Gwangju is not just the name of a southwestern city of Korea. The site of a large-scale civil uprising which was brutally suppressed by Army Major General Chun Doo-hwan's military junta in 1980, Gwangju also symbolizes the early years of South Korea's democratic movement.²

1. Movements Before May 18 Uprising

Most of the former colonies suffered from the colonial heritage: Mass killings and displacements as in India and Pakistan, divisions and wars as in Vietnam among others. Korea suffered from the worst case by the most ruthless colonial rule during occupation, division and war between North and South, and then another ruthless inhumane military dictatorship by former colonial military officers. Consequently Korea (South Korea) was considered a country with no hope in terms of economy and democracy. One common comment about Korea for more than 40 years from the 1950s to 1980s was that “Expecting democracy to bloom in Korea is like expecting a rose blooming in a trash can.†The comment was first made by a British reporter in 1952 after observing the incorrigibly corrupt government during and after the Korean Civil War. Before this was another derogative comment created by colonial rulers: ”Koreans are helpless.“ Although still effective when Koreans suffered under the military dictatorship for nearly 30 years, that cynical comment began to fade from the 1990s, when Korea began to have gradually more democratic governments.

The change did not take place free of charge since it required the sacrifice and blood of people in numerous uprisings and movements which naturally took place throughout the modern history of Korea toward independence, democracy and justice. Two out of nine major uprisings took place in Gwangju as numbered here: Gwangju Student Independence Movement in 1929, which was ignited when Korean students confronted Japanese students who were harassing Korean girls; and May 18 Democratization Movement in 1980, which began when the Jeonnam (Chonnm) National University students challenged the paratroopers.

The following is the list of the main historical events (bulleted) along with major uprisings (numbered) against colonialism or dictatorship in the 20th-Century Korea.

2. May 18 Uprising³

There were numerous legends and inspiring stories of brave people created during the Uprising including those who stayed to the last moment of Uprising in the provincial hall. Without such brave people, whether their name are known or not, the May 18 Movement would not have influenced the modern history of Korea as it has been. The numerous precedents of dedication gave rise to more actions of dedication. Young people bravely faced the ruthless oppression, resulting in thousands of sacrifices recorded or non-recorded afterwards. Tens of young students and laborers dared to carry out or suicidal challenges or even commit suicide in protest of the injustice of the military dictatorship during and after the May 18 Uprising. The following are some of the legends of the May 18 Uprising

YUN Sang-won: One of the most well-known is the spokesperson of the citizen army: On the night of May 26, 1980 right before the armed forces retook Gwangju, Bradley Martin of the Baltimore Sun had an interview with YUN (1950-1980), spokesperson of the citizen army. Bradley asked YUN why he was staying with the clear understanding that he would be killed. Bradely wrote: “He didn't run away, and he died knowing full well that resistance meant death. He looked me in the eyes, and he chose me for the interview. It was like he was giving me his last will."⁵ The history would have taken a different course if the leaders like YUN decided to vacate the Provincial Hall before the dawn of the May 27th. YUN became the icon of the protest to the military regime. Marching for Our Beloved, the song composed for his soul marriage with PARK Gisun became the theme song of the protest movement in the 1980s.

AHN Byeongha was a head of the provincial police. He ordered the police not to carry weapons during the uprising. He also refused to follow the order of the martial law command to fire on demonstrators on May 24. Instead he provided medicine and food to the injured. He was removed from the position a few days after the uprising ended, He was taken to a military base, where he was tortured severely for more than a week. He was forced to resign from the police. He died eight years later from the multiple injuries he got by the torture. His honor was restored and buried in the National Cemetery in 2005. He was also promoted to Senior Superintendent General posthumously by President MOON Jae-in in 2017.

Women were active in the May 18 Uprising. Some of the legendary women were JEON Ok-ju, CHA Myeong-suk, and PARK Yeongsun,⁶ who carried street-broadcasting to the public of the situation. They suffered unbearable atrocities after the uprising.

Many women in the traditional markets were busy to supply rice balls and water to the citizen army volunteers despite the scarcity of rice and other materials. The role of the mothers of victims was crucial in opening cracks to the iron-fist ruling of the military junta. They fought at the forefront of resistance while men dare not face the atrocities of the military rulers. Recently some brave women began to request investigation on the sexual violence and torture committed to themselves during the uprising overcoming their own embarrassment.

The community spirit of the people gave rise to another legend: Stockpiling of rice and other commodities did not take place. There was no crimes common in the absence of law enforcement forces: Shoplifting, burglary, jewelery shop break-in, nor bank-robbery took place. Instead women poured out and prepared rice balls for the demonstrators and the citizen army fighters passing by. Volunteer blood donors queued in front of hospitals.

