the rigged elections on 15 March, the body of a high school boy with a police tear-gas grenade lodged into his skull was pulled out of a river in Masan. Already antagonized by the election and how the government had handled the protests thus far, the people of Masan exploded in fury. On 18 April, several student leaders at the Korea University in Seoul mobilized a demonstration and led 3,000 students in a march to the National Assembly building. The protesters demanded a new, fair election. They didn't get a response however and the next day, 19 April, approximately 50,000 students forced their way past the police and met in front of the principal government buildings in the centre of Seoul. They had come from thirty different colleges and high schools, and represented almost all the major universities in Seoul. Already before the elections on 15 March 1960, there was growing unrest among the Korean people. The South Korean economy was hit by a crisis because of a change in economic policy. Poverty ruled among the rural areas because residents moved to the city to look for work, but still the unemployment rate was at 34.2%. President Syngman Rhee tried to forcefully keep the populace in line but this only showed the undemocratic nature of his regime. The students wanted a reform of the election system, but were thwarted when Rhee rigged the elections. 1970–1980 During the 1980s, student movements in Korea became an important force in the political climate of South Korea. The turning point can be placed at the Gwangju Massacre in May 1980. This massacre gave the student movement a clear goal: revolution. The 1980s student movement can also be distinguished from its predecessors by its Marxist perspective. The reason of the movement's existence can, however, be traced through the 1960s and 1970s. The generation who led the movement have later been called the 386 Generation. These people went to college in the 1980s and had experienced the oppression of both students and labour first hand. After Korea's liberation by both USSR and US troops, the Rhee-regime and the Korean War, the South Korean government wanted to suppress all forms of political dissidence. All forms of political dissidence were treated as pro-communist and pro-North Korea and all such dissidence was prosecuted under the National Security Law. Besides this violent oppression of political dissidence, South Korea also underwent