Author Han Kang sharing her thoughts on the Pai Chai High School incident [Photo: Yonhap News]

If Han Kang truly believes in the power of literature and advocates for the “exploration of humanity,” she should not have reduced the Pai Chai High School students to mere “products of the older generation’s failure.”

On June 29, 2026, during the 81st Blue Dragon Flag National High School Baseball Championship at Mokdong Baseball Stadium in Seoul, a match took place between Gwangju Jeil High School and Pai Chai High School. Some players from the Pai Chai High School baseball team were heard shouting toward the opposing dugout, “We gotta go, we gotta go, gotta go to Starbucks,” and “Tank Day.”

This was a cheer referencing the controversial “Tank Day” promotion held by Starbucks Korea just a month earlier, ahead of the 46th anniversary of the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement. The coaching staff of Gwangju Jeil High School immediately protested, the umpire intervened, and Pai Chai High School issued an apology after the game.

Han Kang: “We must not just let this pass”?

Subsequently, the Korea Baseball Softball Association’s Sports Fair Committee decided to suspend the Pai Chai High School baseball team from national competitions for six months and forfeit the remaining Blue Dragon Flag games. Pai Chai High School filed for a retrial, and the students visited Gwangju to offer an official apology. Some May 18-related organizations also appealed for leniency, emphasizing “inclusion rather than exclusion.”

Media reports state that Nobel laureate Han Kang commented on this incident as follows:

She reportedly remarked, “This is an important incident we must not simply let pass,” asking, “As the older generation, how did we fail so miserably?” She added, “We must properly identify the issues brought to the surface and put our heads together to contemplate how to move forward,” and noted that “it is not desirable for one shock to be covered up by another.”

While this statement superficially appears to point toward generational responsibility and the failure of history education, in reality, it is a repetition of an old frame that seeks to solidify the May 18 movement as an absolute sanctuary.

The Reality of the ‘Failure of the Older Generation’ Frame

This self-reproach is a typical piece of rhetoric that has been repeated by left-wing intellectuals since May 1980. They define May 18 strictly as a “pure democratization movement,” and if there is even the slightest deviation from that narrative—such as jokes, satire, or regional rivalry—it is immediately labeled as a “lack of historical awareness,” “hate speech,” or “social failure.”

At the same time, they demand stronger ideological education and surveillance, claiming, “We failed to teach them properly.” The cheering by the Pai Chai High School students was an extension of the culture of regional belittlement and mocking opponents commonly seen at high school baseball games.

Much like the past instance when players from Busan’s Kyungnam High School shouted at Seoul’s Whimoon High School, “Can the Han River beat the ocean? Come play in Busan sometime,” high school sports cheering is inherently rowdy and often infused with regional sentiment.

When this is interpreted solely as “mockery” of May 18 and elevated into a national or generational crisis, the essence of the problem vanishes, and political mobilization begins.

For Han Kang, a Nobel laureate, to reduce this incident to a “failure of the older generation” is an act of weaponizing her literary themes for social and political ends. The May 18 event was a complex series of occurrences surrounding the expansion of martial law by the new military regime on May 17, 1980, and the events on the ground in Gwangju.

It contains multiple layers, including civilian casualties, the military’s excessive suppression, the presence of armed groups, and its subsequent political exploitation. Later, the regime simplified it into a “riot,” while the self-proclaimed democratization forces simplified it into a “martyrdom-like democratization movement.” The truth lies in between.

However, by saying the “older generation failed,” this complexity is ignored, leading directly to the conclusion that “more thorough victim-narrative education” is the only solution.

What is the Real Failure?

The Pai Chai High School students stated that they “didn't know.” This is not an excuse, but a reflection of the reality of their generation. For high school students born in the late 2000s or 2010s, rather than in 1980, May 18 is an “official history” encountered through textbooks, memorial ceremonies, and field trips.

For decades, the state, local governments, and the curriculum have focused intensely on May 18. The result is the overreaction to a “Tank Day” commercial event and the impulsive cheering by high school students that mimicked it. This may not be a result of insufficient education, but a backlash caused by education that forces a specific narrative while blocking critical distance and complex understanding.

The real “failure of the older generation” lies elsewhere. By monopolizing May 18 as a political asset, they have created an atmosphere where anyone who raises even the slightest question or offers a different perspective is driven out as “pro-dictatorship,” “regionally biased,” or a proponent of “hate.”

The baseball association’s severe penalty of a six-month suspension and the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education’s swift follow-up measures for “history and human rights education” are products of that atmosphere. Is it really education to elevate the cheering of high school students at a sports game to the level of a national and historical crime, and in return, threaten the students’ future paths (admissions and scouting)?

The Chain of Shocks and Selective Outrage

The notion of “one shock being covered up by another” that Han Kang pointed out is, in fact, a mechanism best utilized by left-wing media and intellectuals. Whenever a minor incident related to May 18 occurs, they package it as an “important signal,” keep the issue alive for months, and in the process, demand “our failure,” “stronger education,” and “regulation of expression.”

Conversely, they do not demand the same level of outrage or self-reflection regarding North Korean human rights, the realities of the Korean War, mockery or distortion of other historical tragedies, or instances of historical distortion by certain political factions. This selective outrage and selective self-reproach are the real problems.

In fact, the Pai Chai High School incident is an event that reveals the limitations of “sanctifying May 18.” In a liberal democratic society, it is a principle that jokes, satire, and even rude expressions regarding historical events are permitted within legal boundaries.

Using the impulsive cheering of high school students as a pretext to define an entire generation as a “failure” and justifying more ideological indoctrination is not democracy, but moral authoritarianism. True maturity lies not in keeping May 18 as an eternal trauma and political weapon, but in facing the complexity of the event and allowing the next generation to freely interpret and, at times, criticize it.

If Han Kang truly believes in the power of literature and speaks of “exploring humanity,” she should not have reduced the Pai Chai High School students to “products of the older generation’s failure.” They were simply high school students who were winning a game at Mokdong Baseball Stadium in June 2026.

What we should see through them is not the “failure of education,” but the generational gap and backlash born from the excessive politicization and monopolization of the narrative surrounding May 18. The path to bridging that gap is not through more self-reproach and stricter regulations, but by restoring an honest, complex view of history and the freedom of expression.

That is the real signal this incident sends to us, one that we truly must not let pass by.

◆ Songsan Jeong Gwang-je

A poet and researcher of history and philosophy. Former director of the Rhee Syngman Institute. Currently serving as a research advisor to the Korea Modern and Contemporary History Research Association and representative of the philosophy forum Lyceum. He has published four volumes of poetry, co-translated “The Heroes of Hook Ridge,” and authored humanities books including “Joseon Become Myth,” “Humanities on the Tatami,” and “A Liberal’s Reading of Gramsci.”