South Korea under military rule, 1980. Sabuk mine workers staged an uprising in protest of atrocious working conditions. This was a month before the Kwangju massacre. The miners attacked the trade union head’s house and the police station, and armed police were dispatched to suppress the riots. Three days later, after peace returned, the authorities arrested, detained, and tortured eighty-one people. The director of this film, five years old at the time, decides to speak t...more

South Korea under military rule, 1980. Sabuk mine workers staged an uprising in protest of atrocious working conditions. This was a month before the Kwangju massacre. The miners attacked the trade union head’s house and the police station, and armed police were dispatched to suppress the riots. Three days later, after peace returned, the authorities arrested, detained, and tortured eighty-one people. The director of this film, five years old at the time, decides to speak to all parties involved in this forgotten tragedy. We find that twenty years later, the mining company and government officials have risen to the pinnacle of Korean society, while the former miners still suffer psychologically and physically from the inhumane torture and social discrimination incurred at the time.less