삼청교육피해자들의 오뒷세이아

The repressive measures taken by the new military group under Samcheong Plan No. 5 of 1980 were a war against the lower classes. There were four times damage reporting procedure for the Samcheong victims since 1988, but only 10% of the total number of victims responded to the procedure. This low reporting rate is closely related to the characteristics of the Samcheong Incident and its victims. Since social prejudice and state violence operated deeply in the Samcheong Incident, there are the undercurrents that are difficult to resolve through state compensation alone. The special social and cultural projects are essential to overcome the deep darkness of victims’ consciousness. The victims’ movement should also expand from rights struggle against the state to struggle for social recognition and movement for restoration of self-esteem. This article discusses the history of transitional justice and struggles of the Samcheong victims from 1988 to 2024 in three epochs. The first phase(1988-1999) focuses on the struggles of victims for recognition and their frustration against the backdrop of hearings of National Assembly Special Commission for Investigating Wrongdoings under the Fifth Republic. The second phase(2000-2019) deals with the Samcheong Victims Act and the ardous struggle of those still excluded amid the great wave of transitional justice in Korea. The third phase reviews the rekindling of the transitional justice after the 2022 decision by the Truth and Reconciliation Committee. The concluding chapter proposes the direction of revision of the Samcheong Victims Act.