The Gwangju Uprising, also known in South Korea as May 18 Democratization Movement (), was a series of student-led demonstrations that took place in Gwangju, South Korea, in May 1980, against the coup d'état of May Seventeenth by Chun Doo-hwan that strengthened his power. Chun had previously taken power and become military dictator through the coup d'état of December Twelfth at the end of 1979. He implementated martial law, arrested opposition leaders, closed all universities, banned political activities, and suppressed the press. The uprising was violently suppressed by the South Korean military who retook Gwangju. Between 600 and 2,300 people were killed. Some Gwangju citizens took up arms and formed militias, raiding local police stations and armories, and were able to take control of large sections of the city before soldiers re-entered the city and suppressed the uprising. While the South Korean government claimed 165 people were killed in the massacre, scholarship on the massacre today estimates 600 to 2,300 victims. The military government of Chun labelled the uprising a "riot" and claimed, without evidence, that it was being instigated by "communist sympathizers and rioters" acting at the behest of the North Korean government. The United States under the Carter administration, fearing that North Korea might intervene, gave approval to Chun to retake the city and also considered contingency plans to send extra U.S. troops to South Korea if the uprising spread to other cities.

In 1997, a national day of commemoration for the massacre was established for May 18 and a national cemetery for the victims was established. Later investigations confirmed the atrocities that had been committed by the army. In 2011, the document archive of the Gwangju Uprising was listed on the UNESCO Memory of the World International Register. In contemporary South Korean politics, denial of the Gwangju Massacre is commonly espoused by conservative and far-right groups.

Background

The assassination of President Park Chung Hee on 26 October 1979 triggered a number of democracy movements that had previously been suppressed under Park's tenure. The abrupt end of Park's 18-year authoritarian rule left a power vacuum that created political and social instability. Park's successor, Choi Kyu-hah, had no real control over the government and Chun Doo-hwan, chief of the Defense Security Command (DSC), was able to seize control of the military in the coup d'état of December Twelfth. At the time, both the military and Chun denied any political motivations behind the coup and Chun had no clear influence over domestic politics.

In March 1980, the beginning of a new school year, professors and students who had been expelled for pro-democracy activity returned to university and formed student unions. These unions led nationwide demonstrations against martial law and in support of democratization, free elections, human rights, labor rights, and freedom of the press. These protests culminated in the 15 May 1980 demonstration against martial law at Seoul Station which involved 100,000 protesters. When the prime minister appealed for time to consider their demands, students returned to their campuses. On 16 May, opposition leaders Kim Dae-jung and Kim Young-sam held a joint press conference, echoing the students' demands.

Beginning in February 1980, the army issued orders to a number of units to undergo severe riot control training, called "Loyalty Training" (). The training included harsh and unconscionable tactics, and was criticized as a factor behind the paratroopers' indiscriminate use of violence against the subsequent uprising.

On 17 May 1980, Chun forced the Cabinet to extend martial law to the whole country and in the process closed universities, banned political activities, and further curtailed the press. To enforce martial law, troops were dispatched to the country's main cities, including Gwangju, the provincial capital of South Jeolla Province. The same day, the DSC raided a national conference of student union leaders who had gathered to discuss their plans following the 15 May demonstration. Twenty-six politicians, including opposition leader and future president Kim Dae-jung were also arrested on charges of instigating protests. Chun sought to minimize the scale of protests by cutting off all communication to and from Gwangju and used disinformation to depict the protests as the result of communist instigators. and the region was associated with political dissent and liberal activism. Historically, the region was the site of the anti colonial Donghak Peasant Revolution (1894–1895), the Gwangju Student Independence Movement (1929), and the Yeosu–Suncheon rebellion (1948). Under the military dictatorship of Park Chung Hee from 1961 to 1979, the government favored the development of Park's native Gyeongsang Province, while Jeolla Province was neglected. Among the protests against Chun's imposition of martial law, the protests in Gwangju were the most intense.

