In April of 1988 the YKU started a petition demanding the removal of nuclear weapons from Korea. It was a part of the movement for peace and unification in Korea.
Since most people travelled by car at night, the signatures had to be collected during the day. Members went around grocery stores, festivals, university campuses, second hand markets, parks, concert halls, and beaches. Collecting signatures was not easy - a YKU member in L.A., Shim In-bo, was thrown out by the police when he went to a university campus to collect signatures. But he didn’t give up. He stood at the gate of the campus and collected signatures into the night. He alone managed to collect four thousand signatures.
Members of New York started a traditional Korean percussion quartet. They would perform at a park, and then request signatures, explaining the cause of their campaign.
One of the YKU members didn’t speak much English, so he went to a beach and drew pictures in the sand. For instance, he drew missiles and a mushroom cloud, and shouted, “Boom! Boom!” Then he would draw a big X over the nuclear weapons and request signatures.
During the fourteen months between May, 1988 to June, 1989, the YKU managed to get hundreds of thousands of signatures. In July, 1989, they went to the Congress, carrying the rolls of paper wrapped in blue cloth. As they delivered these signatures, they were full of hope for a peaceful, reunified Korea.
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