3. Movements and Impacts of May 18 Uprising After 1980

The implementation of democracy has been possible only with severe sacrifice inflicted on the activists and people by dictators and their supporters. Only overwhelming participation of the people can force the dictators to give in. And it is the environment that the May 18 Uprising created. It was a lengthy revolution which started in 18 May 1980 exploded in June 1987. The spirit of the May 18 Movement in 1980 was inherited to the June 10 Movement in 1987, and the Candle Light Rally which broke against PARK on corruption, who was impeached and imprisoned in 2016. The newly elected president in 2017 promised to do his best to include the spirit of the May 18 Movement in the new Constitution.

4. Why did the May 18 Movement have so much impact?

Inspiring stories: The May 18 Movement produced so many stories and images for the people to be mobilized by the spirit of sacrifices and ideals. For example, people were moved by the stories of 170 young people, who decided to stay in the Provincial Hall and face death despite the final ultimatum from the military government. About 10% of them were shot to death at dawn on May 27th. All other survivors were arrested and suffered severe torture afterwards. If they had fled after knowing the ultimatum of the military command, the impact of the May 18 Uprising would have been much weaker.

Roles of students and scholars: The Korean society has the tradition of respecting the opinion of scholars and accepting the participation of students in political issues. A group of university professors continued to produce articles and books on the need of democracy and justices. They also disclosed public statements in oder to keep alive the social issues on democracy and justice. The critical influence was created and kept alive by the energy of young students. They continued to attract the attention of the general public till they were capable of mobilizing mass participants as in 1987. Now labor organizations are more important and powerful actors in political gatherings.

Moral high ground: In the absence of security forces during the uprising, people felt safe and lived a normal life. There were no petty crimes such as burglary, shop break-in, or even bank robbery. The young people armed with guns did not use them for personal gain. The then military government named the movement as 'Gwangju Riot', but there was no incident of looting and burglary, in contrast to other riots such as the New York Blackout in 1977⁷, where looting was uncontrollable. Such a moral high ground provided prestige in the anti-government activism, encouraging more people to get involved in the grassroots participation for democratization movement.

National networks of actors shared the prohibited stories of the Gwangju Uprising to mobilize the people, young and old. Mothers of victims, though small in numbers, were spearheads at the forefront to make a break in the iron-fist rule of the military government. University students followed them, while connecting themselves into the National Council of University Students Representatives (Jeon-dae-hyop 1987-1993), which played a crucial role in the process of forcing the military government to change the constitution, and then the Korea Association of University Students Councils (Han-Chon-Ryon 1993-present), though the activities of the nationwide organizations began to weaken with more political freedom at hand. Nationwide networks of civil society along with religious leaders gave prestige to the democratization movement. Scholars like LEE Yeonghui and PARK Hyeonchae provided logical background to the young generation toward democracy while theoretically analyzing the hypocritical rhetorics of the ruling classes. Without the leadership of renowned politicians like KIM Daejung and KIM Yeongsam, democratization would have been much more difficult or in disarray. They are the last but not the least main actors ensuring the change, culminating in institutionalization at the end of the drama toward democratization.

The Influence of Media by both Korean and foreign reporters at the May 18 Uprising were significant. There is hardly any different opinion on the fact that the May Uprising changed the course of the Modern Korean history.⁸ And Gwangju is not simply a name of a city in the Korean Peninsular as Ms. Jang mentioned in the Wilson Center Homepage. Nor is the Gwangju Movement simply one of the incidents in the modern history of South Korea. The impact of the May 18 Movement is not comparable with other movements. It is not only because of the dedication of the people but also a large number of articles of dedication have been produced in diverse forms of media. The massacre took place in daylight, in one of the biggest cities of Korea, and the atrocities were recorded by modern media by both Korean and international reporters. The physical evidence of photos and videos made the impact of the May 18 Movement as strong as it has been. It became the beginning of the grassroots movement of democratization of Korea. Before the May Uprising, most movements were carried out by limited number of students, laborers, religious leaders and intellectuals, and did not last for a long time. However, the May 18 Movement created a fertile ground for active participation of mass people, putting blood on the hands of the military perpetrator, who lost the legitimacy of the government.

The cemetery of the May 18 Uprising victims became a symbol of protest to the dictators and a destination of pilgrimage for the groups of activist students and laborers. The military government found the need of removing the evidence of their crimes and the symbols of the May 18 Uprising. They tried in vain to pay the families of the victims to move the tombs away from the cemetery. Culturally the tombs are sacred, and even the military regime was not able to remove them all by force against the opposition of the family members. The cemetery was transferred into a nearby site to be the May 18 National Cemetery in 1994-1997.