Uprising

18–21 May

thumb|left|The former South Jeolla Provincial Office

On the morning of 18 May, students gathered at the gate of Chonnam National University to protest its closing. By 9:30 a.m., approximately 200 students had gathered in front of the school, opposed by 30 paratroopers. Sometime around 10 a.m., the soldiers charged against the students, moving the protest to downtown Gwangju, in front of the South Jeolla Province Provincial Office. Over the course of the day, the conflict broadened to around 2,000 participants. Although local police had initially handled the protests, by 4 pm, paratroopers from the Republic of Korea Special Warfare Command (ROK-SWC) took over. The arrival of 686 soldiers from the 33rd and 35th battalions of the 7th Airborne Brigade marked the beginning of a brutal and infamous phase of suppression of the uprising.

During this phase, South Korean soldiers indiscriminately clubbed demonstrators and bystanders. Soldiers used bayonets to attack, torture, and kill residents indiscriminately. Soldiers raided buildings unrelated to the demonstration, including hotels, cafés, and barbershops. The first known fatality was a 29-year-old deaf man named Kim Gyeong-cheol, who was clubbed to death despite being a bystander. The violent suppression of the protests by the ROK-SWC led the number of protesters to rapidly increase, exceeding 10,000 by 20 May. Four policemen were killed at a police barricade near the Provincial Government Building after a car drove into them.

On the night of 20 May, hundreds of taxis led a parade of buses, trucks, and cars to the Provincial Office in protest. These "drivers of democracy" showed up to support the demonstrators because of the brutality of the South Korean government. and Bang Gwang-beom, attempted to swim across the Wonje Reservoir, but the 11th Airborne Brigade Troopers opened fire and killed them. At 1:55 p.m., the South Korean military suffered the greatest number of casualties when troops from the 11th Airborne Brigade 63rd Special Operations Battalion and the CATC Army Infantry School Training Battalion mistakenly fired at each other in Songam-dong, resulting in the deaths of 13 soldiers. Troops from the 11th Airborne Brigade indiscriminately murdered unarmed civilians and residents near the village in Songam-dong and plundered nearby stores. Martial Law Command misinterpreted friendly fire at Songam-dong as the work of insurgents within the army, as the Airborne Brigade Troopers were using a different communications channel.

Settlement Committees

Meanwhile, in the liberated city of Gwangju, the Citizens' Settlement Committee and the Students' Settlement Committee were formed. The former was composed of about 20 preachers, lawyers, and professors and negotiated with the army, demanding the release of arrested citizens, compensation for victims, and the prohibition of retaliation in exchange for the disarmament of militias. The latter committee was formed by university students and took charge of funerals, public campaigns, traffic control, withdrawal of weapons, and medical aid.

  • Kim Jong-bae () - Chief Executive
  • Heo Kyu-jeong () - Secretary of Home Affairs

Role of the police

The National Security Headquarters initially dealt with the protests, but were soon supplemented by paratroopers from the 7th Airborne Brigade, before being fully taken over and ordered to evacuate to allow the army. The police suffered some of the first casualties of the massacre when four policemen were killed during a car-ramming attack. However, the martial law forces were also not friendly to the local police of Gwangju. In addition, some paratroopers assaulted the police and some residents testified witnessing police officers being chased down by the military.

Casualties

thumb|The victims of the Gwangju Massacre were buried at the May 18 National Cemetery.

There is no universally accepted death toll for the Gwangju Massacre. Records of death for the city in May 1980 were an estimated 2,300 above the historical averages and the death toll has been estimated to be anywhere between 1,000 and 2,000 people. Estimates for the number of civilians wounded also vary heavily, including figures anywhere from 1,800 to 3,500 people.

Shortly after the massacre, the government's Martial Law Command released an official death toll at 144 civilians, 22 soldiers and 4 police and then 127 civilians, 109 troops and 144 police wounded. Individuals who attempted to dispute these figures were liable for arrest for "spreading false rumors".

