12 LBlast from the Past
MAY 18
blast from the past
Violence, Blood, Sorrow
One of the ten mural sculptures at Memorial Hall. (Kürzel Ulanwp / CC-by-sa 3.0/de)
www.gwangjunewsgic.com
May 2020
At the mention of “May,” the first thought that still comes to mind for many residents of Gwangju is the “Gwangju Incident” (광주사태, Gwangju-satae), as it was called at the time (aka the Gwangju Uprising, aka May 18 Democratic Uprising, aka May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement). But here at ground zero, it is most commonly referred to as O-il-pal (오일팔, 5-1-8), May 18, the start of ten days of bloodshed and violence in the streets of Gwangju in the spring of 1980. This year, on the 40th anniversary of the event, the Gwangju News provides the following chronology of what took place. This incorporates in part an article carried in this magazine ten years ago (“May 18 [5.18] Gwangju Democratic Uprising,” May 2010) written by Prof. Shin Sang-soon (1922–2011) and is amply complemented with additional material. — Ed.
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n the wake of President Park Chung-hee’s assassination on October 26, 1979, the collapse of the Yushin system was to soon follow. The Yushin system (aka “the October Reforms,” 시월유신) was a constitutional change instituted in October 1972 that made President Park’s despotic grip on power even tighter. In the sixmonth political and social vacuum that ensued following President Park’s death, the so-called New Military Faction gradually made its appearance, attempting to wield political power as Park’s Republican Party had done before. There was much student unrest during this time. On May 17, student activists met in the capital; 95 student leaders from 55 universities were detained by police. The Gwangju Democratic Uprising broke out on May 18, 1980, as an attempt to thwart the New Military Faction’s political ambitions. While the Uprising was, in one sense,
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a failed event in that it was brutally put down by the government’s martial law troops, it left an indelible mark in the minds of the citizens of Gwangju and Jeollanamdo. The following is a chronology of the main events, as they have been pieced together over the years, that shook Gwangju during those bloody ten days of May 1980. Chronology of the Uprising May 18, 1980 (Sunday): Emergency martial law is declared nationally at the stroke of midnight, and Kim Dae-jung and 25 other antigovernment political leaders are arrested. The 33rd and 35th Battalions of the 7th Airborne Brigade are deployed in the darkness to Chonnam National University and Chosun University, respectively, taking control of the two universities, where antigovernment demonstrations, often violent, had
4/24/2020 4:15:12 PM
