A cheerful song by one of the most successful K-pop girl groups has emerged as a protest anthem for thousands of South Koreans rallying for President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment.
“There’s a rough road ahead of us,” sang the demonstrators in unison, gathered daily outside parliament since last week after Yoon briefly imposed martial law, only to reverse the decision after facing pressure from lawmakers.
As an impeachment vote for the embattled president looms, protesters chant mocking rhymes and sing K-pop in their daily demonstrations, with one song serving as a clarion call for his removal – Girls’ Generation’s “Into the New World”.
“With the unknowable future and obstacles, I won’t change and I can’t give up,” protesters sing, dancing to the upbeat song with hopeful lyrics.
“We will (do it) together no matter how long it takes in my new world.”
This is not the first time the Girls’ Generation’s bop has made an appearance in politics – the single released in 2007 first got harnessed nine years later during student demonstrations at Ewha Womans University.
What started as a campus protest on South Korea’s top women’s university in 2016 intensified due to the school’s link to former president Park Geun-hye’s corruption scandal, eventually leading to Park’s dramatic impeachment the following year.
Viral footage showed Ewha students singing “Into the New World” and linking arms while engaged in a standoff with the police.
The song’s “grassroots power made (it) an emblem for the various protests since then,” Jiyeon Kang, a Korean studies professor at University of Iowa, told AFP.
It “encapsulates… the courage to stand against perceived injustice even when the odds of success are slim, and the comfort of finding a supportive community,” she said.
Used as an activism tool, “Into the New World” is frequently featured in South Korea’s annual queer parade and also blared during a rally supporting the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.
‘Raise their voices’
Girls’ Generation, whose youngest member was 16 when they debuted in 2007, remains one of the most successful K-pop groups of all time.
Member Yuri said in a 2017 interview she had cried while watching the video of their song sung during the university protests.
“It was a moment when I felt a great sense of pride as a singer,” Yuri said.
For protester Han You-jin, the song is a familiar one as she was just a year old when it debuted.
“Singing this song, which I’ve known my whole life, alongside so many other people from different age groups has been special,” the 18-year-old told AFP after she sang it with thousands outside parliament.
This reception is a far cry from how the song was received in 2016 by some commentators calling it inappropriate for protests, said Ewha University alumna Kim Ye-ji, who recalled it as a way for students to “raise their voices”.
“I have seen the world change first-hand a few years ago,” she told AFP, remembering her friends being removed by authorities and “a sense of violence” epitomising her protest days, before it resulted in a presidential impeachment.
“I believe we will navigate well through this as well.”
