Gwangju Uprising

Not to be confused with Gwangju Student Independence Movement.

Gwangju Uprising
Part of the Minjung movement
Photos of the victims of the Gwangju massacre
Memorial Hall in the May 18th National Cemetery in Gwangju where victims' bodies were buried
Date18 May 1980 (1980-05-18) – 27 May 1980; 44 years ago (1980-05-27)
Location
Gwangju, South Korea
Caused by
GoalsDemocratization
  • End of dictatorial rule in South Korea
Methods
Resulted inUprising suppressed
  • Pro-democracy protests escalate into an armed uprising after the South Korean government deploys the army to violently end demonstrations
  • Long-term increase in support for the Minjung Movement, leading to the eventual end of South Korea's dictatorship in 1987
Parties

Gwangju citizenry

  • Protesters
  • Armed citizens
  • Citizens' Settlement Committee
  • Students' Settlement Committee
Lead figures

South Korea Chun Doo-hwan
South Korea Roh Tae-woo
Jeong Ho-yong
Lee Hee-seong
Hwang Yeong-si
Yoon Heung-jung
Ahn Byung-ha (Switched sides due to witnessing brutalities done by the rebels and paratroopers)

Decentralized leadership, South Jeolla Province governance

Units involved

Unknown
(various civilian militias)

Number
Initially:
3,000 paratroopers
Gwangju Blockade:
23,000 troops
200,000 demonstrators
(estimated combined strength)
Casualties and losses
22 soldiers killed
(including 13 by friendly fire)
4 policemen killed
(several more killed by the army after the uprising ended)
109 soldiers wounded
144 policemen wounded
Total:
26 killed
253 wounded
165 killed (confirmed casualties only)
76 missing (presumed dead)
3,515 wounded
1,394 arrested
Up to 600–2,300 killed; see casualties section.

The Gwangju Uprising, known in Korean as May 18 (Korean: 오일팔; Hanja: 五一八; RR: Oilpal; lit. Five One Eight), were student-led demonstrations that took place in Gwangju, South Korea, in May 1980. The uprising was in response to the coup d'état of May Seventeenth that installed Chun Doo-hwan as military dictator and the implementation of martial law. Following his ascent to power, Chun arrested opposition leaders, closed all universities, banned political activities, and suppressed the press. The uprising was violently suppressed by the South Korean military with the approval and logistical support of the United States under the Carter administration, which feared the uprising might spread to other cities and tempt North Korea to interfere.[3] The uprising is also known as the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement[4] (Korean: 5·18 광주 민주화 운동; Hanja: 五一八光州民主化運動; RR: 5·18 Gwangju minjuhwa undong), the Gwangju Democratization Struggle (Korean: 광주 민주화 항쟁; Hanja: 光州民主化抗爭; RR: Gwangju minjuhwa hangjaeng), the May 18 Democratic Uprising[5] (Korean: 5·18 민주화 운동; Hanja: 五一八民主化運動; RR: 5·18 minjuhwa undong) or the Gwangju Uprising (Korean: 광주 항쟁; Hanja: 光州抗爭; RR: Gwangju hangjaeng) in South Korea.[6][7][8]

The uprising began when Chonnam National University students demonstrating against martial law were fired upon, killed, raped, beaten and tortured by the South Korean military.[9][10][11] 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.[12] Under the military dictatorship of Chun, the South Korean government labelled the uprising as a ''riot'' and claimed that it was being instigated by "communist sympathizers and rioters" acting under the behest of the North Korean government.[13][14]

In 1997, 18 May was established as a national day of commemoration for the massacre and a national cemetery for the victims was established.[15] Later investigations confirmed the various atrocities that had been committed by the army. In 2011, the documents of Gwangju Uprising were listed on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. In contemporary South Korean politics, denial of the Gwangju Massacre is commonly espoused by conservative and far-right groups.[16][17]

  1. ^ "Chun Doo-hwan arrived in Gwangju by helicopter before troops opened fire on civilians". Archived from the original on 17 May 2019. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  2. ^ "38 years later, nobody convicted for the murder of civilians during Gwangju Massacre of 1980". Archived from the original on 3 July 2022. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
  3. ^ "2 Days in May That Shattered Korean Democracy". The Nation. Archived from the original on 31 March 2024. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  4. ^ Embassy of the United States in Seoul. "South Korea Current Issues > Backgrounder". Archived from the original on 31 March 2013. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  5. ^ "Human Rights Documentary Heritage 1980 Archives for the May 18th Democratic Uprising against Military Regime, in Gwangju, Republic of Korea". UNESCO. Archived from the original on 26 May 2024. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
  6. ^ "Scars still raw 40 years after dictator crushed South Korea uprising". South China Morning Post. Agence France-Presse. 17 May 2020. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  7. ^ Seymour, Tom (29 March 2021). "South Korea confronts legacy of 1980 massacre at this year's Gwangju Biennale". The Art Newspaper. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  8. ^ Gallo, William (27 May 2020). "As South Koreans Reexamine a 1980 Massacre, Some Ask US to Do the Same". VOA. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  9. ^ "Gwangju apology: South Korea sorry for 'rape and torture' by troops". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 7 November 2018. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
  10. ^ Sallie Yea, "Rewriting Rebellion and Mapping Memory in South Korea: The (Re)presentation of the 1980 Kwangju Uprising through Mangwol-dong Cemetery," Urban Studies, Vol. 39, no. 9, (2002): 1556–1557
  11. ^ Patricia Ebrey et al., "East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History (Second Edition)" United States: Wadsworth Cengage Learning (2009): 500
  12. ^ 5월단체, "5.18 관련 사망자 606명" (in Korean). Yonhap News Agency. 13 May 2005. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 25 May 2013.
  13. ^ "TV shows tarnish Gwangju history," Joong Ang Daily, 21 May 2013: http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2971886 Archived 9 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  14. ^ Martin, Bradley K. (18 May 2021). "Gwangju massacre deniers still seek comfort in North plot". Asia Times. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
  15. ^ May, The Triumph of Democracy. Ed. Shin Bok-jin, Hwang Chong-gun, Kim Jun-tae, Na Kyung-taek, Kim Nyung-man, Ko Myung-jin. Gwangju: May 18 Memorial Foundation, 2004. p. 275.
  16. ^ Sallie Yea, "Rewriting Rebellion and Mapping Memory in South Korea: The (Re)presentation of the 1980 Kwangju Uprising through Mangwol-dong Cemetery," Urban Studies, Vol. 39, no. 9, (2002): 1556
  17. ^ "Dying for democracy: 1980 Gwangju uprising transformed South Korea," The Japan Times, 17 May 2014: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/05/17/asia-pacific/politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific/dying-democracy-1980-gwangju-uprising-transformed-south-korea/#.U-SllvldWZg Archived 11 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine