May 18, Gwangju National Cemetery

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May 18th Gwangju National Cemetery with memorial tower

The May 18 National Cemetery of Gwangju ( Korean : 국립 5.18 민주 묘지 ) is both a cemetery and a national memorial dedicated to the victims of the crackdown on the Gwangju uprising from May 18 to May 27, 1980 and the smashing of the Democracy Movement in South Korea . The uprising was ended on May 27 by a massacre of the insurgents by the military government.

geography

Model of the cemetery and memorial

The memorial is located north of the city center of Gwangju ( 광주 ) in the Buk-gu ( 북구 ) district and is therefore in the south-westernmost province of Jeollanam-do ( 전라남도 ) in South Korea . The site can be reached via the Dongmunno ( 동문 로 ) artery to the north from Gwangju city center. The area covers an area of ​​166,201 m². The cemetery and the memorial face south-east, from where the site can also be visited.

Structure of the cemetery and memorial

The entire system is roughly structured as follows:

  • from the 23,100 m² entrance area,
  • over the 9,900 m² square of democracy,
  • and the 12,540 m² square for commemorations and prayers with the tower in memory of the May 18 uprising,
  • to the 9,900 m² area of ​​the graves.
  • Another 2,400 m² are available as exhibition space
  • and 18,150 m² for the presentation of the story.
  • The remaining 89,694 m² are greened or used for other places of remembrance.
The graves of those killed

People buried in the cemetery

The cemetery is designed for 784 graves. Up to 2013 a total of 482 burials had been carried out.

All those who were buried in the cemetery

  • assassinated during the uprising for democracy between May 18th and 27th,
  • were injured during the riot and later died of their injuries,
  • died from torture, prison and interrogation methods and their consequences.

To date, 74 people are still missing.

prehistory

32 years after the founding of the state, South Korea experienced its worst domestic political crisis in 1980. For years students and intellectuals have called for democratic structures for the state and administration and fought against the military dictatorships. But demonstrations by the democracy movement have always been answered with military force and political leaders have been arrested and eliminated.

Sculpture depicting the peaceful demonstration

When, in May 1980, led by the student protests in Seoul and encouraged by the miners and steelworkers' uprisings in the south and east in the cities of Pusan and Sabuk , protests took place in many other cities in the country calling for a constitutional amendment and the abolition of martial law , the incumbent President Choi Kyu-ha promised only to want to accelerate the democratization process. Suspicious of the promises, the demonstration increased rather than decreased. In Seoul alone, an estimated 70,000 to 100,000 students demonstrated on May 15 and opposed the armed military. The protests also grew in Gwangju, the third largest city in the country with around 800,000 inhabitants and known as one of the centers of the country's democracy movement.

In response to the nationwide protests, General Chun Doo-hwan , who had been in power since the conspiracy of December 12, 1979 and was considered a former close confidante of the dictatorial ruling President Park Chung Hee , decree number 10 on May 17, 1980 Call a state of emergency. Universities were closed, the National Assembly dissolved, all political activities banned and 26 opposition politicians arrested, including Kim Dae-jung and Kim Jong-pil . Some sources speak of up to 70 opposition politicians who have been arrested.

On the morning of May 18, 1980, around 600 students from Chonnam National University took to the streets in downtown Gwangju to demand the lifting of the state of emergency and the release of Kim Dae-jung. They quickly faced special forces with black berets . These cracked down on the demonstrators with clubs and bayonets and thus provoked the escalation of demonstrations and street fights of the following days, which large parts of the population quickly joined. On May 20, over 200,000 people are said to have gathered for a march in Gwangju and opposed the military; a day later, around 100,000 people and 350 vehicles, some of them armed, were reported.

Sculpture depicting the crackdown

On May 27, 1980, the city center of Gwangju had already been surrounded and cordoned off, the military advanced with 20,000 soldiers and ended the uprising with a bloodbath.

The number of victims differed depending on the source. According to official information from investigations in 2006, 154 demonstrators were said to have been killed and 4,141 wounded in the massacre. The number of people who are still missing was given as 74. More than 3,000 people are said to have been arrested in the days following the crackdown.

At the time, the military spoke of a total of 170 fatalities, including 144 civilians. 730 demonstrators are said to have been arrested.

But information from medical eyewitnesses spoke of 440 fatalities in the Chan Nang provincial hospital alone, and the Catholic Church named 600 to 1000 deaths as likely. It can be assumed that, for fear of persecution and reprisals, many relatives buried their dead in silence and that not all wounded were brought to the hospitals for medical care.

History of the memorial

sculpture

The victims of the massacre were originally buried in the Mangweol-dong Cemetery in Gwangju. As a result of the events, the cemetery received worldwide attention as the “sacred ground for democracy”, so that the military had plans to destroy the cemetery and clear the graves.

On May 17, 1985, 38,000 students from over 80 universities in the country demonstrated to demand an investigation into the Gwangju massacre, and on May 18, 1986, 1,000 students and relatives of the victims demonstrated for the first time after a memorial service at the Mangweol-dong cemetery.