According to the May 18 Family Association, at least 165 people died between 18 and 27 May, while another 76 are still missing and presumed dead. Twenty-two soldiers and four policemen were killed during the massacre, including 13 soldiers who were killed by friendly fire at Songam-dong. The number of police casualties is likely to be higher, due to reports of police officers being killed by soldiers for releasing captured protesters.

Aftermath

thumb|left|May 18 Minjung Struggle Memorial Tower

The government denounced the uprising as a rebellion instigated by Kim Dae-jung and his followers. Kim was convicted and sentenced to death, although his sentence was reduced following the intervention of U.S. Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. A total of 1,394 people were arrested for their involvement in the Gwangju Uprising, and 427 were indicted. Seven people received death sentences and twelve received life sentences. Estimates following the massacre suggested that more than 200,000 people participated in the uprising, facing roughly 3,000 paratroopers and 18,000 police officers.

Handcarts and garbage trucks carried 137 bodies from the massacre to the Old Mangweol-dong Cemetery on the outskirts of Gwangju. The state established the New Mangweol-dong Cemetery to commemorate Gwangju's history.

The Gwangju Uprising has had a profound impact on South Korean politics. Chun Doo-hwan, who was already unpopular because of his military coup, faced threats to his legitimacy following the dispatch of Special Forces paratroopers against demonstrators in Gwangju. The movement preceded other democratic movements during the late 1980s that pressured the regime into democratic reforms and paved the way for the election of President Kim Dae-jung in 1997, the first opposition candidate to win the office.

In 1995, in response to public pressure, the National Assembly passed the Special Law on May 18 Democratization Movement, which enabled the prosecution of those responsible for the Coup d'état of December Twelfth and the suppression of the Gwangju Uprising even though the statute of limitations had been exceeded.

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On 3 December 1995, Chun, his ally and former President Roh Tae-woo, and 15 others were arrested on charges of conspiracy and insurrection. On 26 August 1996, the Seoul District Court issued a death sentence to Chun, but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment and a fine of . Former President Roh Tae-Woo was sentenced to 22.5 years, which was reduced to 17 years on appeal. On 17 April 1997, the judgment was accepted by the Supreme Court of Korea. Chun was officially convicted of leading an insurrection, conspiracy to commit insurrection, taking part in an insurrection, illegal troop movement orders, dereliction of duty during martial law, murder of superior officers, attempted murder of superior officers, murder of subordinate troops, leading a rebellion, conspiracy to commit rebellion, taking part in a rebellion, and murder for the purpose of rebellion, as well as assorted crimes relating to bribery. However, on 22 December 1997, all of the people convicted in the trials were pardoned in the name of national reconciliation by President Kim Young-sam on the advice of President-elect Kim Dae-jung.

Starting in 2000, the May 18 Memorial Foundation has offered an annual Gwangju Prize for Human Rights to notable defenders of human rights in memory of the massacre.

On 25 May 2011, the documents of the Gwangju Uprising were listed on the UNESCO Memory of the World International Register. Following its inclusion, the Gwangju Metropolitan City government established May 18 Archives and passed the Management Act on the Archives of May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement. Between 2014 and 2015, the Gwangju Metropolitan City government also re-modeled the former Gwangju Catholic center building to conserve its former state.

Role of North Korea

The military dictatorship then and conservative presidential administrations since have long asserted that the uprising was secretly organized by North Korean military officers and was therefore a communist-backed uprising that deserved to be put down with force. However, subsequent declassified U.S. diplomatic and military intelligence cables repudiated any notion of North Korean involvement. Communications intercepts uncovered that the North Korean leadership intended to intervene should the protests develop into a nationwide popular revolt and South Korea be engulfed in revolution, but would remain neutral otherwise. U.S. officials came to the conclusion that the Gwangju protests were an indigenous uprising orchestrated without any foreign involvement, but needed to be put down for domestic and international stability.

