On March 20, the South Korea-based national preparatory committee has been established in anticipation of the 20th World Festival of Youth and Students. The committee, formed to encourage the participation of South Korean youth and students in the upcoming festival, has issued a public appeal reflecting the current state of affairs both on the Korean Peninsula and in the broader international arena.
The World Festival of Youth and Students, a long-running international event that brings together young people from across the globe, has historically served as a platform for dialogue, cultural exchange, and solidarity among youth movements worldwide.
The newly formed National Preparatory Committee – South Korea urged young South Koreans to actively take part in the festival, emphasizing the significance of international youth solidarity in the face of today’s complex geopolitical landscape. In its appeal, the committee addressed pressing issues in S.Korean and global affairs, stating:
Down with Imperialism and Fascism That Threaten the Future of Youth!
Imperialism is unleashing World War 3, robbing the world’s youth of their future. Governments across the globe, including that of South Korea, are cutting social investment in jobs, housing, and education for the people while increasing spending on weapons and military forces. In this process, youth issues are increasingly ignored and young people are forced to make sacrifices. In 2026, the U.S. defense budget exceeded one trillion dollars for the first time in history, marking a 13.4% increase from the previous year. South Korea likewise decided to increase its defense budget by 7.5%. This is an arms race targeting the DPRK and China in East Asia, and a sign that the Korean Peninsula is being pushed toward war. If war breaks out, the military of the ‘Republic of Korea (ROK, South Korea)’, as a colonial army of U.S. imperialism, will turn the South Korean Youth into cannon fodder. Young men in South Korea — a country with mandatory conscription — cannot escape the wretched fate of being dragged into war.
The noose of inequality, born of a dependent and deformed economic structure, tightens around young people with each passing day. As many as 75% of teenagers say they study for no other reason than to find a good job. But what is the reality? South Korea’s higher education completion rate stands at 71%, yet the employment rate is only 80%, and most of those jobs are irregular. The cunning maneuver to conceal class inequality manifests in the wide gaps in labor conditions and wages between young men and young women, and between older and younger workers. Women’s wages stand at only 70% of men’s, and the effective rate of irregular employment among youth approaches 50%. Young people — especially young women — are forced into low-quality jobs and low wages under a two- and three-fold structure of exploitation. The fact that South Korea has the highest suicide rate among OECD countries, and that suicide is the leading cause of death among youth aged in their teens through thirties, reveals the brutal reality that South Korean society is a living hell for young people.
We, the youth, are the masters of history and the masters of our times. The youth have always stood at the forefront of South Korea’s anti-imperialist and anti-fascist struggle. Just as the majority of the partisans and resistance fighters who drove out fascism in World War II were young people, the youth of South Korea etched history in blood at the heart of the armed anti-Japanese struggle — the main force of the resistance against Japanese colonial rule. South Korea’s youth drove out the military fascist regime and advanced democracy through the blood shed in the Gwangju People’s Uprising of 1980 and the June Struggle of 1987. The youth and the people were also the protagonists of the December Struggle of 2024, which put an end to Yoon Seok-yeol’s fascist pro-U.S. military coup and insurrection. As imperialism and fascism escalate World War III and the peoples of the world suffer the ravages of war, our youth must respond to this historic call with united struggle alongside the world’s anti-imperialist youth and peoples.
“No Pasarán!” and “Down with Imperialism!” are the banners of struggle our youth must raise in this era. When imperialist-fascist forces invaded Spain in 1936, the youth of the world cried “No Pasarán! (They shall not pass!)”and threw themselves boldly into the Spanish Civil War. Though the war was ultimately lost, the heroic young fighters returned to their own countries and won brilliant victories in defeating fascist forces. At that time, the war spread from Spain to France, then across Western and Eastern Europe, giving rise to World War II in earnest. Likewise, the current war situation will expand from West Asia to East Asia, and from Eastern Europe to Central America, driven by imperialism’s push toward World War III. As long as imperialism exists, wars of aggression will continue. The World Festival of Youth and Students in Caracas, to be held in July 2026, is being prepared as a historic event to strengthen the internationalist unity and anti-imperialist, anti-fascist struggle of youth across the world in this era of World War 3. Actively participating in the Festival will be an important step toward fulfilling the anti-imperialist, anti-fascist mission that our times demand of youth. The future belongs to the youth.
Youth of the World, Unite!
No Pasarán!
Down with Imperialism!
March 20, 2026
National Preparatory Committee-South Korea
