Gwangju Uprising May 18

A matter of proud for the people of Gwangju on how they sacrificed for the restoration of democracy in their country, but at the same time I feel sorry for them, as they were under extreme curtsy of a cruel ruler. The movie ended with a hope for all & in particular for the people of South Korea.

 I feel like a character of that movement even it has been two weeks, I watched that movie. I still feel warm when remember some of the scenes of the movie. Shortly after the movie we had a lunch and then we moved towards the” May18 Cemetery”. 

The hero of the Uprising movement

We were welcomed by the guiding team. We had a chance to watch a video about the happenings of May 18 in 1980. That video was very informative. Then we visited many places of the memorial including the monuments such as worship square, memorial gate, relief sculpture wall and others. Guide explained everything in detail.  

Also, the exhibition hall provides further resources to better understand the events related to May18.  May18 democratic uprising is regarded as a symbolic movement that brought democracy in Korea. The role of Chonnam National University can never be neglected in that movement as it was the students of the Chonnam University who brought May 18 revolution. 

They were the first row in fight against the cruelty of president Park Jeonghee.  They stand irony against the military action in 1980 and thus gave a lesson of consistent struggle against the evil, till the last breath. According to our guide,” the sequence of events was triggered by student demonstrations on the morning of May 18 in defiance of the new edict. Some 200 Chonnam University students began demonstrating in the morning and by 2:00 P.M. they had been joined by more than 800 additional demonstrators.

  

City police were unable to control the crowd. At about 4:00 P.M., the Martial Law Command dispatched a Special Forces detachment consisting of paratroopers trained for assault missions. The report did not mention it, but the paratroopers killed a large number of people “. 

 Actually the events in Kwangju unfolded after the dictator of South Korea; Park Chung-Hee was assassinated by his own chief of intelligence. In the euphoria after Park's demise, students led a huge movement for democracy, but General Chun Doo-Hwan seized power and threatened violence if the protests continued. All over Korea, with the sole exception of Kwangju, people stayed indoors. With the approval of the United States, the new military government then released from the frontlines of the DMZ some of the most seasoned paratroopers to teach Kwangju a lesson. Once these troops reached Kwangju, they terrorised the population in unimaginable ways. In the first confrontations on the morning of May 18, specially designed clubs broke heads of defenceless students. As demonstrators scrambled for safety and regrouped, the paratroopers viciously attacked: "A cluster of troops attacked each student individually. They would crack his head, stomp his back, and kick him in the face. When the soldiers were done, he looked like a pile of clothes in meat sauce." [Lee Jae-Eui, Kwangju Diary: Beyond Death, Beyond the Darkness of the Age, p. 46] Bodies were piled into trucks, where soldiers continued to beat and kick them. By night the paratroopers had set up camp at several universities.

And this increased anger among the people of Gwangju and a large number of people come out of their homes and participated in the movement. Despite sever beatings and hundreds of arrests, students continually regrouped and tenaciously fought back. As the city mobilised the next day, people from all walks of life dwarfed the number of students among the protesters.

People fought back with stones, bats, knives, pipes, iron bars and hammers against 18,000 riot police and over 3,000 paratroopers. Although many people were killed, the city refused to be quieted.The censored media had failed to report the killings. Instead, false reports of vandalism and minor police actions were the news that they fabricated. The brutality of the army was not mentioned. 

The 1980 peoples' uprising, like these earlier symbols of revolution, has already had worldwide repercussions. After decades in which basic democratic rights was repressed throughout East Asia. The efforts of those brave people come true when Korea get democracy. Although it took two decades but the actual work was done in 1980, to start the movement which was the most difficult task of the era.

                              

Today, the Korean people are living their independent lives just because of the freedom fighters who sacrifice their lives for the restoration of democracy.

Address
Gwangju-si Buk-gu Unjeong-dong San 34
Type
Monuments

Operating Hours

Mar – Oct 08:00 ∼19:00 / Nov – Feb 08:00 ~ 17:00

Parking Facilities

10th-day-no-driving System (Capacity: 376 Vehicles)

Admission Fees

Free

Directions

1. From Gwangju Express Bus Terminal, take city bus No. 518 and get off at the enterance of The May 18 Memorial (40 min interval /one hour ride). 2. Taxi takes 20 min from Gwangju Express Bus Terminal.