Anti-Americanism

thumb|Barbed wire at the back of the memorial

In the 1980s, South Korea saw a marked rise in Anti-American sentiment. Many scholars have traced this shift to the United States' support for Chun's government and its involvement in the suppression of the Gwangju Uprising. According to Bruce Cumings:

<blockquote>Gwangju convinced a new generation of young [Koreans] that the democratic movement had developed not with the support of Washington, as an older generation of more conservative Koreans thought, but in the face of daily American support for any dictator who could quell the democratic aspirations of the Korean people. The result was an anti-American movement in the 1980s that threatened to bring down the whole structure of American support for the ROK. American cultural centers were burned to the ground (more than once in Gwangju); students immolated themselves in protest of Reagan's support for Chun.</blockquote>

Fundamental to these beliefs is the perception of U.S. complicity in Chun's rise to power and in the Gwangju Massacre. Although William H. Gleysteen, then U.S. Ambassador to South Korea, stated in a letter to The New York Times that the United States authorized the Republic of Korea Army's 20th Division to retake Gwangju and restore martial law, the United States government has denied these claims. The United States has consistently denied any foreknowledge of the unit's deployment, and has stated that the U.S. government would regardless have no right to interfere in the actions of the South Korean government.

Re-evaluation

At the Mangwol-dong cemetery in Gwangju, survivors of the demonstrations and bereaved families have held an annual memorial service, called the May Movement, on the anniversary of the massacre. Many pro-democracy demonstrations in the 1980s demanded official recognition of the massacre and punishment for those responsible.

The first official re-evaluation of the massacre began after the reinstatement of direct presidential elections in 1987. In 1988, the National Assembly held a public hearing on the uprising, officially renaming the events to the "Gwangju Uprising" or the "Gwangju People's Uprising".

Developments from 1997 to 2013

In 1997, 18 May was declared an official memorial day. In 2002, a law privileging bereaved families took effect, and the Mangwol-dong cemetery was elevated to the status of a national cemetery.

On 18 May 2013, President Park Geun-hye attended the 33rd anniversary of the Gwangju Uprising and stated, "I feel the sorrow of family members and the city of Gwangju every time I visit the National May 18 Cemetery", and that "I believe achieving a more mature democracy is a way to repay the sacrifice paid by those [killed in the massacre]."

2017 investigation

In May 2017, newly elected South Korean President Moon Jae-in announced his plans to re-open investigations into the South Korean government's role in the suppression of the uprising.

In February 2018, it was revealed for the first time that the army had used McDonnell Douglas MD 500 Defender and Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopters to fire on civilians. Defense Minister Song Young-moo delivered an apology. On 7 November 2018, Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo issued another apology for the South Korean military's role in suppressing the uprising and acknowledged that soldiers had engaged in acts of sexual violence during the crackdown.

In May 2019, Kim Yong-Jang, a former intelligence officer at the 501st Military Intelligence Brigade of the U.S. Army testified that Chun Doo-hwan personally ordered troops to shoot protesters based on the intelligence he saw at the time. According to Kim, Chun secretly came to Gwangju on 21 May 1980, by helicopter to meet four military leaders including commander of special operations Chung Ho-Yong and colonel of the Gwangju 505 security unit Lee Jae-woo. Kim also testified that there were undercover soldiers among the Gwangju citizens acting as agents provocateurs aiming to discredit the movement. These soldiers were "in their 20s and 30s with short hair, some wearing wigs" and "their faces were burnt and some wore worn-out clothes".

2020 Truth Commission

In May 2020, 40 years after the uprising, the independent May 18 Democratization Movement Truth Commission was launched to investigate the crackdown and the use of military force. Under legislation passed in 2018, it operated for two more years, with a one-year extension allowed if necessary. In an interview marking the massacre's 40th anniversary and following Democratic Party's (DP) landslide victory in the 2020 South Korean legislative election, President Moon announced his support for inscribing the historic value and significance of the Gwangju Uprising in a new constitution of South Korea.

May 18 Special Act

With its supermajority in the National Assembly after the 2020 South Korean legislative election, the DP also implemented a series of reforms in December 2020, including revisions to the May 18 Special Act to penalize those involved in making false claims about the Gwangju Uprising.