The power of music and art was effectively shown during and after the May 18 Movement. The organizers used music, art, drama, and leaflets to boost the morale of the participants and to attract the attention of the people. In most rallies the demonstrators sang protest songs. Then played traditional drums and farmers dances in their gathering. Without laborers and students involvement in music and art, the energy of their activism would have quickly withered away. Before 1980s, the acitists used to sing American protest songs like 'We shall overcome.' However, the new generation of

activists began to use their own songs due to their feeling of betrayal to the US government, who did not support them in crisis. In addition to the farmers dance, they began to have their own protest songs and people's songs: One of the most well-known protest songs commemorates the citzen army spokesperson YUN Sang-won, who died on the final day of resistance, 27 May 1980. Underground photo-books, woodcut prints, and various documents including story books were also effective means of sharing the May 18 Movement by the general public.

One of the interesting by-products of such culture movement is the impact of the May 18 Uprising to the cultural side of Korea. We often forget the fact that the democratization movement of the 1980s is both a political and cultural movement. Young people experienced the value of democracy and human rights directly if they got involved in demonstrations, and indirectly if they were onlookers. Some of them soon became writers with the spirit of the 1980s movement in their hearts. Some of them produced novels, dramas, or movies for the betterment of the society. Most others became consumers, who were willing to buy such cultural products because they themselves were exposed to the same value of democracy and human rights on campuses or on streets. The democratization of the government in the 1990s freed the producers of cultural products to deal with sensitive issues and ideology. Simply put, without May 18 Uprising, there would be no Korean cultural wave.

The movie theaters of the US were dominated by European films till 1960s. The cultural revolution by the hippie movement, however, changed the trend⁹. And Hollywood movies began to overwhelm the movie theaters of the European countries. The success of innovative hollywood movies in the 1970s was repeated in Korea in the 1990s in a larger scale encompassing not only movies but also TV dramas and books and popular arts.

There are still issues of truth finding of the May 18 Movement. We are yet to find out and properly prosecute those who ordered the mass firing on 21 May 19980. We are yet to establish a investigation committee which can carry out a thorough investigation of the crimes committed by the military regime in 1980. Only the leaders of the massacre were prosecuted then pardoned. Nobody who carried out the torture and killing has been investigated and punished. We are yet to establish a law which can prohibit ultra-conservative groups from distortion of the truth on the May 18 Uprising.

5. Concluding Remarks

South Koreans and Koreans in general suffered from bad lucks of bad rulers and the terrible colonialism. Most of the kings and government officials in the 19th century were incompetent and exploitative over the people. The colonial ruling was devastating the country economically and culturally in the first half of the 20th century. Korea was divided in 1945 while Japan, which began and lost in the Pacific War, stayed as an integrated nation. The division gave rise to the Korean War, which annihilated the peninsula and killed one tenth of the population from 1950 to 1953. The north and south conflict gave an effective device of anti-communism for the former colonial collaborators in ruling and intimidating the people. Nearly for half a century, South Koreans suffered from authoritarian government till 1993.

One the other hand, South Koreans are lucky in many ways. The American rule is less brutal than the Soviet Union's. The younger generation from 1950 were educated on democracy. The US government forced the lukewarm South Korean government to carry out farm land re-distribution to tenant farmers under the law, which allows one family to own only 3 hectare (9,000?) maximum. It raised the farmers productivity, allowing them to send their children to school. The educated youth became the basis of the democracy of the future Korea.

In addition, military rulers were careful on the world opinion so that their atrocities were controlled. More people would have been killed in Gwangju in the 1980 May 18 Uprising without for the presence of the foreigners and foreign correspondents. KIM Daejung should have been executed without the interference of the US government. The grass root participation in the May 18 Uprising was the beginning of the mass demonstration, which culminated in the constitution change for direction election of the national president in the 1987 June Uprising, which would have resulted in bloodshed without the 1988 Seoul Olympics and the US government influence.

President KIM Yeongsam greatly strengthened the basis of a democratic government by disbanding the key military faction and establishing the real name financial system in 1993. He also made possible the prosecution of the two former dictators in 1995 and the peaceful transfer of power to KIM Daejung of the opposition party through free election in 1998. KIM Daejung and ROH Muhyeon stabilized the democracy while promoting the engagement of North Korea toward peaceful co-existence, though democracy and press freedom deteriorated by LEE Myeongbak and PARK Geunhye. The current progressive government is trying to make the system more democratic. In spite of the great progress in the past 40 years since 1980, the future of Korean democracy is unpredictable with the presence of the strong conservative government officials including the powerful prosecutor's office supported by the conservative press a nd irrational antagonism against North Korea. The National Security Law is still obstructing the freedom of speech and thought. In addition, the influence of big business is overwhelmingly strong.