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Min Gap-ryong, commissioner general of the Korean National Police Agency (NPA), apologizes to Bae Eun-sim, mother of Lee Han-yeol, a student activist who was killed by police brutality 33 years ago. (Lee Jong-keun, staff photographer)

On June 9, Min Gap-ryong, commissioner general of the Korean National Police Agency (NPA), offered an apology to Bae Eun-sim, mother of Lee Han-yeol, on June 9. That was the day, 33 years ago, when Lee was fatally injured by the police.

This was the first time that the head of South Korea’s police force has personally met Lee’s family members to offer an apology.

Min attended a memorial ceremony on the 33rd anniversary of Lee’s fatal injury. The ceremony was held on Yonsei University’s Sinchon campus, in Seoul’s Seodaemun District, on Tuesday afternoon.

Min showed up at the ceremony, dressed in a suit, and approached Bae, Lee’s mother. “This comes too late, but we feel penitent,” he told her.

“The guilt that we feel cannot be expressed in words. Since you’ve opened your heart to us, we will carry that with us and reflect upon how we can become better police officers,” Min said.

Lee, who was a student at Yonsei University at the time, was taking part in a pro-democracy demonstration on June 9, 1987, when he was struck in the head by a tear gas canister fired by the police. The injury, which proved fatal, sparked what is known as the June Democracy Movement.

Former NPA Commissioner Lee Cheol-seong apologized for the deaths of Park Jong-cheol and Lee Han-yeol in passing at the launch ceremony for a police reform commission on June 16, 2017. The comment came while Lee was apologizing for the death of the farmer Baek Nam-ki, who died after being sprayed by a water cannon operated by the police during anti-government rallies in 2015.

“I would like to offer my deepest condolences and my sincere apology to those who died at the hands of the police during the process of democratization, including Park Jong-cheol and Lee Han-yeol, as well as to the late Baek Nam-gi, who died during the anti-government rallies in 2015, and to his bereaved family members,” Lee said at the time.

The memorial for Lee Han-yeol is held on June 9 of each year, organized by a foundation established in his memory. Since last year, the memorial has been recognized as an official event by Yonsei University.

By Oh Yeon-seo, staff reporter

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