U.S. involvement

Documents available since 1996 describe how, after a White House Meeting on May 22, the U.S. commander in Korea released Korean troops from the U.S.-South Korean joint command to retake the city of Gwangju. The Pentagon also asked for a delay on the final assault in order to dispatch additional support planes to the peninsula.

Declassified United States Department of State documents in July 2021, requested by the South Korean government, revealed that the U.S. ambassador William H. Gleysteen was informed by the Chief Presidential Secretary Choi Kwang-soo of the plans for an army crackdown a day before it took place.

The released documents showed that Gleysteen expressed Washington's concerns over growing anti-American sentiment in the Gwangju area, amid broadcasts asserting that the U.S. was involved in the military crackdown. Prior to the declassification, the notion of American foreknowledge and involvement in the Gwangju Massacre had been officially denied by the United States. At the time, Chun Doo-hwan's military regime, in an attempt to justify the violent crackdown, falsely labeled the pro-democracy protesters—who had no ties to North Korea—as a pro-communist rebellion and deceived the public by claiming that the military regime had the support of the U.S. government.

Literature

  • Dance Dance Revolution (2007), a poem by Cathy Park Hong
  • There a Petal Silently Falls: Three Stories (2008) by Choe Yun
  • The Old Garden (2009), a novel by Hwang Sok-yong
  • The Seed of Joy (2015), a novel by William Amos
  • Human Acts (2016), a novel by Han Kang
  • Jenny's Attic (2020), a novel by Jennifer Huntley Mario

Compositions

  • "Exemplum in memoriam Kwangju" for orchestra by Isang Yun
  • 518-062 by Gloss and Naksyeon of D-Town (2010)

Television

  • Sandglass (1995)
  • 5th Republic (2005)
  • Youth of May (2021)

Film

  • (1991)
  • A Petal (1996), adapted from the short story "There a Petal Silently Falls" by Choe Yun
  • Peppermint Candy (1999)
  • The Old Garden (2006), adapted from the novel "The Old Garden" by Hwang Sok-yong
  • May 18 (2007)
  • Sunny (2011)
  • 26 Years (2012), based on the 2006 manhwa by Kang Full
  • National Security (2012)
  • The Attorney (2013)
  • 1987: When the Day Comes (2017)
  • Excavator (2017)
  • A Taxi Driver (2017)
  • The Man Standing Next (2020)
  • Hunt (2022)
  • Swallow (2022) by Lee Song-hee-il

Music videos

  • "That's My Fault" and "It's Over" by Speed, featuring Kang Min-kyung and Park Bo-young, respectively
  • "May" by Wings of the ISANG

See also

  • Busan–Masan Uprising
  • Busan American Cultural Service building arson
  • Gukpung 81
  • June Democratic Struggle
  • Jürgen Hinzpeter
  • May 18 Memorial Foundation

Footnotes

Citations

References

Further reading

  • The May 18 Memorial Foundation (in Korean and English)
  • 1980: The Kwangju uprising&nbsp;– article with comments on the self-administration people developed.
  • Kwangju: Citizen's response to state violence (AHRC HRCS Educational Module)
  • Kwangju: People's perseverance in seeking justice (AHRC HRCS Educational Module)
  • (by Sanjeewa Liyanage)
  • Photo gallery
  • "Lingering legacy of Korean massacre", BBC News, 18 May 2005.
  • "May 18 Documents - U.S. Embassy & Consulate in the Republic of Korea"
  • "United States Government Statement on the Events in Kwangju, Republic of Korea, in May 1980" , 19 June 1989
  • Hwaryeohan Hyuga (A Magnificent Holiday)&nbsp;– official website for the 2007 movie about the Gwangju Uprising
  • "Ex-Leaders Go On Trial In Seoul"&nbsp;– A 27 February 1996 review of the Cherokee Files (contemporaneous with ex-presidents Chun and Roh's trials)
  • Bibliography of Kwangju Uprising in English
  • Facebook memorial page (in Korean)