Planning Notes: October, there, we deliver waves of cheers.
Part 1 The President is dead
Part 2: The Calm Before the Storm
Part 3: The Rising Waves
Part 4 October 16th
Part 5 October 17th
Part 6: The Road to Masan
Part 7 Storm
When you pass the 8th hill
Epilogue
Commentary on the work: A grand narrative of the anti-Yushin democratic struggle written by the citizens of Busan and Masan.

“Even a small spark can fly far if carried by the wind.”
The fervent aspirations of the citizens of Busan and Masan that sparked the great democratization narrative.

In 1979, when the dictatorship of Park Chung-hee had lasted nearly 20 years, civil liberties and basic rights were being thoroughly suppressed under the chilling Yushin regime.
It was a time when the president was elected by a small group of people gathered in a gymnasium, anyone who spoke critically of the government could be arrested without a warrant, and protests were suppressed with violence by military and police forces, with the ringleaders being executed or severely punished.
The people's livelihoods became increasingly difficult due to two oil shocks, a severe economic downturn, and the burden of the newly introduced value-added tax.
Although no one dared to speak out, the desire to overthrow oppression and restore democracy was stirring in the hearts of the citizens who had been living under the shadow of dictatorship.

In October of that year, the uprisings that broke out in Busan and Masan caused cracks in the seemingly solid Yushin regime.
At around 10:00 AM on October 16, the Busan-based university students joined the Busan-Masan Democratic Struggle, which began with the first beacon being lit on the campus of Pusan ​​National University. Gradually, people from various social classes, including workers, small business owners, employees, and the unemployed, began to take the lead in the movement, developing into a large-scale civil protest.
Two days later, they moved to Masan, a city neighboring Busan, and the desire for democracy became uncontrollable.
The five-day Buma Uprising sparked political conflict within the Yushin regime, leading to the assassination of the president. The spark of Buma ushered in the turbulent 1980s and became the seed of the great democratization epic that led to the May 18th Democratization Movement and the June 10th Democratization Movement.

"Spark" brings to life the October 1979 uprising in Busan and Masan in the most three-dimensional way possible.
High school students, college students, industrial complex workers, construction workers, delivery workers, factory owners, and other common people living here that day unfold their lives and stories, and finally come together as one under the flames of the democratic struggle.
Although their lives have been different, the unified voice of the citizens who, despite the merciless violent suppression, have cried out for the "abolition of the Yushin regime" and the "overthrow of the dictatorship" fully embodies the most urgent and desperate wish of the Republic of Korea 45 years ago.
Rather than focusing on the heroic characters who led the struggle, the structure of the story, in which various popular narratives converge to gradually form a massive wave of democratization, most accurately reproduces the characteristics and significance of the Buma Democratic Struggle.
The work does not stop there, but also looks at the changes in the lives of ordinary citizens after the uprising, and profoundly reflects on the changes and challenges that the Buma Democratic Uprising left in our society.

45th Anniversary of the Busan-Masan Democratic Struggle
The scene of that day, most faithfully and vividly recreated

The Buma Democratic Struggle has long been forgotten in our memories.
The shock from the October 26 Incident that occurred immediately after the uprising and the subsequent Gwangju Massacre by the new military junta was so great, and the dictatorship's distorted propaganda about the Busan-Masan Democratic Uprising also played a major role.
Although related laws were enacted, a truth-finding committee was launched, and a national memorial day was designated in succession in the 2010s, few people are still aware of the historical context of the Buma Democratic Struggle and the specific circumstances of the social upheaval that unfolded within it.
Popular content about the Buma Democratic Struggle that was credible, easy to understand, and enjoyable was extremely limited.

Therefore, this publication is welcome news to civil society, academia, and readers in Busan, Masan, and Gyeongnam.
"Spark" is the first work to publish the Bu-Ma Democratic Struggle as a comic book. Its content is based on the "Bu-Ma Democratic Struggle Truth Investigation Report" published by the Bu-Ma Democratic Struggle Truth Investigation Committee in 2022, and from planning to storyboarding, it went through meticulous and detailed content review by members of the Truth Investigation Committee who actually worked on the committee and experts from the Memorial Foundation for the Democratization Movement.
In addition, the flowing storytelling of cartoonist Dadraegi, who has illuminated the lives of local people and the small but precious beings, shines, allowing people of all ages and genders to immerse themselves in the historical site of the Buma Democratic Struggle. This year marks the 45th anniversary of the Buma Democratic Struggle, which has brought back an important page in the great epic of democratization that must not be forgotten but was forgotten.
As the only work to capture the Buma Democratic Struggle in comic form, "Spark" will become a new guide to our modern history that can be enjoyed by everyone from the democratization generation to children and teenagers growing up.