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Above:  A mural displayed in Kwangju (Gwangju), South Corea, depicting the liberation of the city in May 1980, from Corean martial law troops who had seized control of the country. Photo courtesy of the May 18 Memorial Foundation.

This week Corean peace activists organized a protest in remembrance of the democracy uprising in Gwangju, Corea at the White House in Washington, DC. (They spell Korea as Corea because that is consistent with spelling before they were colonized by the US.) US history with Corea has been one of the worst cases of slaughter and imperialism, yet it is rarely understood in the United States.

This protest was in remembrance of the Gwangju Uprising, also known as the May 18th Democracy Uprising, which was a democracy protest in 1980 after a coup brought a new dictator to power in Corea. Corean’s see this uprising as the Corean version of the Paris Commune of 1871. The military response to the uprising is described as “The most tragic and disgraceful incident in modern Corean history.” 

In Corea, students led a revolt against the dictatorship and took control of Gwangju for ten days. The military surrounded the town, after more than a week of conflict, and attacked. The death toll is unknow,n estimates range from the high hundreds of people to the low thousands.  The uprising is seen as a seed for the larger democracy movement in Corea and is now recognized by the government:

“Recent history has proven that The Gwangju Democratic Uprising was a victory, not a defeat, and that the people who lost their lives in Gwangju did not give their lives in vain. Now they are our heroes. Although the Gwangju Democratic Uprising seemed to end in failure, that failure became an inspiration for The Democratic Consciousness that fueled opposition to the dictatorship of the 1980s. However, it was only after many twists and turns that The Gwangju Democratic Uprising was properly defined as a people’s resistance, and not a riot. At the time, Government authorities referred to the uprising as the ‘Gwangju Affair’, a riot or rebellion backed by some seditious power scheming to overthrow the government. In June 1987, however, people throughout the country slowly started to recognize the true nature of The Gwangju Uprising of May, 1980. In June 1988, with the advent of the Sixth Republic, The Uprising was renamed the Gwangju Democratization Movement in order to restore national harmony.”

The view of what the uprising was changed when civilian government returned to Corea: In 1993 on May 13th, with the start of a civilian government, President Kim Young-Sam made clear his position on The Gwangju Democratic Uprising in a speech: “‘The bloodshed of Gwangju in May, 1980 is the cornerstone of this Country’s Democracy. Its victims dedicated their lives to democracy.’ He continued by indicating the shift in perception that had taken place: ‘this government today stands in line with the Gwangju Democratization Movement.’ In this announcement, he redeemed The Gwangju Democratic Uprising.”

Thousands of Kwangju citizens mass in the city square during the May 1980 uprising. Photo courtesy of the May 18 Memorial Foundation.

One area that has only recently been clarified is the role of the United States in supporting the military attack on the people of Gwangju. We now know the US did play a significant role. The rebellion was ended on  May 27, 1980, by a Corean Army division dispatched from the DMZ marking the border with North Corea. They were sent with the approval of the US commander of the US-Corea Joint Command, Gen. John Wickham. Tim Shorrock reports that:

That decision, made at the highest levels of the US government, forever stained the relationship between the United States and the South. For the people of Kwangju, many of whom believed that the US military would side with the forces of democracy, it was a deep betrayal that they’ve never forgotten. And once the rest of Korea knew the truth about the rebellion and understood that the United States had helped throttle it, anti-American sentiment spread like wildfire.

The new dictator,  Chun Doo Hwan, sent in special “black beret” troops to Gwangju. For two days the Gwangju Massacre went on, hundreds of democracy activists were killed or injured  in the streets with M-16s and bayonets, thousands were arrested. The people fought back, they seized guns and weapons from local armories and pushed the martial law forces out of Gwangju. The Korean army cordoned off the city and the people took it upon themselves to run their own affairs in a democratic way. The city came together and joined in the revolt creating a self-governing community. Taxis and bus drivers drove rebels around town and used their vehicles against soldiers. People flocked to hospitals to donate blood where doctors and nurses took care of the wounded.

The uprising shook not just Corea, but the United States where President Carter worried about another revolution occurring, as had happened the year before in Iran. 

Korean martial law forces confront pro-democracy demonstrators in Kwangju, May 1980. Courtesy of The May 18 Memorial Foundation.

Tim Shorrock reports “a huge cache of declassified documents from the State Department and the Pentagon obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, my stories showed that the Carter administration had essentially given the green light to South Korea’s generals to use military force against the huge student and worker demonstrations that rocked the country in the spring of 1980 (years later, I also obtained several hundred CIA documents, showing how badly the agency had underestimated Korean opposition to the dictatorship).”

When Shorrock reported these facts it sparked several large demonstrations and sit-ins at the US Embassy in Seoul. The documents he published became known as the “Cherokee Documents” after the secret code name of the US operation. What did the Cherokee Documents show? US involvement and decision making at the highest level of government. Sharrock reports:

One of the Cherokee cables, dated May 8, 1980, showed that Gleysteen (seen in this video about my documents from South Korea’s MBC News) had told representatives of General Chun that the US government understood “the need to maintain law and order” and “would not obstruct development of military contingency plans” against what were massive but peaceful demonstrations. Others showed that, contrary to US denials, the Pentagon and the State Department were well aware that Korean Special Forces, trained to fight behind the lines in North Korea, were being deployed to Kwangju and other cities as planning for the May 18 coup proceeded.

Shorrock reports that the most damning document was obtained from the National Security Council. The document was the detailed minutes of a fateful White House meeting on May 22, 1980“.  The meeting was led by Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke and National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, and at that meeting President Carter decided that the Kwangju uprising had to be crushed militarily. Five days after the meeting, South Korea’s crack 9th Army division rolled into the city and killed the remaining rebels holed up in the provincial capital building.

Korean Army soldiers rounding up suspected insurgents after retaking Kwangju on May 27, 1980, with the approval of the US government. Courtesy of the May 18 Memorial Foundation.

General Chun and another Corean general were convicted and later pardoned by Kim Dae Jung, the dissident-turned-president he had tried to execute.

For more on the history of the US role in Corea please see: Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, North Korea and the United States: Will the Real Aggressor Please Stand Down?, Truthout, February 28, 2013.

Commemorating the Gwangju Uprising at the White House on May 18, 2016

Below is a photo essay showing the protest organized by the Corean Alliance for Reunification and Democracy held at the White House. The posters are photos of current prisoners of conscience.