Gwangju Uprising (1980)
Sun May 18, 1980
Image: Prisoners tied up in the wake of the uprising [libcom.org]
On this day in 1980, the Gwangju Uprising began when 200 South Korean students clashed with the army, a protest that quickly escalated into more than 10,000 citizens battling with state forces and seizing the city of Gwangju.
The uprising took place in the context of anti-democratic repression by the government of Chun Doo-hwan, who had declared an extensive martial law, closing universities, banning political activities, and heavily censoring the press. On May 18th, two hundred students gathered at the gate of Chonnam National University in defiance of its closing, clashing with thirty paratroopers.
The protest was violently subdued, and the first fatality of the repression was a 29-year old deaf man who had simply been passing by. In response, the population rebelled en masse, with more than 10,000 protesters joining the students over the next few days.
As the protests grew, so did state repression and an increasingly militant civilian response to it. By May 21st, civilian militias were engaging in full-blown battles with the army. After the civilian militias acquired and began using light machine guns, the army retreated and protesters temporarily gained control of Gwangju.
The rebellion was sustained until being defeated by force on May 27th. There is no official death toll for the uprising; figures vary from the low hundreds to more than two thousand dead. Regardless, the recorded deaths in the month of May were 2,300 higher than average. Nearly 1,400 were arrested for involvement in the Gwangju incident, and 427 were indicted.
In May 2020, 40 years after the uprising, the independent "May 18 Democratization Movement Truth Commission" was launched to investigate the crackdown and use of military force. Under legislation passed in 2018, it would operate for two years, with a one-year extension allowed if necessary.
- Date: 1980-05-18
- Learn More: libcom.org, roarmag.org.
- Tags: #Protests.
- Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org