Igniting the Internet: Youth and Activism in Post-authoritarian South Korea by Jiyeon Kang

For the past fifteen years or so, the candlelight vigil has represented the most widely used form of mass protest in South Korea. The recent candlelight protests that propelled the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye in the winter of 2016 was but one example that demonstrated how the candlelight vigil has become a hallmark of a peaceful, yet powerful, form of direct action. In Igniting the Internet: Youth and Activism in Postauthoritarian South Korea (hereafter, Igniting the Internet), Jiyeon Kang sets out to reveal the nature of the candlelight vigil and the young participants behind the rise of this protest form. In broad strokes, the book examines the rise of a new generation of political actors and how, by traversing the online and offline spaces, this new generation created the candlelight vigil as the vehicle for their "Internet-born, youth-driven activism" (p. 4).

The book is organized into two parts. The first part examines the candlelight vigils of 2002 in the aftermath of the killings of two school children by an American military vehicle and the second focuses on the 2008 candlelight protests against the government's decision to free American beef import. If the events in 2002 represent the emergence of the candlelight vigil as a protest form, the author uses the events in 2008 to show how the candlelight vigil became established as a modular form of protest. The protagonist in this book's narrative is the new generation of young South Koreans born between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s. In Chapter 1, Kang lays out their key traits through the examination of the political, socio-cultural, and economic contexts out of which they were formed. They were the first generation of "digital natives" who grew up with the Internet and "the first generation to live democracy rather than to fight for it" (p. 23). In contrast to the previous generation of activists who grew up under authoritarian rule and whose identities were defined heavily by political ideology, the youths in the new millennium represented a post-ideological generation relatively free from the weight of political commitment and equipped with new sensibilities and attitudes that combined "frivolous play and political criticism" (p. 38).

Many works have been published on the subject of candlelight protests or Internet activism, and the origin story of the candlelight vigil has become well known. It was an Internet user named Angma who first issued a call for a candlelight vigil online in late November 2002 to commemorate the two schoolgirls killed by a U.S. armored vehicle earlier in June. Despite a short notice, the wide circulation of Angma's call for action resulted in tens of thousands lighting the Kwanghwamun Square with candles a few days later. How the candlelight vigil gained traction among the youths has remained less clear, and this is where Igniting the Internet offers one of the most detailed and powerful accounts. Kang first investigates the online dynamics to showcase how the "cultural ignition process" was at work. The unintelligible acquittal of the American GIs who ran over the schoolgirls captivated Internet users as they exchanged "emotional images and personal messages" (p. 56) in online communities and developed a "shared sense of commemoration and guilt" (p. 55), thereby providing the necessary motivation for political action. Kang then draws on the concept of corporeal memory to look into how the youths' memory of past experiences hit a chord with the proposed candlelight vigil. The youths carried with them the experience of solemn candlelight ceremonies from middle-school training camps and the vivid memory of mass gatherings in city squares during the World Cup to cheer the South Korean team. These corporeal memories made political participation easier for the youths as gathering in public space with candlelight in their hands turned out a familiar and less intimidating feat.

The points of strength in this book derive from the interviews the author conducted with sixty youths. It was through these interviews that the author was able to present corporeal memory as a critical mechanism that aided the rise of the candlelight vigil (Chapter 4). And it was also through the interviews that the author was able to shed light on the diverse motives, different paths to participation, and the varying impacts participating in candlelight vigils had on the lives of young participants as evidence of a new generation that was more independent, individualized, and post-ideological (Chapters 4 and 6). Because of these heterogeneities, the author is reluctant to group the youths into a single category or to define the nature of the 2002 or 2008 candlelight protests as "anti-American," as they were often portrayed in the mainstream media (p. 105). To the extent these youths represented a new political subject, the author contends, they were "inadvertent political actors" (p. 16).

Overall, Igniting the Internet is successful in offering a convincing analysis concerning the rise of the candlelight vigil as a new protest repertoire and the meaning-making process of the youths who discovered the candlelight vigil as their way of "doing politics" (p. 132). But the book also leaves unanswered questions. For example, is the Internet really "an anti-elitist and vibrant social space" (p. 7) that allows communication free from "established political discourse of any stripe" (p.4)?" How do we account for the online communities formed around powerful individuals or institutions—for example, the conservative Cho Gabje or Chosun Ilbo? And were the opponents of the candlelight vigils inactive online? Because the description of online dynamics was based on the study of a single online community for 2002 and 2008, respectively, the reader is left with the improbable impression that only users sympathetic to the candlelight vigils populated the Internet. Another question evolves around the relationship between youths and/or Internet users. The interviews make it clear that youths, teenagers during the early 2000s, form the main subject in this study. However, when it comes to the analysis of online activities, Internet users appear to replace the youths as the main subject. The problem is that not all Internet users were teenagers (Angma was a thirty-year-old man) and that members of conventional, ideological social movement organizations were likely also active in online communities during the 2002 and 2008 candlelight protests. If this were true, the difference between youth activism and conventional social movements may not be as acute as the book lays it out to be.

These questions notwithstanding, there is no question Igniting the Internet will draw significant attention from a diverse crowd in Korean Studies and beyond. This book offers one of the best analyses of the changing nature of popular contention and youth culture mediated by the Internet in South Korea. Anyone interested in the candlelight protests, youths, or Internet dynamics will find the book most helpful. To students of South Korean social movements, the rare focus on repertoire change and collective identity will render this book indispensable.