The second Lee Han Yeol Academic Seminar, which commemorates the YSB student who died in 1987’s democracy movement, was held in November on the theme “The Youth of 1987 and the Youth of 2019.”

In his welcoming speech, YSB Dean Kil Soo Suh said, "At the first seminar, we reexamined the sacrifice of Lee Han Yeol, and this time we will discuss the concerns of young people back then and today." He also said he hopes the seminar will become a tradition and generate meaningful conversations every year.

Dong Joon Min, senior vice president for Administration and Development of Yonsei University, said, "Although the seminar was only recently begun, I am glad to be with many important democratic citizens." Sung Koo Kang, chairman of the Lee Han Yeol Memorial Association, said he hopes the Lee Han Yeol Academic Seminar will have its unique identities, developing and seeking solutions to today’s problems. Moreover, Dong Gun Han, president of the Yonsei University Democracy Alumni Association, said, "we hope that the Lee Han Yeol Academic Seminar will pave the way for the development of student activism."

The first speaker, Professor Mi Ri Lim of the Center for Korea History at Korea University, presented an essay on "How would Lee Han Yeol look at the Cho Kuk incident: The Ontological Sadness of the date of May 18^th in 1980 and the Legitimate Student Movement in the 1980s." Professor Lim analyzed the conflicting groups in the Cho Kuk incident and linked it to the generational experience of the student movement in the 1980s.

The second speaker was Professor Won Jae Lee of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. He presented on the topic "Severance and Transmission in People's 20s and 50s: A Text Analysis of the Modern Literature in Korea from 1980 to 2015." Professor Lee segmented the groups in his study demographically and analyzed the status quo based on textual data.

In response to Professor Lim's presentation, History Professor Kee Hoon Lee of Yonsei University participated in the discussion and questioned whether stories of intellectuals could be interpreted in accordance with a generational theory. Another discussant, Ji Woong Kwon, director of the Min Snail Housing Co-op, suggested that rather than solving problems related to a generation gap, there should be an opportunity for everyone to get together and have conversations.