Who ordered shooting at Gwangju uprising?

Protesters against the military junta of then Army general Chun Doo-hwan gather at a fountain in front of the provincial government building of South Jeolla Province in Gwangju, May 18, 1980, the day after he declared martial law. / Courtesy of the May 18 Memorial Foundation

Investigation seeks to find who's behind bloody crackdown

By Kim Hyo-jin

Will it be different this time?

President Moon Jae-in last week ordered a new investigation into the military junta's bloody crackdown on Gwangju citizens during their pro-democracy movement in May 1980 reopened.

Moon particularly ordered the investigators to look into two allegations that the military led by Chun Doo-hwan, then an Army general, shot at citizens from helicopters and had fighter jets ready to bomb the city. This was recently brought to light by a former pilot who testified he was awaiting orders for such a mission.

The defense ministry said it will begin its three-month special investigation into the allegations in September.

This is the fourth official government probe during the past 37 years ― 10 years since the last probe in 2007.

What to look at

On May 21, 1980, the army opened fire on citizens gathered in front of the South Jeolla provincial government building, killing 54 and wounding about 500. Through May 27, when it brought the city under control, the army killed 165 citizens and injured around 1,600 citizens, according to government estimates.

Chun and military officials denied they ordered soldiers to fire on Gwangju citizens. Who first gave the order to fire at unarmed citizens and when and why still remains unanswered.

A parliamentary hearing in 1988 ended with the related figures repeating "I don't remember."

In 1997, following the prosecution's probe under the Kim Young-sam administration, Chun was sentenced to life in prison and his successor Roh Tae-woo was sentenced to 17 years, though they were later pardoned by President Kim.

They were found guilty of treason and murder for their leadership in the massacre. But their order to fire by the army was not proven by any evidence or through witness statements.

In 2007, the Roh Moo-hyun government set up a special investigative panel at the defense ministry, but its conclusion was that "no army documents about the shooting on May 21 exist."

The defense ministry vowed this time to find and access what were then confidential documents and acquire testimonies of the persons concerned.

Pundits say comprehensive military operations at the time including the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines should be made public this time.

There have been multiple allegations about shooting from helicopters and a standby call for an air strike. Recently, a military document was found showing a Marine unit in Masan was ordered to move to Mokpo to suppress any expanded protest, and that it had permission to open fire on protesters.

Bereaved families of those killed during the suppression of the pro-democracy movement mourn in front of coffins in Gwangju in May 1980. / Courtesy of the May 18 Memorial Foundation

Civic groups say the government should recount the number of missing people and look for places where they could have been secretly buried, possibly by the military.

"There are tombstones for 69 missing people in the May 18th National Cemetery. Their bereaved family members have been in agony, waiting to find at least the remains of their bodies," said Chung Choon-shik, the chairman of a May 18th bereaved family group.

"The number of the missing jumps to 409 including those who have not been officially recognized as missing related to the crackdown by the authorities. The bereaved families only wish that someone would step forward and tell them the whereabouts of the bodies."

Tim Shorrock, a Washington-based investigative journalist who studied more than 3,500 confidential U.S. documents about the event, advised the Moon administration to request more U.S. documents if it really wants to get to the bottom of the military junta's actions. Shorrock unveiled a document, codenamed "Cherokee" which he said shows U.S. approval of South Korean troop mobilization into Gwangju.

Shorrock noted that many parts of the acquired documents, such as the part containing the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's assessment or identity of its sources, are erased so no further information can be found from the existing ones.

"Any investigation must include searching through secret U.S. documents to determine what the U.S. government knew of Chun's actions," he said.

Prospects

There are mixed views on the prospects of the fourth investigation. Some believe, with the President showing strong determination, the probe is likely to draw out new findings. The social atmosphere has also changed in the direction of channeling state resources into a deeper probe, they point out.

"In the past, investigations into Gwangju were often driven by political purposes. This time should be different as there is the support and aspirations of many people to find out exactly what happened during that time," Kim Hee-song, a professor at the May 18 Institute of Chonnam National University, said, referring to the great interest in the box-office hit, "A Taxi Driver."

"Their interest is more focused on the savagery of state violence, a different aspect from the previous days when the issue was distorted with ideological interpretations."

What makes the prospect brighter this time is that the influence of Chun and Roh's associates and subordinates in the military has faded greatly, Kim added.

"The previous investigation had to have been sabotaged by the remaining forces of Chun and Roh who had been in power for 12 years," he said. "Our institute's study, despite its limited extent, found that the military had fabricated, concealed, and even scrapped some of the internal data."

A soldier, right, beats a citizen with a stick during a crackdown on the Gwangju pro-democracy movement in May 1980. / Courtesy of the May 18 Memorial Foundation

However, Kim Yang-rae, the executive director of the May 18 Memorial Foundation, a Gwangju-based fact-finding civic group, says he still has doubts about the military taking the initiative in the investigation.

"It's crazy to believe them. Many things should have been unveiled by now if they had looked into their past sincerely. For 37 years, the military kept silent and looked away from groundless rumors such as a possible involvement of North Korean soldiers in the Gwangju Uprising," he said. "We should pay close attention. Otherwise, the military could just repeat this pattern."

Kim suggests that the National Assembly pass a special law to set up an independent panel and provide it with the right to investigate and prosecute those responsible for the killings. "It is the only way to take the probe to its core," he said.

The Assembly has a high chance of passing the special law on the Gwangju crackdown in a regular parliamentary session in September. One proposed by Choi Gyung-hwan, a People's Party lawmaker whose constituency is in Gwangju, awaits a review at the parliamentary defense committee. Ruling and opposition parties agreed on the need for further investigation into the violent suppression amid growing public interest.

A child holds a picture of his father who presumably went missing during the pro-democracy movement in Gwangju in May 1980. / Courtesy of the May 18 Memorial Foundation

"For the aim of writing a sound historic record, no one, regardless of their being a leftist or a rightist, conservative or progressive, should have an objection," Rep. Khang Hyo-shang, a spokesman of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party, said.

What the bereaved families of the Gwangju victims want from the investigation is the recovering of tarnished reputations, civic activist Kim said.

"There are people who still have a misunderstanding of the Gwangju uprising. We need to find someone responsible so we can hear the truth. Punishment for them is the next issue," he said.

During an interview with The Korea Times, Kim read part of a diary written in May 1980 by an archbishop of the Catholic Church, Yoon Gong-hee, whose office was on Geumnam Street, the epicenter of the bloody suppression.

"Even if they are soldiers, how could they commit such cruel acts? Who on earth made an order to do this? Whoever it was, the responsibility is truly heavy. It's just impossible to understand who ordered indiscriminate murder, that can't even be done to the enemy, on the mere excuse of suppressing a demonstration," he quoted Yoon as saying.

"We only want the answer to this question."