Remembering the Gwangju Massacre

I know that this blog is supposed to be focused on theology and apologetics, but I feel that since not many people outside of Korea knows about what happened in Gwangju, I felt I needed to at least mention it.

For history afficionados, this is pretty much the cliff-notes version of what happened. The situation and technicalities of the events are much more complex, but in light of the limited format of digital articles, I feel that broad strokes were necessary to convey the relevant information while still remaining within the confines of this form of media.

35 years ago, students from Chonnam University (전남대학교) started a protest in the Gwangju regional district (광주시) against the military dictator at the time, Chun Doo-Hwan (전두환). This political protest began on the 18th and continued until the nation-wide police brutality halted the riots on May 27th. Reports vary on the exact number of people injured or killed, with official records claiming around 600 casualities and unofficial reports claiming casualities of up to 200,000 South Koreans.

The Gwangju Massacre, like most of history, does not have a clear-cut line between who was right and who was wrong. While Chun Doo-Hwan's right to rule South Korea was attained through non-democratic means (military coup), the assasination of the previous president and military dictator, Pak Chung-Hee (작정희), left a power vacuum which threw South Korea into greater chaos than when Chun Doo-Hwan's predecessor was in power. The central government weak, and civil unrest escalating, Chun Doo-Hwan seized power and attempted to establish interim stability, only to have the populace lash out against the continuance of military rule and government corruption.

Most people are unaware of the state of authoritarian rule South Koreans had to bear in the modern era. Something as small as long hair on men, for example, was seen as a symbol of rebellion against the government. This problem was initially rectified by police escorting the person off the street to the nearest barber to correct their "anti-establishment sentiment". This inconvenience to citizens escalated to jail-time if someone's hair was too long in the arresting officer's opinion. Between the rigged elections, bribery, favoritism to select political officers, and general oppressive rule, it is no wonder that the public's discontent led to a nation-wide riot.

While the events that led to the Gwangju Massacre are complex, the after-affects are not distinctly positive or negative, either. The Gwangju Uprising did not oust Chun Doo-Hwan from power, but the shadow of Pak Chung-Hee's tyranny and the tragedy in Gwangju made certain that Chun Doo-Hwan would eventually relinquish power back to the people. Chun stepped down, and for the first time, Korea had a democratically-elected president, Roh Tae-Woo (노태우), in 1988. Almost a century since the seedling desire to modernize was planted, Korea had a democracy.

Korea still has its political foibles, and the corruption and favoritism to the ancient and elite families are still obstacles that Koreans face, but the Gwangju Uprising, while tragic, was necessary to galvanize political officers into providing a Korea more open to its people than ever before.