NEWS CENTER – Following the Korean War, Syngman Rhee, the first president of South Korea, ruled until his death in 1960. His rule was mired with the rule of generals loyal to his regime, alongside a brutal crackdown of communists, liberals and progressive unions. When Rhee’s government was forced out of office in early 1960 as a result of corruption and misgovernment of state affairs, Chang Myon, who headed the Democratic Party in opposition to Rhee’s regime, took power and reorganized the constitution under the 2nd Republic.
Chang Myon however has hated by the military and those who held power as a result of Syngman Rhee’s regime. His inability to purge those who remained loyal to Rhee and the military led to his government only ruling for a short 2 years before he was couped by the military.
The new leader, Park-Chung Hee, imprisoned previous President Chang Myon and removed the position in its entirety, placing his cronies and military officials in key government positions and suspending the parliament in its entirety, purging the democratic opposition with it. General Park ruled South Korea for 16 years, in that time frame, protests against his rule and the suspension of democracy occurred, which were met with constant violent repression, one of which was the April 19 Movement of 1961, done by supporters of Chang Myon.
By the end of 1979, with the boiling point reached with Park Chung-Hee’s government being met with widescale protest, such as the Busan-Masan uprising, he was assassinated by the head of the Korean CIA, Kim Jae-gyu. His motives remain unclear until now. The Presidency was later taken by Choi Kyu-Hah, installed as Prime Minister by Park Chung-Hee in 1975. He distanced himself from Park’s dictatorship, restoring the rights of the Presidency and Prime Ministership from the Second Republic’s constitution.
This was during the 1980 Seoul Spring, when widespread protests for democracy were answered by President Choi. However, Chun-Doo Hwan, who had previously arrested General Jeong Seung-hwa on charges of assassinating previous president Park later couped Choi’s government. Chun later declared Martial Law to solidify his new government. News of this reached Gwangju, wherein protests and demonstrations erupted. The people of Gwangju, including students, workers, and ordinary citizens, took to the streets to voice their opposition. South Jeolla was known as the stronghold of the liberal opposition in South Korea, and was historically the centre of revolutionary struggle against dictatorial regimes. It was the headquarters of the Donghak rebellion, pro-Pyongyang guerilla armies, etc.
Being the capital of South Jeolla province, Gwangju was where the protests were in full swing against the new government, this is where the most intense of protests against president Chun’s government were.
THE PROTEST
Due to Martial Law’s effects, multiple universities were closed to dissuade student organizations from organizing. Chonnam University, the premier university of Gwangju, was one of them. This led to students gathering outside the university gates to protest this. As paratroopers and policemen attacked the student protestors, the students marched towards downtown Gwangju infront of the Provincial Government Office of South Jeolla, where the protest grew from 200 to 2000. 700 paratroopers from the South Korean Army were later dispatched.
These 700 paratroopers and police mercilessly clubbed, bayonetted and even killed protestors and bystanders, with civilian businesses around the site of the downtown protest being looted and burnt by the soldiers, with a deaf bystander being clubbed to death by riot police. By May 20, 2 days after the first student protests at the 18th, the protests grew to over 10,000, as the military began firing at barricades set up by protestors. Taxi drivers who were on strike were shot at for transporting injured protestors to safety.
This was when protestors began to arm themselves as a result of violent altercations between peaceful protestors and the military.
Student organizations from Chonnam organized protestors and raided police and military armories, seizing weapons to fire back at attacking soldiers. State broadcasters in the city, who were tagging the protestors as ‘agents of North Korea’, were burnt and hijacked as a result. By May 21, the entire province of South Jeolla was put under military rule, while the entire city was governed by a protestor committee.
Two airborne brigades of the South Korean Airforce and two divisions of the ROKA reinforced the blockade, and continued to blockade the city. Concerned civilians were blocked from entering and exiting the city, and supplies were also denied entry. By 26 May, the military blockade on Gwangju, which had numbered around 23,000 soldiers, was prepared to re-enter the city under Operation Sangmu-Chungjeong (Martialism and Loyalty). Citizens’ Militia failed to prevent the massive swarm of soldiers, with many killed or arrested.
By 4 am at 27th of May, the last of the citizens and protestor’s committee organized in central Gwangju. Soldiers armed with M16 rifles and stun grenades disguised themselves as protestors and began systematically attacking whoever they saw, be they civilian or protestor. As the military eventually retook control of the city, the government denounced the commune as a pro-NK rebellion, with liberal politicians under arrest at the time being blamed for instigating them and sentenced to death. Many protestors were jailed, with some executed.
The violent crackdown on the Gwangju Commune ended the 1980 Seoul Spring, silencing opposition to President Chun’s government for the time being. Up to 6000 civilians and protestors died as a result of the violent crackdown, the largest massacre of protestors by the South Korean government. Declassified CIA documents later showed that the US were informed of plans to violently crackdown on the Gwangju Commune, to which no intervention on the side of the US was done. This further built anti-US sentiment in South Korea among the progressive left in the country.
The Gwangju Uprising and Commune was one of the most defining events of South Korean history, marking the beginning of the fall of 40 years of military rule over the country. However, the fight for reform and social justice carried by their martyrs remains unfulfilled even today. We must remember the Gwangju uprising as a step towards South Korea’s democracy, one that was squandered by liberal opportunists. As protests in South Korea continue for worker’s rights, educational reform, and economic sovereignty, we must support the Korean people’s struggle.