In 1994 a campaign was launched to hold those responsible for the massacre of the Gwangju uprising protesters accountable. At the same time the plan arose to create a national cemetery for the victims of the Gwangju uprising. The May 18 Memorial Foundation was established that same year on August 30.

In 1997 the May 18th National Cemetery was completed and the dead were reburied in the new cemetery. The Mangweol-dong Cemetery was restored to its original form, but retained its importance as a historical site. On April 29, 1997, May 18 was made National Day of Remembrance by law, and the first official memorial service was held on May 18, 1997 in the new cemetery. On the 20th anniversary of the uprising, the newly elected President Kim Dae-jung visits the memorable site and took part in the ceremony, which is now held annually. In May 2001, the May 18 memorial center was opened and a year later on July 27, 2002 the cemetery was granted national status as a memorial.

Today's meaning

The memorial tower with the altar

Gwangju National Cemetery on May 18 remains of great national importance. Even if 1980 was a big setback for the democratization of the country at the time, there is a consciousness among the Korean population that the champions of democracy did not die in vain back then. The constant memory of the injustice, the oppression and the massacre committed in Gwangju by the military dictatorship has kept the people alive to stand up for freedom and democracy again and again. The list is long from the many demonstrations that followed, some of which were violent, which ultimately led to the overthrow of the dictatorship in 1987. The May 18th National Cemetery and the May 18th Gwangju Uprising still stand as symbols and memorials for the democracy movement not to let up and to continue the democratization process in Korea.

literature

  • Charter J. Eckert u. a .: Korea Old and New, A History . Ilchokak Publishers , Seoul 1990, ISBN 0-9627713-0-9 (English, published by Harvard University Press ).
  • Gottfried-Karl Kindermann: The rise of Korea in world politics . Olzog Verlag, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-7892-8220-0 .
  • Henry Scott-Strokes, Lee Jai Eui : The Kwangju Uprising - Eyewitness Press accounts of Korea's Tiananmen . ME Sharp , New York 2000, ISBN 0-7656-0636-4 (English).
  • Hiyoul Kim: Korean History: An introduction to Korean history from prehistory to modern times . Asgard Verlag, St. Augustin 2004, ISBN 3-537-82040-2 .
  • 류재택 (Ed.): 한국 의 역사 . 국제 교육 진흥원 , 2007, ISBN 978-89-8472-715-1 (Korean).
  • 신형식 : Korean history . Ed .: Accociation for Overseas Korean Education Development . Seoul 2009, ISBN 978-89-962593-0-5 (Korean-German).

Web links

File category Files: May 18, Gwangju National Cemetery  - local collection of images and media files
Commons : May 18th National Cemetery of Gwangju  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Department of Tourism, Gwangju Metropolitan Hall (Ed.): Tourist Guide Map . Gwangju April 2009 (English).
  2. ↑ a b c Funeral Information - At a Glance of Cemetery . Ministry of Veterans Affairs , archived from the original on March 7, 2016 ; accessed on May 14, 2013 (English, original website no longer available).
  3. ↑ Funeral Information - Eligibility for interment . Ministry of Veterans Affairs , archived from the original on July 3, 2013 ; accessed on October 23, 2018 (English, original website no longer available).
  4. ↑ a b Kindermann: The Rise of Korea in World Politics . 1994, p. 128 .
  5. ^ A b Charter J. Eckert : Korea Old and New, A History . 1990, p.  374 .
  6. ↑ a b South Korea - Personal Vengeance . In: Spiegel . tape  23 . Spiegel Verlag, Hamburg June 2, 1980, p. 128 (The popular uprising in the city of Kwangju was provoked by the military; the crackdown ensured General Chon absolute power.).
  7. ↑ 1980: The Kwangju uprising . libcom.org , accessed May 13, 2013 .
  8. ^ A b The May 18 Democratic Uprising - Chronology . The May 18th Memorial Foundation , accessed May 13, 2013 .
  9. ^ The May 18 Democratic Uprising - History . The May 18th Memorial Foundation , accessed May 13, 2013 .
  10. ↑ a b Andreas Kohlschütter: Cemetery silence in Kwangju - The soldiers sang the song of the victors . In: The time . Issue 24. Zeitverlag Gerd Bucerius, Hamburg June 6, 1980 ( online [accessed on May 23, 2016]).
  11. ↑ a b Historical Information - Why it began . Ministry of Veterans Affairs , archived from original January 25, 2016 ; accessed on May 14, 2013 (English, original website no longer available).
  12. ↑ The May 18 Democratic Uprising - Meaning . The May 18th Memorial Foundation , accessed May 13, 2013 .
  13. ^ Historical Information - Democratic Significance . Ministry of Veterans Affairs , archived from the original on February 29, 2016 ; accessed on May 14, 2013 (English, original website no longer available).

Coordinates: 35 ° 14 ′ 9 ″  N , 126 ° 56 ′ 21 ″  E