, inter-university collaborations, and hashtag movements have also gained traction.

One of the organizations is Yalla Yonsei at Yonsei University, one of Seoul’s top institutions.

“There are student groups like ours across several universities in Seoul. We often collaborate on events. For example, there is Soobak (‘watermelon’ in Korean) at the Seoul National University, and we sometimes hold educational seminars with them,” said Lim Jae-kyung, who leads Yalla Yonsei. 

“I want to keep doing what we are doing in order to give support to the people suffering in Palestine. It is those people who are really suffering. The hardships we go through here are nothing compared to what the people are feeling there. There is not much we can do from Korea, but we will keep on fighting.”