The Gwang-Ju Massacre
10 days of darkness that changed a nation
Introduction
From 1910 to 1945 Japan occupied and brutalized Korea. With the end of
WWII Korea was liberated. In 1945 the United States and Russia divided
the Korean peninsula just as they had done with Germany. From that point
on North Korea was communist and South Korea was a free democracy, in
theory.
The reality is that from 1945 to the early 90's South Korea was largly a
military dictator ship under the watchful eye of the United States.
During the 50's, 60's and 70's a wave of pro-democracy feelings bean to
grow among many South Koreans.
Build Up
During the presidency of Park Chung-Hee the pro-democracy movement had
been strongly suppressed in many ways, including the expulsion of
pro-democratic professors and students from many national universities.
On October 26, 1979 Park Chung-Hee was assassinated and martial law was
enacted shortly thereafter. The new president, Choi Kyu-Hah and his
cabinet were overthrown in a military coup that December lead by ROK
army general Chun Doo-Hwan.
In March of 1980 the pro-democracy movement caught new life when many of
the expelled studnts and teachers returned for the beginngin of the new
school year. This lead to many demonstrations all across the country.
On May 15 there was a large demonstration in Seoul that involved about
10,000 people. "In response, the government took several suppressive
measures. On May 17, the Cabinet expanded martial law to the whole
nation, which had previously not applied to Jeju-do. The expanded
martial law closed universities, banned political activities and further
curtailed the press" (Wikipidia.com)
The pro-democracy advocates were not going to take this sitting down.
The Stand Off
On May 18 about 200 students gathered in front of Chonnam National
University (in Gwang-Ju). The police opposed them and clashes began
around 10 am. During the following hours the protest spread and grew to
about 2,000 people. At 4 pm over 600 troops moved in and the clash
became exceedingly violent. The troops began beating the protestors and
innocent bystanders. They shot and beat taxi drivers who attempted to
help the protestors or take the wounded to the hospitals. This angered
the citizens of Gwang-Ju and 2 days laters there were 10,000 peopel
involved in the conflict.
On May 21 the citizens armed themselves and began to fire on the police
and military personnel. The military withdrew to wait for
reinforcements. During this time they blockaded the city. No one could
come i n or go out and there was no communication.
Negotiations began and there was hope for an end to the conflict with no
further violence. The citizens wanted those who had been arrested to be
released, compensation for damages, and a promise of no retaliation.
The government demanded that the militias disarm unconditionally first.
The negotiation broke down and at 4:00 am on May 27 the Korean Army
moved into the city with an overwhelming display of force and ended the
uprising in less than 2 hrs.
Somewhere between 150 and 200 people lost their lives during those 10
days and thousands more were wounded. This uprising paved the way for
democracy to come to Korea some 10 years later.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwangju_Democratization_Movement)