Gwangju Uprising

Gwangju Uprising
Part of the Minjung movement
Memorial Hall in the May 18th National Cemetery in Gwangju where victims' bodies were buried
Date	18 May 1980 (1980-05-18) – 27 May 1980; 44 years ago (1980-05-27)
Location	Gwangju, South Korea
Caused by	Coup d'état of May Seventeenth Coup d'état of December Twelfth Assassination of Park Chung Hee Authoritarianism in South Korea Social and political discontent in the Jeolla region
Goals	Democratization End of dictatorial rule in South Korea
Methods	Protests Demonstrations Civil disobedience Armed uprising
Resulted in	Uprising suppressed Pro-democracy protests escalate into an armed uprising after the South Korean government deploys the army to violently end demonstrations Long-term increase in support for the Minjung Movement, leading to the eventual end of South Korea's dictatorship in 1987
Parties
South Korean Government Hanahoe DSC ROK Army National Police Gwangju citizenry Protesters Armed citizens Citizens' Settlement Committee Students' Settlement Committee
Lead figures
Chun Doo-hwan Roh Tae-woo Jeong Ho-yong Lee Hee-seong Hwang Yeong-si Yoon Heung-jung Ahn Byung-ha (Switched sides due to witnessing brutalities perpetrated by rebels and paratroopers[clarification needed][citation needed]) Decentralized leadership, South Jeolla Province governance
Units involved
Initially: 7th Airborne Brigade 11th Airborne Brigade DSC 505th Defense Security Unit[1] Jeonnam Police Gwangju Blockade: 3rd Airborne Brigade 7th Airborne Brigade 11th Airborne Brigade 31st Infantry Division 20th Mechanised Infantry Division Combat Arms Training Command[2] Unknown (various civilian militias)
Number
Initially: 3,000 paratroopers Gwangju Blockade: 23,000 troops 200,000 demonstrators (estimated combined strength)
Casualties and losses
22 soldiers killed (including 13 by friendly fire) 4 policemen killed (several more killed by the army after the uprising ended) 109 soldiers wounded 144 policemen wounded Total: 26 killed 253 wounded 165 killed (confirmed casualties only) 76 missing (presumed dead) 3,515 wounded 1,394 arrested
Up to 600–2,300 killed; see casualties section.

The Gwangju Uprising, known in Korean as May 18 (Korean: 오일팔; Hanja: 五一八; RR: Oilpal; lit. Five One Eight), was a series of student-led demonstrations that took place in Gwangju, South Korea, in May 1980, against the dictatorship of Chun Doo-hwan. The uprising was violently suppressed by the South Korean military with the approval and logistical support of the United States under the Carter administration, which feared the uprising might spread to other cities and tempt North Korea to interfere.^[3] The uprising is also known as the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement^[4] (5·18 광주 민주화 운동; 五一八光州民主化運動; 5·18 Gwangju minjuhwa undong), the Gwangju Democratization Struggle (광주 민주화 항쟁; 光州民主化抗爭; Gwangju minjuhwa hangjaeng), the May 18 Democratic Uprising^[5] (5·18 민주화 운동; 五一八民主化運動; 5·18 minjuhwa undong) or the Gwangju Uprising (광주 항쟁; 光州抗爭; Gwangju hangjaeng) in South Korea.^[6][7][8]

Prior to the uprising, at the end of 1979, the coup d'état of May Seventeenth resulted in the installation of Chun Doo-hwan as military dictator and the implementation of martial law. Following his ascent to power, Chun arrested opposition leaders, closed all universities, banned political activities, and suppressed the press.

The uprising began when Chonnam National University students demonstrating against martial law were fired upon, killed, beaten and tortured by the South Korean military.^[9][10][11] Some Gwangju citizens took up arms and formed militias, raiding local police stations and armories, and were able to take control of large sections of the city before soldiers re-entered the city and suppressed the uprising. While the South Korean government claimed 165 people were killed in the massacre, scholarship on the massacre today estimates 600 to 2,300 victims.^[12] Under the military dictatorship of Chun, the South Korean government labelled the uprising as a "riot" and claimed that it was being instigated by "communist sympathizers and rioters" acting under the behest of the North Korean government.^[13][14]

In 1997, 18 May was established as a national day of commemoration for the massacre and a national cemetery for the victims was established.^[15] Later investigations confirmed the various atrocities that had been committed by the army. In 2011, the documents of Gwangju Uprising were listed on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. In contemporary South Korean politics, denial of the Gwangju Massacre is commonly espoused by conservative and far-right groups.^[16][17]