‘The Activist’ handwriting to be turned into font

The handwriting of activist Park Yong-jun, who created “The Activist” to raise awareness of the May 18 Gwangju Democratic Uprising, will be made into a font.

Local public policy platform Gwangjuro unveiled its plan on Sunday to produce the font by May 27 with Daon Communication, which created fonts from handwriting of Kim Gu, An Jung-geun, Yun Bong-gil, Yun Dong-ju and Han Yong-un as well as cartoons to promote Korea University.

“I always wondered if there is handwriting from the Gwangju Democratic Uprising,” said Hwang Seok-hyeon, CEO of Daon Communication. “I wanted to create a font to commemorate the historic event.” Half of the production cost will be covered by Hwang.

Park Yong-jun, who was an orphan, was a shoe cleaner and pressman in the afternoon and a high school student at night. After joining Gwangju YWCA Credit Union, he started attending “Night Studies” in 1978, the first night school that opened in the city.

Keen on printing and handwriting, Park produced and distributed The Activist with teachers and fellow students during the movement. Ten editions were published from May 21 to May 26 in 1980, raising awareness of the uprising that were taking place in Gwangju, while major newspapers were gagged by the military government. “The fight for democracy is spreading throughout the country despite repression and disinformation efforts by the martial law government,” The Activist said back then.

Park was fatally shot by the military at the Gwangju office of YWCA on May 27, 1980. “The font will be created with the money raised by citizens,” said Baek Hui-jeong, the executive director of Gwangjuro. “It will be available from May 21 on our website.” Funds will be raised through an NGO at www.socialfunding.or.kr.


Hyeong-Ju Lee peneye09@donga.com