Yun Seok-yang ( ko, 윤석양) (1966-) is a South Korean

whistleblower A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...

. On October 4, 1990, Yun was an army soldier. He blew the whistle about illegal inspections of civilians at the

Defense Security Command The Republic of Korea Armed Forces's Defense Security Command (DSC) was founded as the ''Army Counter Intelligence Corps'' (commonly known as CIC or KACIC; meaning: Special Operation Forces) on October 21, 1950, and it functioned as the primar ...

. He is a public interest informant who became the driving force for the presidential campaign of Roh Tae-woo that year.

Early life

In 1966, he was born in Iksan,

Jeollabuk-do North Jeolla Province (; ''Jeollabuk-do''), also known as Jeonbuk, is a province of South Korea. North Jeolla has a population of 1,869,711 (2015) and has a geographic area of 8,067 km2 (3,115 sq mi) located in the Honam region in the southwest ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

. He became exhausted from

student activism Student activism or campus activism is work by students to cause political, environmental, economic, or social change. Although often focused on schools, curriculum, and educational funding, student groups have influenced greater political e ...

. He joined the ROK Army on active duty in May 1990. He was questioned by Lee Seung-sup and Chief Kim Hyo-su to confess his revolutionary activities and other members. He came back to Seobingo and was working with Kim Seong-seop, Se-jang Lee Seung-seop, Deputy Director Lee Deok-ryeol, Park Dae-ho and Cho Jae- He put three floppy disks in his bag and escaped the Security Command in the early morning of September 23, 1990.

Whistle-blowing

Yun Seok-yang escaped the Army Security Command, visited the National Council of Churches in Korea and submitted a declaration of conscience and summary of his 80-day Army Security Command experience. On September 25, he called a senior colleague who worked as a reporter for the National Press Workers' Union and met him at Jongno-gu,

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

and revealed that he was carrying materials from the Armed Forces Security Command. On October 4, he held a press conference and revealed that "security companies are conducting inspections against 1,300 students, including politicians, journalists, professors and students. At that time, the data that he revealed included the house structure, entry and escape route, and relatives' residence. In the case of emergency

martial law Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory. Use Marti ...

, and government-prepared materials in advance so that they can arrest them immediately. Two years after his arrest, he was rearrested on suspicion of

desertion Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission (a pass, liberty or leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence (UA) or absence without leave (AWOL ), which ar ...

from duty in 1992.

After release

He completed his sentence and was released from prison in October 1994.

Work

*The actual protagonist of 'Moby Dick', directed by Park In-jae who is Korean director in 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yun, Seok-yang Living people 1966 births South Korean whistleblowers South Korean military personnel People from Iksan Hankuk University of Foreign Studies alumni