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| Defense Minister Song Young-moo, fourth from left, and Lee Kun-ri, fourth from right, a prosecutor-turned-lawyer who will head the ministry's special committee that will investigate the bloody crackdown of the May 18 pro-democracy movement in 1980, pose with other guests during a launch ceremony for the committee in Seoul, Monday. / Joint press corps |
By Kim Hyo-jin
The Ministry of National Defense on Monday launched a committee to investigate the military junta's bloody crackdown on Gwangju citizens during a pro-democracy movement that started May 18, 1980.
The ministry said the special committee will look into allegations that soldiers shot at citizens from helicopters and fighter jets were loaded with bombs and ready to fly to the city.
Lee Kun-ri, a prosecutor-turned-lawyer, was appointed to lead the committee until Nov. 30 with an eight-member panel of civilian experts including lawyers, professors and reserve officers.
The nine-member committee will be supported by 30-member working groups composed of military officers, civil servants and civilians to be suggested by Gwangju Metropolitan City, the ministry said.
The launch of the committee came weeks after President Moon Jae-in ordered the military to reopen the investigation into the deadly suppression, in which the military led by Chun Doo-hwan, then an Army general, killed hundreds of citizens.
The move was buoyed by the recent public interest to learn what exactly happened during the massacre following the box-office hit, "A Taxi Driver."
Moon ordered investigators to look into two particular allegations of soldiers shooting from helicopters and the military's standby order on fighter jets, which was recently brought to light by a former pilot who testified he had been standing by for orders to attack.
This is the fourth official government probe during the past 37 years and the second defense ministry probe in 10 years.
The Roh Moo-hyun government set up a special investigative panel at the defense ministry in 2007, but it failed to figure out who ordered soldiers to shoot at citizens with a conclusion that "no army documents about the shooting exist."
The envisioned committee will be tasked with finding and accessing what were then confidential documents and acquiring testimonies of the persons concerned.
"The ministry will actively cooperate in the fact-finding probe so no single suspicions and mysteries are left under this administration," Defense Minister Song Young-moo said after offering an appointment letter to Lee.
The ministry added it plans to hand over the results of its investigation to an Assembly committee.
Bills intending to launch a probe are pending in the National Assembly. One proposed by Choi Gyung-hwan, a People's Party lawmaker whose constituency is in Gwangju, awaits a review by the parliamentary defense committee.
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